I so rarely write this type of stuff anymore and I should because Lord knows, you forget everything.
I suppose the two issues looming largest are Carol's condition and Campbell. Carol had a colitis relapse a few weeks ago, brought on by stress for the most part, which sent her further into depression about her ability to ever overcome it. So she went back online and started doing more research on diets as a way of controlling colitis, and found a new book called "
Listen to Your Gut". Unlike her previous regime, this appears to have a broader group of foods she can eat, although no refined sugars -- or refined foods for that matter. A lot of it seems to be based the concept of probiotics, and the the good news is she seems to be responding really well to it. But as well, there's a lot about managing your life and mindset as a way of managing the condition, which hopefully Carol will also be able to use. Certainly the idea of being able to eat better and more varied foods has cheered her up, but she's fragile. So. We'll see.
Campbell, on the other hand, is more worrying insofar as it's hard to know what's going on. He started having these strange convulsions just as he was falling asleep -- but while still wide awake -- almost epileptic in nature. He said he could feel his "brain tickling" in the front, which didn't sound good. I'm wondering if this is somehow related to his stutter and language processing difficulties in general. It's hard to know. He went in for a CAT scan this week, so we'll wait for those results.
We're trying not to make too big a thing of it all. He's a kid who lacks confidence and is very easily emotionally overwhelmed, so we really have to handle him carefully. On the other hand, his athletic ability and love of sports is stronger than ever, so we try and encourage those successes, as well as his growing autonomy in terms of making his own breakfast in the morning and getting dressed etc.
Leighton is completely obsessed with his Nintendo DS and the Pokemon game, which plays to his highly analytic sense and love of categorization. His ability to name pretty much every Pokemon character, plus their three "evolved forms" (don't ask) is a source of wonder to me. He sure didn't inherit that ability from his Dad. But other than that, after an unstable start to 2010, he's healthy and happy, and his reading and speaking skills are exceptional. His challenge in life will always be about finding balance, as he really does get incredibly focused on one thing to the exclusion of all others.
Adèle is growing like crazy, and part of me is sorry to see the last of the baby fat disappear from the house. She still has those incredibly kissable cheeks, but she's getting just like the boys did, long legged and skinny. Our 3 and a half year old super-model! She has had these really nasty cold sores around her mouth for months now, which we put cream on but can't seem to fully get rid of. I think it's a combination of dry skin and her tendency to pick at them when she's thinking about something. But overall she's amazing, terrific vocabulary and is definitely finding her voice with the boys and the outside world.
Me? Oh, you know. Mostly just feeling a little spent. Working on the Olympics took a lot out of me, along with all the home and marital demands. I'm not sure how I'll look back on this time, hopefully I'll remember trying to manage it with grace. The undeniably good news is that this morning I weighed 166.8 lbs, which is by far the lowest I've been since last century. Hooray!
Over and out for now.
