ok...so I have more to say but I wanted to post these recipes real quick like for anyone interested. These are totally yummy. I got them last night at a gluten free/dairy free cooking class. These are probably my favorites from last night.
Enjoy...I will be back sometime this weekend to say more. :)
Gluten free granola
3 ¼ cups gluten free oats
¼ cup sesame seeds
1/8 cup milled flax seed
2 cups chopped pecans (use raw unsalted)
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup honey
½ tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup melted butter or oil of choice
¼ cup flattened rice or flattened quinoa flakes (optional)
2 chopped medjool dates (remove pits)
Mix dry ingredients together. Add liquid ingredients and mix by hand. Spread into a large baking dish. Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning around edges or bottom.
Chia Seed Coconut Cream Topping
1 cup (raw) cashews
1 ½ cups rice or almond milk
1 ½ cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey
1/8 -¼ cup chia seeds
Place the cashew, honey and milks in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed until smooth. Place the chia seeds in a large jar or container, pour the cashew mixture into the jar and shake well. Place in the refrigerator overnight. You can also blend the chia seeds in with the rest of the mixture. If left whole they may plump up similar to tapioca pearls. If blended they will just help to thicken the mixture.
I also want to include a link to Laura Schmitt, NE which is who I got these recipes from.
http://www.lauraschmittne.com/
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Struggles
So I am a pessimist at heart I think. I always look at the negative. not something I am proud of...just the truth.
You ask me how I am and regardless of how good or bad the day was I will say, "eh. ok" I could have won the farking lottery and will still probably be like that. just how I am.
As a mom this is a daily struggle/battle for me. Daily. It is a battle I lose often. Too often. I try to remind myself to point out the positive things that Josey does. To not just reprimand her. Some days I do great. Other days I fall short.
With everything going on with Brady I am once again challenged to be positive. The case worker, L, was over yesterday. She was going over the goals for Brady, talking about strategy. One of the things we are to do is to encourage any and all vocalization. I get why. I understand that he needs to be encouraged to talk because his communication is so poor that he could get easily frustrated if we are always correcting him. I do understand the logic behind it. That part is actually fairly easy for me. I can just go with him. I feel a little silly sometimes making it sound like "uh" is whatever item he is choosing but I can do it.
Where I am stubbing my toes right now is on the idea that any attempt at a word should be counted. Again...I want him to succeed. I want him to communicate and will do whatever I have to do to help him out. I just want to make sure that "uh" does not always count for "duck".
Logically I know that will not be the case. They are not going to cut him free from EI with him still grunting and such. I guess I am impatient and pessimistic at heart and need to quit being that way. Trust the process Gretchen...trust the flipping process. :)
On an another note...we have made it almost one week with the kids 100% gluten free now. Brad and I have still had some things because there are still some gluten foods in the house, obviously, but the kids have had none since Sunday. not too bad. not too bad at all.
You ask me how I am and regardless of how good or bad the day was I will say, "eh. ok" I could have won the farking lottery and will still probably be like that. just how I am.
As a mom this is a daily struggle/battle for me. Daily. It is a battle I lose often. Too often. I try to remind myself to point out the positive things that Josey does. To not just reprimand her. Some days I do great. Other days I fall short.
With everything going on with Brady I am once again challenged to be positive. The case worker, L, was over yesterday. She was going over the goals for Brady, talking about strategy. One of the things we are to do is to encourage any and all vocalization. I get why. I understand that he needs to be encouraged to talk because his communication is so poor that he could get easily frustrated if we are always correcting him. I do understand the logic behind it. That part is actually fairly easy for me. I can just go with him. I feel a little silly sometimes making it sound like "uh" is whatever item he is choosing but I can do it.
Where I am stubbing my toes right now is on the idea that any attempt at a word should be counted. Again...I want him to succeed. I want him to communicate and will do whatever I have to do to help him out. I just want to make sure that "uh" does not always count for "duck".
Logically I know that will not be the case. They are not going to cut him free from EI with him still grunting and such. I guess I am impatient and pessimistic at heart and need to quit being that way. Trust the process Gretchen...trust the flipping process. :)
On an another note...we have made it almost one week with the kids 100% gluten free now. Brad and I have still had some things because there are still some gluten foods in the house, obviously, but the kids have had none since Sunday. not too bad. not too bad at all.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Wisdom
I have many wise people in my life. many.
Some wisdom shared with me today is this...trust the process. Leave Brady in God's hands and trust the process. He needs help with his speech, I am getting him help with his speech.
For now, for me, I need to quit making Brady the problem. He is my sweet little boy who has an unnamed condition that makes learning his speech, right now, very hard.
I am going to spend more time playing than researching. More time laughing than worrying. More time loving than waiting for the next odd thing to happen.
For now I am going to just have fun with my little guy and see how things play out. Perhaps I will be a little less crabby and this headache will go away. Perhaps I do not have all the answers and need to just trust the process for now.
For today I think I can do that. and really that is all we have right? Today
the other thing she told me was to take a nap today. I am going to do that too. :)
Some wisdom shared with me today is this...trust the process. Leave Brady in God's hands and trust the process. He needs help with his speech, I am getting him help with his speech.
For now, for me, I need to quit making Brady the problem. He is my sweet little boy who has an unnamed condition that makes learning his speech, right now, very hard.
I am going to spend more time playing than researching. More time laughing than worrying. More time loving than waiting for the next odd thing to happen.
For now I am going to just have fun with my little guy and see how things play out. Perhaps I will be a little less crabby and this headache will go away. Perhaps I do not have all the answers and need to just trust the process for now.
For today I think I can do that. and really that is all we have right? Today
the other thing she told me was to take a nap today. I am going to do that too. :)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
just to clarify
I want to make sure that I don't come across sounding like I think B has autism. Or that I am borrowing trouble and looking for something to be wrong with him.
First off he is too social, IMO, to have full blown autism. I am aware of that. He just has some odd quirks and behaviors that worry myself and Brad. They may be just that...quirks. On the flip side they may also be something worry about. It is impossible to say until we have him evaluated.
Obviously I don't want something to be wrong but the reality is that he is already very behind as far as his speech is concerned. Then to have him evaluated and find out he was even more behind than we knew? well that was even more worrisome. I am sure you can imagine.
I want the tools I need to work with him. I want to know what to do to help my son regardless of what is going on. Not knowing right now is killing me.
I like to have a plan. I like to know what to do and right now I am helpless. I will always be powerless because my children are ultimately in Gods hands but I can arm myself with tools to help them and that is ultimately what I am looking for.
oh and just to explain a little better about the blog moving...I am just too stoopid to use the other site. it was not as user friendly as I think blogger is so I wanted to switch it up. I had used blogger in the past then decided to go for a change. turned out change was not really working out. :) I am glad to be back here to be honest with you.
First off he is too social, IMO, to have full blown autism. I am aware of that. He just has some odd quirks and behaviors that worry myself and Brad. They may be just that...quirks. On the flip side they may also be something worry about. It is impossible to say until we have him evaluated.
Obviously I don't want something to be wrong but the reality is that he is already very behind as far as his speech is concerned. Then to have him evaluated and find out he was even more behind than we knew? well that was even more worrisome. I am sure you can imagine.
I want the tools I need to work with him. I want to know what to do to help my son regardless of what is going on. Not knowing right now is killing me.
I like to have a plan. I like to know what to do and right now I am helpless. I will always be powerless because my children are ultimately in Gods hands but I can arm myself with tools to help them and that is ultimately what I am looking for.
oh and just to explain a little better about the blog moving...I am just too stoopid to use the other site. it was not as user friendly as I think blogger is so I wanted to switch it up. I had used blogger in the past then decided to go for a change. turned out change was not really working out. :) I am glad to be back here to be honest with you.
My brain hurts...
this is a previous post from March 03, 2010 off of a different blog...more about this on the next March 4 post
with all the information I am processing…all the thoughts I am having. All the things I am seeing, watching for or worrying about. Literally my head is hurting. Not like a headache but like it is over worked.
Brady is not talking. I am worried. I stumbled upon a blog of another mama about two weeks ago. It scared me. scared the hell outta me. Her sweet son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, pervasive development disorder-not otherwise specified. It is on the autistic spectrum. autistic spectrum. her description of her son was what scared me.
he sounded a lot like Brady. When I picture autism, for the most part, I picture the hand flapping. the walking on toes. I assume no eye contact at all. I know now from just a little bit of reading that these things are obviously signs but there are many more. many more that are not as glaring. perhaps not as obvious if you will.
about 2-3 months ago I commented to Brad that I was worried about Brady was autistic or that he had traits that I found concerning. this was as we were sitting down to dinner and I was walking him through his meal time “routine”. he has to push the pause button on the remote, whether the tv is on or not, and then has to turn the lights on. he grunts, fusses and cries until he gets to perform these things. this is a routine at every meal. we just laughed that perhaps he was OCD instead and then went on our way.
After reading this blog two weeks ago I called Early Intervention in our area. I called because I panicked. Primarily my concern is that Brady does not talk. at all. he maybe says 5-7 words. Actually after filling out this sheet for the speech therapist I figured out that it is 12-14 words. but there are 2-3 signs in there and a couple that only we would be able to understand. he is unable to pronounce consonants. he drops the last half of Mommy and Daddy. His speech issues are, to me, severe for his age. typically at 2 a child will have up to 50 words or more and putting them together in 2-3 word phrases. That stat alone tells us Brady is behind. very behind.
So…EI came out and evaluated him. his communication skills are those of a 16 month old. He was one week shy of 28 months when that test was done. almost a year behind in communication. holy shit. that made me so sad. so sad. He was behind in everything though and I think that is what got me. They evaluated on 5 different developmental areas and his range was 16-20 months. so even in physical and adaptive development he was 8 months behind. again…very hard to take in.
so we got the ball rolling. There are many other concerns I have. he has other behaviors that concern me but for now I am trying to file them away and will share them with the EI people. I gave our case worker a big long list when she was here last week.
this week on Friday, almost here thank goodness!, we will meet with a speech language pathologist, SLP, and our case worker again. I am even more scared to be honest to have him evaluated by a SLP because I worry that he may score even worse but I keep reminding myself that we are doing this to get him help. No matter how low he scores we are doing this so that hopefully he does not grunt for the rest of his life. we are doing this to help him out.
The case worker will also be bringing a “test” that can show some red flags for ASD, autism spectrum disorder. I am pretty sure that I am going to be requesting a professional eval, ADOS, for Brady too just to put our minds at ease but I am curious to hear what they have to say on Fri.
Bottom line for us is that regardless of what all this comes to show we love Brady and will do whatever we need to help him. it is just a scary path to walk down right now not knowing where it will lead. but we have been down scary paths with Josey and come out on the other side ok so I think we will be ok this time too…but my heart and brain are still a little sore.
with all the information I am processing…all the thoughts I am having. All the things I am seeing, watching for or worrying about. Literally my head is hurting. Not like a headache but like it is over worked.
Brady is not talking. I am worried. I stumbled upon a blog of another mama about two weeks ago. It scared me. scared the hell outta me. Her sweet son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, pervasive development disorder-not otherwise specified. It is on the autistic spectrum. autistic spectrum. her description of her son was what scared me.
he sounded a lot like Brady. When I picture autism, for the most part, I picture the hand flapping. the walking on toes. I assume no eye contact at all. I know now from just a little bit of reading that these things are obviously signs but there are many more. many more that are not as glaring. perhaps not as obvious if you will.
about 2-3 months ago I commented to Brad that I was worried about Brady was autistic or that he had traits that I found concerning. this was as we were sitting down to dinner and I was walking him through his meal time “routine”. he has to push the pause button on the remote, whether the tv is on or not, and then has to turn the lights on. he grunts, fusses and cries until he gets to perform these things. this is a routine at every meal. we just laughed that perhaps he was OCD instead and then went on our way.
After reading this blog two weeks ago I called Early Intervention in our area. I called because I panicked. Primarily my concern is that Brady does not talk. at all. he maybe says 5-7 words. Actually after filling out this sheet for the speech therapist I figured out that it is 12-14 words. but there are 2-3 signs in there and a couple that only we would be able to understand. he is unable to pronounce consonants. he drops the last half of Mommy and Daddy. His speech issues are, to me, severe for his age. typically at 2 a child will have up to 50 words or more and putting them together in 2-3 word phrases. That stat alone tells us Brady is behind. very behind.
So…EI came out and evaluated him. his communication skills are those of a 16 month old. He was one week shy of 28 months when that test was done. almost a year behind in communication. holy shit. that made me so sad. so sad. He was behind in everything though and I think that is what got me. They evaluated on 5 different developmental areas and his range was 16-20 months. so even in physical and adaptive development he was 8 months behind. again…very hard to take in.
so we got the ball rolling. There are many other concerns I have. he has other behaviors that concern me but for now I am trying to file them away and will share them with the EI people. I gave our case worker a big long list when she was here last week.
this week on Friday, almost here thank goodness!, we will meet with a speech language pathologist, SLP, and our case worker again. I am even more scared to be honest to have him evaluated by a SLP because I worry that he may score even worse but I keep reminding myself that we are doing this to get him help. No matter how low he scores we are doing this so that hopefully he does not grunt for the rest of his life. we are doing this to help him out.
The case worker will also be bringing a “test” that can show some red flags for ASD, autism spectrum disorder. I am pretty sure that I am going to be requesting a professional eval, ADOS, for Brady too just to put our minds at ease but I am curious to hear what they have to say on Fri.
Bottom line for us is that regardless of what all this comes to show we love Brady and will do whatever we need to help him. it is just a scary path to walk down right now not knowing where it will lead. but we have been down scary paths with Josey and come out on the other side ok so I think we will be ok this time too…but my heart and brain are still a little sore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)