I can tell you what first triggered the hyperactivity tonight- Tron. The sci-fi movie with all the loud noises and spinning lights. Can you say "sensory overload"? Josh is very well-meaning and thought Brian would love the fast motorcycles and crazy light shows, he's right, Brian does love that stuff, but don't expect him to sit and watch that stuff. Expect him to escalate to running, jumping, flapping, and screaming (happy screaming).
So that started it. However, he didn't come back down. He only escalated. Some people would say that is normal for sensory overload- which it is- but it's not normal for my little boy. I have our bag of tricks that work to bring him back down and I can always bring him back down after I pull out a few tricks. It wasn't happening tonight.
I brought him upstairs alone and he couldn't stop giggling. Manic giggling. He couldn't stop moving and rocking. Then he would do his "Yee-ee-ee" ten decibels higher than usual. He was big-time craving proprioceptive- pulling me on top of him and squeezing me, burrowing his head underneath me while I lay next to him. His eyes were huge like he was high on something. The hands were flapping a mile a minute. Yet, he had beautiful eye contact and words during this time. Then his cough started becoming worse because he was seriously working himself up that much. Then the wheezing started. Then a rash on his cheeks and his chest. Bedtime was atrocious and that is actually one area that we never have problems with. Generally he's out 3 minutes after I turn off his light. Not tonight, it took him at least half-an-hour to stop rolling back and forth and laughing to himself in bed.
In reality, though I want to blame Tron, he was off yesterday too. His notes from the past two days from school included "loud day today". He was very obsessive about things at home and tantruming a bit more than usual too.
Then if I wanted to go further I could say it's been hard for him to get back into routine after being home sick last Wednesday and Thursday, then a snow day on Friday, then the weekend. Five days- pretty much a vacation, which he always has a hard time transitioning from.
Then the very last thing I can attach it to is the B-12 shots we started recently. That's the thing I'm avoiding attaching it to. Why? Because we've seen this growth in speech almost overnight during those five days he was home. I mean really a bunch of new stuff he hasn't done before. I hate to think those same shots that I'm attributing better speech and better reciprocal interactions can be also attributed to out-of-control mood swings.
Then I spend all this time trying to figure out what caused it and I send myself right into an anxiety spell. Am I the only crazy mother out there doing this? Sometimes I want to say to myself, "Heather, he's finally asleep. Just drop it. Relax and enjoy your quiet time until you go to bed. Tomorrow is another day."
Tomorrow is another day.
Just hopefully not another day of manic behavior.
