Eating That Elephant

A friend commented on a local list how much more delightful her (recently annoying) children were when she fed them and make sure they got enough sleep!

We’ve recently found out that DS has chronically low energy levels – he’s literally running on adrenaline (corresponds to the “not enough rest”) and his body is eating his own muscles for protein (obviously the “well-fed” part) despite adequate intake.

It seems that almost all of his issues – severe anxiety, moods, etc – can be traced back to this basic issue (which is quite complicated once you get into the “why” of it). After a summer of pumping him full of supplements (currently 33 pills/packets/etc total each day, poor child) we are having so many more good days than poor ones – and the poor ones are almost always an impending illness or a sleep disturbance. It’s so nice to see – to just be around! (I wish some of you that came last night had been at the plant exchange – talk about night and day!! At the beginning of the summer he couldn’t even come out into the yard for a party he had helped plan, due to anxiety…and he was so upset about it….last night he was a social butterfly, showing off his guinea pigs and fetching candles so the bugs wouldn’t eat us 🙂

It’s really eye opening…my whole business is based on the philosophy that kids (people!) are doing the best they can with what they’ve got…but there were parts of me that still didn’t quite “get it” until this summer. Ooooh, he’s *not* being rude because I’ve failed as a parent, it’s because he’s drained down to nothing. Get him feeling better and he is a sweetheart. Ooooh, when he says he “can’t” walk back to the table and clear his dishes, he really feels that way, he’s not just trying to be lazy – get him feeling better and he makes me lunch 🙂 Etc.

I’m still really nervous about school though….I’m afraid we will just not be able to keep up and balance all of the stress and exhaustion with supplements and I wish he had more of a reserve built up. I asked him if he was almost ready for school to start, and he said no, he thinks about 5 months of summer would be just right. Smart kid…the way things are going, I wouldn’t mind another month myself!