mac is my oldest. he loves breakfast, especially my waffles now that i have them back tasting better than ever. i got up a tad early yesterday to make some at his request. i switched it up to pancakes at the last minute. my last few batches were out of a gf box and they were super dry and bleh. welcome to our new pancake recipe: my kids' favorite of all time and it is my official go-to from now until the end of the world... and of course, it's from the artisanal gluten-free cookbook. this pancake batter is so very doable on a school morning. i made a double batch and popped them into the toaster today - yea baby.
notes:
sub my rice/coconut milk for the dairy.
sub earth balance for the butter.
i haven't talked too much about my mac. he is 8 yrs old, now in 2nd grade. here's a quick history: his kindergarten teacher often talked about his "active" behavior in the classroom. it was never a huge concern for us (i am sure the classroom disruption was a huge issue for her and the other kids though!) because there were absolutely no academic concerns. he had abbie's current teacher in 1st grade and did very well. he had his "quirks": silliness and lack of self-control were amongst the biggest issues in the classroom. he also saw the social worker from time to time to deal with his "type-a-i'm-in-control-of-you" personality with his friends. our little mac does not like to follow (we're working hard on finding a balance - he couldn't possibly have inherited that type-a personality from us... nooooooooo.)
you know the scene in the movie old school when an oblivious, naked will ferrell yells back to his friends, "let's go streakin!"... only to find out that nobody is following him later? yup, that could be mac in the playground running away, yelling, "let's go guys!" after explaining a new elaborate game in which you must follow mac AGAIN as his minions... my favorite story from his preschool teacher was when mac dug deep into a deep toy chest for something, he lost his balance and fell into it head first. he got out all flustered and yelled super mad at the entire class, "who pushed me!?!? did you do it, or did you!!????!!!" well nobody did my little freakshow, ya fell in all by yourself.
our biggest concern as of late has been his transient eye tics: he rolls them, blinks them and looks high up into to the right hand corners. the tics wax and wane. less in the morning, more in the evening. some days more than other days. they would increase with anxiety more than anything else. especially when talking one on one with you, talking in front of a crowd or reading aloud (i'd even get some throat clearing tics in there sometimes). the first time i noticed them was around 1-2 years old and they have been getting more frequent as he matures.
when we started the food change, i focused 90% of my attention on abbie for she was the panic button, not mac.
but boy oooooooh boy, has he benefitted from this food craziness. his teacher shared some of the changes that have occurred over the past few months with me:
- he regulates his emotions better in the classroom. he would start to cry in the classroom if he didn't get something he wanted, like friday free-time. oof.
- he exhibits much improved self-control in the classroom - i.e. he knows when it's appropriate to be silly and when to stop. this was a huge issue last year.
- his handwriting is dramatically better. no more reversals in numbers and i literally thought he brought home the wrong paper one day.
she was very clear in that she didn't know if it was the food change or not...kids hit emotional & physical growth spurts all the time...who knows...but it has been a significant enough change for her to go out of her way to tell me - oh oh thank you!
chris and i have noticed the following:
- he is kinder & less emotional at home. he shows more patience with his siblings...to a certain point:)
- he is no longer showing any eye tics.
wait, what, back up...no more tics?
my pancake broke due to shock.
do i know exactly why mac's tics have gone away? can i point to a definitive cause? nope. i can't even tell you exactly when they stopped over the past week. all i know is that they aren't there anymore. the biggest difference (other than our cleaner diet for the past 143 days) is that i increased his magnesium rich foods (thanks to the suggestion of the nutritionist we've been working with). when i make smoothies or ice cream, i try and remember to break open some calcium-magnesium pills into them. since finding the kick butt gf flour blend, i have been baking a ton more and thus he has been eating a more whole grains (brown rice is #1 for magnesium content). compared to the other two, he definitely requests and eats more bread, waffles and pancakes. he loves and has been eating more almonds and cashews. last week, i purchased some magnesium bath salts and let him soak until he turned into a raisin one night...i also gave him one back massage with some magnesium oil. gotta do that more!!!
could it be that he has a magnesium deficiency? i have no idea if it was a singular act or the combination of acts (clean food & more mag) that can take credit for the tic abolishment. it could be that none of this had any effect and he just "grew out of it" this month. it could be that the tic's will come back next week or a month from now and i'll look like a silly idiot in all of this. or that he still has them at school or at friends' houses and he is more relaxed at home so.......who knows, who cares...they're GONE baby.
my parents went to florida last weekend. i told them to check mac out and they looked at me like i had gone mad. his tics would always be the most frequent in the evening. the past few nights they've been over at night to see him eye-tic-free. will this last? oh honey, i sure hope so.
i found these mango peach omega 3 packs for the kids and have been sneaking them into the morning oj or smoothie. today, i used my aerolatte wand to really blend it in and that worked pretty well compared to the spoon method (which, mind you, they did not notice the small clumps even then). of course, the added bubbles freaked mac out and he didn't want to drink it because he saw me putting it in his cup. darn-nit!! to the moon alice!!! i've been giving it to you for 4 days - stop being a sissy mary!!!!!! so i explained what it was, why omega-3's are good for you...yada's, and he drank it all up.
these pancakes are truly melt in your mouth wonderful...and chalk full of the mag baby.
nom nom nom.
yea, i threw out the cap to the maple syrup.
i think i need more mag.
oh just bag it.
ps
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think....