{Okay, so I've been absent from writing much in the past, oh, two months. I really haven't even been on the computer that much either. I know! It's crazy. But I'm getting back in the swing of it, so here we go.}
Jason and I were commenting on the fact that Jules has always seemed older than she really is. Or, at least, maybe we expect more of her because she's taller and has always done things a little bit earlier than we thought she would. Walking at nine months, talking at ten months, even now measuring a full two inches taller than Sydney was when she turned five. Forty-five and a half inches of sugar and spice.
Of course, the tricky thing, she was still just two, or three, or four. Not four or five or six.
But now she's five.
And it feels like her little world and our perception of her world have finally synced up.
It hasn't been an easy year. She struggled, and we struggled along with her. We took out gluten, took out dairy, took out red dye #40. We switched bedtime around so that she doesn't share it with her sister, and even though she and Sydney share a bed, Syd goes to sleep in our bed until we move her when Jules falls asleep. We talked with her Sunday school teachers at church, and they stopped doing pretzels and goldfish for snacks. Carrots and celery and raisins for everyone.
She saw a naturopath twice a week for a month, then once a week, then twice a month, and now we haven't seen him for a couple months. She was on two homeopathic remedies and fish oil and extra vitamins. We got her down to one homeopathic and fish oil. And now she's just doing fish oil and chamomile drops.
We saw her temper tantrums decrease in their intensity and frequency, and all our hard work paid off bit by bit.
We've slowly introduced a small amount of gluten and some dairy back into her diet, but we still keep the red dye out, and limit her sugar intake (more than normal) since that's all she would eat if it were up to her. I don't think our parenting style has changed too much, although I know I'm more sympathetic to her mood swings because I feel like there's something genetic going on. I feel like if we were totally gluten and dairy free it would help even more. But since the rest of us are whole wheat loving people, it's hard for Jules to consistently eat all her own food. It causes it's own set of issues.
It's been hard. We've cried a lot. We haven't always been patient.
Yet, slowly but surely she has been making progress. The whole month of November was amazing. She was calm, she was controlled. We had very few meltdowns. December has been harder because everywhere she goes someone is giving her a candy cane or sugar cookies or some other delicious cookie treat. Plus, she's on Christmas vacation so she's spending more time around Addie which makes her a little bit tricky. She loves Addie. She loves to hold Addie...even when Addie would rather not be held.
I think we've got her on a good program, and I know it's just something we'll have to stick to for awhile or maybe forever. She's smart enough to know that we're trying, and we've seen enough of her good moments to know that she's trying too.
And now she's five.
We celebrated with a Snowman Brrrrrthday Party last week. All the Family Farm cousins came.
Jules decorated her snowman cake, and it was full of wheat, dairy, sugar and red dye. And that's how it goes sometimes.
My favorite part? Jules spelled out her name in pretzel bits at the top. Jules favorite part? The Starburst candy I shaped into buttons (and a nose).
We had soup, watched a slide show about the day Jules was born, sang, ate birthday cake, and recognized this amazing little person whose emotions--the ups and downs--overflow onto all those who know her.
We love this girl, and are so thankful God gave her to us.
