6 Month IEP Review Day…

December 8, 2007 at 5:02 am (GFCF Diet, IEP)
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Sunshine shining through.Day 11. I left the IEP meeting with a bittersweet smile today. I’m happy that I finally know how to get my son’s diagnosis beyond the school district’s psychologist but I’m sad that there is only one neuropsychologist in the entire state of Nevada and she just happens to have a crazy long waiting list. So, the waiting game begins.

I was told not to expect a clinical diagnosis of Asperger’s. Zack’s language pathologist believes he isn’t as high functioning as that. I’m personally not sure so only time will tell. At least we’re moving ahead with the clincial diagnosis and that will lead to another waiting list… the ABA therapy list. I swear this system doesn’t make any sense. “The earlier the intervention, the better! Oh, but you have to sit on a waiting list for 2 years. Sorry.”

Sighhhhhhhh.

Breakfast was Fruity Pebbles and almond milk. I am so close to not letting my husband feed him anymore LOL. His snack was a banana. Lunch was a GFCF waffle with peanut butter and honey, strawberries, and chocolate almond milk. His snack was a bowl of EnviroKids Frosted Flakes with almond milk. Dinner was a GFCF hotdog, GFCF french fries, green beans, and Heinz ketchup. After that, he had some Skittles at the Festival of Lights. Hey, it kept him from the M&Ms he begged me for!

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Getting Ready for the IEP Tomorrow

December 6, 2007 at 9:52 pm (GFCF Diet, IEP, Preschool)
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Zack & Zander June 2007Day 10. Today is the first day that Zack’s busdriver has had anything negative to say about his behavior on the bus. I’m chalking it up to a long week, a new diet, and a really crabby baby brother that has made things an insy bit harder this week. I was also aghast to discover Zack’s school snack still in his bookbag. I know the teacher occasionally brings goldfish crackers for the kids but I have specifically told her that he is on a special diet and is to eat ONLY what I send with him. I’m irritated. I called her today and she hasn’t called me back yet so I have no idea what my son ate. Perhaps whatever it was is why this was his first bad review on the bus. I’m livid and I cannot wait to ask her tomorrow morning at his IEP meeting.

I sat down and wrote out all of the notes I’ve taken and observances I’ve had since his last IEP meeting 6 months ago. This is only the mid-year review so it’s not the MAJOR let’s-talk meeting but I still plan on bringing anything and everything up. I am going to request that he is moved to a full class with other autism students because it’s just not comfortable for me knowing that my son’s teacher is trained in general special education preschool and just stared blankly at me when I talked to her about autism. *Deep breath… calm down, Elizabeth* Tomorrow, the gloves are coming off.

Ok, I know… maybe someone brought grapes in and that’s what she fed him. But honestly, that’s STILL disobeying my request of he eats only what I send with him. I need his teachers to stay on the same page as me and if they can’t, he’ll need new teachers. Grr.

Breakfast was Fruity Pebbles (we always know when his dad feeds him in the morning) with almond milk. Snack was WHO KNOWS? Lunch was Bush’s baked beans with chopped up GFCF hotdogs. His afternoon snack will be marshmallows and raisins. His dinner will be quinoa pasta with Prego sauce and peas. Our evening snack (if he’s awake) will be popcorn with GFCF butter melted on top. Yum!

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School Says…

December 6, 2007 at 5:55 am (GFCF Diet)
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Sushi! My Japanese Chin.Days 8 & 9. I didn’t mean to miss a day of posting. It’s crazy during my husband’s “weekends.” We’ve been doing great though! Zack’s preschool teacher’s assistant told me that Zack is still screeching in school but I informed her that she must ignore it. Turn her back on him even and as soon as he stops, give him positive attention for stopping. We’ll see how it’s going on Friday during his IEP meeting.

Yesterday, Zackary had EnviroKids Frosted Flakes with almond milk for breakfast, EnviroKids peanut butter rice bar for a snack, a hot dog and rice with corn for lunch, and some marshmallows for a snack. At dinner time, I made some quinoa pasta with prego sauce and he was too tired for dessert. Today, he had a GFCF banana waffle with peanut butter and honey on it for breakfast. Snack was another rice bar. Lunch was some grilled chicken and rice. Dinner was leftover lunch plus some “cheese” and a banana. And again, he was really tired and just wanted to go to bed after dinner.

Now that I have the whole “this is approved” and “this isn’t approved” list down, I am going to start concentrating on the 5 foodgroups again!

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“Bite” is a beautiful word.

December 4, 2007 at 2:16 am (Accomplishments, GFCF Diet)
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Zackypoo!Day 7. Another day… another word! His English vocabulary has gone from zero initiated words to 3 this week! Zack grabbed a forkful of his quinoa spaghetti and brought it to my husband and said “bite.” This is incredible.

Breakfast was some Fruity Pebbles with original almond milk. Snack was an EnviroKids peanut butter bar. Lunch was chicken with rice. For a snack, he had Betty Crocker fruit snacks. Dinner was quinoa pasta with Prego and watermelon. Dessert was a GFCF peanut butter cookie.

We’ve had an awesome day! We went to Mount Charleston for sledding and Zack loved it.

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A Complete 180.

December 2, 2007 at 11:03 pm (Accomplishments, GFCF Diet)
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Angel ChildDay 6. Zack’s mood has done a total 180 today. He’s been an angel child! I cannot believe this is the same kid as yesterday! He’s really been great.

At lunch, he brought me his empty cup and said “more.” Just like that… MORE! No screech to get some. No incoherent “inganingainga” sounds. More. In ENGLISH! I couldn’t believe it!! I am so proud of the progress I’ve seen this week. could it really be this diet?

Breakfast was an egg and some GFCF bacon… at 9! He slept in this morning, which was an awesome break for me. He had some chocolate almond milk and a banana with that. His lunch was some homemade chicken nugget (recipe on recipe page), baked potato, and corn. He then helped himslef to 2 peanut butter cookies (also on recipe page). By the way, those cookies ROCK!

His dinner will be some GFCF cereal with almond milk and fruit. My husband’s at work today so we’re on out own. He’ll have some marshmallows and dried cherries for dessert. I can’t believe we’re actually doing this… successfully!

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Where’s my White Flag of Surrender?

December 1, 2007 at 11:33 pm (Autism, GFCF Diet)
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Woman ScreamingDay 5. I take it back. Yesterday was NOT the worst day of my life. Today beats it by far. Argh!!!

We woke up early to head to the book store so I could research more about the GFCF diet and autism. I found an incredibly interesting book about the diet, why it works, and how to survive it. Guess what? The book swears that his bad behavior right now is a good thing. It says that his behavior changing like this is a sign that the gluten and casein proteins were somehow affecting his behavior before and once this withdrawl phase ends, we should see some positive results. So, that’s good.

But, Zack’s back to throwing things across the room, screeching, and intentionally breaking my rules. I’m almost afraid to send him to preschool on Monday because he might hurt someone. How long is this withdrawl phase supposed to be? I miss the Zack I had a week ago.

His IEP review is coming up next week and I cannot wait for this meeting. I am going to demand an official diagnosis. The OFFICIAL diagnosis will help us tremendously because I can then get him on the long waiting list for ABA and possibly SSI. Eek. Wish us luck.

Breakfast: Fruity Pebbles w/almond milk, banana
Snack: Smooshed Grape Frutable
Lunch: White rice w/GFCF teriyaki. Didn’t really eat much of that and didn’t want anything to do with meat.
Dinner: Brown rice noodles with Prego sauce and skinless chicken breast, peas
Dessert: I’m trying the peanut butter cookie recipe I posted before tonight!

Once I finish reading the book I mentioned earlier, I will add my recommendation.

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One of those Days..

December 1, 2007 at 8:18 am (Autism, GFCF Diet)
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Stressed KittyDay 4. Every mother of a 3-year-old autie knows exactly what I mean when I say “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Woo! Felt good to get that out.

Today sucked. If I can just speak openly and honestly about my feelings this afternoon… I was ready to open my top floor window and jump. Ok, not actually ready to do such a thing but you know what I mean. It was one of those days. You know the type. Two kids… one screeching like a banshee and the other wailing because of the banshee screech while the puppy whimpers to go out but won’t actually go out because of the rain so he’s stuck holding his pee and crying while I’m trying to shove rice cereal in a 5-month-old’s mouth while my 3-year-old is plucking ornaments from the Christmas tree and flinging them at said crying puppy. All the while that this is happening, I’m on the telephone with my father trying to explain how excited I was over another out-of-the-blue-could-be-because-of-gfcf accomplishment this morning.

By the time 11 came, Zack was in his room for an early quiet time, Zander was in his crib STILL FUSSING at me, and Sushi (dog) was in his kennel. I ran into my room and filled the tub with the hottest water I could stand and climbed in to cry for half an hour. Yeah. Supermom, huh?

I guess I know that every mother goes through days like this and the important thing is that I was able to step back from the situation and breathe without losing my temper. After my 30 minute sob session, I pulled my lobster-red body from the hot water, threw on sweats, and went to collect my still fussing baby from his crib. I took him into my room and laid down on the bed and nursed him for 15 minutes until he fell asleep and then went to release my frustrated preschooler from his room.

Boy, was he ever happy to see me! But, that doesn’t mean the day got any easier. It got harder and harder and harder… but because of my hot bath, I felt better able to breathe and keep myself collected until my husband came home from work and I had someone to cry to. I am so happy these days are few and far between lately. They used to happen much more frequently before I started cracking through this communication wall and pulling a few words out of my sweet autie.

Today was our first fully GFCF day! No mistakes, no accidents, no cave ins! Wooooo! Zack had a GFCF waffle with sliced strawberries and honey on it for breakfast. He had the rest of his chocolate almond milk and some grapes and marshmallows for snacktime. Lunch was half of a waffle with peanut butter and honey, peas, Lays chips, and the rest of the grapes. Then, he begged me out of Fritos for a snack. Dinner was skinless chicken with a GFCF honey barbecue dip and some fried potatoes. He didn’t get a dessert because dinner wasn’t until 8. That was our day. I can’t believe we made it through a day GFCF. It wasn’t the healthiest all-food-group-recommendations day but our first step was no effin gluten or casein so I feel accomplished anyway.

We also picked up a few groceries today. I found a GFCF teriyaki at Walmart! La Choy is the brand, I believe. Okay, I lied… my husband actually found it and told me I need to keep it in my bag for our unplanned stops for brown rice and grilled chicken at Teriyaki Madness. We were thrilled! I also picked up some colorful marshmallows, a box of EnviroKids frosted flakes, EnviroKids peanut butter snackbars, all 3 flavors of almond milk, and some totally GFCF vitamins with calcium added! No lactic acid!

It has taken me the better part of a week but I think I’m starting to get this down.

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The Zebra & the Giraffe

November 30, 2007 at 5:50 am (Accomplishments, GFCF Diet)
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Giraffes are awesome!I know I already posted today, but I had to share something new. Zack has these little plastic jungle animals that he carries everywhere in his bucket of the day. He has buckets and zip-up lunchbags to carry his object-attachment belongings because there are so many that he has to have ALL AT ONCE and Heaven help us if any drop. His objects don’t change but the bucket he keeps them in does.

He usually just takes them out of the bag one by one and set them on the table and then puts them back in one by one. But this evening, he did something new. He handed me his giraffe and then grabbed the zebra. He made the zebra walk across the couch and then made the zebra say hi to the giraffe.

I burst into tears. Clear as day, he said “Hi!” of his own free will… not just repeating me. But even better, his imagination had the animals talking to each other! This is huge! It’s a major step in the right direction. He has never initiated this kind of play with me before.

I know he hasn’t been COMPLETELY GFCF because of my little lactic acid slipups here and there, but… Is it possible at all to see any kind of positivity after only 3 days of being 99% GFCF? Or, is this accomplishment coming from another source?

Whatever it is, I absolutely LOVE giraffes now.

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Christmas is Coming!

November 30, 2007 at 12:05 am (GFCF Diet, Holidays, Recipes)
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Our 2007 Christmas Tree!Day 3. With the advice of one of my best friends, I decided to look at GFCF and autism groups on CafeMom. To my relief, I found a group full of easy recipes and answers to questions that have already been on my mind… including the recipe for the easiest peanut butter cookies. Christmas is coming and Zack and I LOVE to make holiday cookies together. I was worried that it just wouldn’t happen for us this year. The recipe is simple…

Gluten Free *Flourless* Peanut Butter Cookies
(Posted on CafeMom by AutiMama)

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar (or white if that’s all you have)
  • 2 eggs

Preheat 350. Combine all ingredients. Drop spoonful on cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

I will try this very soon and write a review. If it’s something my family loves, I will post it on my recipe page. I also found a great peanut butter and chocolate frosting recipe from the same person that I will try sometime in the future.

Sure, we’re on a healthy diet now and we should opt for healthy, whole foods whenever we can. BUT, we’re also an American family with 2 boys and dangit, we like our sweets!

I found out why Zack has been such a screechy monster this week. He woke up congested this morning and wound up staying home from preschool. I should have realized that this was coming because he’s ALWAYS super difficult when he’s starting to feel yucky. Poor kid. He loved his breakfast this morning though. I gave him a GFCF banana waffle with peanut butter on top and some sliced oranges. He was thrilled with it until he saw his dad with Raisin Bran and milk. I love my husband to death but I could have kicked him this morning. Milk is Zack’s absolute favorite thing in the world and I really don’t want it in the house at all while we’re going through the original transition. But alas, I cannot forbid my husband from what he loves either so we just need to create a stronger system so Zack doesn’t see what he isn’t allowed to have.

When Zack’s not feeling good, I tend to spoil him a little. And, I did today. I gave him some honey BBQ Fritos and that’s all he would eat for lunch. He didn’t want anything else offered to him and okay, that’s not AWFUL when he’s sick. When he’s sick, I’ll let him eat whatever he is willing to put in his mouth because he usually refuses everything! His snack after that was a bowl of grapes and marshmallows. Dinner will be homemade chicken nuggets, a baked potato topped with Better Than Cream Cheese, and some corn. I’m saving the last of his almond milk for breakfast tomorrow so we’ll probably have some homemade hot cocoa made with water, baking cocoa, and this sugar-free raspberry sweetener I found that’s GFCF with our dinner.

It’s not easy, but I’m getting the hang of this. I also picked up some Fruity Pebbles so next time my darling husband needs to fix his cereal craving, I can lure Zack to his own side of the table with Fruity Pebbles and almond milk.

Note: I changed something on my GFCF Grocery List. After reading the back of the Baked Lays today, I discovered that they are NOT GFCF. The Lays Original ones are. I need to email the webmaster of the site I’d found the list on and let them know that they need to change a few things.

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Still Learning the GFCF Way…

November 29, 2007 at 3:25 am (Eating Out, GFCF Diet)
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My Beautiful Autie - July 2007Day 2. Zack had a few bad screeching fits today, which I can’t really blame on anything diet-wise since it takes a lot longer than 24 hours for evil proteins to escape his body. But still, I’m finding out more and more that some of the items that I THOUGHT were GFCF have ugly, hidden forms of the not allowed. To my dismay, I shelved some more of the food items and searched online for the perfect “staples” grocery list. Removing items we don’t use in my house and adding more produce since that’s what Zack and I like best, I created my own GFCF grocery list of items that I want stocked here always. I also wrote out the list I was given of ingredients that hide gluten and casein. These lists will always be available (and updated if needbe) as a resource for you. Please familiarize yourself with the ingredients list if you’re planning on shopping for your little autie! I wish I had had a printed out copy with me during our grocery trip this week.

Owell. Any new lifestyle change is about trial and error, right? My goal for us is to have only GFCF products in the house by 2008 so I have a month of “live and learn” mistakes to make. Hopefully, I won’t need the whole month!

Zack’s breakfast today was a bigger success than yesterday and yesterday wasn’t bad. I scrambled an egg (using a little water since I found out the rice milk I have isn’t CF and the only almond milk I have is chocolate). I melted a little GFCF American cheese in it and served it with a handful of grapes and a glass of almond milk. Zack enjoyed it a lot, thank goodness! He’s starting to get frustrated that he can’t just open the fridge and grab a gallon of skim milk and bring it to me anymore but he’s 3 and that’s something he can forget as he adjusts. His snack at school was a bag of grapes again.

Lunchtime was a little harder. My husband wanted to eat out and I didn’t argue! I get restless staying at home with 2 little ones and a puppy so when my husband is all for getting out of the house, I am too. But, I really didn’t plan it like I should have. We went to Taco Bell, where I figured we’d be fine. Taco shells are made from corn and the Taco Bell shells I have in my pantry have no bad ingredients. If we order him a taco without cheese, what is it? Corn tortilla, meat, and lettuce! And, nachos without the dipping sauce are still yummy. Well, Zack was really frustrated about not having any dipping sauce. And when we got home and I went through websites upon websites of eating out GFCF information, I discovered that Taco Bell announced that the seasoning they use in their taco meat has gluten. Ugh!! So, lunch wasn’t as safe as I thought it was.

His afternoon snack was an OKAY hit. I gave him some banana chips and raisins. He didn’t hate them but he wasn’t really big on the banana chips either. That’s okay… he can have fresh ones, which are better for him anyway… and I personally LOVE them so I’ll keep them in the pantry for me instead.

Dinner was rice crackers topped with peanut butter and raisins, baby carrots, a fresh banana, and some chocolate almond milk. All of it was a success, except Zack ate most of the peanut butter off the crackers without really touching the crackers. I think I need to find a GFCF bread afterall.

I know he’ll adjust to this as we continue, but I still feel so bad for him. He had favorites and unfortunately, all of them except the produce are now off limits. No more PB&J sandwiches until I can find a safe bread. No more Yoplaits. No more Kraft cheese. I’m finding safe alternatives, sure but I still feel bad that I’m taking things away. We didn’t eat badly before GFCF… or so I’d thought.

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