A Pride of Lyons: The Good and the Ugly

Since Blaine turned three this week and he's well on his way to being fully toilet trained he is now able to go to the "Big Kid's Gym" at the YMCA. Once a month the Y watches your kids (for free) so you and your spouse can go on a date. We had this scheduled a few weeks ago but The Great Snow Storm of 2011 hit and the city shut down. All programs were cancelled and Blaine couldn't go to the Y. Tonight was our make-up evening and Blaine was very excited, to say the least. We told him it was a pizza party (because they serve pizza) and he was going to get four hours of uninterrupted play on the indoor playscape. I dropped him off and Hannah and I headed off to Tomo to meet Daddy for some yummy sushi. Hannah preferred her MumMum bar over the Spicy Tuna roll.

Before I talk about "the ugly" I have to update you on the Gluten Free diet we've been doing with Blaine. We have seen an improvement in his behavior since we started the GF diet around the first of January. His impulse-control has improved, he has less aggression and he's generally more happy. He has even made some friends at school and his teachers are noticing positive behaviors all around. At Blaine's three year appointment this past Tuesday his pediatrician said that he'd like for us to go off of the GF diet to find out if the diet is really effective or if it was just a coincidence and Blaine was actually going through a really difficult transition time. We've discussed this and given that the GF diet is expensive, boring, kind of gross and challenging to keep up with we thought we'd give gluten a try again. Wednesday is the day that we started introducing wheat products back into his diet. He had a few incidents this week at school and then tonight his behavior was challenging.

Fast forward to pick-up tonight and when I walked in to get Blaine (from my care-free and fun evening) I saw him. Sobbing. Sitting by the front gate, crying, and screaming my name. I pretty much knew it wasn't good news. The Y childcare worker went on to tell me how he was unable to control his hands and feet, how he hit, kicked and swatted food out of other kid's hands all night. She said that he wouldn't listen to anyone and finally the director came out and put him in time-out which was where I found him when I got there.

I told him that it would be time for bed when we got home and he screamed that he needed dinner. I asked how much pizza he had and he said he didn't eat any... and then when I opened the additional dinner that I sent with him it was completely untouched. He hadn't eaten anything since noon, except for maybe a juice box, which they gave him at the Y. He insisted that he didn't like pizza and "they" wouldn't give him his lunch box, so therefore he didn't eat. Talk about a blood sugar drop! I am in no way making excuses for him but the kid needs to eat - especially a kid that is potentially ADHD.

He ate when he got home and went straight to bed. It's so hard to know if this is a diet thing or if it was a blood sugar thing or if we are swinging back into a difficult "transition time". (Sigh.) Poor guy - it was a tough night.

Here are pictures of Sister getting ready for her date with Daddy tonight.