Just Because

As I was putting my son to bed this evening, he asked me to rub his back for him until he fell asleep.  This is not an unusual request, but tonight it struck me how different things are these days from the past few years as I felt his smooth, baby-like skin.  We were both commenting on how smooth his skin is, and we kept trying to find spots that were even smoother . . .the tip of his nose, his belly, his back, his cheek.  This was missing when he was an infant and toddler, I envied children with "baby-skin" as my son always felt like sandpaper, not to mention the rashes, flaking, and staph infections.  As I marvel at his progress, I almost forgot how for years his privates were so itchy that he would dig until they bled and scabbed over.  It was so painful watching him suffer and hear him beg for relief; if he could have torn it off he would have.  I worried that he would be permantely scarred both physically and mentally. It dawned on me this evening that it has been a good portion of a year since his privates have itched.

There were nights when I would be up for most of the night holding his hands while he slept to prevent him from doing further damage to himself.  One night in particular I rubbed his face for seven hours so he could rest.  This went on for several months, and I felt as if I aged twenty years. It's all a distant memory now, I just hope he forgets completely one day.

He begs for a baby brother or sister, but I know I have all I can handle.  I've been blessed that he's a loving, empathetic, and bright child.  But I've given all of my energy to healing him, and know I don't have it in me to start all over again.  What if he's my healthy one?  That thought scares me to death.  I hope he doesn't resent being an only child.  And if he does, he'll understand once he has a child of his own just how hard his mom worked at keeping him healthy.  Since I've become a mom I have often wondered if my mom loves me as much as I love my son.  I know the answer is 'yes', but it's hard to understand until you have a child of your own.  Which leads me to my favorite quote: “Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” Elizabeth Stone

6 Years Old!

Happy Birthday to my big kid, we now have a six year old!!  It's been a fun-filled week of birthday parties for my kiddo, 3 parties to be exact.  And they all involved LOTS of pizza and cake. He's had pizza from 3 different places this week including Chuck-E-Cheese and the bolwing alley, and the good news is that he's done GREAT! No itch and no hives, just the way we like it.  He's also had a few different cakes, check this one out from a local bakery:

It's a traditonal cake, not gluten-free.  He was in heaven to say the least!

He also had a school field trip to a local farm where he played in the hay and fed baby animals.  I drove separately in case we needed to high-tale it out of there, but amazingly he did fabulous. Even the teacher took a benedryl before heading out.

As for NAET, we're still going.  We've recently continued working on lungs, and last week he treated for 'spleen' which numerous organs showed weak to (which typically it's just his kidneys that test weak.)  We did come across one food that gave him some problems, and that was an organic Soneyfield strawberry go-gurt yogurt squeezer.  Soon after eating it he said it felt like "rocks in his throat" which was then followed by a stomach ache.  Looking at the ingredients it's hard to pinpoint which one it could be; it's possible it's a combination of some sort.  The odd thing is that he does fine with plain Greek yogurt, he eats it most days with honey added.  Greek yogurt has a higher milk protein, so it must be another ingredient in the squeezer that's the culprit.

All-in-all, he's made amazing strides since 2009.  It's awesome to watch him enjoy himself and to enjoy food again.