Spaghetti Squash

I remember the first time my mom made spaghetti squash. She tried to get us kids all excited that a squash could be spaghetti too. We'd have none of it at first. Finally she said that was the only thing she made for dinner, so we may as well try it. With some tomato sauce on top, it wasn't that bad - it's pretty mild and doesn't have a big squash flavor. Now I'm a big fan. These days I like mine drizzled with olive oil, then sprinkled with salt and pepper and maybe some herbs, then finally topped with chopped walnuts and grape tomatoes.

The usual method for cooking spaghetti squash is in the oven, but since our oven is broken I decided to steam it on the stove top. This takes much less time and it's possible, if the squash is your main dish, to get dinner on the table in under half an hour.

As far as choosing a squash, it just needs to feel heavy, just the way you'd choose a cantaloupe. A small squash will make a meal for two with some french bread and soup or salad on the side.

Spaghetti Squash
Wash outside of squash. Halve lengthwise. Scoop out seeds with a spoon.

Place squash halves in double boiler cut side down. Steam 15 - 20 minutes or until fork just pierces skin and goes through squash with only the tiniest bit of resistance. You want the squash to be crisp tender, not mushy, so be careful to not overcook it.

Remove squash to a bowl. When cool enough to handle, take a fork and scrape the flesh from the skin - the flesh will come away in long strands like spaghetti.


Place squash strands in a separate bowl. Dress squash however you like - with a dollop of spaghetti sauce or pesto or whatever suits your fancy.

GFCF Sandbox Cake

This recipe was recently featured in a Penzey's catalog. You can find the original recipe, which is called Cinnamon Supper Cupcakes, here. I like the name Sandbox Cake better - the kids think it's cute. I made this in a baking dish and served it as a coffeecake. It turned out so good that not even the crumbs lasted long.

1 cup GF flour blend
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp. canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup rice milk


Topping
1 tbsp. soft dairy fee, soy free margarine
3 tbsp. sugar mixed with 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish, set aside.

Sift together the flour blend through the salt, set aside.

Stir together the sugar and the canola oil. Add the egg and beat well. Add the vanilla and rice milk and stir to combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake about 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and spread the margarine evenly over the top while still hot. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the cake. Let cool slightly. Serve warm.

Spice Rubbed Grilled Steak

This is a simple spicy rub for steak, but it would work well with pork too. I found this recipe in a South Beach Diet cookbook and tweaked it slightly. You can kick up the heat by adding ground chipotle pepper in addition to the cayenne pepper. I like this with a simple cucumber and tomato salad and brown rice on the side.

2 lbs steak (flank, tenderloin, or a similar lean cut)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. smoked Spanish paprika
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or ground chipotle pepper, or equal amounts of both
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
fresh cilantro for garnish, if desired

Place steaks in a large ziplock bag. Combine the oil through the black pepper and pour over the steaks. Seal the bag, then toss to coat meat. Marinate in the refrigerator up to several hours, turning once or twice.

Remove steaks from bag, discarding leftover marinade. Grill steaks over hot coals (or medium-high heat for gas grills) about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. For flanks steak, let meat rest 5 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain. Serve warm.

Nut Free Crumb Topping

I made this topping for a fruit pie made with a no roll pie crust, but it is an all purpose crumb topping that would also be good on anything that calls for a crumb or streusel topping. This particular topping, unlike my other All Purpose Crumb Topping recipe, has no nuts. It makes just enough to cover a deep dish pie with no waste.

1 cup GF flour blend
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon or 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 tbsp. dairy free, soy free margarine or ghee

In a medium bowl, blend the flour, sugars and cinnamon or nutmeg well with a fork. Add the margarine or ghee and blend very well with your fork until the mixture resembles small crumbs. Top as desired.

Another No Roll Pie Crust Recipe

This is a great recipe for sweet pies (I have another No Roll Pie Crust recipe for savory pies). It's great for those times when you really want to make a pie but don't have the time or energy to roll out your pie crusts. This will fill a deep dish pie plate with just a smidge left over. I made it with All Purpose Millet and Sorghum Blend - the millet is sweet and the end result is slightly crumbly when you cut it with a fork, which I liked, and which works well with a crumb topping (with nuts or nut free). It even goes from pie plate to dish without falling apart! I'm pretty sure other flour blends would work well too, such as All Purpose Sorghum. I'm pretty happy with how this pie crust recipe turns out!

1 1/3 cups GF flour blend
1/2 cup palm shortening
1 egg, beaten

In a medium bowl, cut the margarine into the flour blend with a pastry blender or tines of a fork until the mixture resembles small crumbs. Add the egg and mix well. Place mixture into a deep dish pie plate, pressing the bottom and up the sides evenly with your fingers. Flute edges with the tines of a fork, if desired. Bake crust according to your pie recipe.

Another Multi-Grain Flour Blend

This used to be a blend I called Rice Flour Blend. I deleted that and made this up to make all my blends corn free. If you are looking for that old recipe, let me know and I'll email it to you. I just replaced the cornstarch with potato and tapioca starches and I replaced the corn flour with amaranth and teff flours.

I like this blend best in pizza crust, sandwich bread and quick breads.

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1 cups sorghum flour
3/4 cups potato starch
3/4 cups tapioca starch
1/2 cup millet flour

Sift together all ingredients until well-blended. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. You can also decrease the potato starch to 1 cup, decrease tapioca starch to one cup and add 1 cup of arrowroot starch to this mix.

Baked Eggs with Basil

This breakfast casserole makes a nice dish for brunch. I threw basil and pepperoni into it, but spinach, ham or tomatoes would be good as well.

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup pepperoni, sliced into strips
1/2 cup fresh basil, cut into strips
12 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
dash pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add pepperoni and cook another minute or until fragrant. Remove from heat.

Whisk together the eggs in a large bowl. Add the onion and pepperoni mixture, basil, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake about 30 minutes, or until eggs are puffed and lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before slicing into squares to serve.

GFCF Spice Cookie Bars

This recipe comes from a Penzey's catalog of spices. I love Penzey's - their spices are great - if only they'd make their soup bases without wheat or soy! I made these bars for the kids but the adults couldn't keep away from them. So they didn't last long. Which is good.


1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
scant 1/2 cup sugar
scant 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups GF flour blend
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray, set aside.

Bring the raisins or cranberries and the water to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside to let cool until lukewarm.

Sift together the flour through the cloves, set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the oil, applesauce, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat until well blended. Fold in the raisins or cranberries and walnuts if desired. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth out the top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

Chicken and Bean Burrito Filling

I found this recipe on the back of a package of phyllo dough. Don't worry, I made it sans phyllo dough. I modified it slightly, and I thought it was really good. I'm not sure whether this is because I was hungry and made it after cooking glutenous foods I couldn't eat for my sister-in-law for 10 hours straight, or whether it was totally fabulous in its own right. But I will definitely make it again - it's easy to throw together, fast and likely to please the kids. You can enjoy it rolled up in a rice tortilla but it'd be good with chips or crackers too.

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 can refried beans, stirred
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and green pepper and cook until soft. Add the tomato and garlic and cook until the tomoato just softens. Add the chicken, refried beans, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper and stir to blend well. Heat through and taste to adjust seasonings. Serve warm as you like, but seriously it's good plain and eaten with a spoon.

So What? Who Cares?

Check out this great post at Aspie Teacher on Learning to say "So What" - personally I feel a great sense of relief after reading it (thanks for that, Aspie Teacher). I found it by way of Life with Aspergers, another blog I enjoy reading.

Anna tends to overreact to small things - she feels things immediately and very strongly and gets stuck in a heightened emotional place. It turns into inappropriate social behavior (throwing herself on the floor, shoving or pinching the offender, shouting, tattling, sobbing, etc.). It's like she has no armor to shield her emotions. She needs that armor. How do I teach her to build it? I'm not sure, but definitley the sweetness and light method doesn't quite work for her (you know, the longsuffering, patient parent way of smiling and saying "It's okay Sweetie, let's talk about how you feel and how the other person feels and come to a place of understanding"). It doesn't quite work for me either - I don't have the patience for it. Go ahead and say it, I know I need more patience. But in the middle of a meltdown, all I want to do is help Anna get her behaviors under control and bring her emotions down to a place where we can talk about them.

So for the past couple of weeks things at home have looked like this:

The girls are playing together and then screaming ensues from the other end of the house. Anna runs up to me sobbing.

Anna: "Mommy, Megan just made a nasty face at me!".

Me: "Anna, who cares? Don't look at her nasty face."

Anna: "But Mommy! She's being MEAN to me! She made a nasty face!"

Me (trying not to imagine her junior high years): "Anna, she's making a nasty face at you to get you upset. Just ignore her! Go do something else! Tell her you don't want to play with her!".

Anna: "But Mommy!"

Me: "Anna! So what if Megan makes a nasty face. Who cares? If she's being mean to you, don't play with her! If she wants to have fun with you and play with you, she'll have to be nice to you. Go tell her that you won't play with her if she's mean to you."

Anna: Runs off, shouts at Megan "I will NOT be your friend!". Oy. After a few minutes, I go talk to the both of them about being nice to one another.

Honestly, I'm a little tired of intervening between the two of them. And Anna has to learn how to deal with these situations on her own. She needs her own armor, not my constant intervention. If I'm always after Megan for every little slight that Anna blows out of proportion, Anna will never learn to take care of herself. And she needs to learn that soon, before girls turn cruel. And they will be cruel - they will tease her and bully her if she acts like this when they slight her. So I'm trying to help her build an emotional shield to protect her feelings. I've said a lot of "so what's" and "who cares" these past several days. Whether that is a good method or bad, I don't know. I'm sure I won't like the day Anna says "so what" or "who cares" to me! But if it helps her buffer her extreme emotional responses, it will be worth it. I hope!

Roasted Chicken with Butternut Squash

While the girls and I were on vacation at DH's parent's house, his mom bought a butternut squash and put it on the counter. I eyed it for a few days and when she didn't do anything with it, I claimed it. (See what happens when you invite family over for a month? They abscond with your veggies!) I decided to roast a chicken with butternut instead of the usual potatoes and it was very good. There were only a few leftovers, which I turned into soup. I mashed the leftover butternut before adding it to the broth, which gave the soup a nice creamy quality. And that was good too! For roasting the chicken and vegetabes, I used this Whole Foods recipe here as my guide.

1 (5 - 6) pound whole chicken
1 lemon, halved
2 large sprigs fresh rosemary
1 small butternut squash
3 small yellow onions, quartered
2 cups chicken broth
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry (discard gizzards). Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken, tossing the rinds into the cavity. Place one sprig of rosemary in the cavity with the lemon rinds.

Peel the butternut and scoop out the seeds. Chop into large pieces. Arrange the butternut and the onion around the chicken in the pan. Pour the chicken broth over vegetables. Drizzle the chicken and vegetables with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Take the remaining sprig of rosemary and remove the leaves. Chop the leaves and scatter them on the chicken and the veggies.
Cover with tin foil and roast for 30 minutes. Decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Remove the tin foil and continue roasting the chicken for another 1 1/2 hours, periodically basting with the chicken broth in the bottom of the pan, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175 degrees (it will continue cooking after you remove it from the oven to reach 180 degrees) and the vegetables are cooked through.

Let the chicken rest in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it to a carving board. Carve the chicken and serve with the roasted vegetables and pan juices on the side.

Homemade Baking Powder (Corn Free)

Did you know that cornstarch is added to the baking powder you buy at the grocery store? It's added to powdered sugar too. The starch absorbs moisture and keeps the mixture from reacting before you need it in storage. The addition of cornstarch proved consternating as I am trying to eliminate corn from my diet, but then I found out that making your own baking powder is very easy. I don't know about powdered sugar yet - I'll tackle that one later.

Tapioca starch or potato starch can easily be substituted for cornstarch when making and storing your own baking powder. The ratio should be 2 parts cream of tartar, 1 part baking soda and 1 part starch flour. For example, to make 1/2 cup of baking powder:

1/4 cup cream of tartar
2 tbsp. baking soda
2 tbsp. tapioca starch
Sift together and store in an airtight container in a dry place.

If however you just need to use a small amount of baking powder immediately, the starch can be omitted. For example:

1 tsp. baking powder = 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar plus 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder = 3/4 tsp. cream of tartar plus 3/8 tsp. baking soda

Don't let corn take you down. Now get baking!

Vegetable Beef Soup with Rice

Summer is fast coming to a close and school will be in session in just two weeks. It's hard to feel sad about this, even after returning from vacation. The start of school is the signal that autumn is just around the corner, and autumn is my favorite time of year. I love everything about autumn...the colors, the smells, the foods, the nip in the air. There's something about it that makes me feel more alive. So I made this soup to welcome autumn into my kitchen ...to me this soup looks, feels and tastes like the beginning of autumn. I'm glad it's almost here.

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped red pepper or carrot (or both)
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound beef stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 tsp. oregano
12 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups beef broth (plus more if needed)
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup brown rice

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion through the garlic and cook until the onion is just soft. Add the beef and stir to brown. Add the oregano through the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice, cover and simmer 45 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. Adjust seasonings as needed and serve hot.

Anna's Progress, Part Two

Periodically I sit down and write lists of observations about what I see in Anna. I was much more religious about this when she was younger. I wrote a list of all our concerns and red flags we were seeing, made a special appointment with the pediatrician and handed him the list. He then sent us to a speech therapist for a speech evaluation. I felt like a real dork handing her my list, but she thanked me and said it was helpful. She then directed me to a neurologist and I handed him my list too. He actually told me this list was more helpful than anything else, even our visit with him. He's the one who handed me the ASD diagnosis. What he said to me was "autism spectrum disorder, likely Aspergers". Then he handed me a Time article on autism and said "Good luck".

I've updated my observation list about once a year, noting progress and special concerns. I gave it to everyone who worked with Anna. It's been almost two years since I've done this for a couple of reasons. One - Anna went to school (a special LD school which I adore) and I did not want to bombard anyone with my concerns - I also wanted to hear them tell me what they thought about Anna, without any "preconditioning" by me. Two - I became incredibly busy just trying to feed my family on this specialized diet we are on. But it's time now to go over the list, and this is what I'm going to blog about. Not all of it, just Anna's recent progress.

So I told you in Part One about Anna's starting point before early intervention commenced. I realize I cannot complain about where we were, as other parents have things much more difficult, but we were still in a hairy place. Things have gotten better - the signs are still there, but they are changing. I want to document them not only because they are interesting, but also because I don't want Anna to fall between the cracks (the "oh don't worry, she'll be fine, she's just quirky!" kind of cracks). I think she will still need some special attention for some time and I'm determined to secure it for her.

Gone are the worst of the screaming fits. They still do occur, especially when Anna is overtired or frustrated by a difficult task. But they are no longer a constant occurrence.

Gone is the constant stomping and throwing herself against floors and walls. Gone are the self-injurous behaviors. Gone is the echolalia and blank look in her eyes. Some scripting remains but it's not as obvious, and it's morphed into mimicking behaviors. This is good and bad, but we'll work with the good part of it for now.

Gone is the fear, the over-sensitivity to noise and touch (besides hair brushing which remains a issue). A lot of frustration remains, especially over tasks which are simple for other children. The low muscle tone remains, but her strength and stamina are much better. Her grip on writing utensils and silverware looks awkward, but it works for now and it's much better than the ham-fists she used to use (although she still prefers to eat with her hands!). I think she actually enjoys life now, rather than trying to keep life at arms length because of the pain and fear it caused.

What remains one of the big issues is pragmatic language. Anna also still mixes up pronouns and tenses as though she still does not have a very good grasp on language (though thankfully she has stopped referring to herself in the third person). Also a huge issue is her social connectedness. She is just rather clueless in this area - I'll get more to that later, but suffice to say that even I, her ever-loving mother, feel like fingernails are being dragged across a chalkboard when Anna is in many social situations.

So the things I am noticing now as Anna is getting older are these.

Disposition is sweet and happy but mood changes can be sudden - I worry about her developing anxiety and/or depression as she gets older.
Tendency to flap arms and hands when excited.
Okay with making eye contact but can't maintain it when she's talking.
Paces back and forth when talking to someone.
Use of language is awkward and a little stiff, like she's trying to negotiate a foreign language.
Laughs at random stuff (she has an off-beat sense of humor and a mad-scientist laugh).
Flashpoint frustration over simple tasks.
Handwriting skills are behind her peers.
Tendency to give up and say "I can't do it!".
Strives for perfection - if she can't do it right the first time, she doesn't want to do it at all.
Manipulation skills - tries to work her difficulties for all they are worth.
Emotional maturity and negotiation skills (or lack thereof) definitely behind her peers.
Learns best in a multi-sensory environment with a preference for visuals (PECS are behind us but visuals are still extremely important).

Some other things I noticed while we were on vacation that are interesting are these.

Anna was given the task of sorting a large amount of loose change. She was perfectly happy to do this for long periods of time, taking special interest in the dates on the coins. She also as taken an interest in house numbers.

Anna still has a thing about turning lights on and off repeatedly. It's not incredibly extreme and she'll stop when asked to, but it is notable (and annoying to someone prone to migraines!).

She has this thing about opening and closing doors. Certain doors need to be open and other doors need to be closed. Certain other doors, such as french doors, need to be opened and closed repeatedly, often to maniacal laughter.

She also has this thing for small animals, such as cats. She loves them, but she ends up getting weird about them. She won't leave them alone and after awhile, she'll end up chasing them laughing manically. It ends up being a fixation and it's difficult to pull her out of it.

And of course, the ever present lack of social skills. It's pervasive, with kids as well as adults. She simply does not know how to properly connect or start a conversation (although she tries, and it's clear she has a desire to connect). She introduces herself to complete strangers by name without saying "How are you" or "Good afternoon" first or asking their name in return, and then she launches into whatever is on her mind at the moment. Right now adults think it's charming, but other children - not so much.

That's all for now. I will try to wrap this up in Part Three in a couple of days. I am actually going someplace with this, but I'm too tired to finish it now.

Anna's Progress, Part One

We are home after vacationing for a month. We did this last year, but this year was much better. First, I'd already had experience schlepping our food around for a month. Second, the girls are a year older. What a difference a year makes! Gone are last year's tantrums. Instead the girls had a great time keeping each other mostly entertained. Third, we had an established a routine held over from last year. We drove the same route. We stayed at the same hotels (to Anna, they are "the first hotel" and "the second hotel" - she remembered each one and she was very excited about seeing them again). We saw the same friends and family and we stayed at the same familiar houses. This went a long way to making things a lot smoother for Anna, and probably Megan too. The girls had a great time, better this year than last, and I was a lot more relaxed about the whole experience.

The girls have grown a lot in this past year. Anna turned six years old while we were on vacation. Megan turned 4 years old a month before that. Megan's pretend playing and storytelling skills have skyrocketed and she's been coaching Anna on a lot of it. True, it's been back and forth lately, but Megan is more or less schooling Anna in these areas. Recently I read "There's a Boy in Here" by Judy and Sean Barron (mother and son, a book that I highly recommend by the way). Sean mentions in the book and in his speaking engagements that his younger sister was instrumental in teaching him play skills and social skills. I can see this happening with my girls too and I am grateful for it.

There is a lot about Anna that is emerging that, if you are aware of what you are seeing, places her still squarely on (the high functioning end of) the spectrum. This is fine with me. I want her to grow into who she really is and feel comfortable with herself - not feel forced to pretend to be what other people think she should be. I read a news article recently about people "recovering" and "falling off the spectrum" and truthfully, I have reservations about that. If this is what really happens with some people, then more power to them. I'm happy for them. But I want to be realistic with my daughter. She was born this way and I feel like to love her is to embrace her, from her squinty smile all the way through her quirks and back again.

Now let's get to some of those quirks. Because she's a girl they are different and more subtle than boys with ASD (more about Asperger's and girls later but in the meantime you can read the book with the same title by Tony Atwood, et al, another book I highly recommend). As a recap, here are some of the "quirks" Anna displayed by 2 1/2 years old and which continued until early intervention started at 3 1/2 years old and through 4 1/2 years old (there are more, but I won't go into them all here).

Refusal to point or look to where someone was pointing
Disinclined to make eye contact
Played deaf but had very good hearing - mostly unresponsive to calls for joint attention
Self-spinning
Self-rocking on all fours in bed before falling asleep
Hoarding board books of similar size, shape and heft without reading them
Sorting items of similar size and shape and getting upset if someone touched them
Lining up similar items on the floor or table
Continual running, stomping, jumping and spinning to excess
Inability to use hands to color, use utensils or dress self
Low muscle tone and poor stamina
Echolalia
Scripting lines from videos, books, etc. in an attempt to communicate
Inability to grasp simple pretend play
Inability to play or interact with peers appropriately
Screaming and tantrums due to inability to communicate
Covering ears and screaming in terror at certain sounds
Super-sensitivity to all sound
Tactile defensive - pushed away from physical affection
Self-injurous behaviors - hitting head with own hands and biting arms due to frustration

In all, Anna displayed 11 of the 14 signs of autism. And yet because she's a girl and because she's smart, I was told repeatedly to "wait and see" and that "she's too smart to have autism" and that "she is just quirky". Ask me if I'm still a little bitter over this. I waited an extra year to start early intervention when she could have been helped much sooner. In the meantime I was a basket case, unable to leave the house with her because of the screaming fits she'd throw, and these were not normal "misbehaved child" tantrums. These were throw-down, bad-assed fits of fear and frustration that I'd never seen in a child before. At the end of the day I will tell any parent to listen to their gut. A parent knows best. A parent's gut trumps "wait and see".

All of these things started to get much better after speech therapy and occupational therapy commenced, though it took a few months to get anywhere at first. Things got even better with diet change (less brain fog, more connectedness). And now here we are at 6 years old, after 2 1/2 years of therapy. The signs have changed. They've gotten more subtle. If she was considered to be flying under the radar before intervention started (and I still have a hard time swallowing that), she's flying even further under it now. But I can pick up the blips and so can the people closest to her - her family and therapists and good friends (also children and adults in any place where typical children congregate as Anna tends to stick out like a sore thumb in social situations).

People must think I'm a nut to hear me talk about these things but I must have a good radar - there is no other choice. I am Anna's advocate and her biggest cheerleader- not that DH and her therapists are not also her advocates, but I can see things at home, at church, at school, at therapy sessions etc. and pull them all together to get the bigger picture. I can see the places she needs help and God bless them, Anna's therapists and teachers are right on board with me. Thankfully although I had a hard time getting someone to take me seriously when Anna was 2 years old, I don't have that problem now. And I pray it stays that way.

Part Two

Up to No Good

Well that's not strictly true. I've been doing some good, it's just that I've been using gluten and casein to do it. The last time I did any cooking or baking with gluten/casein was last year - I made lots of baked goodies as a wedding gift for one of DH's colleagues. After that I said to him - never again! But on this vacation I've done some cooking for family members who are not on "the diet", and I've decided to get over myself. I can do this. It will be fine, I'll just wash my hands and all utensils really well. I won't buy the ingredients, but I'll use them. And I won't get opinionated about it. Even though it was hard not to say "This stuff will kill you! Or at least give you brain fog!", I kept my mouth shut because I don't want to be obnoxious about my diet. It's not for everyone.

So I've spent the past two days cooking and baking things to put in the freezer for my sister-in-law who is nearing the end of her pregnancy. I have to say that I was pleased that everything I made looked and smelled fabulous. I haven't lost my touch. The fam said it all tasted fabulous. But you know what? It was kind of boring. Everything was so predictable. There wasn't the anticipation of what would the end product look like, taste like, feel like? What kinds of flours would work best with the particular recipe I was using? Everything looked nice and b-o-r-i-n-g! At the end of the day, I don't miss that old life. I really, really like cooking and baking gluten, casein, soy, peanut and now corn free. It's interesting! It's fun! And it tastes great!

Our vacation ends in two days and then we'll be making the three day trek home. I'm about to put up my whisk and spatula and start packing for our trip. There's no rest for the weary - especially when there are kids involved!