This one hurt...

We have been cruising right along with our Brain Balance journey. Anyone who asks me about it, probably regrets it 45 minutes later when I stop talking.  I believe in the program. If you work the program it will work for you.  I continue to tell people it is NOT easy!

Last night there were a lot of tears....

People are always complimenting me with how well our boys have been doing on the diet.  They can't believe they don't cheat.  The boys work hard on this diet.  I am so proud of them.

Last night Nathan broke my heart.....

All afternoon and evening he had been acting up.  We knew something wasn't right.  We went over what he had eaten the day before, what he had eaten yesterday.  Nothing stood out.

We put the boys to bed and went to bed ourself.  I heard a ruckus in Nathan's room and went to investigate.  He had thrown his drawing notebook on the floor and was sitting in bed. Angry.

I asked him what was wrong. His response, "I can't think of anything to draw." I knew this wasn't the problem.  He had been acting up all night out of frustration.  I asked him again, "What is wrong?"  This time he told me he wanted to quit the Brain Balance diet as soon as we finished the program.  We've had this discussion before, but I knew last night was different.  After a few more questions....I got it out of him.  

Tears and lots of them started flowing.....

Nathan's table of 6 kids at school had received a special award from their teacher.  They earned it for being quiet, clean, doing their homework, etc.  The award is bringing treats for each other and sitting all together at the back of the room for a special party.  Nathan decided to take all of his friends some of his chocolate bars.  This is where it goes wrong....

As Nathan through tears shared with me his story, I couldn't help but feel my heart break for him.
Apparently not everyone liked his chocolate, but what hurt Nathan was when his friend took some chocolate and then threw the rest in the garbage.  Nathan was so upset that his friend didn't give the chocolate back to him.  He was sad that his friends didn't like his treat.  Also, one of the little girls had thought of Nathan and brought a gluten free cookie with frosting for him.  You guessed it, he can't eat that.  It has eggs and sugar...things on his intolerance list.  Nathan wanted that cookie SO bad!

He didn't cheat, but he felt cheated.  His feelings were so hurt by no one liking his chocolate and someone thinking of him and he still couldn't eat it.  This is where my heart broke in two!  He so desperately wanted his friends to like his healthy food.  He wanted to be kind to the little girl and eat the cookie that looked so delicious, but he didn't.

Big brother heard Nathan crying and came in to cheer him up.  He shared his own troubles at Intermediate School, like how they had pumpkin pie the other day.  R.D. loves pumpkin pie.  How they have 3 lines for lunch with burritos, chicken sandwiches and pizza.  R.D. told Nathan, "If your friend is going to throw your chocolate in the trash, you don't need to be friends."  Not exactly the right advice, but advice given from a very protective big brother.

I told Nathan his friend didn't mean to hurt his feelings and probably didn't even know he had.  He just didn't like the chocolate so he threw it away.  No harm. No foul.  I told him that next time someone gives him something he can't eat, that he can thank them and bring it home.  I will check the ingredients.  We will either eat it or save it till we can.  He felt so bad saying, "no".

Today is a new day! Today we will continue our journey.  Today we will have a better day. Yesterday we learned that when he acted up, it wasn't related to his diet or probably even anything with his ADHD.  He was acting up because he had his feelings hurt.  Believe it or not while this was hard to hear, it was also a blessing.  Nathan was acting out like anyone who gets their feelings hurt.  He was having normal emotions.  He didn't know how to deal with those emotions just yet.  He wasn't sure how to share those emotions, so they came out in frustrating ways yesterday.  This is all part of the process.  What I love...is when the lightbulb goes off above my head and I figure this out.  We are progressing!