3:45am Lullaby

It’s been a minute since I’ve written anything about my adventures with autism. Heck, it’s been a minute since I’ve written about anything lol. But here we go and I have Corey to thank for this blog. :-D

We call Corey the “special kid.” Not because he has autism. We call him that because he’s special – a particular individual; extraordinary; exceptional.

One of the downsides of Corey having autism is, occasionally he wakes up early in the morning – 1am early; 2am early; 3am early – you get the point. Only one of two things happen during that time, either Corey is laughing hysterically or he's crying uncontrollably. Last night, or rather this morning, he was crying uncontrollably.

From 2:23am until 3:47am, Corey cried his little eyes out. How am I so sure about the time? It’s a quirk of mine. When Corey has an “episode,” I always check the time in the beginning, during and at the end.  One of my nicknames is Monk (inside joke).

Anyway, Corey is crying and of course I start the process of trying to calm him down. Gently applying pressure to his arms and legs, tight hugs and speaking softly to him. I even went against my own rule and offered him food and drink. None of it worked. But I wasn’t giving up yet. I still had one more trick. Music!

   Since I wanted him to go back to sleep, I knew putting in a music dvd would not work. It would only excite him. So I had to do the next best thing. At exactly 3:26am I was in concert. I sung every Veggie Tales song, Yo Gabba Gabba song, Wiggles song,  Fresh Beat Band song, preschool song I could think of. THEY DID NOT WORK! On a whim, I started the gospel edition of the concert. At 3:45am, I began singing, “This is the Day" (written by Nikki K. Ervin).  By 3:47am, my special kid was finally asleep! Whew! I lay him down and climb back into bed myself. I get all comfy, close my eyes, exhale deeply and wait for sleep’s return.

Waiting…….waiting.......waiting.......waiting…….waiting.

You have got to be kidding me!

 Can you say wide awake?