Camping

N went camping last Friday night. He has done so well that I didn't reiterate any concerns with his leaders. I think we're to the point that we may need to manage things from home now. I sent him with a good dinner and some candy bars to supplement, if needed. I think dinner was fine. For breakfast, however, they fed the boys donuts, soda, and Doritos. For lunch he had a Slurpee. He came home starving, but candy-bars in hand that he hadn't eaten because he was so sweetened-out. I guess I need to find some portable, dense-calorie foods that he can eat in a situation like that. Any suggestions? I sent an apple, but I think even the idea of eating it was too sweet.

Grades

N finished his first junior high quarter on Friday. His grades were all As and one B. Fantastic! Last year his grades fell as he became ill with anorexia and he primarily got Fs. Those grades seem to correlate with his recovery. In May, I was already seeing him care more. It seems we've come full circle.

He is the kind of kid that is capable of getting all As. But actually, I'd rather he didn't. I feel like it would be better to have a no-stress, easy-breezy attitude about grades. Instead we've been working on turning in all of his assignments. He finally earned some incentive money these past two weeks for having everything turned in. In order to keep things low stress, but still have him working towards something, I rejected goal-plans that were punitive. It seems like a little bit of money was just the carrot he needed.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I got ahead of myself last month with all the great progress that N made. The anorexia/ocd stuff was impacting his/our lives very little. Since my last post, N has continued struggling. It's not anything like the struggles of six months ago. It's constant yet manageable. He is looking in the mirror more, obsessing about his outfits each morning, and debating in his head about anything that he eats.

I took him shopping yesterday for new church pants. I'd like to tell the marketing person that came up with the term, "husky," a thing or two about how that term ruined my Saturday. The size 14 AND 16 waists were too snug. Size 18s were too long. So, that left us with the "husky" sized pants. In my opinion they should call the three waist sizes, way-too skinny, too skinny, and regular, instead of slim, regular and husky. N's weight is great, but to associate the word, husky, with his current shape was devastating. If only I could have pre-bought the pants and cut out the tags. I had no idea what size he was, but that's what I'll do next time!

All throughout N's recovery, he has always taken a few steps forward and then a few back - always gaining some on those steps forward and never quite declining all the way back with the steps back. I guess I thought that he had made enough progress to no longer have those steps back. At least now I understand that continual progress means he'll do even better in the future and likely won't ever be this bad again.