Red Letter Day (How Even Experienced FPIES Parents Screw Up)

 
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Red Letter Day How Even Experienced FPIES Parents Screw Up cradlerockingmama

I feel sick to my stomach right now.

I had a post all ready to go for this morning, but then this happened and now it’s all I can think about.

Yesterday I wanted to finally take the time to try and make quinoa in a way I would like it.

I had some safe nuggets all ready for Zac, so I didn’t need to worry about making more for him (for once) so I cooked up some quinoa for me using beef broth and salt.

I ate about half of it, and it was better. The rest I kept handy for whatever I came up with to try for dinner for me.

In all the hubbub of getting dinner on the table, though, Jed ate all the rest of Zac’s safe quinoa nuggets and I was left with nothing to feed him. (He had eaten the last cooked carrots at lunch and I hadn’t gotten any more scrubbed, peeled, rinsed, chopped and steamed by the time dinner came).

Without even thinking, without even a seconds hesitation, I scooped out some quinoa into a bowl and fed it to him.

I can only assume my brain went on a short vacation last night.

The worst part? He ate about 1/2 a cup of it for dinner…AND IT DIDN’T DAWN ON ME THAT I HAD FED HIM BEEF BROTH UNTIL I CAME SCREAMING OUT OF BED THIS MORNING!!!

Something must have been working in my unconscious, dream state mind, because I flew awake in a panic.

But in my awake hours, it never entered my mind.

<bad words bad words very very bad words>

Then, while still reeling from that, Darrel and I looked up from our carrot prepping to see Jed sweetly, generously PUTTING STRAIGHT CORN ON ZAC’S HIGH CHAIR TRAY!!!!

OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD!!!!

We raced into action, of course, getting the corn away and snatching the tray away and otherwise scaring the kids half to death. Darrel is in there right now giving the kids scrubby showers to get any remaining residue off them, and I will spend the next hour scrubbing everything the corn touched.

(And why, you may ask, did we have corn out? Because Jed loves corn and he’s never tried to give it to his brother before and it’s hard enough to make sure my picky toddler will eat so when he screams to eat corn I give it to him. Not any more. Corn is banned, even if it makes Jed wail in abject misery.)

We don’t know if Zac ate the corn.

But who are we kidding? He freaking ate the corn this morning. He’s too interested in food to have NOT eaten it.

So we have officially screwed up our carrot trial – that was going so well – with not one, not two, but THREE stupid accidental ingestions today.

I think I’m going to throw up.

__________

Please say I’m not the only one that has done or had something SO STUPID happen to them regarding food trials and feeding their FPIES babes?!

The Hunt for Corn-Free Carrots

 
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The Hunt for Corn-Free Carrots cradlerockingmama

I’ve become a hunter.

A vegetable hunter, that is. 

I’m on the hunt for a corn-free veggie to trial for Zac.

Broccoli was a no-go, and we think it was because of some corny substance on the broccoli. Swiss chard was a no-go, and we aren’t sure if that was an FPIES reaction, difficulty digesting the chard because it was too much for his intestines to handle, or a combination of both.

So we’re trying to avoid leafy greens and other veggies that might be rough on the digestive tract.

And, as always, we’re trying to avoid corn.

My Mom came up with a suggestion during a food-trial brain-storming phone call: why not trial carrots on him? I’d eaten them for months during my TED with no discernible reactions from Zac, so maybe that was a good place to start. Plus, she remembers the “first baby foods” she fed me, and carrots were an early food; one recommended for immature digestive tracts.

Sounds good to me!

Now I just have to find corn-free carrots.

Easier said than done, y’all.

To start with, I looked online for local farmers who grow organic carrots. This time, unfortunately, I found nothing.

Then I called my health food co-op to ask what producers of carrots they currently have available. No need to research things that aren’t available to me, after all.

I have two choices right now: Earthbound Farms or Bunny-Luv. Earthbound Farms is available to me in bagged carrot form, or in bunches. Bunny-Luv is only available in bagged carrot form.

OK. So, armed with my handy-dandy list of questions, I called Bunny-Luv.

Bunny-Luv is actually a product of Grimmway Farms. I spoke with their customer representative, Sherilyn, who was very sweet and wanted to help with my research as much as possible. SUCH a nice change!

On to the questions:

1) Were fertilizers used and if so, what type?

Yes, fertilizers were used. No, she could not tell me exactly which ones were used on an particular field of carrots, as each field has different needs at different times and there is no way for her to know with any certainty.

2) Were pesticides used and if so, what type?

Same answer for pesticides/herbicides, except to add that they are certified organic, so no chemicals are used in any way. She also added that if the USDA allows a fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide under the Certified Organic umbrella, there’s a good chance that at some point it will be used on their harvests.

3) What is used to transport the carrots to the facility and is it shared with any other crop harvested (i.e. corn)?

They only handle carrots in the carrot facility; the carrots are transported in boxes on trucks.

4) Is the facility in which it’s processed used only for carrots? If not, what is used to clean the lines between types of food processing?

The facility only processes carrots. No cross-contamination.

5) What are the carrots rinsed with to clean?

They are rinsed with basically tap water. The rinse water has chlorine at 4 ppm, which is in line with what most of us drink in our local tap water.

6) Are the carrots treated with anything to keep it fresh/green/etc.?

No. They use no preservatives of any kind.

7) What are the carrots cooked in/with?

Nothing. They are raw.

8) What is the packaging made of?

The bagged carrots are in bags made of food grade plastic/resin. The bags are in compliance with food grade plastics with no BPA. They are recyclable but not biodegradable.

The bunch carrots are bunched, then placed in craft-style cardboard boxes for shipment.

9) What is the adhesive on the packaging made of?

No adhesive on these packages.

Sounds good, right?

She even called me back without prompting! She called her growers on my behalf and asked, and they contributed this little gem: stay away from their leafy greens, but any of their root vegetables were likely safe from any products that contained corn.

In other words, they spray the heck out of the spinach, kale and whatnot with organic products that contain corn, but don’t often have to do so on anything “root” like carrots or potatos.

Beyond that, in our conversation, she shared that anything washed and ready-to-eat (like leafy greens) was washed in a citric acid solution. (Which I already knew.) She didn’t know, however, if their citric acid was corn derived or not. (Which means it probably is.)

OK! Moving on to Earthbound Farms Organic Carrots, where I spoke with Tish, who was also very helpful and sweet.

Same questions:

1) Were fertilizers used and if so, what type?

Yes, fertilizers were used. No, she could not tell me exactly which ones were used on an particular field of carrots, as each field has different needs at different times and there is no way for her to know with any certainty.

2) Were pesticides used and if so, what type?

Same answer for pesticides/herbicides, except to add that they are certified organic, so no chemicals are used in any way. She also added that if the USDA allows a fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide under the Certified Organic umbrella, there’s a good chance that at some point it will be used on their harvests.

3) What is used to transport the carrots to the facility and is it shared with any other crop harvested (i.e. corn)?

It is possible the carrots are transported with other crops. The carrots are put in plastic, metal or cardboard bins, loaded on to trucks and transported to the facility.

4) Is the facility in which it’s processed used only for carrots? If not, what is used to clean the lines between types of food processing?

The facility only processes carrots. No cross-contamination there.

5) What are the carrots rinsed with to clean?

They are rinsed with basically tap water. The rinse water has chlorine at 4 ppm, which is in line with what most of us drink in our local tap water.

6) Are the carrots treated with anything to keep it fresh/green/etc.?

No. They use no preservatives of any kind.

7) What are the carrots cooked in/with?

Nothing. They are raw.

8) What is the packaging made of?

The bagged carrots are in bags made of No. 4 plastic. No BPA, generally they are low density polyethylene.

The bunch carrots are bunched, then placed in cardboard boxes for shipment. She did not know for a fact, but said the boxes may have a plastic liner.

9) What is the adhesive on the packaging made of?

No adhesive on these packages.

Pretty clear, right?

She also clarified that all washed, ready-to-eat products will be rinsed in a citric acid solution. Because she had recently been asked that question, she knew that at this time, the citric acid Earthbound Farms used is NOT corn-derived.

OK. So. Conclusions?

I have no idea.

I asked on the corn boards, and they answered that all products from these manufacturers are corny; but when I read some archived conversation threads, it seems they were more discussing the leafy greens, rather than the root veggies.

In the end, it came down to a few simple things: we need to proceed with food trials, whatever we trial is going to have some risk, and I should probably avoid anything in the plastic baggies, as those baggies were likely corned in some way.

Process of elimination says – Earthbound Farms bunch carrots it is!

So, we bought some.

Saturday, I cut the tops off, scrubbed them in a baking soda scrub, rinsed them in safe water, peeled them, rinsed them in safe water again, and diced them up for the steamer. When they were done, Zac dined!

And, oh, how he dined!

Oh, yes he did!

Oh, yes he did!

The kiddo LOVES carrots! Unlike the Swiss chard, carrots had an appeal like broccoli! He screamed for them! He clapped his hands! He kicked his feet! He grinned like a crazy loon!

He scarfed down about a cup of steamed carrots all at one sitting, even after eating 20 quinoa nuggets for dinner!

It was quite amusing, actually; he obviously was full, obviously had no need for any more food…but he kept diligently putting carrots in his mouth and chewing them up despite the fact that he didn’t have room for them. He even screamed in anger when we tried to take them away!

That night, he slept for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS STRAIGHT! That might be a record, y’all.

Sunday was exactly the same (except we fed him carrots first, so he wasn’t stuffing a full belly). He ate carrots at breakfast and at lunch with gusto and glee.

Last night he had an excellent diaper, and again slept well.

It’s too early to call it. Too early, really, to even get our hopes up. But maybe, God willing, we found another safe food for Zac? 

Oh, I hope!

Frugal Fridays – Cloth Gift Wrapping

 
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Frugal Friday Cloth Gift Wrapping cradlerockingmama

Sorry about the lack of posting yesterday. I didn’t quite have my post ready when we realized that the weather predicted more rain and snow, and we were running low enough on a few things that a trip to town was in order. Having to proceed as slowly and carefully as required for the road conditions ate up the whole day, and I never could get that post finished. 

Well, we’re all stocked up now, so back to our regular posting!

It’s Frugal Friday again!

This week, I’m all about Cloth Gift Wrapping. 

The first time I heard of this was from another FPIES Mama, who commented that she’d had to switch to cloth gift wrapping when HER FPIES baby kept trying to eat the wrapping paper…which would have made him sick.

Since that was my “whine” at the time (that we wouldn’t be able to wrap gifts this Christmas because Zac would eat the paper and get sick), I stuck this little idea in the back of my head and knew I would do it this year.

From that time til now, I’ve seen LOTS of people doing this online! It’s become the “eco-friendly” choice of Pinterest and there are a ton  of tutorials on making bags or otherwise using cloth to wrap presents.

Honestly, this isn’t necessarily a frugal option on the face of it. Cloth, especially in festive patterns, can be a great deal more expensive than paper wrapping (particularly if you stock up in after-Christmas sales).

I think that in the long run, though, this is a fabulous frugal choice. 

For starters, nothing says you HAVE to use fancy Christmas prints for your gift wrapping. You could simply reuse some old t-shirts, dress shirts, or other source of cloth that you have laying around.

But even if you do go out and purchase festive printed material, if you’re smart and take the long view of things, this will save money (and waste) over the course of your child-raising years – and beyond.

I did buy festive print material, but not very much. See, I have a plan.

Four print gift wrapping 'sheets' with the intended solid color underneath. I'm not sure if I'll need the solid colors for any gifts this year, so I won't sew them together until next year.

Four print gift wrapping ‘sheets’ with the intended solid color underneath. I’m not sure if I’ll need the solid colors for any gifts this year, so I won’t sew them together until next year.

 

My goal is to buy a small selection of pretty, festive Christmas material every year, gradually increasing my gift wrapping selection until I have a decent variety to choose from.

So this year, I’m just using single sheets of fabric (2 yards), unfinished edges and all, to wrap my gifts. 

Next year, when I buy a little more, I’ll sew a solid color to the backside of a print for a double sided ‘sheet’ of wrapping cloth for a more finished look (and to offer more options throughout the year).

The year after that, when I buy a little more, I can start making cloth gift bags for odd sized things.

Along the way, I plan to find/buy/make gift boxes in uniform sizes for gifts that will accommodate my gift cloth sheets perfectly.

It’s all about the long view on this one, folks, but in the end, I won’t have to worry about running out of wrapping paper at any time, and one day my kids will be older and will have memories associated with these cloth wrapping sheets.

I can only imagine the nostalgia that will overcome them when they say “Oh, remember when we got the _____ that year? Mom wrapped it in THIS!”

Tradition, you know?

This will work for my family, because none of them will blink at my insistence on taking the material back after they’ve opened their gifts!

If you’re giving gifts to friends, strangers, or really uptight family members, though, you might check out some tutorials on making gift bags so you won’t have to ask for it back; the bag is part of the gift!

Here is a quick run down of everything Pinterest has to offer. This one from the Frugal Girl is all about using old clothes to make gift bags. The Happy Housewife had a great tutorial on using T-shirts as gift bags – pretty easy, too!

I’ll leave you with this little photo show of how I wrapped one of the boys gifts this year:

First, I folded the sheet of fabric with the raw edges toward the center.

Raw edges folded toward the center

Raw edges folded toward the center

See?

Raw edge in the center

Raw edge in the center

That left the edges nice and smooth. Then I pulled the folded edges up to cover the sides of the Lego box, and used a straight pin to hold them in place while I messed with the ends of the fabric.

Straight pin under the yellow arrow.

Straight pin under the yellow arrow.

Then, unfortunately, I needed both hands to finish the wrapping so I couldn’t take pictures. Basically, I sort of folded the fabric in on itself at the ends until I could neatly pull it up over the top on both ends (removing the straight pin along the way) until I had this:

Ta-da! Pretty gift for the boys!

Ta-da! Pretty gift for the boys!

I had some satin ribbon in my sewing box, so I just cut off a REALLY long piece of that and used it to hold the fabric in place.

All that’s left is to attach a gift tag, and it’s ready to put under the tree!

Next year, I’ll sew the solid color to the back so I can wrap more creatively, sometimes leaving the ends exposed. I won’t have to be so careful about covering unfinished edges, and it will just look nicer.

After Christmas, I’ll check the after Christmas sales to see if I can find some discount holiday material to put in the stockpile for next year, and I’d suggest you do the same.

Cloth gift wrapping is a clever way to save money in the long run, and save a ton of waste in the landfill…and also make sure your FPIES kiddo won’t get sick on Christmas morning.

Happy Gift Wrapping!!

Hope that helps!

__________

Do you wrap your gifts with cloth? Any tips, tricks, or ideas you could share?

Wannabe Snickerdoodle Cookies (Vegan & Gluten Free)

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Wannabe Snickerdoodle Cookie Vegan Gluten-Free cradlerockingmama

We are still snowed in.

Well, actually, we’re ICED in, which is worse.

Theoretically, we could leave the house. We couldn’t safely leave until about 11:00 a.m., and we’d have to be back by about 4:00 p.m., or else we’d risk getting caught on icy roads as the temperature re-freezes all the stuff it melted during the brief warmer hours, but for all intents and purposes, we’re still stuck at home.

Why does this warrant mentioning? Because I’m going to ask you for a little tolerance in this recipe.

Jed has suddenly decided he wants to eat bananas again. Being a typical toddler, he’ll go through food phases. Before the storm, I bought a big bunch of bananas for my Christmas Cookie Baking Plans, thinking 8 bananas would be enough because Jed no longer seemed to want to eat straight bananas…and then Jed ate all but ONE of those bananas this weekend.

So I had ONE shot to get my desired recipe right. I got close…REALLY close. But I can’t actually try it again at this time because, well, bananas and cookies just aren’t worth the danger of hitting the streets right now.

But we’re heading in to Christmas, and it’s time to bake those Cookies, so I’m going to share what I did and what I plan  to do to make it all better in the next batch (when I can) so you can try it either way for yourselves.

I wanted a Snickerdoodle-type cookie. With Jed’s FructMal, I’ve had a hard time finding ways to make my standard Christmas cookies. While Snickerdoodles were never on my regular cookie rotation for Christmas, considering our restrictions they seemed a good addition.

I mean, does anything say “winter” more than something covered in cinnamon and sugar?

As is typical for me, though, I wanted to try and make these cookies healthier than a typical cookie. So I started with my Vegan Nut Butter Banana Cookies as a starting point and went from there.

I had just mashed up the banana and added the sunbutter when Zac started crying, so I interrupted my cookie making to go nurse him.

When I got back, I could tell the banana was starting to discolor, so to save the recipe I worked fast.

So fast, I didn’t take step by step photos of each ingredient going in. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, though, so I can’t imagine that will deter anyone from being able to successfully make these cookies!

Facing my banana and sunbutter mix, I started throwing things in the bowl that I thought would make a good cookie.

I added cashew milk, sorghum flour, rice flour, baking powder, arrowroot starch, and vanilla.

Once it was all stirred together, I’d created a dough that looked and felt a lot like a typical cookie dough!

Dough Ready to Go

Dough Ready to Go

I considered adding some more spices and flavorings to the cookie dough, but since I planned to completely coat the outside with cinnamon and sugar, and banana and sunbutter have fairly distinct flavors, I held off.

Next time, I won’t.

This time, though, all I did next was to simply use spoons to scoop out enough dough to roll into approximately 2 inch balls, then rolled them in a cinnamon-sugar mix to coat.

Rolling in Cinnamon and Sugar

Rolling in Cinnamon and Sugar

Each ball went on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and then I used my fingers to press each cookie down a little bit so it wasn’t so rounded and looked more like a cookie.

Pressed down and ready to bake...almost!

Pressed down and ready to bake…almost!

They seemed a little…plain looking, so I took some of Darrel’s vanilla sugar (just some regular sugar with vanilla beans stuck in the jar; he uses it for his coffee) and sprinkled the tops.

Sprinkled with Sugar!

Sprinkled with Sugar!

Much prettier!

Then I baked them for 13 minutes and took them out to let them cool.

Finished and cooling!

Finished and cooling!

Jed was already asleep by that point, so the first taste test went to Darrel. He had a hard time telling me what he thought of them! In the end, he said they didn’t have enough sweetness to them, and that the biggest problem was that they weren’t as good as they OUGHT to be.

Since he knew they were coated in cinnamon and sugar, he expected something a little more WOW…and these just didn’t quite hit WOW.

It was making me insane; not being able to taste my creations leaves me completely in the dark as to what I need to do to fix any problems that arise!

So I did a “wine-tasting” taste test! I took a small bite, leaned my head forward, and chewed it a bit before spitting it out and rinsing my mouth like crazy – making sure I never swallowed a bit of it.

Turns out, he was exactly right.

The texture of these cookies was excellent! They’re soft, chewy and a little crumbly, which is just what I like in a cookie. The cinnamon-sugar coating was really good, too.

But the insides were just…boring. They need a little ‘something extra’ in the dough to make them really WOW.

The next morning, I gave some to Jed to try. HE LOVED THEM! By 3:00 p.m. he’d eaten half the cookies I’d made! Whew! Glad to know the intended “audience” for these cookies is a fan!

Next time I have bananas, I plan to add some maple syrup and cinnamon to the cookie dough, and maybe switch out the rice flour for almond flour. I think that will fix the boring-ness of the cookies. 

Is there anything better than dipping cookies in milk? Yum!

Is there anything better than dipping cookies in milk? Yum!

However, if you have a kiddo that hasn’t been able to indulge in much along the lines of “cookies and treats” in their lifetime, I expect these cookies will make them very happy!

They look more like Gingersnaps than Snickerdoodles, but the important part is: they look like regular cookies! The texture is like a regular cookie! And with a few tweaks, I’m confident they’ll taste just as good as regular cookies! (All of these are difficult to achieve when going Vegan and gluten-free, you know.)

They really are gorgeous cookies!

They really are gorgeous cookies!

Oh, and one little note about the sugar:  Darrel encouraged me to use sugar whenever I can in recipes because it’s so much cheaper than dextrose. With FructMal, straight table sugar in small quantities is usually okay; the glucose balances out the fructose, so as long as you don’t overindulge, most FructMal people can handle small quantities of table sugar.

Since I knew I just wanted a coating on these cookies, I went with straight sugar. If you’re terribly sensitive to Fructose, you’ll probably want to use dextrose instead of sugar on your coating.

So, these are worth giving a try. Though you might try it with my anticipated tweaks to really make these excellent!

When I get more bananas, I will make these again and I’ll update you with my new findings.

Until then, happy baking!

Wannabe Snickerdoodle Cookies (Vegan & Gluten Free)
 
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Moist, crumbly, perfectly yummy cookies your kids (and you) will love!
Author:
Recipe type: dessert, Christmas cookies
Serves: 20 cookies
Ingredients
  • 1 small banana
  • ½ c. sunbutter
  • ½ c. milk (we used cashew milk)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • ⅔ c. sorghum flour
  • ⅔ c. rice flour (I plan to use almond for my next attempt)
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. arrowroot starch
  • For the coating:
  • ⅓ c. sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • (For my next attempt:
  • ¼ c. maple syrup
  • 1½ tsp. cinnamon
  • The added liquid will probably mean a slight increase in flour quantity, as well.)
Instructions
  1. Set your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a bowl, mash the banana completely.
  3. To the banana add all the liquid ingredients: sunbutter, milk and vanilla. (And maple syrup if attempting my planned tweaks.)
  4. In another bowl, mix your dry ingredients together: the flours, baking powder, and starch (and cinnamon if doing the tweaks).
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until cookie dough forms.
  6. In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar until well combined.
  7. Using spoons, scoop out small portions of cookie dough and roll into approximately 2 inch sized balls.
  8. Roll the balls of dough into the cinnamon sugar mix, coating completely.
  9. Place each cookie on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
  10. Use your fingers to gently press the cookies into a slightly less rounded shape; dust tops with sugar if so desired.
  11. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.
  12. Enjoy your healthier version of a wannabe snickerdoodle cookie!

Here’s your chance to chime in: what additions would you make to take this cookie dough from “meh” to “WOW”?

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Real Food Wednesdays, and Gluten Free Wednesdays

I Am A Parent First

 
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Don't let the sweetness fool you; there's some attitude under that cuteness!

Don’t let the sweetness fool you; there’s some attitude under that cuteness!

 

It is well established by now that being a special needs parent is challenging.

In our case, the food challenges can be utterly consuming of time and energy. Every bite of food must be considered carefully. Once the decision is made of what  to cook, then the method of cooking must be watched like a hawk, too, to ensure no cross-contamination occurs.

Spending hours in the kitchen means time; time that I can’t play with the kids, can’t simply enjoy their company.

Being so cautious about food in every respect means I spend a LOT of the time I am  with the kids telling them “no”.

“No, you can’t eat that.”
“No, you can’t take that into the living room.”
“No, your brother can’t have that.”
“No, you have to wash your hands before you touch anything or else your brother will get sick.”

Maybe I’ve spent too much time in the kitchen, not playing with the kids, too much time saying “no” to so many things that normal parents never have to say “no” to…because I think I’ve become a tad too permissive in other respects as a consequence.

Permissive enough that disrespect is starting to rear its’ ugly head in the demeanor of my children towards me.

Yesterday I had a rude ‘parenting awakening’.

Instead of waking us with his pleasant “We can go play in the snow?!” refrain, Jed started off the day yelling at me.

He bossed me around; demanded things. Despite the fact that we have consistently insisted on manners (he’s very good at saying “May I ______, please?”), I received nary a “please” for the first half hour we were awake.

Instead, I had a belligerent three year old screaming at me, “Mommy! I WANT CEREAL! NOW! YOU MUST GET IT FOR ME!” with clenched fists, a scowl on his face, and stomping feet.

Can I just say…OH HELL, NO.

Honestly, though, the first ten minutes I was awake, I wasn’t really ‘awake’, if you know what I mean. I didn’t immediately recognize the horrible disrespect being shown.

When I snapped to, however, Jed and I engaged in a battle that lasted almost the whole day.

I informed Jed in firm, borderline harsh tones, that he WOULD show me respect. That he was allowed to have an opinion, to say ‘no’ to me, but that he would do so courteously and nicely.

Jed, being three, fought back by trying to change the subject, yell at me some more, and bursting into hysterical tears.

I offered him breakfast: sausage and hash browns.

He didn’t WANT that breakfast. He wanted cereal.

He expressed that opinion not  by saying “Mommy, I don’t want that breakfast. I want cereal, please!”

No, he HIT the plate with his hand, knocking it halfway across the dinner table, and screaming in my face “I DON’T WANT THAT! I WANT CEREAL! ONLY!”

Mr. Jed had a rude awakening when I informed him that he would show me some respect, control his tone, and ask me nicely before he received ANYTHING to eat.

Ten minutes later, he still hadn’t eaten. He’d sat at his chair at the dining room table, crying hysterically, occasionally yelling at me or Darrel, while I cooked breakfast for myself and Zac.

Finally, thirty minutes after the battle began, he skulked off to our bedroom and lay on the floor in the doorway, sulking.

Having felt that my point had been made, and trying to remember that he is, after all, only three and a half years old, I went to try and ‘talk’ with him.

I asked him what was wrong. His response, “I’m upset. You are mean to me.”

“Yes, I was  mean to you. Do you know why?” I said. He stared at me. “Because you were being VERY mean to me. Nobody likes being talked to that way.”

I reached down to pick him up and he let me. He snuggled in, laid his head on my shoulder, and we returned to the dining room.

I asked him if he was ready to ask me nicely for breakfast. He sniffled, and said “No.” in a sulking tone of voice. So I said “Fine. I’ll be in the kitchen whenever you’re ready.” and deposited him in a chair.

Ten minutes later, he asked Darrel  for his plate of sausages and hash browns. Nicely.

He still hadn’t spoken to me.

But he ate most of his breakfast before coming up to me and SAYING (not screaming) “I want your drink!”

“How do you ask for the things you want nicely?” I retorted.

He bounced on his feet and looked, for all the world, like a child that REALLY didn’t want to comply, but in the end he said “May I have your drink?”

I just stared at him. “And?” I said. “What’s the magic word?”

“PLEASE!” he shouted with a grin.

“Yes, you may have my drink.”

And I wish that was the end of the story, but he continued to push at me all day long. I had to be consistently firm with him about his tone and his word choice in nearly every interaction we had.

It was exhausting.

On the plus side, at bedtime, instead of curling up next to Darrel as he usually does, he decided to crawl in on my side and fell asleep spooned up against me. That was the way we used to fall asleep every night before Zac came along and needed “Mommy real estate” for nursing purposes, so this was a delightful treat.

Some of you might read this and think “Geez, being a little harsh! He’s just a child!”, and some of you might read this and think “Well, he often gets belligerent when he’s fructosed, so maybe ease up a bit.”

Believe me, I’ve had those thoughts myself! In this case, though, we know he has NOT been exposed to any fructose, so this was pure, 100%, Jed being a jerk.

As for him just being a child, and a young one at that, well, who else is going to teach him how to treat others if not his parents? When is he supposed to learn this? At 9? 12? 16? 20?

I actually feel I’ve been a little slow at being firm about this; as I said, I’m often preoccupied with food issues and have a slack tendency towards other things due to having to be SO strict about our food 24/7.

I’ve been reading “The Happiest Toddler on the Block”, and while I agree with a lot of what I’ve read so far (I haven’t finished it), I must admit a sort of…mental tiredness at reading yet another self-help book on myself or my children.

In the end, those books are all a tad condescending, don’t you think? As if any person – regardless of age – can be summarized by a single 300 page thesis.

Children are smarter than we give them credit for, and they have very involved personalities from birth.

Jed is Jed. No more, no less. His personality is also, for better or worse, very similar to mine. When I interact with him, I clearly see my point of view, while simultaneously seeing the interaction through my own memory of being young and in his position.

Maybe that’s why I’m sometimes lax with him. I know where he’s coming from.

What I don’t want, though, is for him to suffer with the same challenges I faced from a young age. One of those was an…arrogance, a lack of respect for the people around me. The short version of why I was like that is that I am an only child to two people who desperately wanted children, so by his very existence, Zac will prevent a lot of that nasty personality trait from blossoming in Jed.

The rest of it, though, is up to me and Darrel as his parents. (For my part, my Flight Attendant co-workers knocked what remained of that trait out of me very quickly when I first started flying!)

Jed’s a really Good Kid. He’s bright, funny, exuberant, charming, sweet, and kind. But he’s young, and he feels things strongly at all times. There’s not much that needs to be majorly overhauled in his behavior or personality, but there is great room for fine-tuning.

Just because we have so many major food issues that preoccupy me at all times does not let me off the hook for that fine-tuning.

I may be an FPIES Parent (and a FructMal Parent), but first and foremost, I am a Parent. 

__________

Have you noticed that you sometimes “let things go” with your kids as a result of your special challenges? How do you keep yourself in line to be a consistent parent when your attention is diverted so?

Hot Cocoa! (No Dairy or Fructose)

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Dairy & Fructose Free Instant Hot Cocoa cradlerockingmama

We’ve been snowed in since Friday. The way it looks now, we won’t be able to get out until Wednesday at the earliest.

This would be one of those “disadvantages” to rural living, in case you wondered.

Although, in some ways, it’s an advantage!

Even though my normal days involve staying in the house with the kids all day long, we don’t usually get to do it with Daddy around.

Daddy and Zac in the snow.

Daddy and Zac in the snow.

We also don’t usually get to do it with SNOW.

Jed being snowed on!

Jed being snowed on!

It’s like a non-stop party you can’t leave!

Zac falls down a lot in the snow!

Zac falls down a lot in the snow!

Friday was Zac’s first experience with snow in his whole life, and Jed’s first memorable experience. He was always too little to remember when he’d been in snow before.

My little snow bunny.

My little snow bunny.

He did know what snow was before he saw it, however, thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine movies! (Those trains are ALWAYS getting stuck in the snow!) And of course, on Friday, when we went out to play in the snow, he had to re-create those scenes with his own toy trains.

I enjoyed making a snow angel...until Jed dumped snow on my face!

I enjoyed making a snow angel…until Jed dumped snow on my face!

Saturday morning Darrel and I were jolted out of bed to Jed poking, bouncing, and otherwise forcing us awake as he exclaimed “We can go outside in the snow?! That sounds a good idea!”

This is totally adorable, of course, but not exactly something you’re prepared for when dragged from a deep sleep.

You’d think it was Christmas morning every  morning in our house since the snow came, since he’s repeated that particular wake-up routine every morning since.

Snow is SO MUCH FUN!!!

Snow is SO MUCH FUN!!!

For his part, Zac doesn’t quite know what to make of the snow. He’s kind of into it, but he can’t walk in it due to the fact that it comes up to mid-thigh on him and he’s bundled up like a stuffed sausage anyway.

Consequently, he falls down a lot; this is okay when he totters backwards, but when he goes down face first – look out! Zac does NOT like the “face first in the snow” sensation and he lets us know VERY LOUDLY!

Uh-oh...the crying is about to start!

Uh-oh…the crying is about to start!

Other than that, though, snow seems to be a hit with the boys.

So much fun!!

So much fun!!

Jed has to be forced inside when his face turns bright red and he visibly shakes from the pain of being so cold. Even then, he insists he wants to stay outside and play!

His nose is red. His cheeks are frozen. He's shivering from the cold and can hardly talk because his mouth is frozen. But does he want to come inside? NO!!

His nose is red. His cheeks are frozen. He’s shivering from the cold and can hardly talk because his mouth is frozen. But does he want to come inside? NO!!

One of the things that convinces him to come inside, though, is the promise of Hot Cocoa.

Two winters ago, I found a hot cocoa recipe that ROCKS the UNIVERSE. It is hands down one of the best hot cocoa’s I’ve ever drunk – and it’s dairy free! Jed never seemed to take to it; I think at 18 months old drinking a warm beverage was strange from his sippy cup.

Last winter we never really got any snow at all, and we’d learned by that point that Jed has FructMal, which meant my Rock the Universe Hot Cocoa had to be shelved: the main component of it was Coconut Milk.

With the onset of this lovely winter snow, I determined to find a Hot Cocoa that would be safe for Jed…and that’s not as easy as it sounds! Dairy free hot cocoa’s are almost always kind of crappy. They’re too thin and watery, not creamy enough, or they have some kind of weird ingredients that make you go “huh?”

So imagine my pleasure and surprise when I saw this recipe from Dianne at Delicious As It Looks!

While the boys were outside playing one day, I whipped up a batch of this instant hot cocoa mix and handed a cup to Jed when he came inside.

Ingredients in the jar...

Ingredients in the jar…

Shaken, not stirred!

Shaken, not stirred!

HE WAS IN LOVE, Y’ALL!!

He’s drunk at least two cups per day ever since, and I’m thrilled that my boy finally discovered the joys of a hot cup of chocolate.

Yummy hot cocoa!!

Yummy hot cocoa!!

Darrel, on the other hand, isn’t as big a fan. He says it has a “funny aftertaste”. We did some experimenting, but couldn’t pinpoint where the “funny aftertaste” came from. He thinks it’s the dextrose, though.

That’s okay; Darrel drinks coffee – now Jed can have cocoa!

Still, I’m going to keep looking for a hot cocoa recipe that both the boys like.

In the meantime, Jed will enjoy Dianne’s creation; since I didn’t change A THING about her recipe, I’m not going to re-post it here (kind of tacky) but I encourage you to pop over and take a look – and try it for yourself!

The only things I do a little differently is to use boiling water for half the liquid and top it off with ice cold cashew milk. That seems to dissolve the mix just fine, then immediately lowers the temperature to a level my impatient toddler can tolerate drinking! Plus, it gives it some creaminess, since we’re dairy free. I also subbed arrowroot starch for the cornstarch, just because. 

Oh, and a little Zac update: Swiss Chard is a no-go (for now).

We aren’t sure if it is an FPIES ‘fail’ or a simple case of an undeveloped digestive tract having a rough time with the ‘roughage’ of a leafy green, but his little body is NOT handling it.

This time his symptoms were unusual. It started with hiccups Wednesday night. He never has hiccups, but he had them for about 2 hours then.

That was also the first night he really fought bedtime; he stayed awake another hour and a half until he finally pooped, and then he went right to sleep. That scenario has repeated itself every night since.

Thursday he fought naps, as well, but seemed much more low-key and less active than he had previously. Again, that has repeated every day, getting worse by the day.

His appetite dwindled, too. He went from eating 35-45 quinoa nuggets per day (!) down to eating only 12 of the quinoa & swiss chard nuggets on Saturday.

Saturday he had three poopy diapers in a row that had increased mucous and a deepening red, acidic diaper rash. Though it never broke open into blisters, it was troubling. He also had a loud burp that honestly had me looking for the vomit; it had ‘that sound’ to it.

The kicker was Sunday morning when he had his weekly weigh-in. The previous two weeks, he had gained a pound per week. This Sunday he had lost 1/5th of a pound. I didn’t expect him to continue gaining a pound a week, but losing weight…that’s not good for him.

So we pulled the Swiss Chard.

Sunday he ate almost 30 plain quinoa nuggets without chard. He was perkier, chattier, and his heinie started clearing up almost immediately.

Already today he’s eaten 27 quinoa nuggets at only 1:00 p.m. and just seems more himself.

Later on, when he’s got some more foods in his diet and doesn’t have such an undeveloped digestive system, we’ll re-try Swiss chard. But for now, it doesn’t agree with him and we can’t see the sense in making him miserable while forcing a food he isn’t quite ready for.

Now I get to hunt for a new food to trial for him. Again. I’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, drink some hot cocoa and stay warm!!

What does your family do when you’re snowed in?

Frugal Fridays – Stop Wasting Steel Wool Pads

 
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Frugal Fridays - Stop Wasting Steel Wool Pads cradlerockingmama

You know what irritates me?

(Aside from corn, FPIES, fructose malabsorption, and IgE allergies?)

When I have one tough pot to clean that requires a steel wool pad, but then the barely used pad sits on my sink and rusts until I throw it away.

Irritating!

Irritating!

It’s such a little thing, but it’s wasteful.

Irritating.

A box of steel wool pads isn’t expensive, but it’s also not cheap. So using a whole pad for one pot has always struck me as a waste: a waste of an item, and a waste of my money.

So WHY it took me so long to come up with this idea, I just don’t know…but the solution is incredibly simple!

Cut up your steel wool pads as soon as you get the box home.

I cut each pad in half, then each piece in half for cute little quarter sized steel wool pads.

Each tiny pad is just right for a single use (sometimes a double use if the mess wasn’t too bad to start with) and I have no problems tossing it when I’m done! After all, I still have 3/4ths of the original pad still ready to use!

Simple. Slightly frugal. FAR less wasteful!

Remember…

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

This tip might not save a ton of money, but it absolutely fits in the “use it up” category of my motto!

Hope that helps!

__________

Tell me a ‘little’ thing that irritates you!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

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Homemade Cranberry Sauce cradlerockingmama

Just before Thanksgiving, I discovered this little gem of a recipe on Pinterest. I knew I HAD to make it for Turkey-day! Since I hadn’t ever made it before, I couldn’t share it with you before Thanksgiving, but…bookmark it for next year, folks, ’cause this one is worth adding to your regular holiday rotation!

I’m only sharing the actual recipe here because of two things: one, I did make one little tweak to it, and two, I discovered – quite by accident – that this recipe is VERY akin to the homemade Jellies I made for Jed last Easter! So I wanted to connect the dots and let you know how awesome this is.

First, though, go read the original recipe. The photographs are droolworthy (I took mine with my phone as we were scrambling to sit down to dinner) and the website is divine!

Back? Okay, here goes:

Get some fresh cranberries.

Put them in a pan with the specific amount of water and get it boiling. Once it starts boiling, lower the temp to simmer. Once the cranberries have burst open, take the pan off the stove for a few minutes.

Get your gelatin ready, and pour out the sweetener.

I just poured the maple syrup on top of the gelatin. One less dish to wash on Thanksgiving is a good thing, right?

Dump all the ingredients into the cranberries and mix however you like until everything is incorporated. I dumped the whole shebang into my blender and gave it a quick whirl; that broke up most of the berries and made it a lot more like the canned stuff, though still with some texture that said “homemade”! Still, it made it a little foamy on top. Probably an immersion blender or old fashioned whisk and elbow grease would make it less foamy.

Pour it into a bowl and ta-da! You’ve got homemade cranberry sauce! (after some time to set, of course)

Now for the inevitable notes:

I used maple syrup instead of honey. Jed can’t have honey because of Fructose Malabsorption, but maple syrup is fine. It worked great! The flavors are a good blend.

The other cool thing about this recipe falls in with what the originator of this yummy dish said: if you like your cranberry sauce cold, use half the gelatin; otherwise it gets very firm. 

SO firm, in fact, that it closely resembled the Gummy Fruit Treats I shared with you last Easter!

It’s almost  firm enough to eat just as a finger snack as is, but if you’d like to make some cranberry gummy treats for your kiddo, it probably wouldn’t take much tweaking to manage! 

I haven’t done it, of course, or I’d have better instructions. This just seemed like too good an idea to sit on until I have the chance to play around with.

When I *do* sit down to do it, I think I’ll probably increase the amount of gelatin and switch out the water for lemon juice (maybe). Because cranberries are so much more tart than strawberries, I’ll probably leave the sweetener amount the same as the sauce recipe, though.

So there you have it: homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner, AND – potentially – cranberry gummy treats for your food allergic kiddo for dessert afterwards! (For next year, of course!)

Hope you like it!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce
 
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This is a delicious, healthier alternative to canned, grocery-store cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving table.
Author:
Recipe type: sauce
Cuisine: Thanksgiving
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 2 c. fresh cranberries
  • 1 c. water, portioned
  • ½ c. maple syrup (or honey, sugar, or sweetener of choice)
  • 3 T. beef gelatin
Instructions
  1. Wash and rinse the cranberries; put in a pot with ½ c. of water.
  2. Bring the cranberries and water to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat to simmer and let cook until the berries burst, then remove the pan from the stove and let sit for about 5 minutes.
  4. Mix the gelatin with the remaining ½ c. water.
  5. Add the gelatin and sweetener to the cranberries.
  6. Mix or blend however you like, depending on texture desired.
  7. Pour into a bowl and let set.
  8. Enjoy your homemade, healthy cranberry sauce!

What do you think? Would cranberry fruit snacks be delish or weird?

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and Real Food Wednesday.

Food, Food Everywhere, and Not A Bite To Eat

 
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SumPics Photo Blog

I hate corn.

If every corn field in the world were to spontaneously go up in flames, I would abandon my TED and go out on a drinking and partying binge that would put my ’20’s to shame.

I’ve written about corn before, but y’all, I don’t think even *I* fully realized how BAD the Corn Situation in America really is until this weekend.

Last weekend we trialed Zac on broccoli, and we had a quick reaction. Two servings of broccoli and on the third day, several diapers filled with blood and a blistering diaper rash.

Someone asked me whether I was sure if the reaction was to the broccoli, or to corn.

Huh?

After investigating my potatos so intently, I’d decided we’d probably  be okay with organic produce at my health food co-op.

After that question was asked, however, I had to stop and think. Hard.

Broccoli is one of the least FPIES reactive foods. It was organic broccoli that I washed really well. Come to think of it, it really COULD have been the corn in the fertilizing, spraying, transporting, or storing of the broccoli that caused that reaction. A reaction that, by the way, was typical of Zac’s corn reactions: instant blistering diaper rash and visible bright red blood in the diaper.

Sigh. Okay. Zac bounced back within three days of his first reaction diaper and was just fine. So, time to start seeking out his next food trial! From here on, I told myself, I just have to be EXTRA CAREFUL to avoid anything “corny”.

It was at that moment, beginning THAT research, the I realized: WE’RE SCREWED. 

No. Seriously.

I have run through my list of potential food trials, and every single one of them has been shot down by the corn-free people as having a high likelihood of being corned.

First it was bananas. I’d LOVE to give Zac bananas!

They’re sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen, and the corn-free folks informed me that VERY few of them can tolerate bananas at all.

Okay, nix the bananas.

I’ve got it! Avocado!

Yeah, the corn-free people tell me they’re ALSO sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen, same story as bananas. Very few can tolerate them.

Oh, and, while they were at it, they added that almost all tropical fruits are treated the same way.

Okay, nix the avocado (and any tropical fruits).

Oh! how about spinach!

The corn-free people told me I’d need to grow it myself or know the farmer. Otherwise, it is highly likely it has been corntaminated at some point in the growing/packaging/shipping process.

Okay, well, here in the northern hemisphere, we’re sort of at the tail end of any sort of growing season. I can’t grow it myself, and I had doubts I’d be able to find any farmers who have any for sale, either – especially when I limit it to farmers who don’t spray or treat their crops with anything that could be corny.

So I asked the corn-free folks about frozen veggies. Surely there was at least ONE brand of frozen spinach out there that would be safe, right?

Not that any of them know of. At least some of then have reacted to every brand of frozen veggies out there.

I saw some frozen organic spinach at the co-op and I bought it anyway. When I asked about the safety of that brand on the boards, no one answered yay or nay.

That’s good! Maybe I found a little known brand that might be safe! So all I needed to do was call their manufacturer and ask some questions.

One problem: I didn’t know what questions to ask.

Back to the corn boards! I posted, “OK, let’s try this from another angle. Does anyone know the manufacturing process for frozen organic spinach? I need to call the manufacturer of a brand of spinach we want to try, and it would be helpful to know what questions to ask about corntamination. Thanks!”

One lady sent me this list response: “Here’s what you’d want to know:
1) Were fertilizers used and if so, what type?
2) Were pesticides used and if so, what type?
3) What is used to transport the spinach to the facility and is it shared with any other crop harvested (i.e. corn)?
4) Is the facility in which it’s processed used only for spinach? If not, what is used to clean the lines between types of food processing?
5) What is the spinach rinsed with to clean it?
6) Is the spinach treated with anything to keep it fresh/green/etc.?
7) What is the spinach cooked in/with?
8) What is the packaging made of?
9) What is the adhesive on the packaging made of?”

For cryin’ out loud! Y’all, I’ll have to do this for EVERY SINGLE FOOD we try Zac on!!

Now, while I was waiting on answers from the corn boards about spinach, Darrel and I had a brainstorm: my parents are now raising chickens, and if we could find a safe chicken feed for them (they free-range, but pickin’s are kinda slim for the chickens because it is winter, so they supplement) we could trial eggs for Zac!

So I asked on the corn boards about safe chicken feed. Lots of the corn free people, for obvious reasons, make, grow or raise their entire food supply from scratch, so I got lots of answers.

One answer was to make it ourselves. There were several recipes given, but most of those contained oats – which Zac has already reacted to. The others were very complicated, and while my parents are supportive, they’d rather not have to do such intensive prep work for their chicken feed.

Another was a brand of chicken feed that is corn and soy free…maybe.  Some people did great on it, but a handful said they still reacted to the eggs they ate from chickens that ate that feed. I noticed the company said it was produced on the same lines as their non-corn-free feed, so maybe those folks were reacting to cross-contamination.

In any case, it seems to be the best out there for corn-free chicken feed, and the price for 25 pounds of feed is $18.60. Shipping per bag is $18, and there are no feed stores within 100 miles that carry that feed, so we have to ship.

That means that for the 50 pounds dad needs a month in chicken feed, Darrel and I would have to spend $73.20.

It will take at least  3 weeks of the hens eating the new food before I’d even be willing to try their eggs on Zac, and then, once he eats them, if he doesn’t have a quick reaction it could be another four weeks before we know whether they are safe.

So to trial eggs will cost Darrel and me $146.40. Just to TRIAL!

That would be an expensive un-safe food!!

And did I mention that currently dad is feeding his chickens 50 lbs of food per month for only $11?

Going corn-free is expensive, y’all.

Finally I went to the corn boards (I’m on two of them now) and asked a different question: what is the least corny food or ingredient you can think of that I could trial my son on?

They came back with answers that almost all fit on either the “FPIES most triggered foods” list or the “avoid if you have fructose malabsorption” list. Coconut (FM), sweet potato (FPIES), a brand of oats (FPIES), and squashes (FPIES) were all common answers.

Sigh. Can’t or don’t want to use any of those, so, what? There aren’t ANY foods that are safe for Zac to trial now??

Just when I was about to lose all hope and re-trial lamb just because we have it in the freezer and we have nothing else we can trial him on, I gave one last, great Google search for spinach farmers in my area…and freaking HIT THE JACKPOT!!!

Turns out, there’s a farm near our house that grows all kinds of goodies year round, and they ALSO provide their yummies to my health food co-op for sale. I spoke with the man at length and their green leafy stuff is grown in a greenhouse right now, with NO pesticides and safe fertilizers.

Yay! Mommy found me a new food to try!

Yay! Mommy found me a new food to try!

Hallelujah!!

Their spinach won’t be available until closer to Christmas, but they are currently harvesting Swiss Chard and Kale and delivering it every Tuesday to my co-op for sale.

It’s not my first choice (or even my third, fourth or fifth choice), but IT’S A FOOD WE CAN TRIAL THAT IS SAFE!!! (Well, corn-free safe, not FPIES safe, necessarily.)

I just can’t believe the hoops I’m having to jump through to find foods to even trial on this child, though! There is no guarantee he can actually tolerate Swiss Chard, Kale or Spinach…this is just to find something safe enough to TRY.

It’s insane, I tell you!

So yesterday Darrel came home with two grocery sacks filled with Swiss Chard. I broke the leaves off the stalks, steamed the stalks, and served them up to Zac.

Trying to figure out how to eat Swiss Chard stems!

Trying to figure out how to eat Swiss Chard stems!

He ate about 6 stalks! They don’t have the allure of broccoli or quinoa, apparently, because he wasn’t just scarfing it down, but he did eat them!

While he was eating, I steamed the leaves, chopped them into small pieces, and mixed them with the quinoa puree for some quinoa/swiss chard nuggets.

Quinoa/Swiss Chard Nuggets. They almost look like they have chocolate in them, right?

Quinoa/Swiss Chard Nuggets. They almost look like they have chocolate in them, right?

Now, THOSE he LOVED! Even after eating 8 quinoa nuggets and 6 swiss chard stalks for dinner, he chomped down on 8 more of the quinoa/chard nuggets!

Sleepy eyes...ready for bed...but Mommy I HAVE to eat some more of these!

Sleepy eyes…ready for bed…but Mommy I HAVE to eat some more of these!

So from here on it’s a waiting game to see if he reacts. Fingers crossed nothing bad happens, and in 14 days we can pull swiss chard from his diet and give him a 3 day break. Then we can give it to him for 7 more days and officially claim his second Safe Food!!

If he passes Swiss Chard?

I’m buying every damn leaf my health food co-op has or will ever get. No WAY I’m letting any of that life-sustaining goodness slip through my fingers!

This corntamination thing is for the birds!!

In the end, we DID find a bite to eat for Zac…but it was a major ordeal to get here, and once we’ve worked our way through kale and spinach I have NO idea what we will be able to find to trial next.

Corn is evil. That is all. (screech)

_________

Oh, and a quick update on quinoa: it’s doing GREAT! Zac gained a whole POUND last week! He now weighs 22 pounds! Happy dance!!

__________

How hard is it for you to find safe, organic, corn-free foods for your kiddos? Any suggestions for us?

Kids: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

 
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Kids You Can't Make This Stuff Up cradlerockingmama

Y’all, I really just can’t make this stuff up.

So yesterday morning, Jed pitched a fit when I wanted to take off his overnight disposable diaper. Frankly, I get tired of fighting the whims of a toddler 24/7, so when it’s something that doesn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, I just roll with it.

An hour later, there I am, serenely nursing Zac on the couch, when I look up to see that Jed has taken off his diaper. No big surprise as it had to be uncomfortable by then; he’s usually dry overnight (we use the diaper as a ‘just in case’) and therefore pees huge quantities first thing in the morning, so his diaper was about to sag down to his knees from the weight.

I asked him to go put his diaper in the trash, and he headed that direction.

So I stopped paying attention.

Big. Mistake.

The next time I looked over to Jed, he was standing, a gleeful look on his face, as he swung his diaper around and around his head by one of the sticky tabs…and all the pee-soaked gel filling FLEW across my living room.

Horrible, right? Well, let me rephrase that a bit into FPIES terminology so you can get the FULL horror:

“…and all the pee-soaked CORN DERIVED filling FLEW across my ONLY SAFE PLACE IN THE HOUSE TO REGULARLY LEAVE ZAC UNATTENDED.”

I didn’t know whether to wind my butt or scratch my clock! I snatched Zac up and dumped his cute little tushie in his high chair immediately, then stood there, surveying the disaster in front of me.

I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.

“WHY did you…JED…I can’t…Oh my God…NO, JED, STOP!!” That last bit as he started picking up the damp filling and piling it on top of his toy trains.

See, while I was filled with shock and horror, Jed was filled with ecstasy over this new development. In Jed’s World, he had just discovered an AWESOME new way to create SNOW for his train layouts!

Before he could contaminate anything else, I started snatching up every toy I could find that could safely be run through the dishwasher and threw them all in the top rack.

The first quick dump of toys.

The first quick dump of toys.

Then I grabbed anything that would need deeper or more delicate cleaning and raced those to the laundry room.

Then I grabbed the Wet Vac and realized with horror that it has a two inch wide hose…and no attachment that would work for this wet, sticky mess.

And so it was, that from the time “Sister Suffragette” began in Mary Poppins until “Chim-Chim-Cheree” ended, that I vacuumed the top of the train table and my ENTIRE LIVING ROOM with a two inch nozzle on a shop vac.

I won’t lie. Jed learned some AMAZING new cuss words yesterday.

Once all the obvious mess was cleaned up, I went on the FPIES boards to ask for help. HOW was I supposed to clean this up completely? I mean, soap and water is the only sure-fire way to guarantee protein/contamination removal…was I supposed to soap and water my entire living room? Surely there was an easier way, right?

The verdict? No. Not really. So I gave Zac the last of the quinoa nuggets to keep him quiet and happy in his new cage/high chair and went to work.

I hauled the train table back out of the living room (we only decided to put it back in the living room about a week ago, after realizing that since the introduction of quinoa, Zac doesn’t eat everything he can get his hands on any more) into the dining room and got down on my hands and knees with a bucket, a bar of safe soap, and three rags: one to wash, one to rinse, and one to dry.

I scrubbed those floors harder than I’ve ever scrubbed a floor in my life, occasionally shooting glares at Jed when he started to do something ELSE he shouldn’t be doing.

That was NOT the time for him to push Mommy’s buttons, you see.

Halfway through the floors, I took a break with my parents. They were here to work on building the enclosure for our front porch (that is going to be awesome, by the way!) and had stopped for a minute. Since my knees and back were aching, I took a few moments to rest.

While we were resting, Jed came over and informed us that he had gotten “a little bit of syrup and a straw!” from the fridge.

Backstory: Jed LOVES maple syrup. If left unchecked, he will literally pour a whole bottle into a glass, stick a straw in it, and drink it. Straight.

In fact, he had done that very thing just two nights ago, and Darrel and I had come down hard on him. Maple syrup is a vital part of our pantry, but at those prices we just cannot afford for Jed to waste it the way he does.

So here I am on the porch, my whole body aching from the floor scrubbing from hell thanks to his “snowfall”, and he’s telling me he’s gotten syrup and a straw out.

Ooh…bad timing kid. NOT the time to mess with Mommy!

Without missing a beat, I told him “You’d better not have gotten out the maple syrup. If I go back in the house and see that you’ve gotten syrup out, I am going to take away THREE trains for the rest of the day.” (Our normal is one train per infraction. Mama meant business, y’all!)

And Jed, bless his little mischievous heart, held out both his hands, backed slowly into the house, and said “Don’t come in, Mommy.”

If I hadn’t been so ticked off at him, I would have fallen over on the floor at the cuteness of that one! Fortunately, I was ticked off, so I simply forced the door open (he was leaning against it, trying to keep it closed) and walked in to discover he had told the truth: there it was – a whole bottle of maple syrup in a glass with a bendy straw in it.

I didn’t even break stride; I just grabbed the three closest trains I could find and put them in the “train time out” spot. Jed, of course, sobbed and cried and flung himself on the floor.

Mama was not moved by such histrionics.

Back to scrubbing I went (and back to wall building my parents went) and about half an hour later Jed came running up to me: “Mommymommymommymommymommmymommy! The toilet is SO BIG!! Come look!”

I went to see why the toilet was suddenly SO BIG and…oh, yeah. Good move, Jed. He had decided to go pee pee in the potty, which is great! Only he’d decided to unroll AN ENTIRE BRAND NEW ROLL OF TOILET PAPER INTO THE BOWL while he was at it!

That toilet was within millimeters of overflowing.

As was my patience.

You KNOW it’s bad when your three year old tells you “Take a deep breath, Mommy!”

So I did. I closed my eyes, turned my head to the ceiling, and breathed. When I realized the toilet wasn’t in danger of immediate overflow, I simply shuffled Jed out of the bathroom – and locked the door behind me.

One freaking catastrophe at a time, you know? I’d deal with the toilet later.

Three hours after I got Zac into the high chair, I was finally able to take him out. (He sat there quietly and calmly, even after he ran out of quinoa nuggets! What an angel!)

The floors were scrubbed, rinsed, and dried, but I still need to go over them with a rinsing agent to make sure all the soapy residue has been removed. I just couldn’t tolerate leaving him trapped in the high chair for any longer.

I dealt with the toilet (fortunately not a horrible mess to clean up, believe it or not).

What a whole roll of toilet paper looks like in a toilet bowl after an hour of sitting.

What a whole roll of toilet paper looks like in a toilet bowl after an hour of sitting.

What a whole roll of toilet paper looks like when it's unrolled and soaked completely.

What a whole roll of toilet paper looks like when it’s unrolled and soaked completely.

At 1 p.m., I finally was able to eat my ‘breakfast’. At 2 p.m., I finally got Zac down for his morning nap.

I’d planned to take that down time to make more quinoa nuggets, since we were out, clean the kitchen and do a couple loads of laundry.

Instead, my parents needed some help with the wall they were building on my front porch, so Jed and I helped them with that, and then they left to go home.

I’d barely started on the kitchen cleaning when I got a phone call. My parents truck had lost traction on the big curve near my house and they were stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, shaky nerves, and a jack that didn’t want to work. Could I come rescue them?

So I got Jed dressed, woke Zac up, got him dressed, and loaded the car. On my way out the front door, another phone call: they’d managed to get the jack to work, so never mind on the rescue.

Well, hell. We’re already dressed, Zac has already had his nap messed with, may as well go make sure they’re okay and go to the grocery store for a few sundries we needed to save myself the trouble tomorrow.

Mom and Dad were fine; I got there just as they finished putting the lug nuts back on the spare tire. Their truck has some dents in it, and is missing a tail light, but I seriously think that pickup truck is like “Big Blue” from the Stephanie Plum novels (have you read those? They’re hysterical!): it’s freaking indestructible! That truck has taken a lickin’ and kept on tickin’ for the last 18 years. Amazing.

Anyway, we said ‘bye’ to Grandma and PopPop and headed to the grocery store. Zac slept the whole way, and Jed took about a ten minute power nap, and when we got there, both kids were AWESOME.

Jed behaved so well in the store, in fact, that he earned a little 25 cent treat from the vending machines on the way out.

It's a good thing he's cute!

It’s a good thing he’s cute!

The rest of the day, actually, his behavior was SO GOOD…well, as BAD as he’d been in the morning, was as GOOD as he was the rest of the day!

I enjoyed spending time with him! We had fun together! He was polite, agreeable, rational.

Flabbergasted just about covers it. I don’t know where devil child came from, or where it went, but I LIKE the Jed that comes out when he stops being a…well, what’s a name you can call your child that isn’t flattering but won’t make people think you don’t love your child? Yeah. THAT name.

He’s a GREAT kid when he’s not being “that name”.

Darrel sent me a message about the time he was supposed to get off from work saying he’d be working late, so our normal bedtime routine got thrown off.

Without two parents tag-teaming them, they succeeded in fending off bedtime (really – one will reach over and tickle the other until they’re both bouncing around on the bed and I simply cannot manhandle both of them simultaneously to get them to lay down), but two hours later they both informed me that they really wanted to go to sleep.

Within 5 minutes of us all laying down, they were asleep.

As of bedtime last night, the kitchen still wasn’t clean. No laundry had been done. Poor Zac still didn’t have any nuggets to eat. Darrel still hadn’t made it home. And I was so tired I was walking into walls.

But it was all okay. I got some good time with my boys today; some good, loving, fun, enjoying each others company time.

(I think Jed realized that if he didn’t turn on the charm, very, very bad things could happen.)

Whatever the motivation, my heart felt warm in the evening, even though in the morning I was decidedly LESS warm.

How kids can keep us on our toes like that, I’ll never know.

People who don’t have kids are really missing out. I mean that.

And my floors have never been so clean!

They almost sparkle, y'all!

They almost sparkle, y’all!

And by the way…can I just mention again how GRATEFUL I am to our friends who gave us the floors? I’d be absolutely beside myself and probably unable to function if Jed had decimated his diaper onto CARPET. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

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What’s the craziest day your kids have put you through?