I'm Hungry

My family is on an elimination diet right now to deal with some allergy issues in one of the kids. As a result, we are avoiding dairy, wheat, egg, gluten, and various other grains. It is a huge hassle. It's very difficult to find convenience foods and almost impossible to expect anyone to accommodate our dietary requirements. It nearly destroys social eating. It's a drag.

As a result of the allergy diet, I am now obsessed with feeding my family. I feel like I spend most of my time planning and preparing food, and the other half cleaning up after the preparation and feeding.

To top it off, the kids are lukewarm on just about every new food that we try. I work hard on finding new options, cook them from scratch with a variety of hard to find ingredients, and they are disappointed by what I make. I ask them what they WANT me to make. In their dreams, what would they eat, I ask. They say, "I don't know."

And while this is all very frustrating, the most frustrating moment of this ordeal happened the other night.

After making a big dinner with lots of choices, including special requests for two of the children (which they both ate, much to my delight), oldest of the two said children came into the room. I had just started the dishwasher and was washing the last pot, happy to be finally done with the cooking and cleaning for the evening. Oldest child who walked into the room, did so with these words: "I'm hungry."

Argh!

Potty Progress and Regress

It has been weeks now since V has been dry. She refuses diapers during the day, uses the potty, and will wear diapers for bed, but is generally dry upon waking. Such independence. Such a reduction in laundry! Suddenly it shifted, quickly. And she is missing the toilet 4-5 times a day. She refuses to go when I know she needs to go. She stalls and gets there only when she is desperate, and pees all over the bathroom floor. Or worse yet, on the stool she uses to get onto the potty. We have gone from diapers to washing whole outfits because she soaks herself each time.

Today, we were at a science group meeting at another family’s house. The kids were having fun playing in the baby’s room, where she has a fun tent with plastic balls inside, ala Ikea ball room. Guess who peed in the balls? Sure enough.

I guess this is my reminder not to get too complacent with the assumption that milestones mean a constantly forward progression. Or a reminder that forward progress is not always apparent and presented as we expect.