Difficult week.

It was a difficult week for me.

Monday started with a phone call from Ansh's school that he did not bring his bag to school. So I rushed to school to find out if he had left his bag in the pool car which is parked outside the school. Searched the pool car & the driver assured me that Ansh had carried his bag to school. Went to talk to his HRT (Home Room Teacher) who had called me up. I explained to her about the pool car driver's assurance. In fact I had made him accompany him. So, apparently the bag had gone missing from the school itself. I talked to Ansh who was all tears about his missing bag. Poor child. He could not remember anything about where the bag had disappeared. Through his tears he remarked "Mumma , magic ho gaya". It was surely the consequence of the previous day's movie "Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic". Anyways, this was least of the problems & in fact, sometime during the day the teacher did manage to locate the bag & things were sorted out.

What was most disturbing was what the teacher wanted to discuss with me about Ansh. She informed me that she felt very concerned about Ansh & that she felt that he lacked "energy" in school. He was very bright as far his school work & academic s were concerned but he was reluctant to do physical activities & complained of tiredness a lot. Now, I have always known & accepted that my child was leaner than other kids & I've made myself immune to comments to that effect. But coming from a teacher, this had a new meaning coz till now I always felt that though Ansh was thin, he was active. The problem was that I had no one to compare him with! We don't have any children around the house his age, so I could never compare & know that he was less active than other kids. Of course, Ansh likes to be carried up the 4 floors at times complaining that he is tired but I never thought that it was unusual for kids his age. Earlier too, this same teacher had told me that Ansh was skinny. But that was merely a comment about his appearance & I ignored it. However, this time around, I could see the teacher concerned & I felt very concerned. In the beginning, during my conversation with her, I was on the defensive but as the conversation progressed I realized that surely this lady has enough experience in dealing with kids & if she feels that there is a problem, there must be surely one. So, with a very heavy heart, I left the school.

I organized an appointment with Ansh's pediatrician. Dr Khanna has been looking after Ansh from the time he was born & has always assured us that as long as the child is active, we should not be worried about his weight. Some children's body structure is such that they are lean. But with this new information, this time around, even Dr Khanna was concerned. Now, Ansh has been slightly anemic & his hemoglobin was 10 the last time we checked about a month back. He is taking iron & that could be one of the reasons for his lethargy / lack of energy. However, to rule out any other complication, we have been advised now to do an abdomen sonography, a routine urine test & Montu test (to rule out TB). The last test is disturbing. Though Ansh has no symptoms of TB, Dr. just wants to be extra cautious. We've also been advised to be extra careful about Ansh's diet. Since he is a picky eater, we need to pack in as much nutrients as possible into whatever he eats. We may even see a dietician next.

So that's where we stand. Any suggestions about the "diet" portion are welcome.