Night terrors and other things

The last time Stella had any night terrors was over 15 months ago; she had another one last night.

The whole experience was very similar to what happened last time. This time, the parrots went to bed around 7:30. I was woken up at around 11:25 by thrashing. When it continued, I went downstairs. I tried to comfort Stella through the cage bars, but it wasn't working, so I had her step up on my hand.

She freaked out and flew into the kitchen. It sounded like she landed pretty hard, but appeared to be OK when I got her. I comforted her for a few minutes. She refused to go in her cage, so I comforted her a bit more, then she reluctantly went back to bed.

During this time, Max also fell off of her perch; I'm not sure if that was for attention or if she was suffering from whatever Stella was. In any case, I reassured her verbally that everything was OK and told her to go back to sleep.

I was back upstairs at 11:35. Since Thomas was not home, I was tempted to take her upstairs with me to finish out the night. However, I did not want to start a precedent and give her an incentive to fake night frights so she can sleep upstairs with us.

Like last time, I had a hard time getting back to sleep. Finally, I put on a lecture about the Byzantine Empire and that did the trick!

This morning, the parrots all appeared to be normal.

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Andreas's light burned out Wednesday evening. He was out at the time, and when the light switched off, he looked quizzically at the dark bulb. I had to wait a few minutes to change his bulb so the old bulb could cool down. I wasn't quick enough for him, apparently, as he went into his hide in protest.

As soon as the new light was installed, he came back out.

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Last night should be the last night that Thomas ever has to work a 30+ hour overnight shift at the hospital! I am so excited about this! Now we just have to make it through the inevitable crabbiness that will present itself tonight after such sleep deprivation.

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We are running a half marathon tomorrow. Thomas has ambitious goals for a finishing time. We will see what happens! I prefer to set easier goals because then it's exciting when you smash them. And there's less of a chance of disappointment.