56) Turning 14 and having a birthday party (with friends!)

Sasha is a New Year's baby and will be turning 14 on January 1st!  He will be starting testosterone in a couple of weeks.  Not sure how I feel about that... but it has to be done, I suppose.  It will get him into puberty and all the stuff that goes along with that!  It will also be yet another hormone added to his large platter of hormones so we'll see how it will affect him...

What I am excited to report is that Sasha will be having a birthday party this year with some kids he hangs out with during school lunch and at the "Magic the Gathering" club, woo hoo!  Since his birthday is on a holiday, we have usually taken the time off to go to Yosemite National Park and celebrated his birthday during our stay in the mountains with family friends. Some years we invited family friends for a gathering or had a birthday party in combination with mine (also in January). Most years, however, we have not had a separate birthday party for him and his friends because truthfully, Sasha did not have a group of friends to invite to a party.  This year will be the first year (ever?) that he will be inviting a couple of kids he has befriended mostly on his own.  One of the kids was introduced by Sasha's dad whom he met in July (L) and the other kid (A) was introduced to Sasha by L at the Magic club. Sasha has gotten to know these kids during the weekly Saturday gatherings where they play their favorite game together. The third kid (R) is part of a family friend of ours who has also enjoyed hanging out and playing games with Sasha when we all get together.  For his birthday, Sasha has chosen to play one of those "can you escape" games where you are "trapped" in a room and have clues to try to figure out how to escape.  It should be fun!

Could Sasha's improved social life be due to oxytocin?  Perhaps- although he doesn't seem to have a close friendship with these kids (yet), I sense that a friendship is developing and it gives me hope that he can and will make some friends this year with the help of oxytocin.

On a more sobering note:  In spite of overall improvement on oxytocin, Sasha has still had some episodes of food seeking  : (  It seems that he is still tempted by certain foods and situations to sneak food and our money when he has the opportunity.  It is not clear how much is prompted by actual hunger versus habit.  We have been slacking from the active exposure work but intend to have him practice resisting his temptations by placing food on the counter and challenging him to leave it alone.  His appetite has not changed, he still eats moderately and his weight is still decreasing/stable. We are also in the midst of raising his Naltrexone to see if that will make a difference in his abilities to resist temptations to sneak.  We will keep the oxytocin at the same 6 iu for now.