Small Successes...Great Elation

When Billy Ray was little every small milestone seemed a huge victory. Raymond, his now deceased Dad, used to explain it with an example from his older daughter's life. When she was small she took her shoes and sat on her bed practicing tying them until she mastered the skill. He said he took her for granted because it was much easier for her than for Billy Ray who fights for his successes.

Billy Ray is very proud of his achievements and needs recognition for each small step. He has mastered the art of feeding his dogs twice a day. Each time he does that (with help from me or his support staff) it is important to him to locate his stepfather to get his high five and hear Larry say "good job".

When we are able to communicate to our complex children what they need to do and help them achieve some milestone the elation can be compared to a great achievement.

As I have been sharing, we are trying to get Billy Ray's blood sugar stabilized and adjust to the new diabetes diagnosis. Given his refusal to eat many kinds of foods it is the challenge we weren't prepared for. The past two days I have been talking with Brice Stanley, his primary provider ("Dr. Brice"), reading "Diabetes for Dummies", and devouring diabetic cookbooks to try to come up with alternatives to the only foods Billy Ray tolerates.

Brice told me that his increased appetite is because of his blood sugar and it will stabilize with treatment. Yesterday Billy Ray wanted to eat constantly. Attempting to find alternatives to offer him kept us hopping. I made muffins from the diabetic snack cookbook and tried some new low carb/low fat tortillas that I found in the store. He actually ate alternatives I offered him and didn't go into aggressive behavior when he couldn't have his baked potato and garlic toast for dinner.

This morning his blood sugar tested in the normal range. Yes!!!

Whatever you need to accomplish with your complex child, keep thinking communicate and adapt. It can work.

Until tomorrow,
Peggy Lou
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com