Gluten Free Playdough

Now that we are GF, I need to provide Austin some playdough that he can take to school with him. Why does he need GF playdough one might ask - well most of time playdough gets under your nails when you use it and kids stick their hands in their mouth. So I set out on a search for the perfect recipe on google. I found a basic recipe on several sites but when I tried it out, it was very sticky and was not at all like real playdough, even after adding a couple more spoonfuls of the rice flour. So I started searching some more and found the basic recipe but tweaked a little to make the perfect playdough. One mom even commmented that it was better to use than real playdough and I have to agree. So here is the recipe courtesy of http://www.vydor.net/playdough.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar (we used McCormicks)

1 cup hot water

1 tsp cooking oil

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until dough starts to form a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Scoop into a large bowl and add at least 1/4 cup more rice flour and 1/4 cup corn starch. Kneed until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in an airtight container. If it gets dry, add a few drops of water. If it is too sticky, add a little more cornstarch and rice flour in equal parts.

And if you are really feeling creative, my friend had a great suggestion. Instead of storing it in a ziploc or tupperware container, you could wash out the old playdough containers, take off the label, and then create your own labels on the computer.

The Long But Hopeful Year Ahead

We finally got all of Austin's test results back in and had a long but informative visit with his doctor. Unfortunately, not only are we having to be GFCF again but we are having to be SF/NF/TF/SF/SF and the list goes on... His IGG test came back with several possible intolerances and for now we are cutting them out of his diet and will try to add them back in one at a time in a few months to see which ones are actually causing a problem. We will stay GFCF for a year before doing any challenge with those foods. Additionally we are starting a few supplaments, mostly vitamins to help with deficiencies but some other things as well. We don't expect for him to be recovered any time soon but we do hope to get some of his gut issues healed therefore making him feel better inside and out.

Cleaning Up & Update

This morning Austin spilled some of his strawberry milk on the kitchen table. I didn't know until I saw him wiping it up. Turns out he spilled it, then went to the bathroom, got some toilet paper, and came back to clean it up. Such a big boy now :)

In other news we go back to our DAN! on February 10th to discuss our initial test results. We already got the gluten/casein peptide test back and it turns out he is having some sort of reaction with the casein so we will most definitely be going CF again but not sure about GF until we talk to the doctor. We just started CLO again today. It's a little difficult because the fishy oil taste seems to be a little strong for Austin. We have lemon lime from Kirkmanns for now but I'm researching what other moms think is the best flavor/brand and the best way to give it. Suggestions?

Potty Success

Well not quite but we are getting there. DH has been home on a mini vacation so we have been hitting the potty hard. Austin goes every couple of hours and sometimes even requests to go by himself using his potty PEC. He is having 2-3 accidents a day (mostly bm) but today he even had one of those in the potty!! Hopefully he will be trained in a couple of months if not sooner.

Horseback

This was taken yesterday at hippotherapy. The pic can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Bath Preference

Last night Austin came up to me and said "ba" several times. This is actually a common word that can mean many things so I said car? nope. go? nope. up? nope. bath? yes! He pulled me upstairs to the bedroom because he was ready for his bath. Then I told him that we had to go get some towels from downstairs. Once we got down here, I said okay, do you want mama to give you bath? His response, "NO! Dada."

:)

Holidays and Updates

I know I've really been slacking at this blog thing but life has been busy busy busy for us ever since the beginning of December. Austin will be 3 on Monday which meant eval after eval after eval for after 3 services and the school district. The good news is that we will still be keeping some hours of in home ABA after school. Also his academic skill are at a 3 year old level for the most part as well as his receptive language skills. To us, it is just the expressive language and behaviors that are still a concern but he is getting much better. He has many labels now and will at least give an approximation of a word when asked anything. I was happy with the school that I chose and Austin will be receiving ST, OT, and APE during school hours. We also were able to finally get an education consultant who was really happy with the IEP. I did my research, attended a seminar hosted by a special ed. attorney, and wrote up our own goals which ended up being almost identical to the IEP team's goals so we are going to sign it this Monday and Austin should be in school at the end of the week or the beginning of the next week. It is very difficult for us to leave him somewhere for a few hours a day but we hope that this is going to be very beneficial for him.

As for other news, Christmas was nice. For the first time ever, Austin opened most of his gifts. He would get distracted and want each toy opened right after but the fact that he opened them was just wonderful. Any other time he's had gifts, he hasn't shown interest in opening them.

We are still researching biomed information. I have needed to go get Austin's blood drawn for a while now but the place the dr. requested we use usually only has one staff member on site and it is incredibly difficult for me to take Austin to do that and also taking Kaitlin. DH has been off on his ship most days but he is taking vacation right now so we will be doing bloodwork next week. Also for Christmas, I received "The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook" which imho is turning out to be a good resource for going GFCF. There are several recipes that seem to be quick and easy and it also shows if the recipe is free of other main allergens such as eggs, soy, corn, and nuts. I assume we will be going GFCF again in the near future and I plan to do much better at feeding Austin a more nutritious and natural diet.

I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday!