Summer Recap

As promised, I'll recap a bit of Alex's summer and how she did. If nothing else, this serves as my personal journal/log. Something I can look back on when trying to find patterns, connections, or connecting dots.

In short, summer was great!

As expected, Alex's anxieties decreased substantially. And as a result, her overall health improved dramatically (as did the mood of our entire home).

Coincidentally, Alex's birthday happens to fall the week summer break begins. So she turned 6 on June 27th. And in a casual conversation she had with her 8 year old cousin, it was suggested that she might grow out of "this".

So the cycle then began, only this time in the opposite direction.

School was out. She was under very little pressure. Which meant her stomach aches went away immediately. Which, to her, had meant she'd outgrown it. Which meant she didn't have to worry about getting sick. Which meant she didn't actually get sick!

This was our whole summer. Complete and utter peace.

I am continually amazed at the power of ones mind. How her physical symtoms can be so directly related to thinking.

Now we have been warned by the psychologist that this can all go terribly wrong quickly. Because Alex is such a black/white thinker, he believes that when she does get sick some time in the future, her tune will change. She may feel back to square one, and then believe she hadn't outgrown it, which would then feed the anxieties all over again. So he just cautioned us that when she does get sick, because of course all kids do, she is going to need a tremendous amount of reassurance that she WILL get better.

Also, over the summer, we've done a bunch of reading, changed a few of our approaches and just been a bit more in tune to her. All this combined has really paid off. We know our journey is just beginning and we have so much to learn. But I think at least we all feel a bit more empowered, including Alex.