Week 11

Ryan had a fabulous weekend with our company.  We had some very hot days during the beginning of the week and he spent a lot of time in our little three-ring pool. 

Julia wanted pastina one night and Ryan was very upset that he couldn't have any.  We made him (and ourselves) corn pasta.  But when he saw that Julia was having pastina, he left the table and went to his room to sulk.  He joined us about 10 minutes later to eat his corn pasta (and he even asked for a second helping!)  Note to self: look online for GF pastina, or take regular GF pasta and smash it to tiny pieces before cooking it.

During the middle of the week Ryan developed a rash on his torso area and legs. Poor little guy!  His pediatrician thinks the rash developed from a bout of croup he had in the beginning of the week.  We are treating it with a steroid cream (which is helping with the itchiness) and lots of Aveeno and Aquaphor to help with the eczema-like roughness. 

We headed up to my mom's house on Friday to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday weekend.  We've never taken Ryan to see live fireworks.  First and foremost, he is in bed asleep by 9pm.  Also, he is so sensitive to loud sounds that we never had the desire to keep him awake just to bring him to something that would bother him so much that we sould have to leave.  There are fireworks at the town park, and we are still debating if we will take him.  He had a great two days in the pool.  Suprisingly the chlorine, sun, and sunscreen has not irritated his rash.  The steroid seems to be working and the rash is almost cleared up.

On the food front, my parents bought a new GF cereal that Ryan LOVES.  It's organic too, and called Amazon Frosted Flakes by EnviroKidz.  The ingredients are organic corn meal, organic evaporated cane juice, and sea salt.  He's had several bowls, with his rice milk, since we've arrived.  I'm going to have to pick up a few boxes, and hopefully have no trouble finding it.  They think they purchased it in either Shop Rite or Price Chopper.  We also tried out a new "ice cream" called Purely Decadent Coconut Delight frozen dessert.  It's made with coconut milk and is super creamy.  The adults agreed that it was a tasty treat as long as you are a fan of coconut.

We'll be sure to update you on the fireworks tonight, if we decide to go, and tell you about Ryan's summer school which begins this Tuesday.  HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

DC

Day 2

Today went more smoothly than I expected. He did not have a big appetite, and accepted the foods we gave him. He left behind the things he didn’t like, but didn’t make a big deal about wanting other foods. Once or twice he asked for something that he couldn’t have and I told him he couldn’t have it because it will hurt his stomach; he seemed to accept that response and dropped the issue. There were two notable behavior changes: he actually asked to use scissors to practice cutting paper (this is a first!) and he replied to my “thank you” with a “you’re welcome” (a rare occurrence!).

He ate eggs and the GF bread for breakfast. The bread is much better when toasted, and when it has a little "butter" on it. We found a Vegan margarine spread that is GF/CF. It spreads well when the bread is warm.

Ryan usually doesn't eat rice but he ate white rice for dinner along with organic chicken grilled on the barbecue. We even ventured out for dessert to meet friends. Friendly's didn't have any ice cream that Ryan could have (we called ahead to be prepared) but they said we could bring our own. We purchased vanilla soy ice cream. I asked them to drizzle a tiny bit of peanut butter sauce on top for him, and then also ordered the same for the rest of the family so that his dessert looked just like everyone elses.

We gave him a bath and tried out a new organic gluten-free soap/shampoo that I purchased from Hannaford's. The products I ordered online won't be in for another few days so we'll use this in the meantime and hope it does the job!

DC