Day 5: You win some you lose some

Today started out great again with Jack being very happy once again. Let me tell you, I am loving the happiness he is exuding.

I called his teacher after school to see how the day went yesterday and today. She was quite amazed that today he sat down and read a WHOLE chapter book in one sitting! He's never done that before.

For his afterschool snack I decided to try something I'd never made before - Amish friendship bread GFCF style. That was a whole new experience making a starter and having such a runny batter. However, it sure turned out delicious and Jack LOVED it. So we now have a good treat that everyone loved (DH kept sneaking it before dinner) that is on the "green light" list.

I've found a way to explain to Jack what foods are good for him and which aren't. Another mom suggested it as traffic lights. Green light foods we can eat as much of as we want. Yellow light foods are just a few occassionally. Red lights are an absolute no-no. We'll try this out and see how it works for awhile.

I've finally gotten where I needed to go to the store to keep up the GFCF diet, though. We ended doing a regular dinner due to everyone but Jack being ill and no creative thoughts to make a GFCF one. When Jim came home I headed out to the store, though, to stock up on new basics. Ouch! Our new diet is going to be expensive. I knew it would be but still had serious sticker shock. I spent $150 on food and containers and felt like we got very little.

Fortunately I was able to find lots of basics in the bulk foods section at WinCo. To buy tapioca and soy flour at Fred Meyer in the health dept. was about $4 a pound versus $1 a pound in bulk! They really gouge people on the "organic" stuff. So why if it's organic without all the extra growing methods does it cost more exactly?

By the time I got back, though, Jack had turned into Dr. Jerkyll after dinner apparently. He was in full blown bawling tantrum mode. I managed to tame him down eventually. We are really suspecting the gluten and casein laced cheese sandwiches caused the change. He's been happy for several days while I've stuck to the diet and then all of the sudden when we switch - whamo! - he changes completely back to the old self. Very convincing change to stick with the GFCF.