Medical Mystery Maybe

Jaelyn had a pediatrician appointment yesterday. I talked to Dr. F about her behavior problems and the stomach aches Jaelyn complains about every night (which may or may not be real). Her behavior advice was to continue with the counselor and to do 3 things: reward good behavior, punish bad behavior and ignore annoying behavior (explosions). I agree with her in theory, but those tantrums...well if you haven't witnessed one, you have no idea what I'm experiencing. I did put in ear plugs the other night so I could ignore her screaming. That worked pretty well. Sometimes in my adoptive mommy heart, I feel like the explosions are because she missed out on something early on and they are her way of trying to get back whatever that was. I know I can't make that time up, but if I can just meet some need...I know that sounds crazy. And I'm probably way off. There's a whole practice called "planned ignore" though. I am going to talk with our counselor on Monday about it. We did successfully use cooperative problem solving last night to diffuse a mini-eruption.

In order to see if there is a medical reason for any of our issues, they are running a ton of blood tests (5 vials worth) and a urine analysis (I'm be glad when the kids are big enough to hold their own cups :p.) We are testing for diabetes, celiacs, blood sugar issues, anemia, lead,basic food allergies and maybe a few other things that I can't remember. I'm really looking forward to getting the results.

Another thought is a friend shared that lactose issues can present themselves as behavior issues. I have never considered that. It could also explain the constipation and stomach ache. Interesting...Jaelyn lives on yogurt and smoothies practically. I'm not going to eliminate them, but I am going to cut back until we get the test results.

So that's our update...oh and Jaelyn is 44 1/2 inches tall and weighs 41 lbs (which she's weighed forever). She's a stick.