What are you eating now?

by annamarie nuss
(portland,oregon ,usa)

My story began in February 2007. I had given birth to a perfect 8lb 5oz girl, the nurses came in and informed me that department of human services would b taking custody of my daughter, because of my past history,of drug abuse, but i knew that i had nothing to fear, because through my pregnancy and at the time of delivery i had been clean and sober had a residence that i called home and i was attending meetings and doing great. Well for 10 long months I jumped thru hoop after hoop,and my daughter was returned to my home without a hitch.the court ordered dhs out of our lives and thats when it began.

My daughter was different,she had colic and was lactose intolerant,allergic to perfumes,soaps,and hyper sensitive to the sun(she gets painful itchy blisters on the parts of her body that are exposed to the sun),and when teething we found out tylenol doesn't break down in her system, and we had 10 binkies, if she dropped one, we just pulled out another,or we got no sleep, because she would scream at the top of her lungs. Now all the parenting class's did not apply. tried bedtime routines..well my daughter didn't sleep unless it was in my arms, with me in my bed. bath time was also different when presented with still water she would arch her back, and scream, her face would literally have the look of terror on it. to the point that i promised her to never have to take a bath again, but showers were different, she loved them so from then on we have showered together. she also would find the smallest piece of lint and chew on it,her socks, would become unraveled, and i would find the strings in her mouth like dental floss,as her dexterity improved she would remove the tops off bic pens to get to the little plastic piece used to keep in the ink part inside,so we switched to click pens well soon she figured out how to dissemble those and she had finally swallowed the spring I called the doctor she said to wait and 3 days later we received what we were waiting for,the spring.

now at this point, i am super gluing anything that has batteries shut, i had removed all things with excessive lint, like grandmas knitted blankets,safety locks were a false sense of security, so we pulled out the screw gun, and now i have screws in all my cupboards and now what i dont want her to get into she cant.we still dont have an exact bedtime, she still rips her pants, shoes and socks off,she continues to run all the time,afraid of the dark,but i believe in her because she is talented,creative,loving,intellectual,and extremely smart she loves math and writing and she is the best child any parent could ever want she is also organized, and sometimes a little emotional, ok alot.

To curb her chewing and biting(i found a solid rubber spoon at safeway for 5.99)this gave her permission to chew , and i explained that when she felt like chewing,or biting that this spoon is for that, and so far her barbies still have feet, and her crayons are still in one piece, and my ink pens are still whole,and i am teeth mark free. somewhere i heard to choose your battles and the biggest one i had the chewing concerns are now better. my daughter is now almost 4 and through this website i am more relieved than anything to find out that i am NOT crazy, that my daughter just needs a little more understanding and that she is not in control of what she is doing it is an impulse not a behavior and through understanding and training she can and will live a happy healthy life. by the way i am still waiting on a referral from her doctor after presenting the checklist to her in December. so as a parent it is up to you to help your child along the way.