Daniel & Allergies - Maybe?

I've wanted to get on here for a week but it's just been too bonkers. The boys are still off school but we went back to work so we took them to Linda's house. This meant I had to find a dog sitter on those days. My neighbors kindly said yes and then promptly forgot on the second day. Our poor pooches were on their own all day (Coco in her crate) and they haven't really been the same since.

We've been doing more snow-related stuff with the kids. Jack is snowboarding! It's amazing how quickly he picked it up. I would have snapped both legs on the first go but he took to it like a pro!

Cool dude snowboarding

We finally got Jack his new loft bed which turned out to be bigger than we thought. Danny wants to keep his kid bed so that's fine right now, but we did make him his own little area with desk  and chair and shelves.

Yes, the ceiling fan is being removed

Yesterday was my dear friend Maureen's 60th birthday. I took her for a pedicure and then we had a big party for her. Her kids flew in as a surprise and she was over the moon with it all. Craig made his awesome pork pies and sausage rolls again. Maureen got him a tea-towel from England that says "Keep Calm - I'm Queen on the Kitchen!"

My mate Maureen

Today we started on the list of stuff to do in the house then took the boys sledding/snowboarding again.

Daniel sledding

Jack used his pocket money to buy Skylanders so he's currently playing on the Wii and Danny is in bed. He got sent to bed early. Good grief he's been hard work this last couple of days.  I actually, for the first time in my parenting life, stood in the kitchen and cried tonight with sheer frustration. From what I'm reading he doesn't have any kind of autism spectrum, or ADD or ODD or any of those things but he has something going on. Allergies maybe?  The tantrums, whining and crying is just too much to bear. And when he goes nuts there's no reaching him, like he is in his own world. He talks nonsense too sometimes, but then he's not 4 yet so I keep telling myself to stop expecting too much and to stop comparing him to Jack. I sat and looked at old blog postings of Jack at the same age and he was so different - so much more social and calm and reasonable. I don't feel like I know or can communicate with Danny sometimes, which is heartbreaking as a mum. He also pushes me to the brink of explosion. A red curtain comes down and I go nuts shouting then feel guilty afterwards and feel like the world's worst mum. UGH. I really need to get him to a pediatrician and get this thing worked out. Is it really plausible that an allergy to dairy or wheat or junk food could cause this? Is he just a normal 4 year old and I'm wrong? I wish I had the answers I really do.

I hope I don't come across here as a mum who has given up on her son because I love him with all my heart. We need to give him more attention, play with him more and make him the center of attention much much more than we do. I know that.  90% of our day is wonderful and everyone who knows him loves him. I just need to figure out what's going on with him lately and get it fixed because I'm sure it's making him miserable too.

My darling Daniel