The middle life...

My middle son is SUCH a sweet boy.

Sensitive enough to cry over a cartoon character, and tough enough to walk off a bean ball. It's easy to just let be, because things don't upset him much. Get him talking though, and I always learn something.

I realized this morning that he had been "faking" taking his meds. He has allergies and mild asthma, so he takes three medicines, twice a day. His teacher has been noticing more wild behavior out of him lately, so when I asked him if he took his meds this morning, I knew he was lying when he said yes.

Tonight, I talked to him about trust. We talked about how trusting someone means you can rely on them to do the right thing. Then we moved on to how trust gets eroded and how difficult it is to build back up. That's when the dam burst. He hates his meds! The allergy pills make him sleepy and he hates having asthma. Nevermind that 50% of the kids in his class have it, he just wants to be "normal". It just about broke my heart!

Tomorrow I'm calling his doctor. He may have some ADD/ADHD issues (which are currently being evaluated), but I don't want to use meds for him for that, so why should I use allergy tablets to slow him down? There's got to be a better answer. He's an amazingly smart kid, but very kinestetic. He is unable to sit still in class, and often moves or even hums when he is being taught. Amazingly, he can repeat verbatim what has been said, even though you and I would swear that the kid is off in never-never land. He also appears to have some neurological "funk" going on. He runs with a drop foot, even though there is no reason to. I've just got to get to the bottom of this. It's a huge quality of life issue for him, and I feel a huge mothering need to teach him how to handle it.

We had a great talk tonight, and I was reminded what a loving child he is. I wish I didn't have to be reminded....I should do better.