Tongue, it's Time for your Encore

The power of petitioning the universe. 

I’m not terribly superstitious.  Unless you put shoes on a table.  Or walk past money and sniff at it as you pass because it’s “only a penny”.  (To me this signifies telling the universe that you don’t care or appreciate any flow of money it sends your way).  Or say things out loud, including discussions about those things that you Don’t Want to happen.  It’s bad enough that your mind went there, why put form to it and allow it to float from your lips like a helium balloon….up and away somewhere higher to the ears of the All.

My mother asked me last Friday how Miss Humanling was doing with her seizures.  I replied that she’d been doing pretty good this summer.  She hadn’t had one in too long…or too many.  She had one the night of the carnival.  But other than that, ok for the most part. 

Cue Saturday morning before 7am.  I don’t know how I wake up, I just wake up right before her seizure starts.  It always looks so stressful on the body.  Everything is as tense as it can get.  When I saw blood drip out of her mouth I knew she’d have to deal with the sore tongue for a few days. 

Later that day she seemed more “blinky” as I call it…more “out there”.  Warning signs.  Even though it was nearly 6:30pm, I told her she should take a nap when we were done with the laundermat.  I usually don’t advocate late naps for her because I don’t need her more awake than me at midnight.

So she put on her dandy purple eye mask, only too happy to be granted a free pass to a nap!  And fell asleep.  That’s when I allowed the new little kitty out to romp around.  She eventually made her way onto where my daughter was sleeping and bounced all over her, waking her up.  With the eye mask on I couldn’t detect if it was going to end up giving her a seizure but didn’t really think much of it since she’d just fallen asleep not long before. 

I decided to wash dishes because sometimes, that’s just how we pass our time around here.  Throwing the water on, I waited for it to heat up and then heard noise from the other room…I peeked and saw her in a seizure, in the recliner chair.  Leaving the water on, I ran in to make sure she would be safe from falling out of the chair.  Her body seemed even more tense than it had in other seizures.  And as I thought it to myself….don’t let her bite her tongue again, since it was raw from the morning, there was no avoiding it.  Tongue mash.  Lips blue.  The blue lips don’t happen too often.  Her very first seizure produced such an effect, which is really horrifying to see.  I watched to see that she was breathing okay, being grateful that breathing is automatic. 

Had I mentioned that the sink has been clogged?  Waiting for the end of the seizure and trying to count time, I wondered outside of myself if the water was going to overflow and add further to this precious moment.

She woke up later on, of course unawares of the seizure.  Unfortunately, her tongue was so sore and swollen that now she earned a Lisp of Honor that she’d carry for a few days.  I feel so bad when this stuff happens.  Her tongue hurts for days, making it tough for her eat or not sound drunk at times when she speaks. 

She doesn’t seem to notice the change in speech, which is good.  And this gives her an excuse to get lots and lots of sympathy from mama (which usually results in fun or yummy things!)

Yours, Mine and Ours

For some reason, whenever I see someone in a movie have a seizure, it makes me very sad.  Not just "Oh that sucks" sad.  But "Oh....that could be my child" sad.  And then because I understand more than what meets the eye because it's so close to me, it makes it tough sometimes to even look at the photos they post on the epilepsy websites of people.  You see real people...(yes, as opposed to the titanium people they normally picture on there).  You can look into their eyes, which are usually smiling along with their mouths.  And end up imagining what they go through...just like your own child.  There is a good moment, there they are smiling.  But there is this thread that weaves through them, each one of them, to your own child.  It makes me want to hug every single one - and their mother. 


I wonder if other parents of epileptic children, sprouts or oaks, share this with me. 

The Invitation of Meltdowns

Effing birthday invitations.  They are rare around here so Humanling is ecstatic to have gotten one from her friend that she hasn't seen in forever.  The festivities will include swimming pool, trampoline and most importantly....CUPCAKES!  It is a dual party for a brother and sister who's birthdays coincide in the same period of time.  


Even though we've discussed it more times than Mercury has rotated the sun for all of time thus far, and my consensus is that a sleep over is not safe, her enthusiasm burst from all of her veins....
"Well???? CAN I GO???"  
"Yes, you can go."
"Can I sleep over?"
"No, I don't think it's safe."


{exits stage left and goes into bedroom, most likely with the door shut}


Eventually, because in an endearing way, puppies and kids, they forgive so easily, and we don't have another person for her to play off of here so it's the end of the line for strategy, she comes back out.  Hugs me, hands me the invitation.  Walks off and slams her door.  Are we upset or not?  Comes back out.  says she is upset (glad that's settled!).  I explain the good....but you can go to the party, you can swim, be on the trampoline, eat the cupcakes and be with your friend til late.  Then you have to come home.  The part about sleeping over and more than likely having a seizure (probably due to excitement and diet that day) in front of a gaggle of 13 year olds doesn't seem to phase her.  She has not ever seen a seizure.  


This is something that I've thought about for awhile now.  She's old enough I think.  If she didn't have epilepsy, she might see someone else in life have a seizure.  So, in order to show her the importance and mechanics of a seizure I wondered if finding one online might be suitable.  Her neurologist seemed horrified by the idea.  Well I'm horrified that the neurologist doesn't think one's lack of water consumption affects seizures.  So her opinion almost doesn't count.  Why expose her is the neuro's take.  Well, she blanks our during a seizure obviously.  Therefore, she doesn't understand why I am a helicopter parent with so many situations.  She doesn't realize anything except that once in awhile her take home gifts from Seizureville are a headache or a bitten up tongue.  She just has no memory of these events and is under the impression that I've been schooled in the Mom From Hell School of Hovering.


I'd bet milk chocolate on the fact that when I finally get her home that night, she will be happy to be in a quiet, low key situation where she can just relax and go to sleep and not remember a possible seizure around me instead of a bunch of kids who will make it feel like pressure to stay awake all night.  I'd bet dark chocolate on it but there's a minuscule chance that I'll lose.  

Wearing a Gallagher Bib

I think with any affliction or illness, just because you've been around it long enough does not mean you've honed  your common sense in the fine art of Cause and Effect. 


As I repeat (ad nauseum) that Humanling shouldn't be left to get up alone in the morning (just in case) sometimes  it happens.  There have been many a morning she can get up on her own and may need a small adjustment period instead of the Family Walk up and down the hallway.  I usually can't differentiate why some mornings work and some don't, although being able to sleep naturally without being woken up seems to be one factor.  Meaning, get a freeze gun, put the whole neighborhood, sky, early birds preying on the worm, car horns, my animals, sneezes, and thunder on hold, until she can wake up on her own.  This makes school days nearly unbearable for me.  Getting her on time to the bus stop is a 46% chance event with me driving the rest of the time.  If she has a seizure while I'm trying to get her to wake up, then the reset button is hit and I have to let her sleep it off until I can get her to school and me to work.  


I haven't actually seen her have a seizure in about a month (yay!) but I am not petitioning the universe for one to shake things up (no pun intended).  (Really).  She says that she had one at her dad's but if she can't feel an arm jerk when I'm looking at what appears to be an awake person, then that's a world I don't make the height requirement on.  I'll never get inside her head to know what she actually feels.  


I was doing a great job of tiptoeing around the house this morning to get the morning chores down.  I even wore socks as part of my Superhero ensemble of Shhhhh Mama.  


While I was in the kitchen, I suddenly heard a thump (which always puts the heebies into my heart) and then she strolled into the kitchen.  This isn't trustworthy though.  She appears fine.  Only really, I have to give it time.   That's why she fell that one morning...I paid my full subscription to False Security Hourly.  I watched her for a moment or so and then ducked into the bathroom for less than a minute as I heard her open the fridge door, get a glass and pour her rice milk.  Then the glass hit the floor.  


She was fine.  She had a case of the Arm Jerks.  She went to drink and I'm assuming the glass fell out of her hand.  I asked her how it hit the floor and she said she didn't know what happened.  


Sigh.  She's fine the rest of the day (unless the sun nabs her through the trees on a drive in the car).  It's just that waking up is so criminal to her system for some reason.  I haven't found anyone who can really explain it to me.  To keep her system engaged, I had her attempt to clean up the mess (try that with your kids, folks!  Tell them it's for their sensory good to Keep them "engaged"!)  


I explained to her that in the mornings, she has to wait for the jerks to stop (you know, those jerks that she doesn't even know that she has) before she can try to hold a glass of liquid.  And all before my coffee!  The humanity!

The Slumber Party Dilemma

The joys of getting to sleep a little later in the summertime can't be appreciated enough!  Seeing as my girl's seizures can happen as she is waking up, the more sleep she can get, the better.  I'm having to do slightly less walking her around when she first wakes up, although I still have to do it.  I'm pretty sure that I remember her neurologist telling me that she's never heard of stopping a seizure at all.  I don't claim to stop a seizure.  However, I can see the signs of one coming...the arm jerks, the head twitches.  If I can get her on her feet and give her brain stimulation that it has to deal with, this method has worked for us 99% of the time.  Now that's if she can stand, which means that she hasn't gone into the seizure yet.  If I leave her to lie there on her own, she will have one.  


This causes me to go back and forth on the issue of sleeping next to her.  I'm currently single and Brad Pitt has not requested our special night alone.  Allowing her to sleep next to me ensures that Parent Ear turns into Parent Sensory.  I can feel her moving and can feel a twitch generally.  


What I can't do though is explain to her what she is going through.  She turns into a pint sized Hulk whenever I get her up on her feet.  Too tired to deal she gets all no nonsense CEO on me. I'd be lying if I said it didn't get to me.  But I realize that she doesn't really understand what's up.  She has never seen a seizure.  She's as present as a sewer grate when it happens, so how could she?  While her arms are jerking and I have her still somewhat coherent and work on bringing her out 100%, I'll ask her...did you feel that?  Your arms just jerked....did you feel that?  And the answer is pretty scary...."no".  


Her speech during this time sounds like she needs a breathalyzer.  She slurs and drops sentences.  So that leads me to the annual jackhammer event of the year: a birthday party for one of her friends, that involves a sleepover.  My Hammeress hardly ever gets to enjoy what most kids and parents take for granted.  I slept over so many houses and hosted mine in return as a kid (I happened to be friends with a bed wetter...and believe it or not, it didn't dampen my outlook on sleepovers!  Get it??)  In our case, sleepovers become a bone of contention.  She doesn't have it like I did.  Once we tell parents about the epilepsy, you can see the worry and nerves starting to cinder on the spot.  I don't blame them.  If it were me, and I didn't have any experience with epilepsy, I wouldn't feel too bad about expressing my inadequacies to do with handling a seizure.  But she thinks of herself as a perfectly normal teen.  One that can just sleep at someone else's house.  


She needs sleep.  Sleepovers alone and with a birthday party stack up against her.  First, the excitement alone can cause a seizure.  Next, lack of sleep of course!  It's a sleep over but not for sleep!  Being in a strange house, eating too much junk food are also big contributors to set up for a seizure.  Let's not forget the stigma attached to kids if they have a seizure in front of other kids.  This may or may not happen but if kids are the way that they were when I was child, it's inevitable.  


So while I have set her up for a most probable "No", I have not completely given my ruling on this.  Many times we can put her epilepsy one row behind the forefront of our minds. At the same time however, conditions we need to set are always one thought away.

Can You Level Up While Bleeding?

It seems like a comet's revolution since my Humanling had her last seizure.  In our house the revolution time frame is tweaked just a tad.  But if she goes to this Saturday without a seizure, it will be three weeks I believe.  That's a long stretch for us.  With school being out and she not having to feel the wrath of her dastardly Not Special at all Ed teacher, she can be more relaxed and who knows, maybe that lends a hand.  She also does not have to wake up quite as early.


I don't know if I've mentioned but Humanling showed me this thing on her head back in December.  She is the master of obtaining "things" on her skin or weird symptoms of some kind that lie across the border of 'iffy' for a doctor's attention. The kind where if you go to the doctor's office for it, you aren't rushing for an appointment for fear of looking like a hyper insurance spending dolt.  The kind of things where you coolly tell the receptionist, "Three months from now?  Yeeeeaaaahhhh.  That's just fine."  But this .... growth (ew...the word is even ominous) was on her scalp. And as the proud owner of a child with issues that affect the brain, I don't want anything except hair on her scalp.  I don't need extra riddles and puzzles going on up there. It was taunting her daily so that her little talons were tearing it up at night.  After she got a hold of it, it was an angry red and swollen mass, way overdressed for this party.


I think I recall her pediatrician saying it was eczema or something of that ilk and recommending I see a dermatologist.  Who recommended what he thought it probably was, but wanted us to try a steroid cream for about a month first.  I freaked over the S word but was bolted back down to the ground with doctor speak.  He mentioned the amount she was getting was so small (but it's near her brain!) and that it wasn't the home run hitting type.  Reluctantly I tried it and it didn't do anything except make Herman the Growth, less angry looking.


Ah, so we found out that Herman is actually from the Nevus Sebaceous species.  According to Wikipedia, it is a "congenital, hairless plaque that typically occurs on the face or scalp.  Likely it was there since birth.  But once those precious beings of ours hit puberty, Herman also hits puberty and grows larger.  


The downside to this visitor is that it can overstay its welcome and turn on its owner.  Nevus can Jekyll and Hyde right into sebaceous carcinoma. Or that icky C word, skin cancer.  Although I'm told it's a more benign type.  My mantra again....but it's near the brain!!!  No cancer thank you, will be ok at all, nevermind near her brain.  I'm not sure about other moms of Eppies but I am overprotective of her head.  A snowflake is lucky I don't shoot it for landing on her head.  


So today was our appointment with the plastic surgeon to have it removed.  She was a great sport and played her DSi throughout.  But don't let the photo fool you. The needle they used to anesthetize her head was shiver worthy.  She is usually the kid who will watch blood being drawn from her arm.  Today however, she was obviously in a lot of pain.  The removal part did not hurt, thankfully.  But her shirt was somewhat ruined by blood (although they tried all the laundry tricks immediately with peroxide).  The doctor laughed when I said to her, "Your hair is a beautiful shade of red now!"  It was all blood.  They cleaned her up as best as could be done and nine staples later, we were outta there!  


We very much could have had her knocked out.  But....I don't like the thought of putting that type of anesthesia in her body - she's just a bean pole.  And a bean pole with epilepsy.  So we went for a local.


There are risks with the local as well.... arrhythmia and seizures.  Seizures show up enough that I'm used to them.  I don't want to learn how to deal with arrhythmia in a child. I asked if this is the type of problem that shows up a lot or if it happened in the history of the procedure somewhere and they have to cover bases by telling me.  It turned out to be the latter.  


She's pretty sore and it looks really tender.  I'm left with the thought of wow, I saw a big hole in her head....should I have taken a picture?  There won't be another moment like that!  I have no idea how any doctor looks at that and has a normal life when he clocks out.


Moving over to the research side, I question many things to see if they have anything to do with epilepsy.  Typing in Nevus Sebaceous and Epilepsy to my buddy Google,  yields minimal but informative results.  DermNet NZ says "Neurological disorders are rare, but occasionally occur in children with very large sebaceous naevi. Epileptic seizures are the most common problem."  


Why did I have to Google that to find this out?  No doctor is telling me about it and I'll bet that I will be two for two when I inform her neurologist of this.  (The plastic surgeon did not seem to be aware of it).    My question is now of the chicken or egg variety....does this growth cause the epilepsy?  Is it a byproduct?  Will removing it better a cure?  That last sentence should have a few rainbows, unicorns and Channing Tatum scrubbing my dishes.  It's a little far fetched, I know.  But I do have to wonder.  


Say Goodnight, Herman.  Goodnight Herman.

Whoops

Sometimes it is simply amazing how that kid's mind works.  There are times where she is excited to get up and go to school and on those days, there isn't a problem in sight with a seizure.  She's waking the birds up on those mornings.  That was today.  Yearbooks were to be given out.  


The road to hell is paved with good intentions...and I bought a brick with my name engraved in it.  Last night, for all my writing of being careful waking her up and timing and circadian rhythms, planetary farts and feather dipping, I committed one of the major Boo Boo's in the epileptic rulebook for my Humanling.  She had been awake about 20 minutes prior asking if she could come out and sleep with me.  I told her that the rule is if the light is on, then no.  It means I'm staying up longer (probably playing Farmville and babysitting all my blogs) and that she can come out later.  So I decided to save her the wait and went in awhile later.  Remember last night's blog in which I stated that no matter how asleep she was, the magic words that promise sleeping next to mom wakes her up Just Like That?


She didn't wake up Just Like That. At first.  I asked again and she suddenly jerked open her eyes and screamed bloody murder.  (No chizz this time.  Just bloody. Murder.).  


With a consciousness entrance like that I knew we'd be stuck not lying down for a bit.  And so it went.  I walked her back and forth for nearly 10 minutes to try and stop the jerks that had started.  Eventually she got all angry at me because she wanted to lie down but I knew if she did, she would fall into a full fledged seizure.  The longer I can keep her on her feet, the better.  Finally she indignantly laid down.  And thankfully we'd been up long enough because there were a couple of minor twitches and then she twirled her hair through her fingers and fell asleep.


Those are the moments  I realize that most parents can take for granted their kid just going back to sleep.  Not so with my child.  She has to be monitored until her body can calm down.  


Tonight however, I will NOT be prematurely extending any offer to come out and sleep next to me.  If she wakes herself up while talking in her sleep, there will be a spot waiting for her. 

Saturday.  A day to sleep in finally.  I was fooled though - I woke up at 7:20ish to my parent ear alerting me to Seizure sounds.  I ran into the other room to be sure that Humanling wasn't hanging off the bed - she is in a loft bed that was a gift to her and once was half hanging off during a seizure.  She wasn't.  But I usually take the blankets off her and make sure that she can't get twisted up in anything.  I don't know how other parents handle seizures, but I talk to my girl during.  I tell her it's going to be ok.  I tell her that I'm there, that I love her.  I stroke her hair, her legs, her arms and try to be comforting.  Maybe it is comforting to me more than it would be for her.  But I follow the rule of not knowing what the subconscious hears, so better to err on the side of positive statements.  I try to keep the "Jesus Christs!" under control.  


When the seizure was winding down, I noticed her thumb stuck in the collar of her shirt.  I hoped that she hadn't sprained it or anything.  I have a great respect for the strength of the body during a seizure.  It didn't appear swollen.  I usually re-position her body afterwards as well.  Make sure her spine isn't twisted, her neck looks like it's in a comfortable position, her arms in a natural position.  I had a guest on my show once (Scorpion Equinox) who cured her own epilepsy.  She had told me that the neck needs to be massaged because it holds a great amount of stress and tension there from seizures.  That made perfect sense to me.  Sometimes I actually remember to do this for her.  


When she got up awhile later and came into where I was, I let her know that she had a seizure, which is what I normally do.  She said that she already knew.  I asked how, because I'm always curious to know what the answer will be.  Sometimes the sore tongue is a dead giveaway.  Today it had nothing to do with her tongue.  She said she felt it.  I asked her further how did she feel it - what did it feel like?  It's rare that she is conscious enough to feel it.  She said she felt the shaking.  Did it hurt?  No, it didn't hurt.  


Well thank God for small favors.  It doesn't hurt.  Unless she bites her tongue of course....then later on she has a hard time with eating for a day or so.  


For the rest of the day she acts normal.  Although on a school day, when we're trying to get ready to get out of the house early and she has a seizure, she seems to be in a bad mood.  


I find that immediately I start analyzing the day before.  Did she have dyes?  Too much sugar?  Not enough water?  Too much activity? Excitement?  Gluten? What happened?  How can I actually even know?  


But I bet if she had been sleeping with me, it may not have happened.


Epilepsy in this house involves a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda moments.  Although none of the projected scenarios can be founded.  


The rest of her day was fairly normal.  She played a song for me on her keyboard that I had no idea that she even knew how to play....without the sheet music.  She even dressed up in concert type clothing.  She finished her dinner before me tonight, ran to get dressed and played Christmas songs for me on the keyboard as I slowly, extra slowly, finished my dinner,.  


At some point during the day she showed me how she could even play music with her toes.  


But she went to bed on her own, as she usually does.  She tries to stay up slightly later than usual but is one of those children that is affected by time.  Her body tells her that she can't stay up any later and against what she really wants to do, she has to give in.  


I am grateful that although she has epilepsy, she doesn't at this time, have it any worse.  

No Calls Please, I'm Frolicking

The first words out of Humanling's mouth when I told her it was time to get out of bed this morning were, "I'm busy frolicking."  Which unless the Emperor cannot see 'frolicking', she clearly was not.


Getting her ready in the mornings for school can put a sense of dread into waking up once the birds start their song.  With the windows open, the birds sound beautiful, but rather loud.  And I can't have loud noises waking her up - especially in the wee early hours of dawn.  So I close windows.  Then the cat decides that 4am is the norm for deuce dropping and her claws in the litter box echo down the hall, sounding like an angry teacher dashing punishment across a chalk board.


I am usually at my most tired during the dawn hours and am hoping to sleep soundly for another hour or two.  But it is also here that Parent Ear has to perk up more than usual and listen for any tell tale signs of a seizure happening.  


Sometimes I jump out of bed only to realize that the noise I heard was one of the guinea pigs getting water out of their bottle.  I fear waking her up with all my mini fire drills, popping out of my bed every 20 minutes to check for sources of sound.


With Humanling's epilepsy also comes a more needy learning curve.  She has an IEP at school to protect her from all kinds of academic unfairness.  She is to get more time to take tests, she gets physical and occupational therapy and also a locker with a key instead of a combo. Special Ed classes don't look anything like they did when I was younger.  I'm not sure if the stigma sticks but I don't hear too much about it.  Then again, I don't have the pipeline to the lunch table when kids might have some opinions about special ed kids.  


Recently Humanling completed a book report.  This morning she was fretting that she might have to read it out loud and what if someone asked a question?  I asked her what was wrong with that....she read the book, just answer it as best as she can.  And then she said "But I'm not a good listener".  And it's true....she really isn't.  I don't know if it's a good thing that she knows it.  I gave her one of those moment pep talks about just listening closely to what a person is saying.  


A frequent worry for me is how other kids perceive her.  She was in a talent show this past Spring and sang a song from High School Musical.  Her friends were insane with the clapping and various bouts of "Whoooo!".   So it seems like the kids in her school are not the bullying ogres of my day in junior high....but then again, they hardly wear the t-shirt stating that they plan to give your kid a swirlie when no one's looking.


There is a class trip to Washington DC next year....you know the one that most of us go on at some point.  Mine was in 5th grade.  Theirs is in 8th.  She's already asked me in all excitement if she can go.  And this is where the dilemma comes in.  I tried to gently tell her that she might not be able to go.  What if she has seizures on the bus in front of her friends?  What if she gets bus sick because they stop for the degenerative dollar menu at McDonalds?  We're vegetarian.  She has stomach aches on a regular basis.  


I'm terrified that if she ever has a seizure in front of her friends, they will either imitate and make fun of her behind her back or - another equally great option - someone will be traumatized by the sight of it.  What if they are afraid of her after that?  What if whenever she walks by they make electrocution movements?  I can't punch children.  And it's illegal to hire Scut Farkus to do it for me.  


Besides that, a solution of understanding is what would help.  And maybe I don't give these smiling cherubs enough credit.  We usually don't.  

The Wires Come Off

It'd be great to get to writing without distraction since it is 9:30pm.  But my willful child has decided to meander out here, her face all screwed up trying to think hard of an excuse as to why she needs to be out of bed.  This is a normal occurrence here in this house.  Now I can't say for sure but it seems that even though her first big ticket seizure happened with me next to her in the bed, lately it seems like she is not having them if she is next to me.  Some mornings if I hear her stirring before the Seizure Witching Hour, I'll ask her to come lie down with me.  She's been fine with that set up. 


But now that I've said it out loud, I've probably inadvertently petitioned the universe to test the theory.


And naturally, since she was all hooked up with her 24 hour EEG all night, there wasn't a seizure to be found.  They are in fear of recordings...similar to how Native Americans believed the soul would be captured in a photograph.  


On the way down, the Humanling insisted on doing the usual music bargaining - making sure to start before we even backed up to leave the driveway.  Miranda Cosgrove.  Seeing that I have heard these songs over and over again, I counter offered - ONE song.  And it can't be dreary.  


She got one song.  And it WAS dreary.  I cringed and then noticed that my left foot was tapping the floor to the dreariness of the beat.


She also mentioned to me what her costume is going to be for Halloween this year - a female prisoner.  Because that's the theme in the Lady Gaga "Telephone" video.  Great.  How about a giant padlock instead to keep you in your room on Halloween?  


We were late getting out the door to have the wires removed and the woman removing them was almost fully direct in verbally spanking us.  Almost.  She more or less complained loudly, letting us know that this could really alter the orbits of the universe.  


Seven minutes later we were outta there!  


So she had a two day hall pass from school.  And spent a lot of time today making up for not being on the laptop yesterday.  


We played more Junior Monopoly tonight and ended up in a deadlock.  I played Eddie Rabbitt's "I love a Rainy Night" for her and she seemed to like it.  So I upped the ante to "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins.  I don't know how the two are related but in my head it's a natural progression.


For now she's gotten her way (sort of).  She is laying down on my bed under the condition that if she was not sleeping within 10 minutes of her head touching the pillow, she is sent back to her bed, no questions and no bargaining.  It worked.