In order to do the testing, we were told you have to have around 4-5 hours of sleep the night before. That was it. We were both a little concerned as to how well you would handle that but knowing you, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be too difficult to keep you up. We got home from School around 5 pm and you immediately wanted to watch "The Birdies," a.k.a. Rio. I figured, why not? It would post pone you having dinner until later on in the evening. So Rio it was. Dada and I had a pretty good notion as to what movies and in what order you'd want to watch them. And man, we know you kiddo because we were dead on! (smile)
We ordered some pizza and played and laughed and gave you a nice long bath. You LOVE your bath time. Lately, you've been in your baths an hour and you still don't want to stop to actually go to bed. (smile) You were playing in your bath when we got a phone call. Nanny and Pappa were on their way over to see you, play with you, and help keep you up. SCORE! So we quickly washed up and while we were finishing, they showed up! I got you out of your bath and headed to the landing on the stairway with you bundled up in your elephant towel. You were so excited to see them! "It's Nanny! It's Pappa!" But then you did something hilariously unexpected. You tried to "roar" like an elephant! How I wish I could get that on camera. You were after all in your elephant towel so you were an elephant! You shook your head down, raised your nose quickly and made this higher pitched noise through clenched lips. SO CUTE!!!
We got you all dried off and you went down to play with Nanny and Pappa in your playroom. You showed them your new book (which I will describe in another post - it's so much fun!), played ball, showed them your color pegs and pages, and then read book upon book upon book. Once it got to be about 10 pm, Nanny and Pappa decided it was time to head home. All of us adults were getting tired and yawning but not you! You were ready to keep playing! In an attempt to help move you along, I asked you if you wanted to watch another movie. You yelled "YES!" in such an excited voice as if to say, "Really?! I get to watch another movie?!" (smile) Yes, you get to watch another movie kiddo. You immediately choose "The Girls" (Despicable Me - smile) and ran to sit down on the couch, almost forgetting to say goodbye to Nanny and Pappa.
Oh so tired:
Mama rubbing your leg as you hold my hand:
We watched the movie through to the ending credits (you like to dance during credits and I LOVE that) and it was just after 11:30pm. We needed to keep you up two more hours. So, another movie it was. This time, we watched Tangled. Well, you and Dada watched it. Mama tried to go to sleep for a few hours. Someone had to drive all of us to the appointment bright and early the next day. (I fight myself to think about how much TV watching we let you do that day - Mama guilt can be so strong - but it was a special occasion hopefully not to be repeated.)
Once Tangled was over, it was finally a good time to put you to bed. Your poor exhausted self did not want to go to bed. You were spent but you did not want to stop watching movies. So at 1:30 am, I awoke to you crying. I gave you a hug and kiss, Dada put you to bed and you were sound asleep almost instantly.
Part of the issue with keeping you up and having you get so overtired is that you do NOT sleep well. So at 3:30 am you awoke in tears. We went to your room and helped you get back to sleep. But then at 5:30 am, the same thing happened and you were up for the day. You were crying and crying and crying, almost inconsolable. I hated seeing you that way. So, we finally got you calmed down enough to ask you if you wanted to go downstairs and have breakfast. Through tears you said, "I want some breakfast." So we went downstairs.
You ate about half of your breakfast when you just didn't want it anymore. You asked to go watch another movie. Knowing we both had to get ready in the next 45 minutes, we put in another movie. (Please don't judge.) This time, you wanted to watch Cars. But you were still so tired you could not concentrate on the movie. You wanted to be held, you'd cry. I felt so horrible for you. When we turned off the movie, you went back to your breakfast and wanted to eat more. Mistake for leaving it out on my part. So you cried and cried when we picked you up and put you in the car.
I drove us out there while Dada sat in the backseat with you. Within 5 minutes of leaving the house, you wanted to go to sleep. And who could blame you. It's why we had Dada in the back seat. You cried out almost every time he did anything to keep you awake. You gave us yells of NO!, NO THANK YOU!, I DON'T WANT TO! But we kept persisting, Dada kept singing, and 50 minutes later, we arrived at the clinic.
Once we got outside of the car, you got a second wind. You were excited to be walking outside. There was a slight breeze and you giggled and exclaimed, "It's windy Mama!" (smile) We went inside the clinic and got all signed in. In the waiting room, you started playing "ball." You have a little orange striped beanie baby kitty that we appropriately named Stripey. You kept throwing him away from us, then going to get him and throwing it back to us. You were laughing and giving all the people and the receptionists a show. (smile)
We then got called back and followed the nurse down many hallways to our room. She kept exclaiming how much you looked like her niece and all the nurses on the way stopped to say hello to you. My guess is they don't usually see many patients this young. And I was so proud. Like a big girl, you kept following the nurse and saying hello to all the other nurses. My little social butterfly.
We got back into the room where you immediately wanted to play "ball" again. But (smile) Dada was told it was time to calm her down by the nurse. All in good fun but we needed you calm for the test.
There was a nice leather recliner in the room that I sat on and we put you on top of me. The nurse gave you a basket of stickers to go through while she marked your head with a little red pencil. She then put all 22 leads on all the marks and wrapped your head in gauze all the way around to hold it all in. Once that was complete, we "laid" down (as best you can in a recliner), turn down the lights, started some soothing music, and started the test. (We did not take pictures of this. We weren't sure of it's appropriateness so we opted to not.)
They had wanted you to fall asleep on me (hence the lack of sleep) but that was not to be in the cards. You were calm and relaxed but as time went on, you wanted to twirl your hair which was all wrapped up. You see, when you go to sleep, you tend to have your right thumb in your mouth and your left hand twirling your hair. So I tried to give you my hair to twirl. It just wasn't working. Then Dada said your prayers with you. Still didn't work. At that point, we asked if we could put you on your belly. So we all turned you over carefully so as not to move any of the leads.
You tossed and turned and tried to get relaxed enough to sleep but it just wasn't going to happen. Then they put the strobe light in front of you. YOU HATED IT. And I cannot blame you. You didn't want to look at that light. So you turned your head. They basically made me hold your head completely still for that part. I felt so bad. At that point the test was done, and in my opinion, you did great for all 45 minutes! Who could expect a two year old to understand why she had to stay still and not twirl her hair?! You did fantastic!
Once the test was over, the nurse cleaned off all the oil in your hair from the leads and your hair went every which way. You looked like someone had gelled your hair for halloween to be like Beetlejuice. (smile) We then were lead down the hallway where another nurse let you have a couple of stickers. We were told it would take about two weeks to get the results. So we started on our way home.
This whole experience is so very scary but I take comfort in that you seem to be thriving despite all of it. I would gladly take your spot so you didn't have to go through this.
I love you,
Mama
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