I hope Nathan never finds out about me sharing this!
Let me go back a few decades. When I was a little girl I slept-walked. My dad would tell me the craziest stories in the morning of my nocturnal wanderings. I never ever remembered a thing in the morning of course! I also never did anything exceptionally weird to my knowledge except the one time I left the house to try and get into the car. Thank goodness my dad is a very light sleeper and followed me just to see what I was up to!
This brings us to our first born, Nate who is like his mom is so very many ways. Unfortunately he also sleep walks. It's more like he acts out his dreams (emptying out his laundry basket once!) or cries out in his sleep than wanders aimlessly. He can go for months and months without an incident but for the past week solid he has been having these episodes about two hours after falling asleep. It's getting old.
We cannot wake him up. We have found the best way to deal with him is to speak in a loud, matter-of-fact voice and direct him either to the bathroom or bed. He never remembers a thing in the morning either.
Sometimes we think he's awake and has 'snapped' out of it. Nope! So we can find out by asking questions such as 'how old are you?'. The other night he was sixteen.
Anyhow, we got this genius idea of video recording him last night just so we could prove it to him in the morning because he often thinks we're teasing him about all this. So, like clock-work around 11:00 pm we heard his moaning and crying and knew it was time to get the cameras rolling.
We herded him to the bathroom to go as sometimes this is why he wakes up in the first place. And just so you know Keith was videoing from the shoulders up ONLY....we are not completely crazy here! So he's sitting on the can babbling/crying/nodding off all at once. I am trying to ask him what his name is and old he is to see if he's awake. His answers were mumbled but correct so I thought he was 'all here'. This is what led me to believe he was still in deep REM mode.....he stood up, pulled up his underwear, pulled off some toilet paper and wiped the back of his neck. Yes folks....all caught on video. I laughed SO hard (even though I know that was cruel). Nathan woke up to my hysertical laughter and promptly cried for real.
Y'know....feels like we're already in nighttime training for this new baby with all nighttime fun!!!!
Do any of your kids sleep-walk, talk in their sleep or have night terrors? If so please let me know how you coped with it.
13 comments:
That's hilarious! Did you show him the video? Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) our kids only act that crazy when they're awake!
Our five-year-old has night terrors where he gets out of bed and runs in a circle almost hysterical, and then into the living room with wild eyes, running the whole time. If we talk to him he doesn't snap out of it. We have to steer him back to bed and speak calmly to him, because he does not wake up if we talk loudly to him. It's a little freaky to see your son not responding normally. Poor Nathan though. Did you show him the video?
Deja vu! My big concern was that one day you would walk out of the house without me waking up. Locked doors never did deter you. You even walked out in the snow one time in bare feet and that did not wake you. The acorn did not fall far from the tree. Keeping that in mind, Nate WILL grow out of it.
The two men in my life are sleep-walkers too! I wish I had thought to video tape them! Curt was up moments ago looking for his rock??!?! Dave was angry that he missed the net while playing basketball in his sleep the other night. I wonder if he's in the NBA yet :)
Do you still walk in your sleep Rach?
our 3rd does. he's been doing it for 16 nights(last night was the first night he hadn't lol) i'm jealous Nathan is at least doing it at a regular time-Benji is usually up around 2am but some nights as early as 10. he's the only one of ours who has ever done it. he's also the only one who's ever had night-terrors
Ha Ha Ha -- that is too funny for words!
My little brother was a sleep walker -- when he was 17 or 18 he had a job 2 McDonalds and he had to work boxing day...he got up, got ready and headed to work for 2 am, came home when he realized the time and they were closed. Repeated himself again @ 4 am (I'm talking shower and all). Then again @ 6 am. Finally he came home and my dad got up with him and saw him off for his 8 am shift. Trevor said my car is in the garage, dad said, no it's not you parked outside last night...then Trev had to tell us all of his crazy time showering not 1, 2 or even 3 but 4 times and driving to and from work every time!
Sounds like you have some major black mailing material for his teen years. :) Wow...I don't think I ever walked in my sleep and my kids don't either. Are you able to sleep peacefully or are you worried that he awake and walking around?
That is a riot! I'm so glad you caught it on tape hee hee. Haven't had to deal with any of that...yet. :) Althought neither Brent nor I have ever done it.
Terribly funny. My parents always told tales of my wanderings about the house too. My mom had to wash all the clothes in my bottom drawer more than once.
Wiping his neck....HILARIOUS!!! Our kids each started having night terrors around 18 montsh (Connor has just started with the waking up, he's 17 months). Kyle had so many words he would give us long recitations the next morning. He still does the "calling out" and groaning off an on in the nights...not a sleep walker though. Miranda has nightmares the minute she falls asleep, so is already awake and bugging me as I sit down to my 10pm shows. Braden might call out, but once he's asleep he's there for night (though this is a new phenomenon after 3 years of crappy sleepless nights). Connor wakes up at midnight and at 3:30 consistently...when I was pregnant with him I woke at 3:30 every morning with insomnia for two hours and it did show up in Connor from birth til this day! Yes....I use a spackle tool to apply the under-eye concealer most mornings! :-)
When I was a kid I would pee in the trash can (I blame Mom for having it directly across the toilet...north/south is sketchy when you're sleep walking!), and often down the stairs...one time I made it out of the house and up the driveway when Dad came and got me!!!!!! You should put in a tricky deadbolt for sure...new babe might make you too tired to care where Nathan wanders, so long as you know he's staying in the house! ;-)
I want to know if you showed him teh video, too. Hilarious! My Mom carved a roast once in her sleep. Scary! I haven't slept walked that I know of, but my sister did and it always freaked me out how her eyes were open and she talked to us but my parents would explain to me that she was sleeping. Creepy!
I am a little late respdonding but I must fib on Roger... He actually walked into the kitchen and peed in the oven in his sleep!!
Thankfully he has only had one episode since we got married. One time he sat up in bed, reached his arm out and yelled "It's mine, Got IT". It was baseball season :)
Blake does the crying in his sleep thing, usually between 10-11:00pm. If we can actually wake him up he looks at us like we are ghosts! Creepy!
Sorry! To answer the burning question, YES we did show Nate the video and he was really embarrassed. Poor thing...that wasn't our intention at all.
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