11/12 - Some Food Changes

So I've been researching some stuff over the past few weeks and have scared our family into a different direction.
1. No more sugar-substitute foods. It's the real thing or nothing. No more diet or low sugar or low calorie. I was never open minded enough before to even contemplate this but wow, my eyes are open now. No more Splenda and aspartame (among a few others).
2. No more dairy!!!! I know. That's crazy. I love milk, cheese, and ice cream (frozen yogurt actually). This has been the hardest by far, to give up. After reading more research on the area of milk, I freaked out Brad and I and now no one in the house can have any kind of milk product. It's a huge change for us but the research out there is just too scary to be trying to drink it. We are the only species that tries to drink another species milk. You can read on one of the 2 links below if you want more information.

Link to a fairly long article about the negative affects of milk:

http://josquin.tripod.com/milk.htm

Link to a shorter article about milk and addresses the common myths many people have heard about milk:

http://lorton.patch.com/articles/milk-it-does-nobody-good

These adjustments left me starving for a few days because I didn't know what I could eat!! Haha. OK. So I went to the library and checked out a few books. I made my own granola and muffins (made from almond meal, not white or wheat flour). We are looking for a dehydrator now so we can make our own dried fruit and beef/turkey jerky so we have some more snack options.

After reading the library books I checked out and some other stuff on the web, we decided looking into the Paleo way of eating might be right for us (hard, but healthier than what we have been doing). So, I got a book and this is it:

We are not trying to lose weight. We are trying to allow ourselves to feel better and have more energy. The more I read about kids and milk and eating foods with preservatives in them, the more I get scared that I am just setting myself up for health problems and my children. I love them and don't want to doom them chronic sickness. In the real Paleo method of eating, you are not allowed to have any grains (nope, not even whole grains). However, based on the research that I have done, I feel comfortable allowing us to continue to consume some grains but we are trying to make them healthier ones. We had roasted butternut squash the other night along with some kale chips I made. Squash = yummy; Kale chips = we'll try those again in a week or two :)

We even bought a book that explains to the boys what we are doing and how we are chaining our eating patterns right now. We are doing this as a family for 6 weeks and then we will reassess how we are feeling.

The boys are doing just fine with Almond Milk but they are struggling to try and find a non-dairy yogurt that is okay. I've tried an almond milk based yogurt and the consistency/texture is much different and neither of the boys liked it. I also tried goat's milk yogurt (at least it is similar in make-up to human milk and supposed to be much easier to digest) but they don't really like that either. We are trying to find replacements for their most common foods and it's going pretty well so far. Aiden and I are likely to see the most benefit from this non-dairy change but Eli could as well. Asthma and eczema are both related to dairy consumption (along with chronic ear problems from all the mucus milk makes you produce) so we'll see. We are just keeping an open mind and trying to find something that works for our family and allows us to feel a bit better. We'll keep you updated.

11/12 - Therapy

Aiden is getting stronger every week! It's so amazing. Here he is with Mrs. Rusty last week. He had to throw balls and hold up the hoop so she could throw balls. The little stinker loves to throw right handed even though he does everything else left handed.

She then had him use the rope and try to lift himself out of the ball pit. He needed quite a bit of help but he kept trying. Well, he said he was done because he couldn't lift himself up but she urged him to keep trying so he did.

I wanted to include this next picture so I had proof for Aiden that he really did hang on to the rope all by himself without letting his feet touch the ground.

The next exercise Aiden did was new for him. He loves this little house that has a bunch of locks on it. You have to unlock the doors to get out the shaped pieces that are inside and then lock the door back up. Mrs. Rusty coached him to have the hand position that is appropriate to lock and unlock the door. He was having to focus so much. In the picture below he has his little shoulders all tensed up ... well, that and he likes to use his upper body rather than just using his fingers.

He then gave her the pieces and she placed them on the side of the ball pit. He then had to retrieve them using a long pincher tool thing and place them back in her hand. Look at the far right picture below. He sticks his little tongue out whenever he is doing something challenging, especially involving motor control and moving his body.

He figured out right away that it's easier to grasp the pincher tool using both hands but we need his hand strength the get better so he was only allowed to use one hand. In order for this to happen though, Mrs. Rusty had to hold his right hand so he wouldn't use it.

After they were done getting the shapes, she had him draw a monkey on the mat that hangs up in the therapy room. Aiden actually even asked to use chalk which is pretty surprising because 1) he doesn't like chalk dust and 2) he normally doesn't like to write voluntarily. Mrs. Rusty does such a great job with coaching him through the process of making something. They made great monkeys and I was so surprised he could follow her directions and drawing to mimic hers.

The fight for Aiden to put his own socks on is starting to diminish. He now only gets to wear them at night if he puts them on. The other night someone was calling my name from their room and I was so tired. I answered back, "stop calling my name. If you need to go potty, go potty. If you need socks, put them on. Anything else needs to wait until tomorrow." (I didn't say I was going to win mother of the year award) Everything is quite for a few minutes and then someone is calling my name out again. I yell back the same thing I did before. I heard nothing else ... for a few minutes. On the third time, I was so annoyed and turned on the hall light (so I can somewhat see in their room) and said, "who is calling me and what do you want?" Aiden replies "I put my socks on by myself! Do I get a sticker for that in the morning?" He was so excited that he did it by himself so I didn't want to crush his world by telling him I was not answering a silly question like that when I already told them what I did. So, I shook my head in slight disbelief for a moment that I seriously got up to find out he doesn't actually need anything, and in fact, is finally doing things on his own. I told him "that's a great job Aiden and you get a sticker tomorrow. However, from now on, you can ask me that in morning. Great job though." You should have seen the smile on his face when he told me he put both socks on by himself.

We are still working on putting our shoes on but we are starting to finally make some headway on the socks which is very exciting. We went from rewards for putting socks on (M&M) and then to bargaining (I'll do it this time but you have to do it next time; or I'll do one sock and you can do the other). We gave him stickers for about a week of putting on his socks and now he just realizes that he has to do it (and doesn't get a sticker; but he can earn a sticker putting his tennis shoes on!). In fact, he put his shoes and socks on enough times last week to win a special airplane from Ms. Rusty. He LOVES this thing and we if he starts arguing about not wanting to put his socks on then I just say, "that's fine; I'll help you but we will have to take the airplane back to Mrs. Rusty to hold on to for a week until you can earn it back."

And here is something about Eli: He's starting to dress himself!!! Yeah!!!! Unlike Aiden, he has no idea how to match and doesn't even care. BUT, he's pulling his undies up all by himself, putting pants/shorts on if we are really patient, and even the shirt. He's starting to want to be independent like his big brother which is neat to see.

11/5 - Halloween Pictures

So I had some cool pirate costumes for the boys and then Eli refuses to wear his ... little stinker. He didn't like the belt thing I made for him but it totally made the outfit. Needless to say, he went as a Harley Davidson biker guy and Aiden went as a pirate. They were so excited.

They dressed up that day to go to daycare. Aiden dressed up as "daddy" as he says (which is a flight suit) and Eli wore the biker boy outfit but was asking to take it off before we even entered the daycare building. They were both in regular clothes by the time I picked them up later in the day. We left our house at 6:00pm and went trick-or-treating to a couple houses that were on our way to daycare. The church that the daycare is part of had a trunk-or-treat with bounce houses and games. It was quite a production. The boys were so excited. After we got some candy, the boys were itching to go on the bounce houses. They stayed together for a while but eventually, they split up to do different bounce houses.

After they were done After we made them go inside, there were lots of games to do. They both waited in a long line to do a little putt putt game. Although Aiden holds the club akward, he did well enough to hit the ball down to the hole. 

Eli on the other hand, just did his own thing. Brad tried to help him but .... Eli will hit how he wants. :)

They then found a baseball game where they had to throw the ball into the hole. Aiden did pretty good and got 2 balls in.

Eli is still working on his aim (he is only 3) and eventually walked right up to the hole and threw his ball in. It was priceless. We didn't even have to tell him it was okay to move up; he just decided that on his own.

We found a game where the kids had to throw a hula hoop over a pumpkin to get a prize/candy. Aiden had a little trouble doing it. He actually just knocked the pumpkin over one time and thought he was in trouble (see the picture below). He's so cute. He had to scoot up pretty close to get the hoop over the pumpkin.

Apparently Eli did a great job observing his brother try a few times because he went and got it on the first try. Whenever people would let Eli choose a treat, he always went for the dum-dums. This boy truly does love lollipops.

A favorite game of the boys is fishing. I'm not sure why they like it so much. I'm always surprised by how long they will stand in line to play this game. Amazing. Totally not worth it in my book but ... I'm not a kid. They both had fun though.

We finally convinced the boys we had done/seen all the games inside and that it was time to go home. We parked our stroller by the fire truck and when we came back out, they were letting kids sit in the back to take pictures. Here are Eli and Aiden. It's actually hard to see Eli because he's in the shadow of a pole.

 

We walked home and stopped at 2 houses on the way back to trick-or-treat. It was about 8:00pm and the boys were excited for people to come by our house to get candy. Once we got home, the boys set up their chairs outside and waited extremely eagerly for trick-or-treaters. They were so cute. They got so excited when people would come. They would get out of their chair and start walking towards the person who was 15 feet away in the driveway. I had to coach them and tell them to sit down and wait and be patient. They had a blast handing out candy. I only got one bag so we ran out quickly (I didn't think any trick-or-treaters would be left by the time we got home). I had to turn our lights off so people would stop coming to our house. Aiden was so sad when I had to do that. He said, "mommy, there are people coming." I told him we were all out of candy and he looked in his bag and pulled out 2 pieces and said he would give them his candy. What a heart of gold.

Here are a few random pictures from the past couple days after Halloween. The boys were playing frisbee outside. Aiden is getting pretty good at throwing it but his wind-up (see below) cracks me up and is kinda scary if you are standing by him. I thought he was going to decapitate Eli in the picture below but he actually threw it out in the yard.

Eli is getting better too at throwing it. They love throwing the frisbee and having brother go run and get it.

We started our Thanksgiving Tree. It spent a long time cutting this tree out but think it looks pretty good. Every evening, we all say what we are thankful for, write it on a leaf, and put them on the tree. I can't wait to see what it looks like at the end of the month.

We had a movie night for the boys a few nights ago. Here is Eli watching the movie after his dinner. This is what our living room looks like on movie nights. I have our picnic blanket down, the boys both have a stool they eat on, and we get to watch a movie. We do have to stop the movie and/or remind the boys to eat their dinner during movie nights. I try and let the boys have a movie night once every week or 1.5 weeks.

We were watching something that was a tad scary the other night. Here is Eli just rolling around in the living room watching TV. 

Aiden on the other hand, gets so scared during tv shows and movies. He was hiding under a blanket for some of it (I actually think it was a Dora or Diego episode they were watching). He usually gets up and leaves the room during the "scary" parts. I am very thankful Eli hasn't picked up this habit :)

Here is our tree after a couple of days. Eli  ALWAYS says he's thankful for God and Jesus so I told them you can only say something one time to put up on the tree. Eli has had to branch out a little and Aiden has been encouraging him and giving him ideas. It's pretty cute. Tonight, Aiden was thankful for going out to eat and getting to play and Eli was thankful for church. 

There are some really big changes coming to the Hoyt Household very soon. I've completely freaked myself and Brad out and we are taking dairy and simple carbohydrates out of our diet. In fact, most carbohydrates are gone except a few whole grains. Some of the research out there is terrifying and crazy. I feel like the USDA has just blindly given America recommendations over the last 30 yrs without the kind of research needed to do that. I'm a little nervous about such a big change for us but at least we are all in it together. We are going to eat more like they did in the olden days: lots of meat and protein, very little carbs. It's called the Paleo diet although it's not a diet, it's a way of eating. We'll see how it goes. There is lots of research to show that a number of diseases and disorders can be prevented by eating this way.