Lights OUT

Connor's new thing has been turning on his light, since he can now reach it without standing on anything, when he's supposed to be sleeping.

On and off it goes during nap time, which doesn't bother me much, and at night, which bothers me more.  A few nights ago it was a real problem.  He turned it on, and instead of playing the on/off game with him all night I just let him keep it on and when he fell asleep I turned it off for him and went to bed.  When I woke up to use the bathroom 5 hours later his light was back on and he was asleep again.  I turned it off and went back to bed.  When I woke up in the morning it was on again.  Clearly he wasn't getting much sleep if he was turning his light on constantly - which made him horrendously crabby the next day!

He has a night light, and I don't think at this point that it's a fear of the dark thing... I think it's more of a Connor's-being-a-booger thing.  After a Monday from hell with him, Spence and I agreed that since he can't keep his light off when he's supposed to, he will lose his lights for a while.  So I loosened his light bulbs so no matter how many times he flicks the light switch, he will get no reward.

Monday night he got a bit more sleep and was considerably less possessed-like on Tuesday.  Tuesday night he fell right asleep and got a good 12 hours of sleep.  And the verdict?  He was still just as cranky as ever this morning.  Maybe he needs more than just one good night sleep to cure him of his nastiness, we can only hope.

He wasn't happy about his "broken" lights, but I told him since he was being naughty and turning his lights on at bedtime, we took away his lights.  He doesn't like it but he doesn't seem scared of the darkness, and I know that our solution is far more to his liking then returning him to the hospital.  Plus they won't take him back... I asked.