Monday, June 22, 2009

Don't Sleep on a 4-Year Old...

So today I wake up with the makings of a migraine. This is something new for me. They just kind of came out of nowhere over the past few months or so. My condition is also self diagnosed--I haven't actually seen a doctor about this, but I think I know the difference between a regular headache and a physically disabling and debilitating turmoil of the head. Just by talking to people at work and trial and error, I now have the following treatments for this ailment: 1) Feed it caffeine 2) Stay in the dark 3) The less movement, the better 4) No loud noise 5) And the most important--catch it before it goes full blown with medication. Since I don't have a formal prescription from an M.D. then the next best thing I have as far as medicine is concerned is Excedrin for Migraines. The plan for today was to take Elijah to daycare, but I decided against this when I woke up around 6:30 a.m. with that wonderful nauseated swimming head feeling. Oh and not to mention horrid stomach cramps! Now that I think back on it I realize that the stomach cramps were more intense than my head hurting at the time. I immediately took some knock-off ibuprofen and slept a little longer. And by little, I mean very little--because Elijah's 3 1/2 year old inner-clock is always set for "early riser"; no matter if it's a school day or a Saturday. As usual, he is lying in the bed with me due to the fact that he usually wakes in the middle of the night, leaves his Mickey Mouse bed and falls right back to sleep in the empty space between myself and my significant other. Around 7:10 he awakens me with his usual "what's for breakfast?" questioning. However, he switched it up a bit today and decided to use a visual aid. You know how when you're in a "dead to the world" sleep and you wake up in a fuzz? Well, I woke up in that same fuzz, so it took me some time to realize that Elijah is standing over me with a box of macaroni and cheese in his hands telling me that this is what he wants for breakfast. Really??? Mac & Cheese for breakfast? So now we're both up and I manage to persuade him away from early morning pasta to cereal. Ugh...my head is throbbing now. I think it was about this time that I came to the conclusion that it is the makings of a migraine, but since I had just taken the ibuprofen not too long ago, I decide to hold off on the stronger stuff until later. After eating his Aldi-brand Cherrios, Elijah watches a little Noggin channel while I fight the need to close my eyes. I feel like the old Tom and Jerry cartoons where they use toothpicks to hold the eyelids open of the sleepy character. Somehow or another my toothpicks indeed break and my eyes are closed. Deep within the crinkles in my brain a little voice is reminding me that I should at least have one eye open to watch that little "angel" of mine. But it's like when you know you're having a dream and you wanna wake up and you can't. I cannot really account for how much time has passed but at some point I hear a faint buzzing sound, which slowly gets a little louder moment by moment until I realize that I am not dreaming and this sound is actually a reality. Where is it coming from?.....oh, the bathroom (from behind the closed door). "Elijah, what are you doing?" I inquire in a much too relaxed tone. Instantly, the buzzing stops and he innocently replies, "Nothin' mommy." "I just gotta go to the bathroom." "OK...hurry up", I respond without the slightest bit of urgency. Finally, my sleep fuzz has faded and I now come to the realization that Elijah + closed door + buzzzzzz = blood/hospital bill. So I jump up and bust the bathroom door open to find him quietly perched on the toilet, swinging his legs. Everything seems just as he described....what a minute....the electric clippers I use to shave me legs (and other hairy places) are laying on the floor. And Elijah just looks up at me with the biggest grin ever and with a great sense of pride he announces to me that he needed a haircut...thus the buzzing sounds. At first glance everything appears to be fine, but when I lean his head down toward the floor....there it is...a sizable chunk where hair once lived. Needless to say, he will be going to daycare tomorrow...migraine or not... Ciao...