My son as of late has been avoiding flour. For myself, I regularly avoid. We decided when our son was born we would see if my reactions to gluten would pass on to him. Rather than force him into a gfree lifestyle, let it work itself out. I am not deathly ill from gluten like a celiac, but my stomach cramps so hard it has brought me tears.
– My son’s slow quest for gfree has started with a simple request… no sandwiches in his lunch or crackers. When I asked him why. He said it made his tongue taste very weird and his stomach hurt in the afternoon. I began to ponder his lunches. In my world, no problem. The next week we continued on with rice crackers, ham slices, cheese, a little container of ranch, carrots, grapes. He was pleased.
-My son has been saying no thank you a lot recently to cupcakes, granola bars, cookies. Sometimes he says yes and I see him take one bite and throw the rest away.
– a little while later, I sent my husband an email which my son happened to see. It was symptoms of gluten allergies. One of these is little bumps on the back of the arm. To the general person, it might be considered acne of some sort. It could be. To me because I’ve had them before… nutrition deficiency came to mind and that can be from gluten allergy not allowing certain nutrients to absorb into your system. These bumps bug my son. He finds it annoying no matter how small they are and all the different soaps etc. They won’t go away.
– when at the grocery store the other night, he told my husband he was going gfree for a bit to see if the bumps would go away. His choice. So we walked down the aisles and he chose things we already do because alot of our house is gfree.
– I am impressed with my son. Over the week he has chosen some items with gluten in them. Most recently he came home from a family evening where he chose the dish with flour instead of splitting one with me that didn’t. The whole way home he wiggled and groaned. His stomach hurt.
-recently he was a guest at another house and chose the gluten item and came home and felt horrible.
– today he chose corn tortillas over flour and had little tacos instead of burritos. He cannot stand corn tortillas normally, but he chose to try them again. We also went to an auction for the day and he asked me about their options for food and chose carefully.
– He has a gfree cake mix on the counter. He wanted to make. We try to avoid the box, but sometimes you just want to indulge.
-I don’t know where this will take him. But I am willing to follow his lead. (He is the kid that avoids McDonalds and most fast food because he can’t stand the salt flavor) I was about the same age when having issues I believe. I hope those around us understand how hard it is to say no to a cookie and let that choice be his own. Try not to sway him because we feel he is missing out. He is quiet pleased to just eat frosting off the top and throw away the rest. He is making the hardest decision ever for a 9 year old and it based on his own feelings of health.
– so I believe I will start making extra gfree snacks to make them available to him at a time of indecision. It’s all I can think to help him along the way. And slowly clear out the cupboards of those difficult things. Maybe email his teacher and explain some of this so she understands when he is in indecision. Wait to see what he thinks. I believe so much sickness and health issues in life are food/chemical related. So I am trying to really just see how this all pans out and be supportive in my son’s decisions.

Well this is my musing and rambling about our lives. I would be lost without my hubby as he supports the decisions my kiddo makes.  And never flinches when having to read a label or try something new and weird for most. In fact, tomorrow I was told by the hubby gfree pancakes was on the menu for breakfast and he smiled at me as he said it. I just love them both. And I love my life.

Enjoy!
Chris

We had a switcheroo this year for Scouts and moved to a new pack. My son really wanted to do more camping. And he is motivated by earning awards. And their program for Webelos is setup for him to earn as many as he’d like. My son has arrows and pins etc all over his uniform.  I cringe at the thought of him needing a new uniform because I will be sewing again. But also pleased with all his accomplishments. He also was oohing and ahhing over all the earnings the new den’s kids have all over their uniforms. One of his most pivotal questions to his leader was…. “how do I earn that one?” She looked at me and smiled and then looked at my hubby and said well you get with your Dad and build a serious derby car. Apparently the new pack doesnt do trophies for winners but derby fancy winning pins on the uniform. And they were fancy. D wanted to know if we could somehow get one for his 3rd place in Tigers. He is analyzing. D is super motivated with all the activity around him. He pulled out his scout book after homework yesterday and said…. “what do we need to do?” His uniform craze makes me smile. (Please do not point out to him. We are short a silver arrow on his uniform and also 2 year pin and some other random awards. I hear the reminder every time he puts the uniform on. Woops)

We miss our friends from the previous pack, but really look forward to adventures in the new one. 

Scouts is such a great activity for him because it focuses him after school. We have a “no screen” time policy until 6 pm and  homework and chores are done. This means he has time to work through his Webelos book.  And  rarely have to ask him to do any of it.  Which makes me happy.

As of the first Camp this year, he has already earned 5 of the Webelos activity badges out of the 20. He is loving it. More “grown up” stuff this time around I was told. 

Well a scout ramble…. and that leads up to…. do you wanna buy some popcorn? Haha

Love my Life.

Enjoy!
Chris