Failure to thrive

I was reading something by another mom whose daughter has been sick and they aren't entirely sure why. She wrote about the doctor diagnosing her daughter as "failure to thrive." I really felt for her because we heard those words with Cordelia. It was like a kick in the stomach. It hurt to hear those words. Maybe I'm just so used to living in a P.C. world that I didn't expect to hear something so harsh. Everything else has changed so why not say, "growing challenged" or something. It's just hard to hear the word failure and your child's name in the same sentence. I felt like I should defend her. "It's not her fault!" "She's doing the best she can!" "I'm doing the best I can for her." When failure is connected to your child, you as a parent take part of the blame too. Really, nothing was her fault or mine or Fred's or anybody else's. Still, it hurt to hear failure to thrive. The good news is that she now has no problem "thriving." She's getting round and heavy. She's gotten a few more pounds on her and she looks healthier than ever.