I have never been a parent who caters to her children at meal times. What I cook is what you get. Period. You might be surprised to hear that, considering I have a child w/ Asperger's Syndrome. I've read that many children who are on the Autism Spectrum are very particular about what they eat; often it is regarding the texture. My Aspie, on the other hand, eats anything, when he remembers that he is hungry! (Of course he's limited now by our GF/CF eating style.) To be quite honest, it's my two neuro-typical children that give me the biggest problem w/ meals. B is my texture freak, w/ an extreme dislike for beans, and M just won't sit still & hush long enough to eat!
So, w/ all of this in mind, what happens when you, the parent, cooks a meal that you don't particularly care for? That's what happened at our house tonight.
One of the things that I promised myself when we began this journey in to GF/CF was that I wouldn't spend a fortune trying to replace gluten filled items w/ the gluten free counterparts. However, there is one exception - pasta. And I have been in a maddening search for a gluten free pasta that actually tastes & feels almost like the real thing. (See! I'm willing to compromise. I said "almost".) Finding a decent replacement is important for our family, b/c one of the kids' favorite meals is spaghetti! I've tried quinoa pasta, rice pasta, & corn pasta. The quinoa was AWFUL - a big pile of mush! Then I tried rice pasta, but I think I undercooked it b/c of my fear of it turning out like the quinoa pasta!! Lastly, I tried the corn pasta, which looks the most like regular semolina pasta, and it turned out okay - last time. Tonight was a different story! I don't know what in the heck I did wrong,... but YUCK! The children were not at all phased by the starchy pile of stuff resembling spaghetti! They devoured it & asked for more!!
What did I do? Blow my cover? NEVER! I took little tiny bites while they busied themselves w/ dinner conversation, and the moment JG asked for more I gave him my plate, stating that I just wasn't very hungry! Then I had almonds & grapes for dinner while no one was looking!
Today's menu:
Breakfast: pancakes (Namaste pancake mix), sausage (Jones Farm), & oj
Lunchbox: pork t-loin, apple slices, & Jello w/ water
Snack: Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco Chewy Bar & Juicy Juice
Dinner: Spaghetti - organic ground beef, Newman's Own Sauce, & corn pasta
Showing posts with label Asperger's Syndrome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asperger's Syndrome. Show all posts
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
The First Test
I passed it! Not with flying colors, mind you, but I passed it!! Wondering what sort of test I passed today? I sent my Aspie to his first day of school as a GF/CF convert! I wasn't worrying about whether or not my kiddo was going to have fun on his first day back to school, though that would have been fantastic! I just wanted him to get through the day without a meltdown. Success!! He saved the meltdown for me!! (He's generous like that!)
We've been working on our transition, as a family, to a gluten free & casein free lifestyle for most of the summer. My hope is to heal, or at least lessen, the symptoms of my 8 year old son's Asperger's Syndrome by taking a bio-medical approach. And, yes,... we've tried the medical approach, leaving doctors', therapists', & psychiatrists' offices with stacks of prescriptions - literally. At the beginning of our adventure we had a particular psychiatrist that we visited who thought nothing of handing me 5 or 6 prescriptions at a time, never knowing how my little boy's body was going to react to the medication. It was scary!! So at the end of his 2nd grade year we decided that we had had enough. If we were handing out anti-psychotics to our son when he was 8, what were we going to do when he was 18?! So my search began!
Today's menu:
Breakfast - French Toast made w/ brown rice bread, rice milk, eggs, organic sugar, & cinnamon
fresh fruit
orange juice
Lunch - Leftovers! - ham, potato salad, & broccoli
water
Snack - Juicy Juice
apple slices
peanut butter (which he wasn't allowed to eat b/c of another child's allergy)
Afterschool Snack - GF/CF Chocolate Cupcake w/ powdered sugar on top
Dinner - Pork Roast
Baked Red Potato
Broccoli
I know today wasn't a stellar performance, but I have many ideas up my sleeves! My loftier ideas will have to wait a bit - until I get my groove! I had a very brilliant friend, who happens to be the mother of 2 children on the spectrum, remind me to not put too much on myself. That would only make me even crazier than I already am!!
Quote of the day: While helping JG relax & fall asleep by concentrating on what I was referring to as his "yoga breathing," he said, "yea, it kept you from pulling out your hair this summer!"
We've been working on our transition, as a family, to a gluten free & casein free lifestyle for most of the summer. My hope is to heal, or at least lessen, the symptoms of my 8 year old son's Asperger's Syndrome by taking a bio-medical approach. And, yes,... we've tried the medical approach, leaving doctors', therapists', & psychiatrists' offices with stacks of prescriptions - literally. At the beginning of our adventure we had a particular psychiatrist that we visited who thought nothing of handing me 5 or 6 prescriptions at a time, never knowing how my little boy's body was going to react to the medication. It was scary!! So at the end of his 2nd grade year we decided that we had had enough. If we were handing out anti-psychotics to our son when he was 8, what were we going to do when he was 18?! So my search began!
Today's menu:
Breakfast - French Toast made w/ brown rice bread, rice milk, eggs, organic sugar, & cinnamon
fresh fruit
orange juice
Lunch - Leftovers! - ham, potato salad, & broccoli
water
Snack - Juicy Juice
apple slices
peanut butter (which he wasn't allowed to eat b/c of another child's allergy)
Afterschool Snack - GF/CF Chocolate Cupcake w/ powdered sugar on top
Dinner - Pork Roast
Baked Red Potato
Broccoli
I know today wasn't a stellar performance, but I have many ideas up my sleeves! My loftier ideas will have to wait a bit - until I get my groove! I had a very brilliant friend, who happens to be the mother of 2 children on the spectrum, remind me to not put too much on myself. That would only make me even crazier than I already am!!
Quote of the day: While helping JG relax & fall asleep by concentrating on what I was referring to as his "yoga breathing," he said, "yea, it kept you from pulling out your hair this summer!"
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