Wednesday night, I put DJ to bed. Everything went as usual until I turned out the light (then I went and sat in the chair in his room until he fell asleep - except he didn't fall asleep this time). Then I heard squirm squirm squirm whine squirm whine squirm whine whine... you get the picture. Finally, he started crying. I asked him what was wrong, and he wouldn't answer me. I asked him if his tummy hurt, if he wanted to hold my hand, if his head hurt... no answer. Just wailing.
So I picked him up, and held him for a few minutes. I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but I got nowhere. I tucked him back in bed, and left the room. I expected a protest, but was proven wrong.... he seemed to go to sleep.
About 40 minutes later, he woke up and was wailing (and yawn mid-wail). Again, I asked him what was wrong, what hurt, and he wouldn't tell me. Daddy came in this time, we thought to try some Pepto to see if it was his tummy. He wouldn't take it. He wouldn't drink any water. He just wailed. The only time he would calm down was when he was being held by one of us (preferably Daddy, of course).
Steve laid down in DJ's car bed with DJ until he fell asleep. Steve wasn't in his room 10 minutes as DJ fell asleep quickly.
Half an hour later, DJ woke up wailing again. This time I went in and lay down in the car bed with him. I'm amazed at how relatively cozy that thing is...! Anyway, he squirmed and whined and squirmed and yawned and squirmed and whined and yawned.... until finally he got comfortable. He was asleep in 3 minutes flat, and we didn't hear from him the rest of the night.
The next morning (yesterday), I went into his room to find DJ asleep in his bed, but clearly he'd been awake earlier as toys were in his closet, his humidifier was on, etc. I woke him up to get him ready to go to Eleanor's, and he just wailed through all of it.
Once we got out to the car, he was better until we were about 3/4s of the way to Eleanor's. Then he started whining that he wanted Daddy. When I told him Daddy went to work and we're going to Miss Eleanor's, he started crying.
At this point, it was clear to me that this behavior was because he was tired, but it didn't explain why he was awake half of the night to cause him to be tired. We got to Eleanor's, and he wailed for what was probably the first 10 minutes after our arrival. This is highly unusual for DJ, who usually can't wait to get up the stairs and go into the kitchen to get his milk and breakfast. I sat with him on the couch and held him for a little while until he calmed down.
Thankfully, Grace's Dad had brought donuts as a treat so I used those to entice him to go into the kitchen for breakfast. It's not like DJ knows what a donut is, but I figured the shapes would distract him which they did. He pointed to the chocolate star-shaped donut as the one he wanted. He got into his highchair without a fuss and once he discovered the chocolate frosting, he ate the entire top and licked his fingers clean! Good stuff!!
Eleanor called me later that morning to tell me that DJ just melted down late morning. So she had pulled out a little toddler "sleeping bag" (DJ wanted no parts of the crib), set it up on the couch downstairs, and he crawled in it on his own. Eleanor stroked his hair and within 5 minutes, he was asleep. He slept for about half an hour (and still took a 2 hour afternoon nap!)
Meanwhile, Grace was VERY concerned that DJ didn't feel well, and didn't know what to make of his sleeping on the couch. Sonny says she was a little mother, constantly going over to check on him. Elektra was also very concerned as she never sees DJ in that situation. Sonny and Eleanor had to move some furniture to block the girls from DJ so that he could sleep in peace. Kids are truly amazing.
I took DJ to see Dr. Papou after I picked up the kids from Eleanor and Sonny's just to see if DJ maybe had an ear infection that was bothering him. Dr. Papou said he didn't see anything of concern in DJ's ears, to give him some Tylenol tonight, and if he doesn't sleep well, then take him to the pediatrician. When I got home, both DJ and Elektra were running low grade fevers (99s), so we gave them both Tylenol before bed. Both also ate excellent dinners (fresh salmon, fresh tuna, broccoli and because of such a good dinner, "cookies on a napkin" (mini vanilla wafers) which DJ shared with Elektra. He'll pull her highchair over to him ("sit next to 'rektra") so that he can share his dessert with her, and this was no exception.
Thankfully, DJ felt better after his naps that day, and he slept really well last night. He was in a good mood this morning, so no pediatrician for him! He was happily downing a mini-blueberry muffin for breakfast when I left.
We're wondering now if maybe he was taking out his insecurity about my having been gone for 5 days (at the SCCA's National Convention) Wednesday night. No way to know... ::shrug::
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