Yay! The boy is home--finally. His plane arrived at 11:03 last night. Poor thing. He was supposed to be in SIX hours earlier. He was very very happy to be home. We stayed up until midnight and we all crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

He came home a good 7 - 10 lbs heavier IN THREE WEEKS. I want to strangle my mother. Why does she think it is okay to do this to him? We go through this EVERY YEAR. Last year I decided that I wasn't going to put him on a diet, that I would just make sure his weight stays constant. We did good. He's been about the same weight for an entire year and his waist has remained exactly the same size over that year. This year, I think he needs to drop a few of those pounds.

I think the nutritionist said that a boy his age/size needs about 1,800 calories a day. I'll do some research on the net and see if I come up with the same figure. I'm going to knock him back about 300 for about six weeks. I'm hoping he'll drop about 3 - 5 lbs in that time. I'll let him grow into the remaining weight he added at Mom's. Grrrrr.

I think I'm going to give her an ultimatum. Either she takes care of him appropriately or he doesn't come to visit for three weeks anymore. An eight year old boy shouldn't have to deal with these problems! Scott and I are going to try to turn the "diet" into a learning experience for him. I've been teaching him about food and he is starting to read labels and understands a little about the calorie thing, but he is only 8. I can't expect him to tell my mom "No, I don't want to eat at McDonalds because it isn't healthy." LOL. Wouldn't that be something!

This just makes me so mad. Neither one of my parents "get" it. Imagine that! They produced a 250 lb 9th grader (me). Is it any wonder my kid would end up the same under the same ignorance and stupidity? No.

But, I guess I did assume they would have some respect for my parental wishes. Yeah, I guess I always do expect too much out of people--especially those that are closest to me.

Update: I just haven't been really hungry today. None of us really ate enough today. Hubby wanted Baskin Robbins. Kid had enough calories for it. I caved. I got a double scoop because I was REALLY low in calories and I couldn't finish it. I probably could have stopped after 1 scoop. Why do I do this? It didn't taste very good after the first four bites. Maybe I will get one of their mini scoops next time. That should do quite nicely.

I worked with my son on the calorie counting today and we discussed activity and being able to eat more, etc. He was very enthusuastic about it all and then we went over the calories he ate today and he asked me how was he going to keep track of all this. I felt bad for him and I told him that is what parents are for and that he just needs to understand why we tell him he can't have this, or he should chose this, etc. and he was very relieved. It was sad and cute all at the same time. I feel like I am both burdening him and building life skills in the same breath.

I saw a 16 year old boy who, at 411 lbs., was seeking bypass surgery on Discovery Health. I was disgusted. The parents say "we've tried everything" blah blah blah. I'm sorry, but your son did not get to 411 lbs overnight, or all by himself. It will be a damned cold day in the dark depths of hell before my child gets morbidly obese on my watch (barring some medical cause)! I can't believe they did that surgery on a child who still had at LEAST four years of growing and development left to go. Unbelievable.

Sometimes I just don't know if I am making the right decision, or not, when it comes to the food with my son. The last thing I want is for him to become obsessed with every little calorie that goes in/out of his system. I want him to be educated and healthy. Ah, the joys of parenting.