Joe and Dairy (2)

Being a "Mother Warrior" as Jenny McCarthy so aptly names us, really paid off.  After one week without dairy, Joe slowly improved.
I still had resistance from his dad who would give him yogurt and milkshakes on his weekends with Joe. Finally tho, there was a breakthrough!  My then 10 year old daughter told me what happened. Joe started throwing a tantrum at his dad's when his dad asked, "Is this what your mom is talking about?"  And bless her, she mouthed off as most girls do, "Dad! Mom's only been telling you this over and over. Joe can't have milk!"  He even saw the difference. FINALLY I had some cooperation. Yes!
In the summer, Joe had to go to daycare while I worked. I would get a note nearly everyday saying that Joe had a tantrum or he threw something or he tried to take his clothes off. It was upsetting and frustrating. Life was still very hard in my world. Joe was only a fraction of what was going on in my life at the time. My heart was heavy.
 As Fate would have it, I was running late one day and while I was putting Joe's stuff in his locker at daycare, they were giving him some cereal. MILK!!! I had told them he couldn't have dairy. When I asked the director, she said they had to have a doctor's note saying Joe was allergic. I had no such note. Joe isn't technically allergic to milk. So the next day, I brought in soy milk with Joe's name on it and told them he was to have it in his cereal and that I would bring more when it ran out. They obliged and it worked!  I never got another bad behavior note! Not that Joe was perfect - he still had issues but the severe temper tantrums stopped when dairy was no longer a part of his diet.  Proof again that dairy has negative effects on Joe.
This was just the first step in trying to help him on my own. Babysteps. That's what it was because I myself was just learning how strong I really could be.

Joe's mom