Monthly Cycle

In the past few months, Lana has become better behaved and more willing to follow directions. It started around the time she was potty trained. I'm not sure if that helped or it was just a coincidence. All I know is a few months ago she would spend half her day in time out, and now she's there only a couple times a week. EXCEPT about once a month. She looses her cool completely for a few days reverting back to ornery Lana. At first I was joking around saying she was PMSing, until I realized her moodiness coincided with another monthly event. THE FULL MOON.

Okay-I know some of you just rolled your eyes, but I'm serious about this. My mom is a first grade teacher and she's always said that her students get a little nutty around the full moon, some more than others. I never really put much stock into it until now. Sonya and Georgia get a bit more loony too, but Lana is the one who really goes off the rails. She goes from no time outs to four in one day. I realized last month, when she was acting a little more crazy than usual, that night was a full moon. Then I remembered the last time she was like that was almost exactly a month before. I made a mental note to keep it in mind for this month. Of course, I forgot about it.

This past weekend the kids were being unusually unruly, especially Lana. I was on the phone with my sister, complaining how terrible the kids were acting with Lana leading the pack. That's when it occurred to me.

"Wait-when is the full moon?" I asked Beth.

"Tonight," she replied.

AH-HA! There IS something to this.

Then... THEN! That night. The very night of the very full moon, Lana woke up screaming. As I've said before she wakes up almost every night, but this time was different. This time she was screaming bloody murder, woke everyone in the house up, and wouldn't calm down for ten minutes. There was nothing I could do to soothe her. She kept crying and screaming. When I tried to hold her she would just punch and kick. I brought her to the living room where she continued to flip out. Nothing I tried was working, until this,

"Wanna watch Mickey?" I asked.

"Yes," she said and immediately stopped screaming.

I wasn't really planning on turning on the TV, but this gave me an opening to hold her and calm her down long enough to put her back to bed. Then she passed out in about thirty seconds of laying her down. Weird. After I thought about it, I realized that the amount of times she wakes up at night and how upset she gets, goes in the same monthly cycle.

So, even if it's not enough evidence to convince you, it is to convince me. There is a real correlation with the full moon and that kid. While there's nothing I can really do about it, at least I can be prepared for the once a month mood swing. I suppose this means I should also be on the look out for abnormal hair growth, fangs, and super strength around the same time.