Another Jedi Knight

I'll begin by offering many thanks to Will and Jenny for the Jedi Sleep Test idea. I didn't actually ask if I could borrow it, but...well, I'm counting on our friendship! :-)

A couple of months ago, Ryan's doctor had a sleep study scheduled for him, because of his loud snoring, poor sleep patterns, and, upon examination, huge tonsils and adenoids. After we came back from the beach and realized the test was in a matter of days, Dave and I began to have misgivings about it, as Ryan's snoring hadn't been quite so bad in recent weeks. Even up to yesterday evening, we were feeling some anxiety about it and were unsure of what to do, and were proceeding with reservations. And when Dave came home, he suggested that I take Ryan, an abrupt change of the plan that had Dave taking him. I hadn't thought Dave would have wanted to deal with Chase all night, so I hadn't even brought up the possibility earlier, but it seems Dave had heard horror stories about sleep studies from some guys he worked with, and he thought he might fare better with an unhappy toddler than with Ryan, who can be in a category of his own when it comes to resistance. :-) I was uncertain of this plan at first - I'd never been away from Chase for the night before - but it was also killing me to send Ryan off with Dave, when I'm almost always the one to take the kids in for doctor's visits and procedures, not to mention the fact that I might have some quiet time by myself if Ryan fell asleep okay, and that was VERY appealing. At any rate, I eventually agreed, we had prepped Ryan for this event, introducing the Jedi Sleep Test idea, and he was extremely excited. Once we arrived, he was slightly nervous, but I could tell he was determined to be brave. As I was talking to the respiratory therapist in our room, we looked down at him at one point and noticed he was holding his arm out stiffly and silently. Amused, the RT asked him what he was doing, and after a couple seconds, I realized he was showing her he was ready for the "stickers." She thought this was very cute, and she laughed most of the way through putting the rest of his electrodes and wires on, as Ryan was highly impressed with himself and thought it was all the coolest thing ever. I was glad he was so compliant, but I wondered how it would be when he woke up in the night. After all, this was the kid who just the night before had spent an hour screaming about a mosquito bite on his toe - how was he going to handle waking up with gauze wrapped all over his head, wires coming out from everywhere, and, most troublesome of all, a sensor just below his nose? But amazingly, he woke up only a couple times, and didn't fight any of it at all, and when he was awakened this morning to have everything removed, he submitted to it calmly and - as he kept mentioning - bravely. He was so proud of himself, and so was I! It's awesome to catch a glimpse of what your children are really made of - in this case, of the self-control, determination, and spunk deep within little Ry-Ry.