This morning I headed down to my local Parkrun. After the first 1km I was feeling almost sick, my stomach was churning. I decided that today I'll just aim to finish as best as I could. Then I looked down at my Garmin when it beeped the 1st km and I had run it under 5min pace!! Ahhah! That's why I was feeling rubbish. I was really pushing myself. I took heart and kept pushing and am very happy that I ran well under 25 minutes. I've shaved off more than 3 minutes from my 5km time this year. Woo hoo!
Autism
And now for the Hallelujah part. Lately T2 hasn't been sleeping well. When the twins were 3 we did a sleep training program designed by a behaviour analyst. It worked a treat for T1 and failed miserably for T2. After discussing it with his paediatrician we decided to give him a small dose of melatonin, a hormone that seems to be on the low levels for many kids with ASD. The first night we gave it to him it worked a treat.
However, this year T2 has been waking up anytime between 1am and morning and not really going back to sleep. Its like having a newborn again - but he is NOT a new born and I can't handle this anymore! It can get pretty bad. It ruins you. There's a reason sleep deprivation is used as torture. So yesterday I decided I would teach T2 to swallow a pill whole. The slow release melatonin must be swallowed whereas the other can be chewed. I thought it would take days/weeks maybe even longer. I researched it and modelled swallowing a little cake decorating sugar ball. To my amazement he did the same and seemed happy about it. Then I modelled swallowing a tic-tac (he is a big boy and is 6 years old. I'm not sure if I'd try it on a little one). Still amazed he immediately swallowed it with water and asked for another. Now it was time to swallow the melatonin tablet and HALLELUJAH! he swallowed and then SLEPT FOR almost 12 HOURS without waking. I'm just hoping that it will happen again tonight. I'm going to be a new woman! And poor husband who often gets up will get the sleep he deserves.
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| Step one - start with swallowing a small sugar lolly (with water!) |
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| Then we moved onto the tic tac |
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| And finally...slow release melatonin..aka my sanity(seriously!) |
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| My new Kindle Touch- thanks Amazon! |
I set up my new Kindle tonight. Its my 6th!! Only because they keep breaking and Amazon has amazing customer service and keep sending me new ones (for free!). This time they sent me an update - a Kindle Touch. Aaah - no buttons! But I'm working it out. I love ereaders because I love English literature and I can download old books off Project Gutenberg for FREE. I've been without my Kindle for a few weeks so I'm looking forward to settling in with some Anthony Trollope tonight.
Does your kid with ASD sleep well? Any tips for me?
What's your best time over 5km?
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