Rio and the Case of the Red Dye

So, if you've met Rio, you know. You know she's a wonderful mix of a child. She's hilarious. She is just genuinely funny without any effort whatsoever. You've seen pics my husband has posted. She is spunky and full of life. She follows her own set of rules, even if they go against normal rules. If she doesn't want to do something, she says so. She's honest. She's an antagonist. You say one thing; she'll want the opposite. She's spontaneous; I can't ever think "no, Rio wouldn't do that." Cause she will. She loves to be told when she's doing the right thing. Let her know. Encourage her. "Hold you". This is all she wants. She wants to be picked up. To snuggle. To be held. Jonathan says tickling is her love language. I think he's right. Anyways, you get it. Rio is precious. She is a beautiful darling spunky girl. 

Around New Years we started experiencing some difficulties with our dear Rio. She started getting really sensitive with clothing. And having what we called "episodes". They would come out of nowhere. I don't know if I can properly explain it, but it's like she had no control of herself. Like she couldn't handle being inside her own skin. They were difficult. There was no way to help her, to calm her, to comfort her. I tried every clothing she owned. Nothing worked. I tried every method of reasoning with her, helping her, calmly dealing with her. As a mother, this is so hard. That's my job, and I wasn't able to do it. It was so hard seeing my Rio, whom I know, acting like a different kid. The episodes were getting in the way of who she really is. I know Rio. I know she disobeys. I know she's 3. I know there's a new baby in the family that can cause issues. But this wasn't behavioral. Behavioral I could at least address. Discipline and move on. This was so much more. 

I was so anxious all the time. My stomach was constantly in knots. One day I was so discouraged, not knowing how to help Rio. I was crying, crying out to God for a solution. Help. An answer. 

That same day on facebook, a friend posted an article about red dye. The way she described her child sounded a lot like Rio. And then another unrelated friend posted anther thing about red dye. On the same day. And then I thought back to when we first noticed the behavior: when she was sick and we were pumping her full of medicine loaded with red dyes. Hmmm. And it was followed shortly after by us letting the girls pick their cereal, the colorful, dye-filled kind. I decided this needed investigating. I'm not good with food. I just don't know what's in everything and what defines healthy and all that just overwhelms me. So to cut out something, red dye, overwhelmed me immensely. But I decided to give it a try if it would maybe help. So we cut out red dye, which is not too drastic, but still not easy. 

And the effects were immediate. 

So, crazy. 

She was back to her 3 year old, spunky self. Without the flip-out episodes. 

I'm still kind of amazed. God totally revealing something so helpful to me in a really simple way. Him caring about the things that matter to me. Him providing what was needed for my child.  

So, don't give my kid a cupcake.