Night terrors

You can be almost 100 % sure that any major inconvenience will happen when you are extremely busy. Last week I missed my blog, since there were more important urgent matters and any early morning I normally can scribble my thoughts down while Number One Son is doing his early bird act was spent by having a snooze by all family.

Number One Son had a bug going through his system and his sleep pattern was all over the place. Recently, he has also had an occasional night terror – sometimes also during the day time when having a rare afternoon nap. Night terrors are apparently quite common with boys and they are basically random night time screamfests, when your child does not wake up but keeps crying and possibly screaming for a time, normally around half an hour. Hugely alarming when it happens for the first time and very irritating when you know what is happening. Neighbours are definitely not happy. Back rubbing helps sometimes and settles him down. Sometimes he regains semi-consciousness and finds a more comfortable position.

Last week Number One Son was generally feeling uncomfortable during the nights, so apart from the general stirs and cries during the night, there was a night terror or two. One night was especially bad and of course it was the night before the day I had to finish a major grant application. Basically, after a badly slept night I was copying and pasting figures to a budget sheet, totally aware that there was an item I should have included, but was feeling so spaced I just could not fiddle with the figures. I knew that in its current state all the figures added up and I knew what the figures contained. I just did not have the confidence to change the figures, since I was afraid to make a last minute mistake. Well, after reading the Himanen proposal that got €700,000 from different foundations and organisations in Finland with the most rounded of estimates and calculations, I probably should have just added an extra €10,000 for a conference without even breaking any sweat and estimating the true costs...