Small victories lead to great joy!

For months I have been struggling with two issues: re-learning how to cook and dealing with developmental delays. Both relate directly to our son. Without intention my struggles have found me secretly blaming him (sometimes not so secretly), when it is not his fault! Isabel was soooooooo easy compared to Zach. He has had skin problems, sleeping problems, back-to-back ear infections, food allergies, bronchitis … Parents never want to compare their kids, but sometimes it just happens. But sometimes little victories come and then the joy that results can saturate a soul. This week we had two major victories in both areas of struggle.

Zach is highly allergic to all components of whole milk (this includes all dairy and a ton of other stuff that uses parts of dairy products), eggs and peanuts. Food allergies are noted on a numeric scale. Anything over three is considered “severe”. Zach’s levels are closer to fourteen. The problem is I LOVE dairy!! I love eggs!! Finding food that have neither has been a true challenge for me. It wasn’t such a big deal when he was younger; I just made different food for him than the rest of us. But now he notices and is quite bothered when he doesn’t eat the same as the rest of us. Thus my struggle of re-learning how to cook. This week’s victories? I found Zach-friendly ice cream cones (he can’t eat ice cream, but there are soy alternatives and some sorbets are okay) AND a Zach-friendly recipe for chicken pot pie!! YEAH!! I’m so excited. Praise God for learning curves. I didn’t have to figure this all out in one day — He has eased me into over the past 18 months and counting.

And my other victory for this week really is not mine at all. I’m just a witness, but a very happy one! Zach is walking!!! I cannot tell you how exciting this is. As of today, he is twenty-one months. He officially took his first happy steps last week. Now he’s walking just about everywhere. Not terribly fast, but he gets the job done. I’m thrilled! Over the past six months we have been through state evaluations, neurologist appointments, multiple developmental planning meetings and finally a ton of physical therapy — most of which Zach endured with an ear-piercing scream. This morning his therapist emerged from their session with a huge smile on her face. “He tried stairs!” She even said we can cut back the frequency of our sessions. He has to master stairs before we’re “allowed” to stop therapy all-together. The goal is to have him there before he turns two in August. The end is in sight and my heart is overflowing.