Life, though different, marches on

I've been reluctant to post too much about the issue we've had with one of our kids (for the background, please go here), since every time I am ready to write something ("Things are so much better!", "Things couldn't be worse!") the exact opposite of what I'm about to say occurs.

In a nutshell: still no medical reason why one of our kids is afraid to eat. The good news is that this child IS eating some foods. The bad news is that there is still pain, although with some comfort and redirection, the pain can disappear within a minute or two.

The other bad news is that this child is reluctant to DO anything, which, as you can imagine with three kids and summer's open schedule, is a bit hard to take.

"No, I don't want to play with XYZ"

"No, I don't want to go to the beach"

"No, I don't want to go out for ice cream"

It's as if an alien came and replaced my "up-for-anything, happy-go-lucky" child with a "NO" robot.

But, I press on. There have been a couple of playdates----happy, wonderful playdates where I see the smile on my child's face is as big as ever. There have been outings and bike rides and walks and movies. Not all smooth-sailing, but none total disasters either.

But, a couple of weeks of summer camp looms on the horizon. Every time I think about it, I get a stomach ache myself. Will my child go to camp easily? Will this be a struggle? And then, selfishly, will we lose the hundreds of dollars if this child refuses to go?

Summertime, and the living's easy. Or so the song goes.

I wish it were so.