Trying

It's been a rough week.

Since about the middle of last week the Kiddo has been off his medication for ADHD.  He's been taking Concerta for a couple of years now, and over the last few months I've watched my Little Boy spiralling downward into weird and bizarre behavior and reactions.  He's been pale, with bags under his eyes, but can't get to sleep at night.  Super-tired in the mornings, and a bear to get dressed and fed and out the door - completely unmanageable until the drugs kicked in.  Evenings were almost as bad - he was out of control, couldn't remember a list with one item, and was hyper bouncing off the walls at bedtime.  If I had a penny for every time he said "oops!" or "I forgot!" I'd be rich.

When he started having intense mood swings and cycling them, and having extreme emotional reactions to normal events, I got scared.   When his prescription ran out last week, I let it.  And I made an appointment with his doctor, even though we weren't due for a few more months.

In short, she approved his going off them, and recommended that I talk to the school about alternative methods of dealing with his distractability.  So I talked to his principal (who firmly told me that my child "needed" medication to function?!?!) and I'm meeting with his teacher this afternoon.

This week has been a roller-coaster.  On Monday he was so out of control that he spent the better part of the school day at the table in the hallway, trying to work and getting nothing -really, NOTHING - done.  He brought home every lick of work he was assigned at school.  We spent almost 4 hours trying to get him to focus well enough to get it done, and missed swimming.  Tuesday he brought everything home again, and missed swimming.  Three hours of homework.  By Wednesday I was nearly crying. How were we going to function??  He walked in the door Wednesday after school and declared "No swimming again" and got to it.  But it was less than it had been!  And he got it done!!  In an hour and a half!!  Last night was even better - very little homework.

He's getting less tired, sleeping better, and was so proud of himself yesterday for focussing and getting things done AT SCHOOL!

Last night, thinking all was well, we went to bed.  I woke up to a heart-wrenching "MOOOOOOMMMMM!!!"  Groggy and not awake, I saw the house was all lit up - he had a bunch of lights on.
"What?  What's wrong??"  Was the house on fire?  Had he hurt himself??
"All my pants are too tight in the waist and too short!!"  He wailed.
"What??"  Total confusion on my part.
"None of my school pants fit!!!"
"What are you doing?"  And why?????
"Getting dressed for school."
I checked my phone.  "Baby, it's midnight."
"oh."
"Go to back to bed, Sweetie."  I could hear him crying in his room.  "Come here."  He came into my room and sobbed into my shoulder in the dark.
"I thought you came in and got me up!"
I sent him back to bed, and he changed out of his school clothes, turned out the lights, and went back to bed.  Where he slept soundly for the rest of the night.

He did remember it all in the morning, too.

I really, really hope that this stuff gets out of his system soon.