night dreams

One of the things my new therapist has is the sleeping patterns in our house.  I really have no point of reference as to what is normal.  I know what I did before Ladybug and what I have done after.

I sleep.  I love sleep.  My favorite hobby.  I love my bed.  Seriously.  But seriously, I need a lot of sleep.  And I use to sleep heavy.  I slept through fire drills in college.  Seriously.  I thought people were teasing me when they would mention the middle of the night fire drills.  I slept through them all.  I NEED 8 hours of sleep a night.  I could really use 9 hours of sleep a night.  And I would be in heaven if I got 10 hours of sleep a night.  I know it seems ridiculous but it is true.

That doesn't happen anymore.  Ever.  EVER!

Ladybug is not a sleeper.  People said when she stopped taking a nap she would sleep through the night.  Wrong!  She has never slept through the night.  NEVER!!  Let me repeat that ... NEVER!!  She has been home for about 4.5 years now... she is 6 years old... and she has never slept through the night.  I get so jealous when people start talking about their 3 month old sleeping through the night.  3 months??  It will never happen for me. 

I put her to bed -- like clock work -- at 8pm.  Well, except for weekends.  And for the most part she goes right to sleep.  She is tired.  I go to bed between 11pm and midnight.  in those 3 or 4 hours she will get up, on average, 6 times.  For the most part she stays upstairs.  She wakes up and goes looking for me.  I hear her walking back and forth.  If I am not in bed she goes back to her bed and back to sleep.  Once I go to bed she crawls in bed with me and sleeps.  She wakes up a few times during the night and reaches for me but she falls back to sleep. 

Before she crawls in bed with me, between her road trips to my bed, she has night terrors.  Nightly.  Okay, I don't know if they qualify as a real night terror but they seem terrible to me.  At one point I put her bed in the middle of the room because she kicks and hits.  I was afraid she might hurt her little toes kicking the walls.  she falls out of bed at least once a week...considering the condition of her room right now I am hoping it isn't any time soon.  She cries and screams and talks. 

For the most part I don't disturb her.  But sometimes I hear a blood curdling scream or NOOOOOO and I go to settle her down.  Sometimes I find her sitting up babbling.  Asleep.  And I coax her back to a sleeping position.

She never remembers her dreams.  So I am unsure how to help her process the night time issues.

I wonder what the therapist will think of all of this.

Mean Mama