A mentioned in my last post our four year old is a character. He came running to me full sob- tears plopping off his red face- yesterday because the cat had eaten his salmon sandwich whilst he had left the sandwich to see what the noise was- he thought it was Zombies. Lesson learned, take your sandwich with you when you check for Zombies.
I found out the other day he has been calling one of the carers at day care fat so I apologised on his behalf and found he has also been congratulating her for wearing her not insubstantial breasts "Oh good, you're wearing your boobies today!".
I have also mentioned that one of his current little quirks was a failure to attend to his hygiene as he should. Yes I am talking bum wiping. He didn't. I think it may have started because his arms were too short to reach but then it started getting stupid. No details (I don't want to be a poo blogger...)but needless to say something had to be done so I asked him what to do. His answer was swift and decisive. He wanted a cake. Actually it's his standard answer for most things and not always appropriate but I saw a chance for some blatant food bribery here a reward system for appropriate behaviour. Anyone who thinks that food shouldn't be used as a reward doesn't live with my family but is welcome to take over proceedings to show me a better way, they can also clean my house whilst they perfectly parent the children. Anyway, enough of my defensive rant, back to the cake. It was decided that yea verily, every day he wiped his backside would be recorded by putting a chick pea in a baby food jar and once there were ten he could have a cake. It took two and a half weeks but we are there! He was so excited to make a marble cake with me using the Thermomix he was shaking with excitement like a little Chihuahua (I did mention he really likes cake right) It looks a bit odd, I can't ever seem to get the marbling right.
So feast your eyes on the Great Bum Wiping Cake and some Iced tea in an old seventies Tang bottle a vintage jug and I will try to forget the name whilst I eat it!
P.S. I couldn't hack the dairy free thing, I also got hideous Gastroenteritis three days in and the baby wasn't any less or more windy either way so I thought "sod this" and ate some cheese.
Today I found myself in the kitchen whipping up a dairy free milk substitute (here's the recipe from Quirky Jo) whilst breast feeding the baby who is in her sling. Very Earth Mama. I didn't sign on for this though. It looks like I am the latest victim of dairy intolerance. Did you know that intolerances often pop up post partum? I did not. I am not pleased. It may be something to do with the immune system recalibrating after being suppressed during gestation.
This is grim news for me. I was so delighted I could now eat the gorgeous local soft cheeses I had been denying myself whilst pregnant.Baby is windy when I do and I really don't feel good either. Maybe after two weeks there will be no difference and I will go back on the dairy but in the mean time I am eliminating it. I already know I can't deal with most soy. So making my own substitutes is where it is at.
Breastfeeding the baby who hates to be away from (reluctant Earth) Mama was something that had to be done to get some peace whilst I faffed in the kitchen. Kitchen faffing is extremely hard to do successfully with screaming children about.
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| Cute right? hmmmmm |
My four year old is a free spirit at the moment, if by free spirit you mean he doesn't like to wear knickers, wipe his bum, have his shoes on the right feet and touches everything he sees even if it is on the ground and disgusting. Especially if it is on the ground and disgusting. Most notable today was the rotting remains of a rat. Funnily enough I carry a little bottle of germ warfare handrub and some wet wipes everywhere now. I may have to start with a full hazmat suit!
Ah the umm joys (?) of parenthood or something.....
Christmas and New Years is chaos for everyone I know but I feel we manage to make it that bit more chaotic than other people. Not with our outrageous purchases or cooking or familial discord but through having our own business to run full throttle when there are public holidays all over the place, everyone else is relaxing, we can't get any services done and the children have no daycare! Christmas is our busiest time of year and after a very quiet year it came as a shock! Our boys seem to have finally decided to work in with us a bit (and finding that the younger one has been suffering with lactose intolerance has helped his behaviour a bit- not quite as cranky!) on occasion and we do love spending time together but with such a flurry of activity I forget how to do normal things like think of what to have for dinner, or put a loaf of bread in the bread maker, ditto the yoghurt...(we have been eating out a lot...Pizza anyone?) but I am every so smugly pleased to report that the boys have been asking for my homemade food because it apparently very yummy (or Master five is trying to get something from me...).
The challenge of late for me has been the boys attending a new day care for the holidays, just for two weeks. The centre is nut free and egg free and combined with Little L's newly found lactose intolerance and Master J's self taught rampant vegetarianism I have been forced to get my thinking cap on for nut free, egg free, dairy free, meat free meals. Lots of internet trawling and I have found some new vegan recipes to try, I have nearly assembled enough ingredients to make this Vegan "cheese" -have a look at this blog, it is incredibly cute! I will report back once made...I have also been hitting the Thermomix hard, dairy free smoothies, banana icecream (just frozen bananas whizzed up to make a creamy substance), homemade soyamilk (very soybeany!) and a concoction I made with seeds, coconut butter, dates, cocoa, rapadura and quinoa flakes made a rich fudgy stuff without wheat, eggs, dairy, nuts, refined sugar (makes one wonder if it had anything at all in it!).
Soon I will start feeling like a person again and will definitely report back when that happens!
It looks like it has been a month since I Blogged so what has happened, so many little things, a kitten has come and gone (we found here in an abandoned house), I have been practicing my roller skating, the peas have died, the rabbit has eaten all the lettuce, the lettuce has regrown and bolted and Summer keeps coming and going!
none of these happenings are inspiringly blog worthy so the blogging has not been done!
Our youngest son has been cranky and developed the most alarming rashes and his face and stomach, not itchy but he has been picking at them and dribbling on them as he also had a runny nose so lots of mouth breathing. I had been smearing him with Calendula, comfrey, hemp oil, lanolin, Dettol, Soove... nothing was looking at the rashes and they weren't getting better
I was laughingly mentioning his temperament to a customer who told me his youngest was the same until they discovered he was lactose intolerant and then once no longer drinking milk, he was fine.
*bing* a Little bell went off or maybe it was a lightbulb coming on in my head. This cranky child of mine has a serious powdered milk obsession. At Three and a bit he is really too old for a bottle but has been demanding more and more milk bottles and getting furious if he doesn't get one. It has been reminding me of a heroin addict- more little bells in my head (or is that tinnitus?) I have read in passing of allergies or intolerances causing and addictive effect possibly through stimulating adrenals or maybe it was endorphin production stimulation and I thought to myself "It's a weekend so we can't get him to the Doc. anyway, why not try a milk substitute?". So using my trusty Thermomix I whipped up an almond and oat milk substitute flavoured with dates and vanilla and crossed my fingers.
The rash started clearing up with 12 hours of switching and now he is almost back to spot free, today he came to see us in our bedroom and didn't bellow at us once!
It seems almost too much to hope for but this one change (he is still eating a small amount of cheddar cheese) has done wonders in a week. I was going to see if he could be tested for intolerances but apparently the tests can be inconclusive anyway so we will carry on as we are for a while and see how things go!
Oh and did you know it is nearly Christmas?
