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In my continuing (but completely useless because what is the point really?) efforts to be able to proclaim that Charlotte is not really Autistic (sorry, just being honest) I find myself (once again) having to step back and acknowledge that sometimes it’s just the Autism talking. Or, more precisely, it’s the Autism not talking.
[Aside: I'm not upset or bothered by Charlotte being Autistic (having Autism or Asperger's, whatever), I accept it. I guess why I jump on this train of thought periodically has to do with my hopes for her future. If she's not really Autistic, than she has a brighter future (or so I find myself thinking, foolishly I know, such is the perils of parenting a child who sometimes does and sometimes doesn't act all spectrum-y). Believe me, I know people with Autism have bright futures. But this is my blog and it's okay for me to be honest about my trains of thought, however foolish or unproductive they may be.]
Anyway, back to my point.
Ever since we discovered the link between dairy and Charlotte’s sensory-seeking and screaming and general wonkiness, it’s been hard not to analyze some of her usual ASD traits and wonder if it’s because of something she consumed.
Last week after 3 days of Children’s Tylenol coincided with some not good times, we made the connection that, hey, maybe it’s the Tylenol. Stopped that and wonkiness began to subside.
Then went straight into Halloween where she got all loaded up on artificial colors, which are not usually in her diet, and the wonkiness, albeit to a lesser degree, returned, mostly in the form of spaciness and reduced eye contact and not responding all that much.
Now we’re a few days past the candy and today she was all sensory-seeking, a bit spacey, not a lot of eye contact and, of course, not responding.
And as much as I’d like to be able to point to something she consumed as the reason behind it, I can’t.
I can only point to Autism itself.
This is what Autism looks like in our house.
This does not take away from the fact that, yes, dairy does have a whacked-out effect on her causing a lot of screaming and significant sensory-seeking. And, yes, Tylenol definitely ramped her up in those areas as well.
But a typical day in the life of Autism in this house has varying degrees of those behaviors: some days she has more eye contact than others, some days she is more communicative than others, some days she sensory-seeks more than others.
On those days where she is less of all those, those are the days that my patience is tested and tried. It’s much easier to be patient when I know that her extreme behavior is from some errant casein ingestion. But when, to the best of my knowledge, that is not the case, and she’s just “a little bit Autistic” – those are the days I feel like I can’t handle.
Those are the times that I need to, as my husband says, “put it in check.” Quit getting so frustrated. Stop expecting more of her than she is going to give. Capable of giving.
Dietary interventions are not a cure. (I don’t believe there is a cure for Autism, by the way.) They are just another tool, just like other therapies available, that work great for some kids and have little effect on others.
Dietary interventions help. They do. But it doesn’t change the fact that she is still Autistic.
This is something I need to stop forgetting. She is on the Spectrum. Period. Welcome back to reality, Mama.
I love to eat.
There, I said it. It’s out there.
I also love to cook. And as you may remember, Charlotte has some food sensitivities (gluten and casein) so I have had to reinvent myself in the kitchen.
When I’m time-crunched, it’s nearly impossible to default to quick fixes like frozen pizza or Dino nuggets. No more grilled cheese sandwiches or quesadillas for lunch.
It’s all scratch cooking, all the time. Nearly.
And so I find myself talking about, thinking about, and planning for meals all the time. All. The. Time.
I’ve tossed around the idea of food blog for awhile, but I know that I could never commit to one all by myself.
Turns out I’m not the only one who loves food, cooking and eating, and talking about food, cooking and eating too.
And so, after countless emails and a few tweets, a new blog is born.
You can read Kristen’s fabulous introductory post here.
And my first post is up: my recipe for gluten free salmon patties.
The other two contributors, along with myself and Kristen, are Niksmom and TC.
In the not too distant future, ads will show up on the (Never) Too Many Cooks, and we’ll share our plans to donate the revenue from the ads to charity. Not just any charity, but one that hopefully represents how we call came together.
So please, click on over, sit back, and let’s talk us some food!
Things are trucking along in the world of special dieting in our house. Charlotte has been completely gluten free since mid-August, and completely dairy free since the beginning of August. There are a few other things we avoid, keep to a minimum, but are not entirely avoided (like soy).
Early this past summer when I removed dairy from Charlotte’s diet due to her wonky behavior, I didn’t remove cheese. I know it’s dairy, but we didn’t feel like it was a big deal. And when we did completely remove it later, it didn’t seem to have a noticeable effect.
So a few weeks ago when Charlotte began really wanting pizza (Vegan cheese, my friends, just doesn’t cut it), we decided to see what would happen if she had a gluten free pizza with cheese on it. That was on a Friday night. No big deal, it seemed, maybe cheese really isn’t a problem. Later the following week I let her have some Parmesan cheese on her gluten free pasta, and that next Friday we did the gluten free pizza with cheese again.
I think dairy has some kind of cumulative effect. Because the next day Charlotte was wonky. And itchy.
Actually, the itchiness started earlier in the week. Charlotte has dealt with chronically itchy skin for a long, long time. She had eczema her first year of life, the next couple of years were fine, but then sometime after turning 3, she started scratching her belly. To the point that it would bleed. A lot.
Absolutely nothing would keep it away. Cortisone cream provided temporary relief, but the redness and itching always came back. It went away when we changed her diet dramatically.
After a couple of rounds of cheese, it’s back. As testament to her outstanding communication abilities, she woke up one morning and hollered down from her room, “Mommmmyyyyyyy, I can’t find my cortisone cream! Where is it?!”
“Like, duh, Charlotte I don’t keep it on your room where you might decide to lack some impulse control with it. It’s down here in the kitchen.”
“Can you bring it up to me?”
“Why do you need it?”
“So I can put it on my belly and stop the itching!!!”
[Damn good communication thankyouverymuch.]
After the 2nd pizza is when the wonkies hit.
Just what are the wonkies, you might wonder.
I’m sure it’s different for every kid, but in Charlotte’s case this time she started doing what might be considered a verbal stim in ASD world. She goes, “Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh” over and over and over again. Really, really loud, and really, really fast. She does it especially when you try to talk to her, or when you’re talking to other people, or when you’re telling her to get dressed, or brush her hair. Louder and louder, faster and faster.
(It seems different dairy cause different reactions: ice cream and milk put her into full-on mega sensory-seeking mode.)
That’s the main wonky behavior, but there were also lots of little things that are hard to describe that she started doing again. Things we hadn’t seen in quite some time.
Needless to say, we’re back to a cheese-free life. Tonight she asked if she could have some Parmesan on her pasta, “or am I allergic to it?” I told her it’s what was making her belly itch (that is nearly faded thank goodness). She seemed to accept that (but she didn’t eat her pasta).
I was hoping that the removal of gluten from her diet would yield something positive in the area of, um, going #2. We’ve seen some improvement, for like a week here and there, but then goes back to its norm.
However, I do think the GF part has helped with her communication. She’s always continuously communicating better and better, but it’s like the improvement ramp went from a 30 degrees to 60 degrees (if that makes sense) as the gluten has left and stayed out of her system. I mean, it’s just so so so so fast that it’s hard not to correlate it.
So for now we remain free of gluten and casein and we limit quite a few others as best we can and we keep trucking along.
And I remind myself: no more dairy for Charlotte!!
Charlotte is going through a strange food phase. At least, I hope it’s just a phase.
She has always been a good eater – not too picky, generally ate good, healthy portions although sometimes I would be surprised at the amount of food she could eat for such a little person. She doesn’t have the widest repertoire, but she eats a good balance of veggies, protein, fruit and grains.
(The same can NOT be said of Sarah.)
A month or so ago she stopped wanting to eat breakfast. Nothing would entice her to eat. It was the middle of summer and we didn’t have too many busy mornings, so I didn’t push it. Often we ate an early lunch at 11 and a generous snack later in the afternoon.
Around the same time, or very shortly after, I began phasing gluten out of her diet (we opted not to go cold turkey).
For the last two weeks that she has been completely gluten free, her diet has been the pits. There was one day she ate nothing but strawberries, a rice cake and a pickle. I would ask her if she was hungry and she would just say no.
Occasionally she asked for chicken nuggets, or toast, but she easily accepted no as the answer.
I’m not sure if the tide is turning, but the last 2 days she has eaten a little better. At least one whole meal each day, but otherwise just picking at her food. This is much better than the 12 days previous.
My gut tells me that the diminished appetite and the gluten removal are not related, but I am not entirely sure. It could be related. I don’t know how long before we’ll see any changes from the gluten free diet (she is also casein free as well).
That’s one of the challenges when parenting a child with Autism – often she simply does not have the language to tell me how she feels physically and so I’m left to just guess.
One of Charlotte’s great loves is bread. Loves it. For the longest time, her breakfast of choice was bread and butter. She had slowed down her bread consumption before we started the diet, but it was something she still very much enjoyed.
Because of this, the search was on for a good gluten free bread. Preferably brown and whole grain as that is what she likes.
After trying a few different mixes that tasted good to me but were rejected by Charlotte, I decided to look for recipe I can make from scratch using my new bread maker.
After digging around on the Internet, I found a recipe for GF Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread, at one of my favorite blogs.
Delicious! Three out of four of us in the house loved it. Charlotte, the one we NEED to love it, wouldn’t even try it. Gah!
I don’t think the reason she won’t try it has anything to do with the appearance of the bread. I suspect she is afraid she’s allergic. We have used the term “allergic” to say why she can’t have certain foods anymore. Even though I’ve told her this bread does not have any wheat in it, she still won’t try it. It will probably take more time.
Meanwhile, my husband and I are thrilled to have a gluten free bread that we both LOVE!
The days leading up to Charlotte’s 5th birthday had me mentally scribing a post about what a poised, confident, social child she has become. She was a perfect hostess at her party on Saturday, and Sunday was another spectacular day.
Monday, her actual birthday, I was practially giddy with pride from what I witnessed throughout the day.
First thing Monday morning she and Sarah started group swim lessons. With 9 kids in the group, I wasn’t sure how Charlotte would fare. Group situations seem to find her easily distracted and clingy to me.
Not so with swim lessons. She was on top of her game. Focused, following directions, and enthusiastic. She and Sarah were 2 of only 3 swimmers who didn’t cry throughout the whole thing (even the criers didn’t distract her).
From there we quick-transitioned at home (change of clothes, comb out the tangly hair, quick but substantial snack) and headed off to day one of Steel Drum Camp. Here Charlotte was one of 5 in the group. An easy going teacher, a fun new instrument and the up-tempo-but-easy reggae background music all helped make for another great experience.
Next it was lunch in the car and then our usual Monday OT session where her therapist observed she was “totally on it today.” No echolalia, following 4-step directions, unscripted imaginative play.
If this is five, I thought to myself, I love it. Five can stick around!
As the final celebratory act of her birthday, we took a little family trip over to one of Charlotte’s favorite places for ice cream.
It had been some time since she’d had any dairy outside of cheese. And it was her birthday. And I had a coupon. And she loves ice cream. So, a birthday treat.
And so began the slide.
Tuesday she was distracted during swim lessons, she got in trouble for not listening at the camp, there was an excessive amount of screaming at Sarah and me throughout the day. The sisters fought and fought far more than we’d seen in the previous few weeks.
Wednesday she began the high level of sensory seeking. Riding home in the car she was attempting to hang upside down in her seat. She was somewhat emotional and clingy with her dad. Transitions were a struggle.
Thursday things picked up a bit, helped in part, I believe, by the 2-hour group OT session that morning. Camp was successfully managed despite a substitute teacher (one who Charlotte knows and is not particularly fond of). We ended up with a late lunch at Chik-Fil-A where I heard her initiate conversation with another child (seldom witnessed heretofore).
Friday, despite barely handling the huge disappointment at the hands of the swim instructors who didn’t plan for a diving board jump, was better. Fully in upswing mode now.
Friday night she performed beautifully in a steel drum concert at a local park. In front of an audience and with multiple distractions to boot. We the left the park (which was celebrating its birthday) without the celebratory cupcake.
“Oh no! I forgot my cupcake! We have to go back! We have to go back!”
Oops.
We started looking for an open bakery where we might find a substitute cupcake. Bakeries are not open at 8:30 at night.
I made a proposal. G’s is a local ice cream shop that also has baked goods. It’s one of Charlotte’s favorite places. Not willing to risk another ice cream debacle, I offered that we could go there, but only to get a cupcake, no ice cream.
“If you ask for ice cream, and throw a fit, we’ll just leave without even getting a cupcake.”
She repeated that mantra for the duration of the drive. It must have worked because she didn’t so much as glance in the direction of the ice cream counter.
And thus ended the first 5 days of five.
Lessons were learned.
- Back-to-back activities are probably not the smartest thing to do.
- No matter how good it sounds at the moment, stay the hell away from ice cream.
We were up. We were down. And then, importantly, we came back up.
If this is five, I think to myself, I love it! Five can stick around!
My negative-ish last two posts do not sit well with me. Yes, I worry. Yes, I doubt and question. But I try my darndest not to let that consume me, or my blog.
I do so appreciate all the comments of support and empathy. And the jokes to cheer me up too!
Let’s not linger in the worry, though. Let’s move straight into the good stuff. The beauty and joy and love of children. My children. Our children. The typical ones and the special needs kiddos.
Charlotte’s language continues to blossom. Every day we gasp at something new she articulates. A new understanding she seems to have.
She is beginning to ask so many more questions of us, beyond “What are you doing?”
There’s “Why are you doing that?” and “What did you just do?” She asks about our plans for the weekend, and inquires what’s for dinner later. It’s like she’s finally taking an active interest in her own life.
Conversational skills are building, although at times it is frustrating when she won’t answer the simplest of questions. And she still is not great at listening, as in “minding” us, you know – being obedient (I am not a fan of that word).
My husband and I were asking ourselves tonight regarding the not listening -is that an ASD thing, or is it just Charlotte? She decided she wanted to go upstairs tonight (while we were sitting outside eating dinner) and get a bandaid. And no amount of firmly telling her do not go upstairs, stay outside worked. Neither did threat of consequence.
She just went on up. This happens frequently. It can be so infuriating.
Lately, though, (knock on wood) that has been the only frustrating thing. Being 100% dairy and soy free seems to have taken care of the screaming and aggression. Thank the heavens as that was really hard to deal with.
Sarah astounds us as well too. Her command of language is superior. A few weeks ago, she lost me at where we take weekly tumbling. She was putting her shoes on, so I ducked into the bathroom to check on Charlotte. When I came out 5 seconds later, Sarah had run off in the opposite direction, crying, and looking for me.
She said to me: “I looked up and you were gone. I looked and looked for you and I was crying. Then the teacher picked me up and she gave me to you. Don’t get lost again, Mommy.”
Every week when we walk into tumbling she looks me in the eye and says, “Don’t get lost, Mommy. Okay?”
Have I mentioned how much I love where we take tumbling? Just let them know when you sign up that your kid has Autism, and they will provide an extra instructor if needed.
That has been helpful for us. Sometimes Charlotte gets a little overwhelmed when we go in there. Last week she cried and said she wanted to be 2 so she could be in the 2 year old class with me.
One of the floating instructors walked around with her for a few minutes and then she was fine to join her fellow PreK tumblers.
I love watching her from across the room. I see her standing in line patiently, trying some crazy new move, learning the Chicken Dance. That may be the cutest thing ever to watch.
Sarah, equally, is a joy to watch in tumbling – a rock star. She is fearless, and has such balance and strength and coordination. She loves the physical aspect – climbing, jumping, rolling.
Begin sappiness.
It’s marvelous parenting two such opposite children. I feel blessed by God to have been given these gifts.
End sappiness.
Happy Independence Day.
Remember when I wrote about the ooglies we’ve been seeing recently around Chez Goodfountain?
It’s true that the new blanket swing did help. For a time.
But, to tell the truth, nothing has really changed since then and Charlotte has been frustrating me to no end. There’s the endless sensory seeking, which is especially tiresome because someone always ends up getting hurt.
There’s also a seeming lack of impulse control and general just not listening. Telling her 51 times to put her shoes on so we can leave the house. And let’s not forget the screaming.
Recently, I went out to dinner with a friend who has two sons on the spectrum and she has been doing some light biomedical treatments (GFCF diet, supplements) with them. As we were talking, it became clearer and clearer.
I think Charlotte is having a reaction to all the dairy she’s been consuming.
I won’t bore you with a full recap of the GFCF diet and the IgG testing and rotation diet that followed last year. Suffice it say that upon reintroducing the long list of foods we had eliminated, we saw no issues with anything but Soy and Peanuts.
How we knew these were a problem is that anytime she has either (not just a taste, I mean a significant amount) she gets wonky. Wonky as in what I described above.
The reintroduction of all the “offending” foods was last December, about 5 months ago. Charlotte has never been much of a milk drinker (just the random cup of chocolate milk here and there), she would eat the occasional bit of string cheese, and we have pizza on Fridays. A fairly minimal dairy intake. Not even daily.
My point being is that if dairy were an issue, it’s very possible that we wouldn’t notice because her dairy consumption was so low.
A couple of months ago she started wanting to drink chocolate milk with her breakfast daily. I didn’t think anything of it. I was actually glad because it’s milk and I’m generally in favor of milk consumption for calcium (although she does take calcium supplements too).
Somehow, slowly, ice cream frequency was upped too. Instead of just on Fridays, it became the whole weekend. Then she’d ask for a bowl on Wednesday (“Can we pretend today is Friday and have ice cream? Please?!”).
Ice cream turned into ice cream treats (sandwiches, drumsticks).
Charlotte was becoming obsessed. She wanted it all the time.
Culmination came on a Sunday morning when she sneaked downstairs and quickly tried to cram an ice cream treat into her mouth before anyone found her. Happened again the next day.
My gut tells me I’m right about this. That too much dairy makes Charlotte wonky.
She is now more than a week without milk and nearly a week with no ice cream. I did go ahead with pizza this past Friday. I don’t think Charlotte has zero tolerance for dairy, I do, however, think that it needs to be kept pretty minimal.
The last few days, as the dairy is leaving her system, has brought back the return of non-verbal communication. I’m talking head nodding and shaking, dramatic gestures, pouting.
A sudden increase (or perhaps beginning usage) of non-verbal language was the first and most dramatic thing we noticed when we originally took her off gluten and casein last September.
I don’t always realize non-verbal language is missing until I start to see it. It’s so noticeable now the way she’s folding her arms over her chest to show her frustration at me insisting on fixing her hair rather than screaming “Noooooooo!!!!” at me.
The eye contact that accompanies the nodding of the head is striking.
I don’t intend to hold a strict no dairy policy. Next week at her preschool graduation party slash ice cream social she’ll get her ice cream. It will be kept to special occasions only. Milk, however – totally gone.
I can’t explain it, and I’m pretty sure I’m not imagining this, but dairy has some kind of weird effect on Charlotte.
Flexibility has become my middle name.
It’s not that I wasn’t flexible before, it’s just that I wasn’t AS flexible AS often.
Just so we’re all on the same page here, I’m talking about my flexible attitude and approach to parenting here, not my yoga moves. In that regard, I am decidedly inflexible.
I would hazard a guess that most of us uptight particular folks had to loosen up a bit upon birthing the babies. And even moreso when the babies became toddlers. And then again moreso when the toddlers landed somewhere around the Autism Spectrum. And then further when the toddler has a personality like Sarah.
Sarah is a force with which to be reckoned. Charlotte may have her quirks and pecularities, but Sarah has sheer determination and reckless abandon.
Honestly, I’m not sure which is worse. Do I want the kid who has to work her butt off to stay regulated on a trip to Costco, or the one who wants to climb to the top of the mountain of bottled water cases?
And when I say “work her butt off” to stay regulated, what I mean is: run ahead of me, and behind me, and in circles around me and generally never, ever stop moving.
That’s regulation. At least that’s what we call it so we can not feel like we’re those parents who have zero control of their child.
Lately my flexible nature has had me bending and twisting in the realm of food. Charlotte, who was once upon a time a most excellent eater, has become less excellent.
She rejects everything new, not to mention many old favorites. She still eats fruits and veggies and many healthy things, but the variety is dwindling. Especially of proteins.
Sarah is still picky as ever, but she has added quite a few new items to her repertoire. Importantly, her willingness to try is huge.
I find myself getting worked up about Charlotte and her diminishing variety.
Flashback to pre-kids days when I declared that I would not make separate dinners, and that my kids would eat what we were eating, or else. Bwa ha ha.
That doesn’t work. And for parents who think it does, I would like to tell you: it’s your kid and their non-picky palate, not your rules.
Rather than continue to get worked up, the hubs and I decided it was time to let it go. We were doing a lot of cajoling and bribing with treats to get Charlotte to eat 5 bites of salmon and 5 spoonfuls of peas.
This isn’t the kind of parenting I want to do. Bribing and negotiating. Charlotte whining and running away from the table. High levels of frustration. Food becoming an “issue.” Ack. Who wants to give their kid food issues?
So what’s our solution?
Mostly we plan meals we know she’ll eat. We usually offer her something new, and encourage her to try. But we’re also telling her it’s okay to say she doesn’t like it and to ask us for something different to eat. So long as she uses big girl words and not whining or yelling.
The other thing we’re doing is only offering healthy snacks. If she doesn’t eat dinner, she can have a snack but she only gets nutritious options.
Mealtime stress levels have gone way down.
Tonight was a great example of our positive changes in action. Charlotte barely touched her dinner and was, of course, hungry later. She gladly accepted strawberries and a few crackers as a snack.
This approach probably wouldn’t work for many parents, or with all kids, but it is working here. It’s how I was raised. My mom always made food that I, a notoriously picky eater as a kid, would eat. Dinner time was not a battle. And today, with the staunch exception of green peppers, I’ll eat most anything.
That is how I hope things progress with Charlotte and Sarah. By letting their tastes develop on their own, not under duress to eat the allotted number of broccoli florets, my hope is they will eventually enjoy a rich palate of flavors and textures.
Meanwhile, we’ll be having chicken for dinner. Again.
Last time I wrote about the GFCF et. al. diet we’ve been doing with Chee was 17 days ago. At that time, it had been 17 straight days of elimination/rotation.
I lasted 4 more days and cried Uncle. I appreciate the many kudos for sticking to the diet, but after awhile it got to be too much. There were also some concerning things.
First, her belly rash only briefly went away and then came rip-roaring back. Finally, I did 3 straight days of hydrocortisone cream on her belly, several times a day, and the rash left and has not come back. Hydrocortisone has not worked in the past on this rash, not sure what made it different this time, except maybe that I did it longer and more frequently. At any rate, it’s been gone for about 10 days now. Quite nice.
The other concerning thing was Chee’s beginning obsession with food, particularly fruits. Couple this with the lack of grains in her diet, and it seemed about all there was to snack on was fruit. What was especially concerning was the quantities she was eating. For example, one particular “apple” day, she ate 7 (seven!!) servings of apple. She couldn’t get enough. Seven servings in one day cannot be good for her. Four applesauces, 1 whole (large) apple and 2 apple juices. She refused other fruit options that day.
The next day was “strawberry” day and she was on her way to working herself through a 2nd quart of strawberries when I declared, Enough!
Common sense tells me that a variety of food throughout the day/week is healthier than loading up on one day. Doesn’t it just seem that 7 servings of apple over the course of one week would be better for the digestive tract and for our overall nutrition?
At that point I dropped the “rotation” part of her diet but kept with the elimination of the foods that she had tested as reactive to on her IgG test.
That didn’t last long either, though, and soon after I began to reintroduce many of the ones that I just didn’t feel were true issues. Like oranges, rice, corn and mustard. Over the next week I reintroduced just about everything, including eggs (which I previously thought might have caused her rash to flare up again), and saw no change in her behavior and no return of the rash.
My plan was to reintroduce dairy (casein) and wheat (gluten) while she was on Christmas break from school.
Chee had a different plan.
We were at my Mom’s and she had set out a plate of raw veggies and Ranch dip. Chee does love her some veggies and before you know it she’s got the dip and she’s ready to go. I just didn’t have the energy to say no to her.
No rash, no nothing.
Next day I let her have all the milk and cheese she wanted.
No rash, no nothing.
That continued all week. Thursday was her last day at school and so I decided to give her some gluten and see how it goes. She hasn’t had Chik-Fil-A in months, it was one of her favorite treats, so I figured it was a good place to start.
No problem. No reactions.
Friday she had several pieces of bread throughout of the day (she was so THRILLED to get to eat bread again!!).
No rash, no nothing.
Friday night she asked for a peanut butter sandwich for dinner, which I gave her. She did have bright red cheeks later and her belly felt bumply as well. I wasn’t thinking when I let her have peanuts which was, of everything, what she had the single highest reaction to on the IgG test.
My gut tells me that, if anything, it was the peanuts and not the bread. I’ll keep peanuts out for awhile longer just to make sure and then try her on them again and see if she has the same reaction. I’m not sure what red cheeks mean, but I’d like to avoid a recurrence of that awful itchy belly rash.
So what am I to make of this?
I can’t say I saw NO changes in Chee after we eliminated gluten and casein. We did. The non verbal language (head shaking and nodding), the conversations, the eye contact. It seemed to happen shortly after we eliminated those foods. The areas [we thought] we saw improvement were not dramatic right away. They were, in fact, already emerging. Could the diet have tipped the scales a bit to spring them fast forward? Who knows.
The changes we have seen in Chee in the last six months have been dramatic. Children who have the characteristics of Hyperlexia tend to experience dramatic gains in language between age 4 and 5. Chee turned 4 in July and we began the diet in September. Her gains could be just what was on the horizon regardless.
I have to lean toward thinking that it’s that since, upon reintroduction, there has been no regression of communication. Or anything.
Part of me wants to call this a failed experiment, but I am going to take a different attitude about it (if for no other reason than to console myself on the amount of money I spent).
My approach will be to focus on what we gained from our 3-month dietary experiment.
- We know Chee does not have any major food sensitivities.
- We broke her of her ice cream addiction.
- We have acquired a taste for many new foods we might not have otherwise discovered.
- We are much more committed to natural and organic foods.
- I got a new Cuisinart out of it.
I’m glad we’re back to a “regular” diet. We had pizza for dinner tonight. Chee was in heaven. We all were.
Life has been moving along steadily of late. We made it through a lovely long holiday weekend that included not only Thanksgiving, but Ess’s 2nd birthday (and a small party), and Sunday my Mom and I took the girls to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Extravaganza (touring show). Chee loved the show. Ess loved the chairs.
Some interesting (to me at least) things to note.
Chee has begun this weird little questioning thing. Sometimes it’s cute, but usually ends up annoying. It goes like this:
Chee: Is it morning out, or not morning out?
Me: It’s morning.
Chee: Can I have breakfast, or not have breakfast?
Me: Breakfast.
Me: Chee, time to brush your teeth.
Chee: Is it time to brush my teeth, or not time to brush my teeth?
Chee: Does Ess have a poopy diaper, or not have a poopy diaper?
Chee: Can I play with my dollhouse, or not play with my dollhouse?
Me: Yes.
This goes on all day. No matter what she asks to do, or what I tell her to do, I get this question, or not, response. Today I asked her, Chee, what is up with all these questions? She responded, Are these questions, or not questions?
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Ess got a new baby doll and all the accompaniments for her birthday: bassinet, stroller, carseat, etc. SInce Saturday, all I’ve done is listen to them fight over that damn doll. Generally I allow whomever has something first to play with it, but since this is a brand new gift I’ve been defaulting to saying the doll belongs to Ess and Chee has to let her play with it. (To which of course I hear, Is it Ess’s turn with the doll, or not Ess’s turn?)
When it’s one kids birthday, I don’t buy the other kid a gift. I don’t think recognizing that today is your sibling’s special day is too difficult of a concept. The grandparents feel differently, however, and as I can’t micromanage every little thing (try as I might…), I just let them do it. My only request is that they don’t make a big deal of it.
Well, I have to admit, I’ve never been so grateful for the gift that Chee got from one of her Grandma’s. It’s a new Barbie (Wedding Barbie, no less) because whenever Ess takes it I get to say that it is Chee’s new toy and Ess has to let her play with it. Believe it or not, this is working. It seems to diffuse the battle royale, at least temporarily. I have to say that about 42 million times a day though.
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We’re eating a lot of fish. With rotation dieting, there is a chicken day, a pork day, a turkey day, and a beef day. Every day is fish day, though, as long as we don’t eat the same fish every day. So as not to eat beef or chicken or whatever at all 3 meals, I’ve been cooking more fish. I’ve learned tilapia is yucky, fresh is usually better than frozen (at least with white fish), and as long as you call it flounder, Chee will eat it. Unless it’s salmon which is acceptable called salmon. Anything else must be called flounder (aslo known as Ariel’s friend: Is this Ariel’s friend Flounder, or not Ariel’s friend Flounder?)
Along with eating all this fish I have learned that I’m sick to death of eating so much fish. I mean, I like it, but EVERY DAY???? No, I cannot handle it every day. Tomorrow we’re having pork roast. I need a break.
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It’s been about 17 days of elimination of the “offending” foods from Chee’s diet. We are pleased, and impressed, with the changes we’ve seen in her language and behavior. I really could write a whole post just about that, but my heart’s not in it. I just don’t want to go on and on about how much “better” she is. Maybe the word isn’t better, I don’t know. I just know that she is something different in a good way. But she’s still Chee. Saturday I made a birthday cake which contained eggs, and Chee tested as reactive to both egg yolks and egg whites. Her rash came back nice and robust the next day. Fortunately, there was no other side effect.
That is all the randomness that I have for one day (or is not all the randomness?).
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