no, no, no, no, no…. and no again

This is killing me, people. 

I feel like I’m breaking my kid’s spirit. A four year old should not have to hear the word NO so many times a day.

And then I had to take away his gum.  His treasure chest gum.  The gum he turns to during time outs and quiet time in his room.  The gum he loves to chew and share with everyone.  He looked at me with big eyes, his lips smacking the piece he had just shoved in his mouth, while I read the ingredients list.  I’m sorry Lucas, we have to be done with this gum.  It is not good for you right now.  Okay mommy, but can I give you and daddy a piece?

And then there are Nana’s fruit snacks… a little tradition they started a long time ago… full of off limits ingredients too.

A family Memorial Day BBQ, with a snack table full of veggies and dips and breads and chips and the only thing he could eat was the shrimp.  It’s a good thing there was 3 of them left.  He scarfed them down and then looked at the array on the table and reached for a celery stick.  I tried to distract him and pulled out the special snacks I had brought for him, but I could see the look in his eyes.

And the last straw today… Mustard.  Really?  Why must we put garlic in mustard?  He was begging for a “dip” for his burger strips and the only thing I could offer him was the juice from his sauerkraut.

This is harder than our gluten free diet.  At least with that, we have replacements for every thing.  But all these new “no’s” are not easy to replace.  Most of them are impossible to replace.  They are just plain NO’s.

Anyway…..

The rash is no better.  It’s been eleven days.  I’m giving it four weeks…. bumped out from the original two.  Four weeks, and we need to see progress.  Please?