Here I am, again!

I've let this lag far too long, but I'm back! And determined! I've broadened my scope a bit and figured out some of the things that were frustrating me about the blog--so hopefully I've got this blogging thing down. (hopefully, surely. . .!)

I'm preparing this week to send my celiac son off to camp for the first time since he was diagnosed! We are trying to get a menu from the camp, then we'll fill in what he wants and the camp nurse will help him prepare whatever needs preparing for each meal. It's church camp, and the ministry staff has been extremely helpful--in fact, it's been easier than I could have possibly imagined when he was first diagnosed! I think this will be so much fun for him and hardly any worry for me, once we have all the food figured out and packed up.

I only really have two concerns:

1. Him not eating enough, which he still tends not to do when he doesn't want to bother with finding/asking about the food that is offered, or
2. just eating what everyone else is eating--which he will also do if he is feeling lazy. As he's taken more responsibility for his own diet, we've seen him do both several times. He's almost 13, and these are lessons he's going to have to learn for himself. He was sick in the middle of the night last week after eating a hot dog for dinner, one he'd taken in the bun and wiped off without asking what kind it was, etc., at a VBS carnival. UGH! But I can't walk around behind him forever, and he definitely paid for that hot dog with lots of pain!

His twin sister, his friends, his youth ministers, and the camp nurse will be there to remind him if he's tempted to slip, but ultimately the decision is up to him. I hate letting my kids learn the hard way, but I'm afraid that's the only way he'll ever really learn, otherwise it will become a battle of wills. His own pain--which, lucky for us is very real--should make him avoid gluten in the long term.

Now if I can just get the menu from the camp so I can finish gathering the food to send with him! A whole week without cooking for kids! No one besides my husband asking me "what's for dinner?" or "when are you going to the grocery store?" No pile of dirty dishes in the sink at least three times a day because it's summer. Only myself to please. . .and hubby.

I wonder if there is such a thing as husband camp? He's not celiac, so I wouldn't have to pack his food. . .