I couldn't sleep Saturday night. Got 3 hours of sleep. SS woke up trying to unlock our bedroom door. I go out the bedroom and our front door is open and unlocked, no sign of him. I wanted to kill him he's eight. He's been doing this kind of thing for attention. He hasn't done it in a while until tonight. He has woken up a few times, one time I found him upstairs and very directly and calmly told him "you need to go to the bathroom. if you are done you need to go back to bed." (that happened about two times recently. So Saturday/sunday morning at 2am I made him use the bathroom and go back to bed. I try to not talk to him too much at night bc that's the point if why he does this. His dad was getting up with him and making things worse, he listens when I tell him and doesn't do all his faking crap. With everything that's happened at my work I couldn't sleep I was in fight or flight mode the rest of the night/morning. My coworkers dad was kidnapped earlier this month everyone has been on high alert, we prosecute cases and a blood gang kidnapped her father and almost killed him as a direct result of her work in our office.

I was so upset and so alert that I made the decision to go back to his room and I said " we need to talk do you know where I work ? We put bad people in jail. There are bad people and if we leave our doors unlocked they could come in here do you understand? Something bad happened to my coworkers family. We are fine but you can't do that you understand. That's why we lock the doors. The gate is going back up tomorrow" I don't want to scare the kid but holy crap. I woke up to the handle being fooled w and front door open.

Sunday morning he was watching cartoons upstairs, I told him "turn the tv off. Go to your room and wait for your dad to come and talk to you"

SO and I talked about what his punishment should be for doing this (he's been told over and over about staying in his room other than going to the bathroom at night.) We had a gate up so that he'd stay in his hall where his room and bathroom are and had recently taken it down, that now has to go back up to keep him safe from going outside at night. In the past he has gotten up and told us that he stomped around to try to wake people up (so fully awake and aware...SO believed he was sleep walking and really the kid told on himself that he was just wanting attention)

So punishment, we took his Kindle away and the disconnected old iPhone he plays with all the time for this week. We talked to him and he seemed upset but listened to us. Most of Sunday he remembered to lock all the doors after exiting and entering etc.

I'm working off of very little sleep again. the kid has actually been pretty good other than this night time thing. SO and he went to a birthday party all day Saturday and didn't get home til late and the previous night bitchy wife of friend was over way too late and the kid didn't go to bed on time so all of that might have messed up his routine.