The last week of October marked Jade’s one-year anniversary on the ketogenic diet. I’d been thinking a lot about it in the weeks leading up to it, but somehow the actual anniversary date came and went without fanfare, and without any one of us remembering it.
So much has changed in the past year. The biggest change, of course, is slowly winning our wonderful little girl back, but there have been lots of subtle changes, too. I remembered with wonder last night that when we started the diet, Jade was still drinking a bottle every morning. This past week I’ve finally gotten around to preparing our supper at a reasonable time so that the four of us could eat together as a family. And we didn’t feel guilty that we were eating different things.
Social situations have become easier, too. The first few times when we had supper at a friend’s house, I felt very stressed about feeding Jade separately and watching that she didn’t get food from anyone else and denying her things that she might ask for.
We are blessed that Jade tends to be very compliant (so far!) and she seems to understand that she has her own special food, but it’s still important to us that people are aware of her special diet, partly for her safety, and also because the more people know about the ketogenic diet, the better! People understand they shouldn’t offer candy to a diabetic child. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one day they’d automatically protect a child when they heard she was on the ketogenic diet?
That day is a long way away, though, so for now we still need to be vigilant in social situations, particularly at parties where there is lots of food and lots of people around. At Thanksgiving, I finally made a reality out of an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while.
I wanted to make a shirt for Jade that would warn people not to give her food, but that she’d also enjoy wearing. I came up with two designs, one with a princess and one with a monkey. Then I let Jade choose the one she wanted to wear. Through the magic of colour printers and photo-transfer paper, I was able to make her the monkey shirt just in time for the Thanksgiving potluck.
She loved it so much she asked for it again the next day!
I haven’t tried the princess design yet, but I think it would look sweet on a little t-shirt dress, which would be nice for a dressier party. (Haha! A dressy party in the Yukon!)

Interrupted nights (and blog posts) notwithstanding, Halia continually amazes me. It is so fun to watch her personality develop. 















Aroma Borealis has agreed to make up special bags of their own
