I'm Learning...

This weekend was our annual Memorial Day/Hubby's Birthday BBQ. We had a great time with good friends and last minute visit from my wonderful sister.

I didn't take a single picture of any of it! ARG! I never think about taking pictures at the time and then, when it's all over, I'm mad that I don't have any pictures. Maybe next year....

This year I had to figure out what to make for my littlest. So, in addition to the usual birthday cake for my husband (PW's Strawberry Shortcake Cake - you must have this cake!), I made gluten-free, egg-free chocolate sour cream cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. They were so good. They were almost gone by the end of the party.

If you haven't discovered her books already, you must look for The Cake Mix Doctor's books. I have been using them for years - much faster than baking from scratch and I usually get good results which can be difficult baking at high altitude. The Cake Mix Doctor recently published a gluten-free book. I bought a GF chocolate cake mix (pricey!), doctored it up according her recipe, and replaced the eggs with an applesauce/water/oil/baking powder mixture. They worked beautifully and no one knew they were GFEF (gluten-free, egg-free) unless I told them.

On top of that, I had to make my famous cheesy potato dish. There are those who would be really mad at me if my potatoes weren't at a summer BBQ. The problem is that the dish uses cream of chicken soup which has - you guessed it - gluten. So I made my own gluten-free cream of chicken soup to use instead. And I left off the breadcrumb topping all together. Again, everything worked really well and the potatoes were gone in a flash!

I'm beginning to feel much better about my ability to adapt to this new diet for the little one (and the rest of us, I guess). Today's challenge? Gluten-free, egg-free chocolate chip cookies....and I might even try making date syrup to use as the sweetener instead of sugar. Wish me luck!

Oh and remind me to TAKE PICTURES!!

Ferocious Lions

Disclaimer - This is my first attempt at posting a video and I have NO idea if it will work or not. If not, I'll post the link to YouTube since I have it as "unlisted." Hope it works!

I took the girls to the zoo a couple of weeks ago as a field trip. Apparently every other school in the state had the same idea though. Tons of kids were there! But Katherine was big enough this time to see the animals and sort of understand what they were.

The lions were out this time and we saw at least two male lions and three or four female lions. My older girls and their friend, Luke, were roaring at the lions through the glass. And Katherine noticed. Since then, she has been looking for pictures of lions in her books. She found one in her Noah's Ark book and here is the result.

(Please disregard the messiness in the background - we had a busy morning.)

Frustration

Ok, people, I'm frustrated and I don't care who knows it!

I am stressed about this new diet we're doing around here - no egg, no peanut, no gluten. My baby has severe allergies to the first two and has a gluten intolerance. She has been gluten free for just over two weeks now and it's working wonders on her. I'm stressed because it's working. Secretly, I think I hoped that gluten wouldn't be the issue and I could go back to normal - to all the cooking I've known for the last 38 years. But those days are gone. And I frustrated.

What do I usually do when I'm frustrated? I bake.
What do I do when I'm upset or stressed? I bake.
What do I do when I'm happy about something? I bake.
What do I do to show my family and friends that I love them? I bake!

Now my mother did teach me not to brag but right now I don't care. I love to bake and I'm pretty darn good at it. If I bake something - even a new recipe - I know that it's going to come out good and tasty. It just always does.

I can't bake now, people!

Every gluten-free recipe calls for egg. This is because, without gluten, baked goods have nothing to give them structure. So if anything gluten-free recipes call for more eggs than regular baking. I have been able to use egg replacers in regular baking. But what now?

I realize this shouldn't be this big of a deal. In fact, my youngest isn't really that into cake and cookies, etc. But I AM! And if it's going to be in the house, it needs to be Katherine-friendly. This kid is no dummy. She sees that other people are eating different things. And she wants what they're having.

I think if we just had to worry about gluten or just worry about egg, it wouldn't be so stressful to me. I've been dealing with the egg allergy for seven months now and, though it's been difficult at times, it hasn't been impossible. The gluten issue doesn't seem impossible either - lots of products, cookbooks and websites out there now to help. But both together feels overwhelming to me right now.

I haven't cooked much since we started eating gluten-free. I'm scared to, quite honestly. I guess it's time to jump in and see what happens. But the outcomes are unknown to me right now....and that stresses me.

I'll feel better tomorrow.

Thanks for listening.

More positive posts to come.

Gluten, Gluten Everywhere

I promise I will be posting on vacation soon  - I'm loading the vacation photos right now.

My littlest one has some food issues, as I've already discussed here. Egg and peanut allergies we know about now. And they are somewhat easy to avoid. But for the last month, my little girl hasn't been sleeping much at all and has had tummy problems that cause her a lot of pain.

The night before we left on vacation it had been over two weeks since she and I had slept through the night. We'd be up for two hours at least every night between 2am and 4am. My husband and I decided to try having her go gluten-free. And as we're about to leave town and have zero control over how her food is prepared, what better time?

It was difficult to avoid peanut, egg, gluten and tomato (she definitely has an issue with tomato but we're not sure how much it bothers her) but all the wait staff we had at restaurants while on the road were really nice and helped us.

Our first night out, we ate at our favorite pizza place in Santa Fe. We ordered a cheese pizza with gluten-free crust for all three girls and they loved it. The crust was really good and they didn't know till the end of dinner that it was gluten free. Unfortunately that night we forgot about the tomato issue but it worked out ok.

Poor baby ended up eating lots of applesauce and veggie straws (but only the potato and spinach flavors) and yogurt. Fortunately she loves those things.

We saw a difference in her throughout the trip. She fussed less, she slept a little better, her tummy seemed improved a lot. So we are continuing the gluten-free experiment with her.

Last night I made a casserole from the latest Paula Deen magazine. Reading through the recipe, it sounded perfect - corn, black beans, brown rice, chicken. Everything the baby could and would eat and everyone would like it. It was really tasty and everyone did like it. Then I read the label on the cream of chicken - contains wheat! Who would have thought?

I am finding that gluten is hiding everywhere in our food. No wonder so many people have gluten sensitivities. We are inundated with gluten everywhere we turn! A friend of mine who is gluten intolerant as are four of her children told me that most of the time when you see "natural flavorings" on a label, it's gluten. Some gluten wouldn't be a problem - the gluten found naturally in wheat, rye and barley. But it's been added to everything to improve texture and flavor.

Going gluten-free is going to be more challenging than I anticipated - but not impossible. At least with gluten, I don't have to worry about anaphylaxis like I do with the allergies.

God bless the internet - I found several recipes for making my own GF (gluten free) cream of anything soups that I can use in place of canned. Yay!

Weird

That's the perfect word for this day.

My wonderful mother-in-law came down today to help me get ready for our vacation. The house needs to be picked up, laundry needs to done and errands need to be run. Errands are so much easier without the kids along, am I right?

So I was out buying snacks, checking out library books, getting all the last minute stuff done. One of the stops was to sell some books that have been sitting in a box in the hallway for much longer than I'd like to admit.

I walk up to the counter to see what books, if any, the store will buy and the young man (I'm guessing maybe 22) says "So, what advice do you have for me?"

Eh?

Advice? Advice on what? Why are you asking me this? I haven't slept in almost two weeks and all I want to do is sell the books and get on with me day.

After a bit of stumbling and his cajoling me, I finally say "Sleep when you can." Sleep - or lack thereof - is on my mind today. Have I mentioned that I haven't slept in almost two weeks?

The chit-chat continues with this guy. He's getting married this summer; he asks about my kids, etc. The usual. Then he picks up a book about homeschooling and asks if I homeschool my kids. I respond that I do.

Now at this point, I know what's coming because I have had this conversation before. A lot. Some of the typical responses are:
"Oh...awkward....uncomfortable silence... Good for you."
"Oh...silence...How do you like that?"
"Oh...silence...Why did you decide to do that?"
"Oh, I looked into that but I just know I couldn't do it. I'm not that patient." (This response clearly from people who don't know me.)
Or my personal favorite from a couple of years ago when I announced my intention to homeschool: "Oh, I know someone who does that. I bet they have all the stuff [they could share with you]!"

(No, I don't know why they all start with "Oh.")

But this guy threw me for a huge loop. His response? "Aren't you afraid your kids are going to be weird?"

Huh?

If you know me, you know I am NOT good at thinking on my feet. Right now, eight hours later, I have a million excellent responses for him. But at that moment I couldn't come up with anything other than, "no."

I am sooooo eloquent.

Then he proceeds to tell me that he knows weird people who were homeschooled. You THINK they're normal but then one little thing gives it away and you realize, oh they're homeschooled. (His words - not mine - just my paraphrasing because I'm too sleep deprived to remember the exact words.)

I really thought this stereotype was starting to fade away. The one where the poor little homeschooled child sits at his/her little desk in the basement of the home and reads books and/or prays all day long. They don't play with other kids. They don't know to talk to other kids or adults or anyone for that matter unless it's their parents. They are socially awkward. They don't know how to think for themselves.

I don't deny that those types of kids are out there. The socially awkward part at least. But they are not exclusive to homeschoolers. If he's telling me that everyone who goes to public school is "normal" and everyone who doesn't is "weird," I would suggest he sit down with one of his yearbooks. There isn't a school anywhere in this country (dare I say, the world?) that doesn't have at least one weird kid. Who's not even homeschooled!

My kids are some of the most social creatures you will meet. They love people (this is from their father - clearly not from me) and they will talk to anyone of any age. They are normal kids. They have friends who are homeschooled, friends who go to private school, and friends who go to public school. That's right, I said friends. They have friends.


I have had time to think now and have so many things to say to "Woody" - yes that was his name - maybe I ought to go back tomorrow and share my thoughts. I'll think about it....if I get to sleep tonight.

Reading

Several moms have asked me lately about I taught Elaine to read. Perhaps they are asking every mom in hopes of finding something they haven't tried yet or perhaps they are curious because Elaine is such a very good reader. Either way, I don't know that I did much. But here's my two cents anyway.

First and foremost, just read with your kids. Read to them from the very beginning. Even if they like to flip the pages before you've finished them, just go with it. Get them interested in books. If they like to sit in your lap and look at the pictures while you read, point to small words when you say them. They might not understand yet but you're getting them used to looking at letters/words and not just pictures.

My oldest is now in first grade. According to a few reading assessments, she's reading at about a fourth grade reading level. She went to preschool when she was three. She went in knowing her entire alphabet and what sounds each letter made. Her preschool, though, used a phonics system that I really liked called Zoophonics. Perhaps there are other programs like this - or even better ones. But here's what I liked about Zoophonics.

Each letter is represented by an animal which says it's name and there is a hand/body motion to correspond to each letter as well. So they child is learning what the letter looks like (both upper and lower cases), the sound the letter makes, an animal who starts with the letter and a motion - auditory, visual and kinesthetic. For instance, A is "Allie Alligator" who says "a-a-a" and you use your hands to make an alligator mouth opening and closing.

These were great because even if we weren't reading, I could reinforce the concepts. Here's a typical conversation with a two-to-three year old in my house.

Me: Here's your apple for snack. What letter do you think apple starts with?
Child: Hmmm...I don't know.
Me: Well, listen. Apple...a...a...a... what letter makes that sound?
Child: Hmm...
Me: A..a...a..(while opening/closing my hands aka the alligator mouth)
Child: Allie Alligator! It's A!
Me: Good job! Then what sound comes next? A-P-P-P-le. What makes the "p" sound? (demonstrating the motion for Peewee Penguin)
Child: P!

You get the idea. This was a great way to get them used to the sounds that letters make so they can begin to sound out words using phonics. I liked the program so much that I bought the fonts when we began homeschooling to put together my own reading program for Natalie. But you can buy the whole curriculum from them for homeschooling or just learning/reinforcement.

We then moved on to the Bob books, which are phonics based, with great success. They come in sets of 10-12 books and each book builds on what the child has learned.
The first book called "Mat" just uses three sounds - M, A, T, and S. There are a few sight words thrown in such as "the" and "on." Otherwise all the words contain just those four letters. The next book called "Sam" adds one or two more sounds. I will never forget when my girls read Mat for the first time. Of course I sat and helped them sound out words. But each of them was so excited that they read an entire book! It's only about 6 pages long but they didn't care. It was a whole book!

I believe there are five sets of Bob books which build to more complex words plus one or two sets of sight word books. I think these are an excellent place to start. They are easy and short and give your child huge confidence.

Then we continued building on the reading by going to library and used book stores and getting any early level (pre or 1 to start) "I Can Read" book. There are tons of these books.

Leap Frog also makes great videos on letters/words/numbers and reading. You can find some of them on Netflix and at stores like CostCo, Target, Walmart, etc. They are engaging, fun and educational. Kids learn a lot of the phonics rules there.

(By the way, I know I'm talking a lot about phonics because I do think it's a great way to start reading. However, phonics only gets you part way there. Try asking your child to sound out "was" or "were" and you will get some strange pronunciations. Some things must be learned by sight - also called rote back in the day. That's how our parents learned to read and it mustn't be too bad since they can read and write. I don't go along with the phonics only crowd. It must be mixed with sight words....and learning Latin will help later on down the road. But that's for another posting, another day.)

I know a few people who have also done well with a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

I bought the book and tried it with Elaine. Perhaps she was too young (I think she was just barely three) or perhaps it was her personality (you have to sit and repeat sounds and look at words only for 10 minutes or so) but this didn't work for her. I still think the book is worth looking at - maybe check it out of the library or borrow from a friend (I have one I'm not using at the moment) - because I think it can work really well. However, if the style of learning doesn't work for your child, try something else. That's how I found the Bob books. They are shorter with a story and pictures. My daughter just didn't get why she was repeating "rrrrruuuuuunnnnn" and then saying it fast "run." I tried it with my second child with more success (as long as we were alone. If the oldest was around, forget it. But that's a different issue altogether.). In fact, now that I think about it, I might pull it out and try it with Natalie again. She didn't mind doing it and it might be better for her personality/learning style.

That's a bit of what we have done. Mostly we just read books a lot. We listen to stories on CD a lot. A love of stories and a love of reading is what we're going for here. If they love the stories, they'll want to be able to read themselves. Then a love of reading is not too far behind.