My Kingdom for a Good Night's Sleep...

It's been a few days since my last post, and the only excuse I have is that my darling youngest daughter, Emma, has turned into a snarling, hitting, spitting baby jaguar...one that I am ready to return to the jungle...

Emma is not sleeping at night, due to the new medication she is on for ADHD. Please do not yell at me that I shouldn't have her on meds, or that they will cause brain cancer. They don't. And as someone who has ADHD, I can tell you that the difference between being on the drugs and not being on them is like the difference between dial-up and high-speed internet connections.

Emma's twin brother, Jamie, is also on ADHD meds, and the difference between Jamie before and Jamie after is like night and day...he is not drugged out of his mind, but he can now sit at the dinner table and have a conversation with the rest of us, without having to be told over and over (usually at increasing decibels) to sit down. Jamie, however, is not having any problems whatsoever sleeping. In fact, he seems to be sleeping better than usual.

Emma, on the other hand, appears to have taken after her older brother, Ian, who, when he first started taking meds, was awake for three to four hours every. single. night. for six months. Once he was finally able to swallow a pill whole, Ian switched over to a different medication, and started sleeping through the night again. Emma now seems to be following the same pattern.

The difference this time is that I am not prepared to spend six months not sleeping. When she first started taking the meds two weeks ago, she had no problem on the lesser dosage. Her problems started when we increased the dose after the first week (as prescribed by her doctor)...and so today we are trying her on her original dosage to see if that somehow helps her get through the night...which would mean that we would get more than three and a half hours of sleep too.

I'm really hoping that it is the meds that are causing the problem, and that her lack of sleep is the reason why she keeps sticking her tongue out at me...why she keeps trying to punch me...why she has been completely obstinate when I tell her to do anything...

Then again, maybe her behavior is simply her being four and a half years old and trying to assert her independence.

Please let it be the meds, because if this is an indication of her true personality, puberty ain't gonna be pretty...