inches

I have been away too long. The world moves forward. I move with it. Many things get left behind.

This past month we have seen my beautiful little girl turn from happy to pained. My beautiful baby getting pulled, again, into that hole of unbelievable despair. The anger. The violence. The sleeplessness. And worst of all, the glazed look that would creep into her eyes and steal her from me for hours at a time. I would weep with joy for the times when she would look at me with clear eyes and say my name.

Although we had made no changes to her gluten-free, soy-free diet Sonya was spiraling back into the patterns we had seen before. Something was wrong. I couldn't bare to put her through more tests so, after much research we have begun the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Grain-free, starch-free, sugar-free-- all with the intent of starving out the "bad" bacteria in her system. It has been a challenge for all of us but even after just a week we are starting to see more glimmers of the real Sonya shining through. I am participating in the diet changes right along with her. My body was not fairing as well on gluten-free as I had hoped so, as mother and daughter, we are once again traveling a new road together.

It may be years before we see our girl full of health and allergy free. But even the possibility of a lifetime free of diet induced pain is worth such an inch-by-inch progress.

My little girl deserves to shine every moment of her life.