My son is hard to get up. His doctors have an official name for it: Sleep Inertia. Yeah, he's inert all right! :)

My other children get up all right. I wake them, they get dressed, eat, catch the bus. We lay all of our clothes out the night before, find all of the shoes, put the backpacks by the front door, and find the hairbrush and that helps tremendously, especially when my daughter thinks she's going to wear her sweat pants with holes. Their clothes are approved and ready to go.

My oldest, age 8 now, is something else. We would struggle with me pulling him from bed, putting ice on him, and physically putting the clothes on him, while he slept or kicked and fought me so he could sleep. Not a pretty sight. I'm not a morning person to begin with, and if you throw in a 45 minute knock down- drag out fight to put shoes on a kindergartner (including interludes of pulling child from under bed, out of closet, and from behind couch), and my whole day was ruined.

So, now he sleeps in his clothes. I know it sounds weird, but the little guy had some sensory issues before we changed his diet, and would often put his clothes on over his pajamas and wear the jammies all day anyway. This basically cuts out the extra laundry, and he doesn't have to worry about putting clothes on in the morning. He changes at night, sleeps in his school clothes, and in the morning, all he has to do is put his shoes on. He might look a little rumpled (although, honestly, he's a first grader. Most of his clothes are wash and wear and don't look any worse for the wear). Plus, it's easier for me to make sure he changes his underwear and socks everyday. Our mornings went from stressful yelling to fairly peaceful. The baby often sleeps right through the prep now.

The other helpful tip - the hair. His hair is kept very short, so he doesn't need to brush it. Plus, we save money because we can cut it ourselves with electric clippers.
Works for me!

***UPDATED***
Here are some links about sleep inertia. Basically, it is the grogginess everyone has for a few minutes after waking up. In some people, though, it is extreme to the point you cannot get them up or it persists for a long time.

The Morning Battleground - from the Bipolar Child
Mood Disorders and Sleep - from about.com

Labels: bipolar, Family Life, Special Needs, Works For Me Wednesday