Wait for me. . . my precious

I found a new hiding place for my "stash"--my sugar... You see, my son knows me; he knows that I hide unhealthy things, so if he's in the mood for a sweet snack, he'll dig around.  The worst moment was about 4 years ago when he discovered that I had a huge (Costco size) plastic container of jelly beans under my bed!

I haven't been eating many sweets recently.  I don't crave them as much for a couple of reasons. One thing was that I just stopped eating sweets for a week or so and that always works for me.  It was earlier this summer, after L had gone though another round of really shocking sugar intake when his girlfriend sent him a box full of candy bars, homemade brownies and a jar of something appalling called "cookie butter"--more like diabetes butter-- which, thank God, is still sitting in the door of our refrigerator.

So, anyway, after Lucas had eaten a scary amount of sugar in two days, I proposed to him that we do a week of "NO SUGAR" (except for p.b.j. sandwiches because we're only human).  Surprisingly, he accepted readily. No need to convince him at all.  And he did it; we even passed the week without even remarking on it.  Since then, we've both eaten sugar, but so little in comparison.  It can be hard to get L's dad on board; he loves to bring L treats...

I'm so grateful about the timing, because I never wanted to make this "no sugar" thing about weight or dieting: it was 100% health in my mind.  But, anyway, a few days later V brought back our scale (we had lent it to her mother).  The funny thing was that on our other scale, the dial gets stuck at 195 lbs. which is about 5 or 10 pounds over what L weighed his last year of high school.  We figured the scale was broken but didn't think too much about it.  So when L got on the working scale and discovered that he weighed 218 pounds, he was shocked.  In fact he needed a wee bit of convincing.  He made me tell him my weight and then get on the scale (ha ha, the number was about 5 pounds less than I predicted)

Not only had he been sucker punched by the "freshman fifteen," but he gained the bonus "I'm in a stable relationship ten" (ha ha - get it? Girlfriend = snuggle on couch + snacking + watching tv ).

And YY (my code name for L's girlfriend) ...
So, as I was saying, YY likes to snack, but it works like this. When she stays with us, they walk to the store, which unfortunately is less than 3 blocks from our house,and, for example, buy a pack of popsicles of which she might eat one or two before L polishes off the rest!

L still doesn't believe me (or says he doesn't) that he's eating more than he used to in high school... According to him, it's just a matter of exercise.

Anyway, this is my favorite part: L's reaction when he finally believed the scale.  I love it because it's the L who is capable of self deprecating humor and doesn't get all hung-up on this stuff like I would have at his age!  He took a picture of his feet with the damning number on the scale and then an unflattering selfie with a "horrified" expression in which he tried to make a double chin (he doesn't have one).  He sent them to his girlfriend in snapchat.

So, anyway, my hiding spot is empty, for now.  But, if the craving for chocolate does hit me, I'm prepared to keep my sugar hidden, as any self-sacrificing mother would.

Okay, I confess - there was chocolate there yesterday (salted caramel) and the package lasted less than 24 hours... but I definitely am not craving any more.  Yuck... You know, I've become an old lady --a candy wimp.  This was only a 5 ounce package, I used to eat that much to prepare my palate for the real dessert.  

He's back

Wow.  So much time has passed. 
I never wrote a word about how proud I was of L at school. 
I never mentioned that I missed him, but that I was thrilled that he'd moved away from home because when I did see him he was so sweet to me (unlike the son who moved out of the house in September who could just barely listen to me ask for anything, let alone listen to me sing...)
He thrived on his own (overall).  Certainly wasn't missing us too much (lost his phone and didn't want to replace it - he wasn't calling us)*

But now, he's back!!! Decided to transfer to the very respectable university that's practically in our hometown and he's living at home again. 
I know he wants to be a different L.  He's trying very hard to be agreeable and cooperative. Plus, he no longer has that knee-jerk reaction toward anything I do.  But, he's not really strong on house-work -it's not something he really gets.  So, while he's make great strides in being able to clean the kitchen by himself regularly, it's no good just to tell him he's in charge.  (Since I was working and he's on vacation and I thought that was fair...)

Anyway, darn it.  This isn't fun or funny. 

I guess, now that I've seen the end (I've caught a distant glimpse of the empty nest ha ha), I just want to be able to enjoy L... I don't want to let up on him.  I don't want to let him act entitled and spoiled.  But as long as he's growing and maturing (and he really is), I want to be able to enjoy having him home with us a few more years. 

There's a trap I can fall into.  L can be a very aggressive debater and he's not one for admitting any error... So, it's tempting to lay my side of things out in writing.  At the back of my mind is that idea... one day you'll see this and you really will get it, son.  : ) But, I guess if he's going to "get it" someday, it won't' necessarily be because I spent any more time at this blog... right? right. 

There is one sort of funny thing that I have to say... Damn!  No longer in the mood to write (wait - make that: I'm still not in the mood to write.)


* That hasn't changed.  When he came home one weekend without his phone (October) and then the next time I saw him he didn't have his phone, I got him to admit... but about 3 weeks after he'd moved home, he found it in his backpack. ha ha