Andy Makes his First Pie!

I just have to share these pictures of my 10 year old son making his first pie!

He keeps bugging me that he wants to actually learn to cook and bake, not just help out. He figures if he is going to survive in a gluten filled world without his mommy, he'd better learn!

Today I asked him if he wanted to make a pie (thinking we'd make something fairly easy like Raspberry) and he very excitedly said yes! But it had to be a lemon meringue pie!

He did a really good job. I had to read the recipe to him and I had to walk him through it - and I took it in and out of the oven - but this pie is 98% all his! I am super proud of him.

Rolling out the dough. I had frozen pie dough in the freezer so that part was pretty easy - no mixing. This is the mix from the gluten free pantry.

Squeezing lemons.

Measuring corn starch

Breaking an egg

Stirring - he was mad that I asked him to turn his head so I could see his face!

Beating the egg whites into meringue.

Putting the meringue on the pie. He really liked that part.

Spreading the meringue all the way to the edges so it doesn't "weep"

And there is my proud baker with his finished pie cooling on the stove top!

I'll post my recipe later - just wanted to share the pictures with you right away!

A successful GFCF Birthday Party

Andy turned 10 yesterday. How is that possible? It seems like just yesterday we got a call in the middle of the night that he had been born and we rushed to the hospital to hold our newborn.

We had a very successful birthday party - here are some pics!

The party was held at a climbing wall. Here is a group shot of the birthday boy with all of his guests.

Before the party, the day was started out with the birthday boy's favorite breakfast - raspberry pancakes (GFCF of course). I'll post the recipe below.

GFCF Yellow cupcakes - I used the new Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix to make these. Andy does not like chocolate so I made these for him.

And I also made chocolate cupcakes - again they are the new Betty Crocker gluten free mix - the devils food flavor. All of the children ate the cupcakes and no one said anything about them tasting funny so I don't think they could tell they were GFCF.

We only did snacks since the party was from 2 to 4. Andy picked the snack menu. The most popular item was the fruit kebobs.

Andy helped make the snacks. Here he is making Ants on a Log (probably the second popular snack).

We also served deviled eggs and a home made trail mix.

GFCF Raspberry Pancakes

2 eggs
2 cups original flavor Almond Milk (or use any milk sub)
¼ cup coconut oil, melted (or use any shortening or salad oil)
2 cups GF flour blend (I used Bobs Red Mill GF Blend)
2 tablespoons raw sugar (or use brown or regular sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries.

Beat eggs

Add remaining ingredients and mix

Pour batter onto hot greased griddle or frying pan.

Turn pancakes when they are puffed up and full of bubbles.

Makes 20 4-inch pancakes

Struggling to help my child learn to make smart food choices

Life was so much easier when Andy was smaller. I just sent all of his food to daycare and he was watched like a hawk and never touched food that wasn't sent from home.

I still send all of his food from home, but trading parts of lunches is a big part of the social structure of second grade. I love that he has friends to trade foods with. I just want him to make the best food choices he can. After all, I want him to grow into an adult that can do just that.

Yesterday there was a false alarm at school. He had a tummy ache in the afternoon so after he used the bathroom he went to the school nurse and told her he thought it might be something he ate. He has yet to understand that sometimes we just get tummy aches and they have nothing to do with "special diets" - but when you have celiac, it is a good place to start.

So the nurse called me and we discussed everything he had eaten that had not come from home. Grace gave him her fruit cocktail and Sylvester shared a few potato chips. The potato chips were suspect - Andy had gotten some Pringles (not gfcf) from the same boy a month ago. So we questioned him and he had made sure they were not the "red can" kind and they were plain so he made some good choices in deciding whether they were safe - since most plain chips (except Pringles) are okay. A quick call to Sylvester's grandma confirmed that they were indeed okay (they were Lay's).

So, I think we are doing okay in this. I don't want to tell him not to trade foods - I want him to be able to enjoy lunch. Luckily we are not dealing with a severe food allergy that can kill him immediately. I know the gluten can still cause a lot of harm and I would rather he never make a bad food choice and get glutenized (is that a word?) but truthfully a tummy ache or two may make him learn to manage his food choices wisely.

Now, I just need to convince him that while we still want to investigate all tummy aches - that if we don't find a clear cause, it is okay to just let it go - it may have been nothing.

Andy's Birthday

Sorry - I've been a little behind and I never updated you with the final result of Andy's birthday cake. I did go with the Chocolate Zuchinni Cake and the kids all ate it really good. If you don't tell them there there is veggies in it, they'll never know!

As you can see, it turned out great. And yes, that is me over on the right.

Andy went to the gastro today

The visit was not at all what I had expected.

I keep hearing from other parents of kids with celiac how they do annual blood tests and I have been feeling bad that we haven't been to a gastro at all. His regular ped had referred us and I wasn't sure what to expect.

But the doctor was very nice and did not order any tests at all. He basically said that as long as Andy is doing OK on the diet - let's not mess with it. Just keep doing what we are doing. Make sure he goes to his regular ped for a weight at least once a year and just see him every 2 to 3 years unless Andy starts having problems.

If Andy gets to be a teen and starts wanting off the diet - then we can do a challenge so we know 100% since Andy was never scoped. And he wouldn't even mess with the blood test - just do a piece of bread for 2 weeks and then go straight to a scope.

He said we could do a genetic test - but that won't really tell us much. All celiacs will have the gene for celiac - but so do 60% of everyone - so only if you are one of the 40% do you know anything certain with the genetic test - and since Andy has birth relatives with celiac, he probably almost certainly has the gene.

And it really doesn't matter if we call it celiac or leaky gut or a gluten allergy or gluten intolerance. The fact is that Andy does much better on a gfcf diet so let's not mess with it.

Someone else might have been disappointed that he didn't want to run tests, but I am relieved. And having a gastro validate it all makes it more real for the school and anyone else who might challenge the validity of the diet.

Andy's Check Ups

Andy had his annual check up this week. He is finally over 40 lbs! He weighed in at 41.4 pounds and is 47.5 inches tall. He is about 50% for height and has gone up to almost 10% for weight. We are very happy.

He continues to be pretty healthy - he hasn't been to the doctor for anything in a year - no strep, no fevers. Nothing. We continue to hold off on any booster shots and the ped was OK with that - I am so fortunate that she doesn't give us any grief over that. None of Andy's shots had mercury in them - but there are so many other things in there - I just don't know.

But he continues to have GI problems. He had a series of rashes and tummy aches in early December. I thought I had figured it out - the only new thing he had to eat was bananas - so I was pretty sure that was it. We removed them from the diet and then last week (since he is off school) we introduced them again. No rashes and no tummy aches - nothing.

I have no idea now what is going on. Is it a new food allergy? Is he getting some hidden gluten? Was he getting something not on his diet at school? He has always had dark circles under his eyes. They are lighter now than they were when he was younger - but they never really went away and because of that I am pretty sure he has some other food issues.

Anyway, he is not being monitored by a gastroenterologist and he really should be for his celiac - so we are going to start there. And then if we don't get answers then we will go to an allergist. We made an appointment for the GI for February 21. It is such a long wait always to get in to any specialist - but this is a pediatric gastro, so hopefully it will be worth the wait.

He also went to the dentist this week for a check up (get all of the appointments out of the way while school is out). He was pretty scared - he has had a lot of traumatic experiences at the dentist in the past, but luckily the dental assistant was really patient with him. He did not want to do the X-rays - he was convinced they would hurt somehow - but eventually he cooperated. And the good news is - No cavaties this time! So we do not have to go back for 6 months. By his next visit, his molars should be all the way in and they will want to seal them - so I have to do my homework on sealants and if they are OK - always something to investigate - what ever happened to being able to trust the doctors and just let them do what they needed to do? My trust in the medical system has been totally eroded.....

A Successful GFCF Birthday Party

We had Andy's birthday party yesterday. He is turning 7 years old this week.

Recipe for a successful GFCF Birthday Party:
1. Hold it at a time when no one expects to be fed more than cake (1-3 pm)
2. Plan an activity like Stuff A Friend so you don't have to fill goody bags with junky candy and toys - and it keeps them busy the whole time so they don't have time to want more food.
3. Buy the cake from a gluten free bakery like the Bittersweet Bakery in Eagan, MN. It tasted so good no one knew that it was GFCF.

We held Andy's party at a local nature center. The first hour was led by a naturalist - they talked about Minnesota wildlife - went on a walk looking for wild life and then checked out some wild life in aquariums (snakes, turtles and frogs). Then we spent a half hour making stuffed animals - and then just had time to serve cake and open presents and it was time to go. Everyone had a blast and there were no meltdowns and no diet infractions.

If you are curious - Andy is in the back row in an orange shirt holding his stuffed pig.

What I love about my Special Child

I posted this earlier today on the autism board on babycenter, but I thought it was worthy of posting here as well. It is easy to get frustrated and see all the parts of autism that we don't like - sometimes it is good to dwell on the positives.

1. His logical, no-nonsense approach to life. I mean, really, do so many words have to have double meanings? What is the point in that and I love it when my child points that out to me.

2. The way he stims when he is excited. Wouldn't it be great if all of us could learn not to contain our joy? He just beams with happiness when he is stimming.

3. Some of his coping mechanisms are ones we could all learn from - for instance when he sees someone that he isn't sure who they are - he will greet them with "Do I know you?" And they usually laugh and they might accuse him of being silly, but they tell him who they are. Seriously, how many times have you found yourself talking to someone that you have no idea who they are and you are afraid to tell them you don't know who they are?

4. His artistic talents. This kid may not be able to draw real good yet, but he puts details into his drawings of things that really are amazing and the colors that he chooses.

5. His joy when he accomplishes something. He gets very frustrated and has to have a lot of encouragement to try something new, but when he finally is able to try something - it is just amazing to see how he lights up and is so proud of himself.

6. His acceptance of his special diet. He never tries to steal food from another child and he always questions any food put before him by any other than me - and while he may feel sad that the other kids are having a treat that he can't have - he is very accepting of it being the way it is.

7. His singing and his musical talent. I just love hearing this child sing along to his favorite CD. He can carry a tune much better than I can.

8. The way he loves to help me in the garden. His knowledge of gardening is pretty awesome for a child his age - and he didn't learn that from being forced to help me, but because he loves to be in the garden with me and is always asking questions.

9. The way he loves to snuggle with me.

10. His love of stuffed animals. I love seeing that softer side of a little boy.

And I am going to add one more that I didn't think of when I posted earlier.

11. His sense of humor. This is one funny kid - he gets how humor should be done and that draws other kids to him. When I hear other kids say that Andy is a funny kid, I know they mean it literally and not odd!

All ready for school

My big first grader on his first day of school.