Cookies and Crayons

This weekend, we decided to try gluten free baking. I knew we had to get there but I was more than a little intimidated because all the flours were so different from what I was used to. It happened that we decided to participate in a Breakfast Challenge to “Stop the Boring Breakfasts” as well so we decided to mix the two goals and made banana bread (the fact that we had a bunch of aging bananas help in this decision as well).

I am not quite ready to adjust our existing recipes so Grandma Cajka’s banana bread will have to wait. We found a new banana bread recipe instead: Gluten Free Banana Bread. Admittedly, it wasn’t nearly as good as Grandma Cajka’s but it fit the bill.

Dougie mashes the bananas

Adding more ingredients

More stirring

The batter was VERY liquidy. We also made a small adjustment based on the recipe reviews to add an extra teaspoon of baking powder. It definitely helped the bread not fall too much once it was out of the oven.

Finished bread

All in all, I would call this a success. Our baking powder was a bit old and didn’t get mixed in as well as it should have but otherwise, I’d make this again.

When it was just Dougie and me at home, it was easy enough to get things done or let them slide. Dougie didn’t care if I didn’t get to the dishes, or the office needed to be dusted. He cared that I was there when he cried and that his needs were met. Life was easy… well, easier.

Then came Connie. She is much the same as Dougie was, her needs are easy to meet. Except now, Dougie’s needs are more complicated. He wants to go to the park, play games, dance and generally enjoy life. A lot of times, that doesn’t coincide with Connie’s need to sleep or just sit and be held. So I have this:

I actually bought this when Dougie was just a baby but didn’t use it much unless we were going out. With Connie, we use it all the time. It lets me bring her along without losing any mobility myself and still having both hands free. It is built like a backpack so her weight is well distributed and I don’t get too sore. I even toss her in there to clean the house (we use mostly homemade cleaning products so it isn’t toxic for her).

Right now, we’re restricted to front carries because she’s still so young but once she gets a bit older, she can be in a back carry. That really is the ultimate in mobility! I’m so glad that we’ve found a way to make sure that Dougie’s changing needs are still met while ensuring that Connie feels the same love and closeness that Dougie did.

This post was inspired by the first time Connie fell asleep in this carrier. Normally, she is very interested in what is going on and just looks around but today, she got comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Those who have known me for a while know that I’m not very big into pranks. I’m sure you can work out from that what my feelings on April Fools day are. Don’t get me wrong, I always look forward to see what sort of prank Google is going to pull. They are always clever and down right funny, unlike most pranks.

But, it isn’t every day that I get called “clever” (thanks Sharold!) so I felt inspired to do something special and perhaps start a little family tradition. Enter, the meatloaf cupcakes.

Okay, not my best icing job. I left all the icing bags in Dallas and had to improvise. I think it looks cupcake-like though, right?

These are actually gluten-free meatloaf topped with garlic mashed potatoes. They weren’t too bad.

Dougie was excited about the idea of cupcakes for dinner though quickly worked out that it wasn’t cake and suddenly wasn’t so interested.

He did poke at it a bit and then, something magical happened.

Our boy ate a kernel of corn. Then, he ate another. All in all, he likely ate about 25 kernels. Obviously, this isn’t enough to sustain him, but we are so thrilled that he voluntarily ate some!! I don’t want to call this a trend yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

With two kids and four dogs, having the immaculate house I dreamed of is, difficult, to say the least. I have tried so many different cleaning plans. All of them have elements that I like but, inevitably, something that makes them impossible to stick to. I love the idea of having the house completely cleaned in a single day but I just don’t have that kind of time anymore. We tried FlyLady and, though she has some great ideas, I just couldn’t get past the constant e-mail and some of the “rules” that I didn’t agree with (we’re Canadian – we don’t wear shoes in the house!).

So, I’ve turned to the only resource I have for help – the kids.

As you’d expect, Connie is of no help cleaning but Dougie is starting to get the hang of it.

He’s actually pretty good at it.

He really enjoys helping around the house as well. We have talked several times about assigning him some chores and based on this, I think he’s really ready.

In the meantime, Connie has settled into a supervisor role.

There is no rest for the weary – unless you collapse on the floor.

We had a long day today. By the end of it, we were all more than ready to be done but, with an hour until bedtime, we had to find one more activity. Dougie suggested play-doh. I agreed. So, out came the play-doh and Dougie went to town making various creations.

Play-doh is serious business.

We actually really encourage Dougie to play with things like play-doh because it helps develop his hand muscles. The occupational therapist that Dougie saw encouraged him to play with therapy putty (funny that is what Scott used to make) and play-doh is a bit more fun and has the same benefits.

Once Dougie got the play-doh soft and ready to mold, he started making “animals.” Now, you need to get your imaginations ready and just trust me that this is what he told me each one of them was.

Turtle

Goldfish

Cat

Alligator (he’s making it go “chop chop” in this picture)

Mummy and Daddy (Daddy is green) – I helped with my head

Dougie – with pieces constructed by Mum

While we played, musical stylings were provided by Connie.

After a lot of research and some discussion with our doctor, we have decided to switch Dougie to a gluten free diet for a test run. There has been quite a bit of research on the benefits of a gluten free diets on children with autism. Though Dougie is not autistic, there have been some early studies that indicate that a similar diet can help children with apraxia. So, yes, we decided to take the pickiest eater in the world and limit his food options.

So far, we’ve been doing pretty well. We’re a week in and have found suitable substitutes for many of the foods that Dougie loves. We are going to have to start baking more though because gluten free foods are going to lead us quickly into financial ruin. Fortunately, several people have been very helpful providing recipes and suggestions.

The jury is still out on the results. We didn’t expect to see an instant improvement so we’re still going to give it time. We have noticed that Dougie is starting to use substantially more complicated sentences. It could be a coincidence but we’re hoping it’s the beginning sign of success. We’re going to give this diet a 2 month run and see what changes, if any, Dougie has and then evaluate

This time, it’s just our blog.

We have moved to a new domain.  Our blog is now located at http://www.cookiesandcrayons.com.  If you receive updates in e-mail (and you got this one) you’re all set.  If you use a feed reader, your reader should update the feed however, in the event it doesn’t, you may wish to resubscribe to the new feed.

We also have a new look! We’re very excited about all the changes and hope this makes the blog easier for people to find and more fun to read.

Dougie can, almost.

I think she was as surprised by her new found talent as we were.

Dougie loves his sister. When we pick her up to bring her upstairs to change her or take her anywhere, he frequently protests “no, that’s MY Connie”, “lay the Connie down Mummy”, “Mummy, can I please hold the Connie.”

He loves just hanging out with her.

It makes it hard to get pictures of her without him.

We really hope they’re always like this.

She seems to feel the same way too. You should see her light up when Dougie comes over to see her (well, not in that last picture, she’s just trying to work out why he’s messing with her Jumperoo).