Oh, so tired! Shhh! Shhh!!!

One of the biggest issues we face with children with autism is sleep and nutrition. It makes for a very stressful time. Bugaboo is thrown off so easily by time changes, trips, interruptions in his schedule (like having TWO WEEK OFF!!!!) that it disturbs his sleeping and eating. Since daylight savings last week, Bugaboo has gone to bed late and has been awake earlier than usual.

This weekend we hit a new record! On the way back from my sister's house 45-50 minutes away, Bug Boy and Bugaboo both fell asleep. This was barely 7 pm. In other words, much too early in the evening. Darling and I were happy to have some quiet time. We went out in the yard, cleaned it up, put out trash, chatted a bit and ended up inside. His sister called and they made plans to help her move from CA to NJ (long story) and I flipped channels. He decided to go outside and work in the garage for a little and I continued to be zombified in front of the zombie machine.

When I finished watching some B-movies and had finally decided to make my way to the bedroom, I heard a thud, followed by some pitter-patter above my head. Hmmm...Curious. Sounds like Bugaboo getting out of bed.

I crept upstairs so not to startle him and peeked into his room. He was standing there wide awake with a huge grin on his face. As soon as he saw me he jumped up and down and clapped. He ran out, downstairs, and grabbed the PECS for "I want" and "drink." He was hungry. Grr...

Now, let me back up a moment. Bugaboo went on an eating strike about 4 months ago, which just happened to coincide with him getting pneumonia pre-Christmas. He was sick on his birthday. He stopped eating most of his favorite foods and was on yet another antibiotic. Tummy troubles abounded. He stopped sleeping and was waking up with tummy pains, crying (screaming, really) and nightmare-like behavior. It was difficult, indeed! Then, he slowly started eating a few things here and there. Rice crackers, an apple or so, some apple sauce, perhaps a yogurt or two. I thought that the yeast was a big issue (though right!) as he also wasn't having normal bowels, not that he ever did. So, started a better probiotic and he seemed to improve, sleeping through the night in the first time in weeks. But then he stopped eating altogether.

He started preschool in this time span, so we blamed the transition. We blamed his tummy. We blamed his autism. We blamed ourselves. We tried everyday to get him to eat just one bite! One more! You can do it! To no avail! So, we are seeing an allergist, GI, Neuro and feeding clinic this month. He hasn't really lost weight, but he has grown several inches. Since he could never be categorized as thin, we weren't terribly worried. But we know he isn't getting adequate nutrition. So, I slip a mutivitamin in his juice in the am.

This is one of the most difficult things I have ever gone through. I could handle the colic, the speech delay, the chronic ear infections, the severe allergies and the other things that go along with having Bugaboo and Bug Boy. But this is the most difficult! I am so worried that he will get sicker since he is clearly not getting nutrition.

The crazy thing is that his mood is fine. He is as happy as he ever was. He smiled most of the day, chatters to himself, has that sing-songy voice that sounds like he is singing, and gets so excited when he sees us. So, if he is starving, he certainly isn't upset about it!

Ok, time to finish my tea. My eyes are blurring over and I am not sure if this post makes ANY sense!