Warning: Whining follows.
So all three of our kids have decided to never sleep again. Sleep is for chumps, they say. I really hoped we had moved on to a new era of lovely, 8-hour overnight visits to dreamland, but no.
In the past three weeks or so, Sir Monkeypants and I have each gotten up at least once, usually two or three times — EACH — every night. The older two have had a crazy mixture of bad dreams, stomach aches, tiny bladders, lost sleep buddies, coughs, and forced awakenings to try to weasel a midnight viewing of the video that their sister got to watch before bed without them. GACK.
The worst by far, however, has been the Little Miss. She’s in that lovely phase when she’s losing her nap, does not want to nap, is too big for a nap, thanks anyway. So she’s napping at all kinds of weird hours, then going to bed at all kinds of weird times, and at least half the time she’s waking up at 2 a.m. wanting to have a three hour milkshakes-and-goldfish-crackers party, and trust me when I say, I AM TOO OLD FOR THIS.
On top of the crazy not-sleeping, the Little Miss has had some bad behaviour issues lately. I don’t know if it’s because she’s two, or if she’s finally getting some molars, or if she’s too short on sleep or what, but she is a total pill. A simple request to come to the table for dinner is met with tears and hysteria; ask her to pick up a toy or – heaven forbid! – put her pants back on and it’s a total meltdown. She plays happily with her brother and sister as long as they give her everything she wants, and when they don’t, she hits and kicks and screams. At this point she’s basically spending at least half her awake time wailing about… well, I don’t think even she knows what.
It’s wearing on me, I gotta say. By the end of the day, Sir Monkeypants comes home and I’m like a dangerous, vicious snapping turtle just waiting to bite his head off. I really wish I could fast forward a couple of months and move on to a happier time. Because there WILL come a happier time, right? RIGHT?
In other news, the Little Miss has a rash in and around her right armpit – a set of 40 or so little white-head like bumps. You’d think this might be the source of her crankies, but it really doesn’t seem to bother her much. The issue is that it is really, really bothering me and Sir Monkeypants. Our doctor says that this rash is Molluscum Contagiosum, and here are some fun facts about it:
- It’s caused by a virus, so there’s no medicine or creams that will treat it. The only thing you can do is burn off the individual bumps with liquid nitrogen, like a wart, and they totally aren’t going to do that on a squirmy two-year-old.
- So, you just have to wait for the virus to run its course. And that will take – wait for it – an average of 18 months, but it could be up to five years. FIVE YEARS.
- The whole time she has the rash, it is very contagious. It’s likely to spread around her body in a lazy, party-like fashion until it has had its way with her.
- Oh, and it’s also very contagious to others. It’s spread through skin-to-skin contact, or contact with wet towels she has used, or toys she has touched, or other surfaces like doorknobs.
So to sum up: there’s basically no way to avoid spreading this thing, short of locking the Little Miss in her room and not touching her for the next five years. We don’t quite understand how it is possible that the whole entire world doesn’t have it. Oh and bonus? Once it’s out of her system, she doesn’t even get immunity. She could be reinfected at any time in the future.
GREAT.
Although I have to say, having a valid medical excuse for locking the Little Miss in her room is awfully appealing.
TurtleHead 
Her little body battling that virus could very well be causing her to be out of sorts. Either that, or it’s just one of those many many stages she will go through. I know that isn’t too helpful, but if you keep the “stage” word in mind, it’s a reminder that this too will pass.
Been there so many times with my two kids.
Oh ick, that’s a lot to deal with. I find it hard enough dealing with two kids getting up multiple times during the night. Three makes it that much harder.
Much as the whole “it’s a phase” thing isn’t all that helpful, I suspect that is the case. I find our kids go through spurts of exhibiting just monstrous behavior, and then a weeks later they return to normal. The virus may be affecting her at least in some part. That is a strange virus, and yes–like you I wonder why it isn’t just running rampant through the entire population if it’s so contagious.
Hope sleep gets better for you soon…
If it makes you feel any better, it is my 7 yr old that has been keeping me up at night. For some reason he has decided it’s okay to wake Mommy up at all hours for all sorts of reasons. So I feel your sleep deprivation pain.
As for the Little Miss’ rash problem, we went through the exact samething with my son (originally thought they were warts on his hand). We were also told that it would take up to two years to disappear but in his case they were gone in about 6 months. May not be what you want to hear but know that they do go away and somehow my son managed not to pass it on to anyone else.
Sure hope the sleep gods are kinder to you in the very near future 🙂
Don’t buy the virus story — sometimes kids are just a pain in the ass because they can be :). And yes, it will pass. It will totally blow chunks for a while, and then it will pass.
My kids are rashy as a rule. Eve had something similar under her arm for a while — my doctor thought it was a staph infection. It didn’t last more than a couple of months. It bothered me too — I hate skin stuff.
Have you tried a healthy dose of Valium in their milk at supper? Or would that be wrong?
Yikes! Best of luck not getting infected! 🙂
Oh my god thank you for this post! Knowing that I am not the only one not sleeping at night and being driven crazy by not sleeping at night has lifted my mood considerabley. Seriously, I was this close to asking if I could have the rash that the Little Miss has just so I could be quarantined for awhile.
no sleep SUCKS! and that’s from the mom with one child. can’t imagine three! i hope the sandman visits very soon.
the jellybean has decided that napping isn’t his bag anymore. which means when we pick him up from daycare he is just about at his wits end and we have a fun evening of screaming, crying, flailing on the floor and general unhappiness. but i am so on the “it’s a phase” band wagon, just for my sanity.
i’m with allison, skin things suck.
It WILL get better. I feel your pain. I’m sorry. (and I’m afraid that’s all *my* sleep deprived brain can manage this morning 😉
no sleep sucks. we went through a period last year where my sleep was interrupted by both kids (4 and 7 at the time) every night for weeks on end. and it wasn’t a quick pat on the back/back to sleep. i did something kinda drastic about it but i have to say it’s been smooth sailing ever since. the same lady “cured” edie of her rash problem……i think you even commented on my blog post about our visit to the NAET practitioner.
Oh wow!
Being woken up four to six times a night? Check.
It’s the toddler, not the big boys. All toddler, all the time. And the worst part is, he wakes up, cries, I walk in, pat him on the bum, tuck him back under his blanket, and he goes back to sleep. I’m awake for another 30 minutes. Two hours later the cycle restarts. But if I don’t go to him, or try to comfort him from a distance, he flips out and we’re all up for hours. I swear, this didn’t happen with the big boys.
Toddler meltdowns? Check.
I’ve been writing a post for weeks called “The Toddler Tyrant”. I keep not publishing it because I can’t get it right. But seriously? He’s driving me batshit, and me being batshit crazy is not so easy on the rest of the family. Yeah. I really do have to get that post out.
Molluscum Contagiosum? Check.
Tristan has this on his leg. When the ped diagnosed it, we joked because it sounds like something out of Harry Potter. We didn’t hear about the contagiousness of it, though. Interesting. Tristan has all sorts of weird skin stuff, has also had a Spetz Nevus or something like that removed.
We’re leading parallel lives — if nothing else, misery loves company, right?
Both my nephews have molluscum contagiosum. And my Simon too. Simon, strangely, only has one. Unfortunately, IT’S ON HIS FACE right under one of his nostrils. We call it his “bump”. Every few weeks I’ll bribe him with candy and go at it, trying to get ride of it.
Doesn’t work.
However, for all its contagiousness, I don’t have any and Simon’s haven’t spread. I wouldn’t worry too much.
Skin stuff definitely drives me crazy. You remember those milia spots that newborns are born with. I would have to SIT ON MY HANDS not to pick at them when my boys were infants. I admit to giving in a few times and squeezing them.
My boys are so going to hate me picking at them when they’re teenagers, but I can’t help it.
As for the sleep deprivations, a friend and I were talking just this week and I think the last time I slept through the night was some time in 2001. No joking.
P.S. Am totally excited for Oct 2nd! Thanks for the referral!!
Sorry to hear of your sleep deprivation. We were going through that here, but it would seem that a simple switch from crib to big girl bed made the difference here.
As for tantrums, yes we are living the terrible two’s. Never had them with the other one so we didn’t figure it out for a while 😉
Oh man that sounds like a lot to take in all at once. I hope things settle down soon.
Toddlers… cute and hellish at the same time.
I hope this too passes quickly.
Oh man. That’s no fun. I found the Giving Up On The Napping very hard to bear, mostly because I needed the naps as much as the kids did. I need my 8 hours, and I need it baaaad. What helped me: early bedtimes (for me!), vitamin D, healthy foods, and lots of coffee!
And yes, there WILL be a happier time!!
OMG, add me to the list. Two year old is out of control. In three weeks she went from perfect princess to hell on wheels. I spent the week at CHEO with my oldest and came home to things being worse than when I left!! She is OUT OF CONTROL. Sleeping sucks here too, we moved her into her big girl bed and now she gets out when she wants (not so much at night, she prefers to just scream for me at night lately) which is messing up our naps. Also learned how to open the freaking door knob on her door recently too – so she just gets up and wanders around at naptime 😦
Sorry to hear about the rash – isn’t it always something when you have three kids?? My oldest was at CHEO all week for orbital cellulitis (a serious eye infection) and the only thing that kept me from “snapping” was the fact that he was going to be fine and be released eventually, when so many other sick babies around us were not going to get better.
OK, I’m a total downer tonight, but I hope knowing you’re not alone makes you feel a bit better???
Ya, that whole virus thing sounds really bizarre to me. Too bizarre. Probably with a little research you’ll find some miraculous thing that will make them disappear that doctors haven’t bothered to try because it hasn’t been clinically proven — like urine clearing up warts. I would say make sure her immune system is strong — that always helps to fight viruses faster – keep her away from refined sugar, lots of healthy foods, maybe some probiotics and fish oil supplements and try tea tree oil on the bumps. It’s drying and antibacterial so even if it doesn’t eliminate them, it will help stop them from spreading.
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