Masters of Disasters

Last Wednesday Reiss' class made gingerbread men. Because our family eats gluten and casein free, Reiss obviously cannot have the traditional gingerbread cookie dough, so I made a really great GFCF version of it and sent some of it to school with him. What was left of it was dealt with on Saturday evening.

A little bit of tapioca flour for dusting down the table and making sure the dough didn't stick when rolling.....

Reiss eating a bunch of icing. YUM! And we have one shirt off....

If it looks like fun, I can tell you it really was a good time. I don't think I remember the last time Reiss and Milla stayed occupied for so long with one activity. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax without having to entertain them or worry what they were getting into...who cares that they made a ginormous mess. They had fun and the mess was cleaned up in about ten minutes - a nice trade-off for about twenty minutes of breathing time for me.

And no, you are not imagining things. Yes, they were eating the gingerbread cookie dough raw and although I am not one to worry about salmonella in raw cookie dough, I definitely didn't need to worry about it with this dough because the recipe is free of gluten, casein, and is egg-free as well. You can find the recipe HERE. It is Lisa Lewis' recipe for Gingerbread People from her book, Special Diets for Special Kids.


Moving on to other messes....

Our new two-person, open-concept shower.....

The extra-wide, extra-deep spa tub and glass block window....

The granite countertop we had made for a miraculously inexpensive price by purchasing a remnant.

And finally, what happens when someone (not me!) adds "a little bit" of shower gel to a spa tub with the jets turned on......

I am still left wondering how much constitutes "a little bit."

If You Don't Like Our Pancake Recipe.....

Blame Living Without magazine!

Seriously, I know the recipe we use is not for everyone and if it's not your cup of tea, you might try Ginger Lemon Girl's recipe for pancakes that she recently posted. The recipe is gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, and vegan. Judging by the photo, the pancakes this recipe makes look very tasty....BUT beware if you or a member of your family cannot eat yeast.

Breakfast with Santa Claus

Reiss, Milla, and Daddy at one of the craft tables. They made little reindeer ornaments with popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and googley eyes.

Reiss getting ready to tell Santa Claus to bring him a Colts shirt, please - with buttons! We're still trying to figure that one out.

Reiss surprised us with his willingness to sit on Santa's lap. Milla wasn't having any of it!

Another surprise.....Reiss not only did not throw a fit about the horse, he was very willing to check him out and even give him a little pat. If I sound pessimistic, I don't mean to. I'm just going by most of our experiences with animals. Reiss and Milla are both terrified of most animals - even Grandma's chihuahua. In their defense though, Grandma's chihuahua is yippity-yappy and more hyper than Reiss doped up on candy bars.

Dancer and his merry red-painted hooves. This was the last photo I took before we all went on a very, very chilly carriage ride.

Yesterday was our breakfast with Santa Claus. The event was held at a church not far from our house and was sponsored by our county's autism support group. Although we had to take our own food in order to be able to stick to eating GFCF, it was nice to be around others who "get it."

No one around to point, stare, and whisper if our children began having an all-out meltdown over something as trivial as a drop of water getting on their shirt or having to have the food wiped from their faces (as was the case with us). Really, I'm not prejudiced against people who only have typical children but I do get tired of the looks we receive. If pointing and staring at children like mine is the example these parents are setting for their own children, it's no wonder why their kids grow up to be the ones who bully kids like mine once they are in school.

I will not go off on that tangent though. This is supposed to be a positive post!

Reiss and Milla got to eat breakfast at a table decorated with Christmas decor and marshmallows for snow, work on crafts, see Santa Claus, use bathrooms away from home (which is the whole reason we went there, right?), and take a carriage ride. It was incredibly cold yesterday but fun was had by all. Other than the mouth-wiping incident, I would say it was one of our best outings in quite some time.

A Company Who Wants to Pay Me to Potty Train!!!!

Okay, not really.

But I did learn about a company who will ease the burden of the expense of buying disposable training pants. Considering the fact that we have been potty-training (the same child no less!) for going on three years, there's no telling how long we will be purchasing poop pants.

Thank you to Jen over at A MOMMY ON A MISSION for her mention of The Caregivers Marketplace, an organization that "provides cash back on eligible products used every day to provide care."

Even if you are not potty-training, it's worth it to take a peek at The Caregivers' list of eligible products, as it also contains pain relievers, supplements, and many other products.

I'm all giddy just thinking about getting money back on our Huggies Pull-Ups, Huggies diapers, and Cottonelle Fresh Wipes - products that I already save on by redeeming coupons and buying only when they are on sale. Who knew I could get such excitement out of thinking about products that will eventually have poop on them.

Things Are Better Than I Make Them Sound

First things, first.

Celeste Jean, if you are reading, I have emailed you to request your mailing address for your Betty Crocker prize pack to be sent to you. If you're like me, you may get a lotta, lot of email and perhaps did not see my message, so I wanted to bring it to your attention on here.

We did not get to do the adorable marshmallow craft pictured below this morning because I am a slacker mommy. I was going to go to the craft store last night to get the styrofoam ring to make it and noticed that I didn't have any marshmallows either. I could have just sworn I had a bag of the large kind in the pantry but alas, none, and I didn't want to make two separate stops last night. So, going to the craft store and getting marshmallows at the grocery are both on the list of to-do errands this weekend. Maybe we can save this project for a craft-time activity for Monday.

This week has been a challenging week. Dealing with this autism thing day in and day out, one would think I would get used to some of the more annoying behaviors and just let them roll off - and really, sometimes I do.

However, this week and over the past two or three weeks now I have heard the question "What's gonna happen if I close the gate while I'm on the brown?" probably no less than 422,000 times. See, Reiss knows how to open the gate at the top of the stairs but we keep it there so that Milla doesn't fall down the stairs. Reiss is welcome to let himself through the gate and to the stairs going to the basement whenever he wants. Too often though, he will open the gate, stand on the top step (which is brown, hence, "the brown") and try to close the gate behind him, all while asking that question....the question that I am just certain if I hear it one more time, steam will come barreling out of my ears or nose or mouth or all three combined.

When I tried to express my frustration on facebook about this, I got the typical phrase all parents of children with autism just love to hear: "Oh, that's normal. All kids do that." Well, that wasn't exactly what was told to me but that was the jist of it and any parent in this position knows that this kind of behavior is not normal. If I had a dime for every time I've heard the "All kids do that....blah, blah, blah." Whatever....come walk in my shoes for a day and you will know what I'm talking about.

Yes, all typical kids will ask questions over and over. For example, "Can I have ________, please? Pleeeeeaaaase? I promise, promise, promise I'll be good." And that's what the parent may hear several times in one day. If you're one of these people, seriously, tell me, when was the last time your typical child asked you the same question three-hundred, four-hundred, or even more times in one day? And yes, I am being literal. Those numbers are no exaggeration.

If I sound like I'm complaining, well, maybe I am and this is my blog so I'll do what I want. Call it what you will but I have the right just like anyone else to vent now and then. And don't even get me started on the petty little complaints on some of my facebook friends' pages to the likes of "Oh, poor me. I'm so tired. I need a nap." from people who don't even have kids, much less a kid with autism. I really just want to tell them to suck it up and that they don't know the first thing about exhaustion. Ask any parent about exhaustion and I bet close to 100% will say they never knew the true meaning of exhaustion until they had kids. And that's saying a lot coming from me, someone who was in the military, someone who knows what it's like to get up at 4am, go to PT and then train all day long for an eighteen to twenty hour day.

Blah, blah, blah.....blah.....blah, blah, blah!!!

Yes, I am very frustrated this week.

Guess what Milla's thing is right now? She likes to take her pull-up off and get a new one every few minutes. By 11 am this morning, she had changed her pull-up no less than fifteen times. Keep in mind, that is only about two hours that she had time to do it too, because she woke up a little before 8am and her speech therapist was here for an hour. She did not pull off her pull-up any while the ST was here so that only leaves about two hours - or an average of a new pull-up about every eight minutes. Good times.......

On a more positive note, we are going to have breakfast with Santa this weekend. We have to take our own food, because although it is sponsored by an autism support group, many of the parents do not use any special diets for treating their child's autism and the food there will be traditional fare, almost certain to contain all kinds of gluten and casein. I am happy to have friends who also eat gluten-free and casein-free who will be in attendance. There's nothing I hate more than being the freaks wherever we go because we don't eat things others do. I'm starting to think this must be how people feel who eat a raw diet or vegan or both.

It will also be interesting to see the kids' reactions to Santa and if they will go near him. Hopefully, I will not forget the camera. Let's hope I have something pleasant to photograph.

And another positive....Reiss pooped on the potty last night!!! Something that has not happened much as of late. Just when we think we have his "currency" figured out to bribe him to poop on the potty, he switches things up on us and his currency turns to something else that we can't figure out and the old currency is worthless. Right now, chocolate candy bars are out. "Bugs" are in. Bugs are gummy fruit snacks, such as the Betty Crocker Create-a-Bug snacks I recently reviewed. We also buy the Annie's bunnies, but wow, are they expensive!

Well, I'm sure no one came here to read me complain about everything under the sun and since I'm not having the greatest week or looking at things with the best perspective....Toodles!

Until next time...

A Cute Craft Idea and a Plug

Thank you to JenJen over at tatertots & jello for this oh-so-cute Christmas craft idea!

Yes, I said it - Christmas!!! And any of you Best Buy fans out there can just leave the room now if you don't like it. Hey, I have nothing against other religions but if you're not gonna say "Merry Christmas" in your ads, then you definitely shouldn't be saying "Happy Eid al-Adha!" Or, at least, not in the United States!

Back on track here....

Typically, the first Friday of each month the staff where Reiss goes to developmental preschool have some form of training, making it so the children do not attend class. This month is CPR training. Thank goodness for that, right???

Friday mornings are also when Milla has speech therapy so on those Fridays when Reiss does not go to school, it is nice to have something to keep him occupied and not disturbing Milla's therapist or their hour of therapy.

After finding this cute idea for a holiday wreath, I thought it would be the perfect activity to keep Reiss busy for at least a few minutes. I'm not terribly sure whether the gumdrops are gluten and casein free but if not, we'll find something that makes a suitable replacement. Who knows, we may end up with a marshmallow and Swedish fish wreath.

So what if Reiss has marshmallows and candy for breakfast that day....what kid wouldn't love that? The important thing is he will be a busy little bee. And probably really busy for the rest of the day too, while riding on his sugar high.

And the Betty Crocker Contest Winner Is......

Celeste Jean

My apologies for not posting the winner sooner! A tip for anyone interested in participating in future contests on this site: Celeste Jean won by default. As in, although there were three people who left comments as contest entries on the Betty Crocker contest post, she was the only one who left her comment before the deadline.

Congratulations, Celeste Jean!