mie sue!

mie sue mie sue mie sue!! the two year old yells as i flip her from one side of my lap to the next. once she is settled, i see that her slipper is hanging by a toe. she giggles: mie sue! and flips her foot so the slipper abondons its' desperate hold.

i would giggle with her, but i have just pulled her slipper back on and her shirt back down, and her back is scaly still. eczema. inwardly i cringe, as though my thoughts of cookies and candy today are enough to trigger her reaction. i think of so many other young children i have seen, particularly girls, with skin grey and peeling from total consumption by eczema. that these children are seen with snack bags of chips or candy hanging out of the corner of their mouths only makes me all the more certain that the trigger is sugar.
which would mean that it is mostly likely outrageous outbreaks of candidiasis, systemic thrush, rather than simply eczema.

simply eczema. huh. that's like saying the baby has colic.
what the baby has is pain somewhere that the adult can't figure out - stomach, esophagus, throat, intestines. or possible a highly sensitive child, or introverted child, who is overwhelmed and trying to release that pent-up anxiety. or just plain over-tired, since over-tiredness so often masks itself as rowdy, hyper-active behavior before crashing into spasms of crying.

of course, it is pure blasphema for me to say that sugar is what prompts my daughter to scratch her back bloody and for her elbows to crack. it's much more kosher to say that she is allergic to herself and go out to buy steroids for lifelong treatment of symptoms. since we all know how safe steroids are, and how likely it is that the body would genetically mutate itself to want to destroy itself. but my route not only cuts out BIG-Pharma, it cuts out the poor corn farmers and all of the middle men in between who produce those tasty junk foods, snacks, and time-saving packaged meals.

i couldn't help thinking about all of these connections when i saw the yahoo! news heading today about how sugar-free schools have seen immediate improvements in test scores. hm. maybe candidiasis affects the ability of children to concentrate and learn by demanding that the body consume low-protein, high-sugar meals that rob the body of staying power. or maybe the removal of sugar inadvertantly removed HFCS from a portion of the children's diets, and the lower doses of mercury meant the return of full brain capacity. either way, i'll make sure that i have mie sue somewhere on hand the next time i reach for a bag/box/carton/bite of sugar so that i can flip it upside my head as a reminder of all this.

Beginnings

Like endings, mark change.
Like spring, are fall.
Like night, are birght with possibilities and hope and chance.
Like birth, are death.
Like warmth, are knees wrapped over thigh to keep out the cold.

Ache out in etchings of unsurity, insecurity, uncertainty
until
the beginning has become the full-sunned day at noon, and
it is time for resting and a meal to replenish.

Mark the first step from ignorance to knowledge,
mediocrity to expert,
planning to action.

So much potential, beginnings
that does not belie the difficulty of walking
the weight of carrying
or the weariness of less-traveled paths taken.