Gluten-Free Sites and Blogs

Gluten-Free Listservs:
SillyYaks Listserv
GFCF Kids

Gluten-Free Recipe Blogs & Pinterest:
I have some recipes on my Pinterest
Gluten-Free Goddess blog or Pinterest
Gluten-Free Girl blog
Gluten-Free Diva blog or Pinterest
Gluten-Free Mommy blog
The GFCF Experience blog
GFCF Recipes blog
Book of Yum blog
Cooking Gluten Free blog

Other Sites for Gluten-Free Recipes:
Simply Gluten Free All Recipes About Gluten-Free Cooking
Glutenfreeda
Food Network

There is really a lot out there, so this is just a sampling. One thing I think it is important to remember for those just starting to go gluten free is that it isn't about what you can no longer have, but rather how to make it it gluten free.

Thane, just a few days after his 9th birthday, wrote this letter to Santa Claus. It is definitely one of those things that makes a mom say "Aw! Isn't he cute?"

It was not only cute, it was surprising. Thane has Asperger's so I don't tend to imagine him wishing to do something for some unknown, ambiguous person in South America. I am also really proud of him that he messed some stuff up and was able to deal with it. OK, I also love that the paper is upside down because that just seems so much like my child.

It also made me remember when Braeden was about the same age. A teacher at his school suffered a significant property loss from a micro-burst (similar to a tornado) and there was a spaghetti supper at his school. Since Thane is gluten-free, we couldn't go to the supper, but Braeden decided to give his savings to the fund. He wrote a very sweet letter and packaged up his $71 and I don't think that teacher will ever forget. It brought tears to her eyes. A couple of years later, Braeden was saving for a large army set that was $250. He finally got to that amount when he decided to give it to a school in South America. His reason was because he felt bad for these kids having no parents, so he wanted to at least make the school better.

I think I have a couple of really great kids.

A Little Birdie

Moments when I should biff myself in the head . . . 

Me: “A little birdie told me . . . ”

Thane: “What kind of bird?”

Me: “It's an expression . . . someone told me that you won a prize a today.”

Thane: “But how can a bird talk?”

<Biff myself> “When I said birdie, I really meant a person told me.”

Thane: “What?”

Me: “That you got a prize!”

Thane: “I did? What is it?”

Me: “I don't know! I was just told you answered the morning question.”

Thane: “That's right! I remembered where the first miniature golf course was created.”

Me: “Really? Where was that?”

Thane: “New York City. Now you will know when they ask again next October, so don't forget.”

Teasing vs. Bullying

Today I am pondering when teasing becomes bullying . . . I think it may be a more difficult question when the child being teased has disabilities. I’m also not sure if I am more or less reactive to it because my child has disabilities.

I feel like Thane doesn’t fully realize he is being teased. On some level, I am really thankful for that. Growing up as the “Ugly, fat and stupid” one in my family, I think being oblivious to other children mocking you might be a blessing of some sort. I bet someone, somewhere will say something hateful about that statement, but sometimes how a person feels just is . . . and I feel like it would be nice not to be hurt, even if that comes from not understanding.

I talked to Thane and he definitely feels he doesn’t get along with this child and he is hyper-focused on an incident that took place a couple of weeks ago with LEGOs. I get the impression that this child sees Thane’s vulnerabilities and uses them to his own advantage. That really hurts me. I also understand that he mocks Thane’s gestures – Thane does some hand-flapping (which is something I do not consider to be within his control), is prone to stomping or slamming things if he is frustrated, and he does some visual stims. To me, mocking these actions is bullying because it targets things directly related to his disabilities.

From what I understand, this behavior is also impacting others in the classroom – particularly a couple of girls who have taken it upon themselves to either stand up for my son, or console him. While I am totally thankful that there are young people stepping in, I have to say that it concerns me that while it is obviously and opportunity for them to nurture and grow, it is also a sense of innocence lost because they have to witness an autistic child being teased. Moreover they have seen some behaviors and reported them to teachers and felt that their concerns were ignored. What kind of message is that? Is it that it doesn’t matter if a child is teased? Or maybe that it doesn’t matter if a child who doesn’t really get it is mocked?

Deep down I know that most likely there is something at home that makes this child behave negatively toward mine, and I think there is a limit to what schools can do – unless you have someone watching everything every single child is doing every second, you cannot see nor address every infraction that occurs. This is where the full beauty of homeschooling comes in I guess because you can control the environment so much more, but with a child with autism I feel like at least while he is little he needs to try to assimilate. In general, I have felt that the children in his grade are so much more exposed to autism than most of society that these wonderful little sponges have learned to be exceptionally understanding and supporting peers. But I guess there is usually at least one bad seed.

Update in September

It's been awhile since I have posted . . . I think it is time for me to get back into the swing of things and keeping this updated. For now I will just do a quick update.

Braeden has started high school at Lincoln Academy. It is a huge transition, but I am rather impressed with how well he is doing. He is much more concerned about his grades than I ever was, even though I always figured I would go to law school (I dropped out after a year). He is taking all the usual classes plus joined in the International Club and is participating in the fall musical, Godspell, as John the Baptist and Judas. He has matured a ton over the past year or so and is really a very good teen.

Thane is now in 3rd grade and is still a special education student with Asperger's Disorder and newly diagnosed Anxiety Disorder-NOS (Not Otherwise Specified). He is a curious position of belong somewhere between what they call "life skills" here and the "resource room" which is more for children with learning disabilities as opposed to a pervasive developmental disorder. Thane is very smart, a bit like Sheldon Cooper from television's "Big Bang Theory." His road-blocks to learning are definitely related to his autism, such as lack of flexibility in writing, and his anxiety. Odd as it sounds, I am glad he actually has an anxiety diagnosis now as I think it is the primary obstacle he faces.

Moon Dough!

I need to update my Gluten-Free Art/School Supply list, but as a smidget of an update Moon Dough, which is made by the same company as Moon Sand (SpinDirect/SpinMaster), is gluten-free and I found it at Target! It is so nice to actually be able to buy some gluten-free dough in a somewhat local place. And it comes in a set just like Play-Doh, so it has that kid appeal as well. One can get molds and such without having to get Play-Doh and toss the dough! I am happy to have found this as I bought some more expensive scented dough for home, but wanted something a bit cheaper to send to school with Thane.

Check it out at http://www.moondough.com/

I will update more about school soon. Maybe later today. We will see!

Puppies

There is a long, convoluted story about this, but we are now the proud owners of two labradoodle puppies. They are 11 weeks old now, so we've had them for two weeks. The one that is higher and on the left is Lavender, a girl, who was Braeden's puppy choice. The other is Blue, a boy, that Thane chose. I just happen to think this is one of the cutest pictures I have captured with my cell phone.

Both boys have been asking for puppies for awhile. Thane really wanted a white puppy. I really wanted to go with low allergen dogs because I wanted it to be a safer mix for everyone in the house. Thane actually is NOT allergic to dogs, while he appears to be allergic to about half the universe. Braeden, on the other hand, is very mildly allergic. I guess there are 7-8 proteins that dogs give out so it explains why he reacts more strongly to some dogs than others. These two he should be unlikely to react to, plus he will get used to them. He had made a lot of promises about taking care of them, which I really am not seeing. At any rate, they are much lower allergen than our 85-pound husky mutt.



Here are all the guys and dogs in the picture above. Braeden (left) is holding his Lavender (Lavi for short) and Thane (middle) is holding Blue (Blueberry or Blue Bear . . . he rather looks like the bear in "Bear in the Big Blue House".) Dave is trying to convince 14-year-old Mist to stay in such close proximity to squirmy puppies. She seems to like Blue better, but he doesn't challenge her the way Lavender sometimes does.



This one is me with Blue on the left and Lavender on the right posing a bit better. I am down a bit more than 120 pounds in the 7 months since my gastric bypass, a few pounds shy of 200 total for weight loss. I still have a long way to go to be a "normal" weight. I feel like I am just getting down to where most people start when they have the surgery. It has been a good choice for me, but it feels very slow even though I know it is isn't.

Things that Make a Mom go WOW!

Thane has some definite anxiety issues, and one of the things that was a really stressful for him was trying to write or draw. A year ago we turned the task over to hippotherapy and the therapist there got him to write while riding a horse. Now he actually does it for fun! Isn't this picture cute? The writing is his as well.

Asperger's Syndrome Cards

These will probably be a little hard to read here, but after looking around at a bunch of different autism and Asperger's Syndrome information business cards online, I decided I would be better off making my own. Thane's play therapist suggested that it may be easier on Braeden, age 12, to have a card explaining his brother a little bit so he doesn't feel embarrassed when Thane acts in a socially unexpected manner. I know a lot of adults use them too, so I made two versions . . . one for little brother and one for son. Otherwise they are identical.

Cute Giggle

Thane went horseback riding today and the giggle is precious.

4th of July, 2010

Following are some photographs of the family at the 4th of July celebration in Damariscotta. We actually went to the fireworks in Thomaston on the 3rd sans camera, but were so impressed with how Thane did that we decided to go to Damariscotta on the 4th. It seems that $8 Remmington ear protectors from Wal-Mart make a big difference in his ability to handle all the big booms. I wish I had some too! He was entertained while waiting by taking pictures, and took some during the fireworks as well. Thane is the little one, Braeden is my 12-tear-old, then there is a picture of me and a picture of my husband, Dave, and I (celebrated our 23rd anniversary a couple of weeks ago).

Thane's Kindergarten Graduation

Happy Memorial Day

While I actually don't have friends or family in the military, I have always really appreciated the individuals who choose to protect and serve in that way. We did a lot of shopping and such over the long Memorial Day weekend. This is a photo of Thane in Reny's . . . he found the perfect accessory for himself, star antennae!

Little Updates

Thane saw the photograph of the Tooth Fairy sitting on his teddy bear (which is technically Dave's, but Thane is taking care of it). His reaction was, “huh?” I loved that!

The other update is on me . . . I'll be 16 weeks out from surgery this week and haven't weighed in for this week, but last I checked I was down 150 pounds, so I am more than halfway to my goal. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get rid of another 130 before the magic wears off! I now closely resemble a shriveled apple person!

I would like to plug a blog that Dori turned me on to: The World According To Eggface . . . Shelly, who writes the blog, had the same surgery I had and has a lot of healthy recipes that are also bariatric friendly. I have to adjust a lot of them to be gluten free, egg free or dairy free, but many of them work really nicely for me.

The Tooth Fairy Returns

Thane lost his second lower front baby tooth on Mother's Day. This time there was no drama whatsoever! He just handed it to Daddy and said, “Look Daddy, my toof came out.” And that was that!

He wasn’t even anxious about writing a note to the Tooth Fairy this time, he was calm and happy to do it. I guess he now trusts that he will get to keep his little teeth as they fall out.

Below is a picture of the note to the Tooth Fairy because it is pretty cute, and then a picture of the Tooth Fairy checking to make sure he is good and asleep before going under his pillow. You can click on them to see them larger, which might work better than the size the blog automatically makes them.

Mother's Day 2010

My boys are both rather cute!

Thane was all upset on Friday as he didn't even want me to see the wrapping on his school-made gift for me. His teacher had to put it in the back of my car for me! He said it had to be a kept a secret. Then Saturday night he was talking about it with Daddy so I had to cover my ears so I wouldn't hear. I did hear the word “pie” which left me a bit confused because I thought he did something with plaster of Paris.

The next morning, with a detail no one probably wants to know but makes it all the more memorable to me, I woke up after sleeping in and went into the bathroom. He had to come in and give me my gift. While I was trying to open the box, he told me it was a “dirt pie.” Dave said something to him about the secret, so he turned and said, “It’s okay Daddy, I kept the secret until Mudders Day and then I told her!” He’s right, he kept the secret until Mother’s Day!!!

He also gave me a plant where he painted hearts and stars on the box holding it. And then a couple of cards – I guess he probably did one in Life Skills and one in Kindergarten. Braeden gave me a sweet card. Pictures are below, other than the flowers because I am too lazy right now to get that.

Dirt Pie


Inside of Braeden's card. Too sweet!

Braeden is 12!

Here are some photos from Braeden's paintball birthday.

Random Gibberish

Wow! Braeden is 12. He will officially be a teenager next year, and only three years before he can get a learner’s permit for driving, unless rules change before then (dare I hope on that one?). It is such a difficult age for boys, but he is doing pretty well, I think, hope, etc. Dave took him and five of his friends to play paintball in Vassalboro. I’m home with Thane and crossing my fingers that everyone has fun and behaves.

Yesterday Dave and I took Thane to the playground in Wiscasset. He went with school on Wednesday and he really wanted to go back. It was a little hard to figure out what he was thinking . . . he seems to like having the other children around, but he is almost aggressively friendly at first. When Braeden and I took him to the playground in Warren on our way home Thursday, he was walking up to people and saying “Who are you?” He meant to be introducing himself, but it didn’t fully work. So we coached him some and suggested he say, “Hi, I’m Thane. What’s your name?” What neither of us parents were really counting on his how many children won’t answer that question. Luckily Thane doesn’t really care.

It’s nice to be able to do some of this little stuff again without so much pain breathing. I am not sure I am ready to do it fully on my own because my knees still lock at bad times, but at least I am participating more in things outside of the house. A friend of mine reminded me just a little while ago about the sticks of butter comparison . . . I am down 588 sticks of butter so far. That’s pretty hard to fathom because it definitely doesn’t look like that much, and I would still like to get rid of almost the same amount again. I am just slithering past the half-way point, but I am only 3½ months post-op, so it should help me for another 3-9 months, perhaps longer.

Riley had its school auction this weekend. I proxy bid on a couple of things and won two of them. I have to figure out how/when to retrieve them. One is a painting that I just thought was pretty and wanted to go for close to its genuine value. The other is a schooner ride that I thought Braeden and Dave would enjoy.

Case Management

Now that we have finally been approved for MaineCare under the Katie Beckett waiver, I went ahead and got Thane a case manager. It is someone I have known for a couple of years through the soon to be much larger Knox County Child Development Service (the state is going from 16 sites to 9 on July 1 – I hope it works, but I worry about the kids and access).

This person has been helpful along the way, so I am sure it will be a good thing, but it is a weird feeling for me. I am not used to taking handouts, and this feels like more of one than getting services through CDS when Thane was younger. Sometimes my friends make me feel like I don’t have the right perspective, that I am entitled to all sorts of help, but I still have trouble with the idea. It seems weird for the state to pay for respite for us just because Thane has Asperger’s.

Our yard does need to be fenced in again because we had storm damage and some is being held up by wire ties, but I feel that is our expense as homeowners. Yet I don’t mind the idea of getting a pool alarm. I guess part of that is that Dave and I don’t really agree on that, and I wonder how many times a bird will set it off, but I would feel safer having one.

Mostly I want an advocate when we go in to chat with the school. I do think the school is trying to work with Thane, but I think some of the action has been slow. I also need help finding some services, such as therapist who might be able to help reduce his anxiety level. I really want to work on that before he gets older because life does indeed get more stressful.

Dandelion Wishes

This is one of those grainy photos taken with a cell phone, but it is still just too cute not to post. I wish I had a real camera at the time as I caught the moment perfectly. Thane has taken to picking the dandelions as he is trying to save them from the lawnmower.