Will's Sleep Odyssey!

Will is full of personality and it doesn't take long to discover it.  Even in his sleeping (or not sleeping) it comes shining through.  When we first brought him home, I slept in the room with Will, Lena and Hope for two months.  The first couple of weeks, he woke up around 5 - 5:15 am everyday talking non stop!  For those of you who know me, I have never been a morning person and never will be!  Also, remember he talks very loudly due to his hearing impairment.  I would move to the couch, turn the tv on but he never watched tv.  He was ready to start his day!

Then we started putting the iPad by his bed and told him to play it in the closet (cushions, lights on, etc)  but he was waking me up to tell me he was getting the iPad.  Then he started waking up in the middle of the night telling me he was getting the iPad.  He thought it was morning and he was ready to go.

Then Andy went on a trip where he had to fly.  During this time, I would wake up a couple of times a night with Will standing in my face and saying Mom, Mom.  Then he would go back to sleep.  We had our friend Dora (from Romania) come over and talk to Will.  This happy go lucky boy (we thought) was worried that since Andy was gone that I would get in an airplane and leave too.  He remembered me leaving him in Moldova.  He couldn't see me from his bed and wanted to make sure I was there. Talk about surprised!  I had no idea anything was bothering him.  Dora suggested that he just get up and look at me and not call my name because I needed my rest.  He said he understood and that took care of that problem.

When I moved back in my bedroom, Will began waking me up by walking in the room talking a mile a minute.  We came up with a plan.  We got a digital clock and taped over the minutes.  We explained to Will that he could not get out of bed until he saw a "6" unless it was to go to the bathroom.  At "6" he could get his iPad and headphones and go to the closet and stay there until 7 unless we got him earlier.  We just had to remember to make sure Lena had not pushed buttons during the day and turned the alarm on which happened the first two nights at midnight!

This worked great most mornings.  By the time school started, you guessed it, he was sleeping past six and now most mornings, I have to wake him up.  However, he still wakes up quickly and is talking in 60 seconds or less!

Playing on his iPad in the closet

Rigged up clock

Sleep position I have found Will in often!