Autism does not sleep and neither do parents. Granted, Boo Bear sleeps much better than he did when he was tiny. Honestly, until his sister was born I had no idea that babies slept. At this point he sometimes sleeps. Last night he did not feel like it.
Yesterday was a good day for the boy. He went on the green line to the Mall of America with his PCA. He loves to go to the mall and just walk and look at things. He loves being on the light rail because it moves fast. All in all, a perfect outing. I thought this would tire him out. I thought wrong. By 8:00 pm he was starting to slow down and I gave him his evening meds. Not long after this, I gave him a bath. He spent some time after his bath happily bouncing around and then let me know he was ready for his bed time treat. We gave him a treat and turned off the light. Things did not progress as we had hoped. “Sleep no more, MacBeth hath murdered sleep”, or in this case it was Boo Bear. Instead of settling down, he perked up. He bounced about, hooted, flapped, and sang. He needed multiple trips to the bathroom and three clean pull-ups. Somewhere around 11:00 I went to bed, thinking I could at least be prostrate even if I could not sleep. Robert hung out in the other room working on his laptop. The hooting, flapping, and banging continued apace. Somewhere around 2:00 am I was aware that Robert was opening and shutting both the front and back doors and dogs were running around. I got up to find that Rosie, Boo’s retired service dog, had discovered that the back gate was unlatched and had taken off for a night on the town. I stood on the front steps rattling a box of Milk Bones and calling. No luck. Robert went around the block one way and then the other calling her name. No luck. Blearily, I pulled on clothes and shoes and decided to head out into the dark. I put Max on a leash and had just made it to the back gate where I was greeted by a very happy Australian Shepherd. Rosie had returned and she was very pleased with herself. She strutted her way into the house, wagging as she went. Now my house was filled with a hooting, flapping Boo Bear and a wet happy dog. We went back to bed. Ravi continued to hoot, flap, and sing until Robert got up for work. After Robert staggered out the door, I made myself some strong coffee and gave Boo Bear a bath. He happily bathed, ate approximately his weight in graham crackers, and fell asleep in our bed, glasses on. A few hours later, Robert brought home lunch. Ravi continued to snore. It is now 3:00 in the afternoon. Ravi is still conked out. I took care of dishes and laundry. Part of me wants to wake him up so he might sleep tonight. Part of me just wants to enjoy the quiet. So, I guess Autism does sleep, but only on random occasions.
Harriet's Hedgehogs and Autism Advocacy 
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