It is nine-thirty in the evening. All is quiet in our home this evening. It is nice, really nice and really odd. Most evening are very hectic in the Sir Dantes' household. The normal night around here involves us fighting with Sir Dantes to get into bed and stay there. This leads to many nights of us getting into bed ourselves at a very late hour. On the evenings when he does goes to bed and fall asleep, he usually wakes up early in the morning (around three a.m.) and starts getting into things. This can be even worse. To be woken up at that hour and stay up with him for however long has caused me to either oversleep and be running late or just staying up and being groggy and cranky the whole next day.

Regardless, it is not good. Of course, there are the dangers with him being up and us maybe not aware. A lot of the time the things he gets into are harmless; turning on all the lights and televisions. Lately, however, things he gets into are starting to get a little more dangerous. I believe I have mentioned how he turned on the coffee pot one day and the pot was dry. The other day he took a knife out and cut up a pear! So, what to do? Melatonin, that is what.

Follow up:

We have been thinking for quite awhile that we may have to resort to the use of melatonin to get Sir Dantes to sleep through the night. After several, several nights of a lack of sleep we started researching the supplement and presented the idea to his pediatrician. She agreed that this was something that both Sir Dantes and we could benefit from. So, I went and bought some.

I was hesitant about using it the first night. He went to sleep easily and so I didn't use it. Why? I did the research. I talked to others. We discussed it with his doctor. So, why the hesitation? Why am I scared to give it to him? It is all natural. There are no real serious side effects. The only thing I can think of is that I am drugging my son. I don't care that it is "natural". It is still a drug and I am going to give it to our son. What may be next?

Could this be the beginning of giving him other drugs to control his behavior? Should I just let him be who is his naturally predisposed to be or alter him? Will I know when to draw the line if this melatonin is successful? Am I just being completely irrational?

I once read an article by a mother of an autistic son who decided to have her son prescribed medical marijuana. Her reasons appeared to be very valid. It help to calm him down, stay focused, and increased his appetite; all issues that many of us parents of autistic children have encountered. Would this be something I would consider? Maybe. After all, I have had experience with the use of medical marijuana in my own life.

My sister passed away in 1994 from cancer. She was only 17 years old. She suffered from this nasty disease from the age of eleven. She fought hard and my family fought with her and for her. Eventually my dad decided to let her smoke pot. It made her last days here on earth a better time. Not only did it take away pain, it made her want to be around family and it increased her appetite which made her blood counts better. Medical marijuana is not legal in the state of Georgia where she lived, so my father took a huge risk in obtaining the drug for her. Sadly, it did not help in the end. On the bright side, her death led to the passage of the Family Medical Leave Law. It was my parents who lobbied Congress tirelessly to have this law passed after my father was fired due to my sister's illness. They lost everything.

Anyway, to get back to Sir Dantes.

Tonight I gave him his first dose of melatonin. I only gave him half the dosage. Within twenty minutes he was starting to nod off while he sat at his computer. I saw his little head resting on his hand and start to bobble. I knew it was time to put him into the bed. Since he was groggy, I helped him walk downstairs to say good night to daddy and carried him to the bed. He laid down with no problem and gave me a kiss. I have checked on him several times and he is out. I hope he will stay that way all night. His little body seems to be handling it okay. Hopefully we will all rest well tonight.

So, I am nervous about it. I am sure I will get over it. He needs his rest and so do we. On that note I am saying good night. Take care everyone.