Good Evening All!

Well, we are now living in our new home! I absolutely love it. We have so much more space; we may even have to get an intercom system!

The move was a rough one. Since we were only moving down the street we didn't bother renting a truck. A lot of it was done via countless loads shuttled in our Honda Accord station wagon. The majority of the time it was raining! Most of it was the cold, drizzling rain. Although we slept here the first time on March 15th, we only got the last of our personal items moved yesterday! Luckily, extended family owns the old house and has allowed us the time we needed. Any other landlord would have charged us out the butt for the extra time!

Follow up:

It is probably needless to say that I have been exhausted for about two weeks now. My body and brain have never been so tired. At night, I just want to collapse, but I can't. The reason I can't...Sir Dantes! He will not sleep!

Well, of course he sleeps but not very much.

Ms. Maxie has been sleeping just fine. She loves finally having her own room. It has made her feel so grown up and she is really taking good care of it. Many of the toys we had to keep put up when they shared a room have finally been given back to her to play with. She can play her computer or watch a movie without her brother running over and turning the movie off or screaming about it making it hard to hear and enjoy. And, she has pretty much stayed on her normal sleep schedule. Oh the joys of having a n.t. child. She has rolled with all the punches of moving.

Not Sir Dantes. The first night we were here it was about three in the morning before he finally just passed out on the floor in the middle of all of his trains. About midnight, I took a cat nap for about an hour. He was still up. I took another cat nap and got back up around two in the morning, and he was still up. Finally, a little after three he fell asleep. And it really has not gotten much better. I think maybe one night he fell asleep before ten. And, of course, we don't want to fall asleep with him still awake. But, there is only so long one can stay up when you have to get up before six in the morning to get ready for work!

At the old house, he was always asleep before ten. We never had this problem. But, now he has a new room by himself. Up until this move, he has never slept in a room alone. He also can not see us anymore. His bedroom is right off of the kitchen and our room is further down the hall around the corner from the office. At the old house, if he wanted to see us he only needed to look out his door and we were directly across from him and only a few feet away.

That is one of the things with autistic children; they do not handle transitions well. Even the smallest change in the schedule can send them stemming or into a meltdown. Well, this is a big transition for him. It is a big transition for even "normal" people. Whenever I have moved it usually takes me a few days before I can sleep comfortably. There are always new sounds, new shadows...you have to have a couple of days to get use to these things. But, for most of us, a few days go by and you adjust. You learn the noises, you learn where the light switches are, you learn to find your way to the bathroom in the dark.

My husband and I have done our best to keep a normal schedule throughout this move. Ms. Maxie had adjusted just fine. As usual, after dinner we get ready for bed, read a story, and get tucked in. I put in a movie for her and within a few minutes she is sound asleep. She doesn't seem to have a care in the world. She sleeps all night, and she can find the bathroom in the dark (and the help of a couple of nightlights). She even keeps a little cup in the kitchen to get some water from the fridge door if she gets thirsty. No problems or worries with her.

Sir Dantes is up and down. He plays one moment and lays down the next; then he is back up. He flips the lights off and on. He runs back and forth across the room. Although he is still getting his story, is still getting tucked in and still gets a movie. The last few nights we have went to bed and watched him on the video baby monitor and drifted to sleep. But, we always wake up in about an hour to go check on him. Some nights he is still up and some nights he has finally given up and fallen asleep. He is taking a nap, but that is nothing new. Hopefully within a few more days (more likely weeks) he will adjust and go to sleep again before ten.

Well, I just went and checked on both of them. Ms. Maxie is sound asleep and Sir Dantes is awake. It is ten! But, he is at least laying down twirling his hair (a sign he is about out). Well, at least I am off work tomorrow, maybe I can get a nap!