How Full is My Glass

So much has happened since I last posted.  I thought things were getting better, if not easier.  I was wrong.  One should not get complacent.  Or this is when its time to think glass half empty, not half full. 

Since I last wrote, the Babe was still in first grade.  Up until the last two weeks of school, everything was just going along.  However, we hit a blip in the road, and we've been trying to recover since.  Let's just say that the Babe is bright.  With that intelligence, and the growing ability to read and awareness of her environment, her anxiety grew, too.  When living with life threatening food allergies, including airborne allergies to certain foods, the world can be a scary place. 

So now we're a few months into second grade.  I figured each year we moved up in this school, things would get better.  Systems are in place, familiar people and places.  Eh, not so much.  The Babe can't eat lunch in the cafeteria because of her airborne allergy to dairy (almost everyday there are cheese sticks, pizza, or some other heated dairy item on the menu).  So, the school has thankfully made a great accommodation by letting her have lunch in the library.  This year she's actually assigned an aide, rather than random people scheduled to keep an eye on her.  The second or third week into the school year she was permanently assigned the most lovely woman- kind, caring, sweet.  She obviously enjoyed what she was doing, and enjoyed being with the Babe.  But just as we started to get comfortable, the school decided to change this woman's schedule.  Neither she nor the Babe wanted this, but it wasn't our choice.  So for the past month or longer, its been a juggling act by the school to make sure someone is present when the Babe has lunch.  For a child who is anxious (which the school is aware of), this added more chaos.  This week they finally have someone assigned, who the Babe should be meeting soon.  Here's hoping this works out, the person is a good fit, and we can move on.

There have been other things along the way, but if you didn't know this about me, I am cautious about over sharing on a public forum.  If you know me and call, I'd probably tell you everything, including the color of my underwear if you asked.  O.k., maybe not that much information.  So, there are some thing I will not post.  Like the details of our summer.  Everyone else came back to school glowing about how wonderful it was, and not wanting it to be over.  I was ready.  No, nothing bad happened.  It was just unpleasant.  And here's the glass half full...I'm hoping it only gets better.