The Last Two Weeks

The Little Man, hunkered down for his long winter's nap....

Just a quick catch-up on the last two weeks...  (Next week is my bday and I'm going to luxuriate on my butt for an hour and get through the holiday pics... who knows, maybe I'll even finish our summer vacation stuff too!  I will not clean during my free time, I will not clean during my free time, I will not.... well... ;)

So, the beginning of the elimination diet was really hard for the kid.  His die-off symptoms were pretty severe for the first week and we just lolled around the house doing projects and cuddling.  He didn't even want to sled.

I was finally able to woo him outdoors for a late afternoon walk one day... that ended up lasting forever ;)  Hard to get out, hard to get in....  It was beyond dark and E was curious by the time we peeled off our layers...  

But this made the child remember that he hates the cold... So back in we were for a few more days ;)  Honestly, though I'd never admit it in front of the child (lest we have to truly hibernate for months), all of those layers and the cold, well.  Expletives come to mind.  Visually, I adore the snow.  The story stops there.  Give me warm and wet with little clothing binding my freedom to funk and I'm the world's happiest girl...  The child echoes these sentiments, unspoken expletives and all :)  So, he spent days on end playing in his rice bin and spinning in his swing.

The next leg of our house arrest ended with a trip to the AMNH.  It was warm there :)  Though the two block walk to the subway.... well.  It was warm inside.  And P was giddy to see his good friends. He had chosen to skip the Rockefeller Center tree this year (for the first time) and was thrilled with the (warm) origami substitute at the museum.  Plus, there were no crowds ;)

Back in for a few... and then out for book club!  We're reading The Tale of Despereaux.  P (and I;) fell (hard) in love with DiCamillo's writing through the Mercy Watson series.  And this new book does. not. disappoint. Neither does book club ;)  The kids get along so freaking well it surprises me every time.  And one of the girls is a crafting queen, so P just sidles up next to her sweet face and they happily create for hours.  The Little Man started a discussion about villains and their purpose in a book, and the kids responded (after a fascinating conversation) with personal pictures of villains.  So. Much. Fun.

Even his wrist band had him almost in tears....

In for many more .... and then out for ice skating!  The kid was psyched to skate.  He'd really enjoyed it on the chintzy plastic rink last year at AMNH (and picked it up fast too).  Well.  Granted, he'd just upped his probiotics and moaned on the way there that he was having some bad die-off, but...  Oh, bad mommy.  We stepped out onto the ice and the kid was like a Charlie Chaplin movie.  His feet were slipping out from under his little butt so fast it was cartoon-like.  I was holding him up to give him a chance, but after a certain period of time, the sheer ridiculousness of the visual (his little legs slipping at the speed of light) proved to much for me and I was laughing so hard I could hardly stand up.  Bad Mommy.  But, honestly, if you had seen us, you would have been beating the ice with your hands and knees it was so funny.

I was laughing silently, of course (I'm not that bad ;)  And I was the picture of patience as he grumped his bruised butt around the rink.  But the music was l.o.u.d.  And the teenagers were f.a.s.t.  And the kid was m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e.  You know the face.  When they're so tired and frustrated the pucker gets pinched and if they were just a few years younger the geysers would gush.  So we had a snack :)

Then the zamboni came, to the delight of children everywhere, and he and his buddies were ready to head home.  He, once again, swore off all things ice related that day.  Except for the partially frozen fountain.  Which he quite approved of.

Obviously, back in for a bit ;)  Pulling back on the probiotics to lesson the die-off helped a great deal.  I have been shocked at how pleasant the child (ice skating ordeal aside;) has been.  Could be developmentally appropriate, could be thanks to eliminating so many problem foods and being so freaking careful.  Who knows, really.  But he's been quite close to an angel at home, greatly making up for my craggy die-off bitch phase....  He's also been eating like a super champ.  Come to find out, if all shitty food is removed from a child's diet, they'll eat the healthy food in ridiculous quantities.  I mean, P's always been a fun eater, and will even choose tomatoes over candy, but there's so much more room for nutrition now that the chocolate and bread are gone.  He's shoveling in seeming gallons of 24 hour homemade yogurt, soft boiled eggs, avocados...  And after swearing off hamburgers when I was 8, I shocked my entire family by cooking them for dinner the other night.  The child ate his with relish (not literal, it was fermented pickles, raw cheddar, mustard, avocado, tomato and lettuce for him;)  Then, tonight, we had tomato sauce with beef meatballs over spaghettis squash.  And the kid ate an enormous helping, meatballs and all.  Yummy, yes, guilt and nightmare inducing for the natural vegetarian, yes...  There's so much to these decisions, its literally gut-wrenching, but the boys are flourishing...

Then the kid came up with the best project.  We would make turtles out of the fabulous clay Uncle Ian gave the child.  They would be stacking turtles.  Like a game.  And an owl would be the top player.  It all came from a picture we made when we were lolling in his newly minted "studio" he carefully crafted under our island table (its sheeted off, has a little desk and recycling can and everything.  Its kinda precious ;)  It all turned out so cute, I wish I'd caught a more careful phone pic...

Then, it was back out again.  The day after the last big snow.  His best buds, who live on the opposite side of the park, invited the kid over to see their igloo.  After little outside exercise, the child set out, marching through knee high snow.  For two hours.  I kid you not.  It took us TWO HOURS to get there.  Walking.  In the snow.  I wasn't a particularly happy camper, so you can BET the kid was less than tickled.  But on he trudged.  Walking, without being carried, still being a bit of a sore-spot for the child.

 There were a few, dramatic, breaks.  But this is something I love about the child.  He doesn't take his drama too very seriously.  I snapped the one above just a second before the one below.  The only thing that changed?  I grinned at him between them.  He really can't commit to being pissy too often.  He just had to let out a wry smile.

After this little schlep, the child swore off winters for the rest of eternity.  But we always have the rice bin. And the swing ;)  And all of the projects....