What Would Mommy Do?

We would do anything for our kids.  Right?

Anything.

Stay up all night holding their hand.

Play a never ending game of Go Fish.

Answer their questions before the sun rises.

Nothing is too much to ask.  Right?

Donate blood.  Give a kidney.

Embrace the 6 inches of dark roots so they can have a new fall wardrobe.

Give up pie crusts.

*&@!  Whoa.  Wait a minute.  What??

I guess I should back up a bit.

Our sweet Caleb is a sharp little boy.  He has known his ABC's and their sounds since he was 15 months old.  Not kidding.

Remember this?



I think I should get rid of this video before the twins realize they were majorly deprived.

Anyway, Caleb has an uncanny knack for memorization.  He picks up songs and books very easily and has memorized hundreds of pages of books.  Sam I Am, Curious George, and Pete the Cat are some of his favorites. He notices details, tones, pitch, and recalls it quickly.

He is also pretty quirky.  He can become obsessed with certain routines or activities.  And he is easily distracted.  (If we had a dollar for every time he became distracted,....look at that bird!)

I am not saying these things are "wrong" or that we are trying to change all of them.  Granted, Caleb is a 3-year-old boy with some quirky DNA.  (We know his parents pretty well, and they are definitely quirky.)

But, to make a very long story short, God has been leading my husband and I to take a more active role in Caleb's behavior and to take some steps in an attempt to address his challenges.

Many things came together - a perfect God thing, once again - and we have decided to alter our family's diet in some major ways.

I am just beginning down this road and would greatly appreciate any prayers you can offer on our behalf as well as any words of wisdom you can pass on.

I will never appear to be an expert on this subject.  Not even close.  I am a southern gal who has simply lived by the motto, "Anything in moderation."

But for now, we have decided to go organic and to cut out sugar, dairy, and gluten for 30 days.  We will keep a journal of everyone's food intake and note any behavioral/physical changes we observe.  After that time, we will examine the data and make any necessary changes.  We are praying that this will benefit our children and us.

We had allowed ourselves to gradually clean out the pantry and fridge/freezer.  This weekend, I put the finishing touches on the grocery list and headed to Whole Foods.  The next week or so will definitely be a bit of trial and error as we find substitutions and recipes that are kid approved.

(I still haven't brought myself to throw out the Nutella...)

We explained this to Eveley (who is our resident sugar addict....or, one of them.)  I told her we would be concentrating on some "brain" foods and not sugar.  Her face turned white and she stared at me eye-to-eye.  "Are you serious?" she said.  I gave a bit more explanation and offered suggestions of the wonderful things we would eat.  "But we still get dessert, right?" she asked.

Today was our first big day.  The day included scrambled eggs, carrots and hummus, apples, nectarines, frozen grapes (my favorite), bananas and peanut butter, and, for dinner, chili and cornbread.  We even ended the day with dessert for my Eveley -- smoothies made with strawberries, almond milk, and honey.

I almost fell out of my chair when Caleb sat down to dinner and ate his entire bowl of chili.  People.  You do not realize how big of a deal this is.  In fact, all of the kids finished their entire dinner and I made enough for leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

DAY 1
My first day's report card would be an overall A.  We are still struggling to get Caleb to drink almond or coconut milk. But he has not had dairy milk today and has been satisfied with watered-down orange juice.
The biggest thing I noticed today was the DRAMATIC difference in the local ground beef I used in the chili (as opposed to normal ground beef I purchase at Walmart or regular grocery stores).  DRAMATIC.  That's all I can say, really.  Remember, I'm no expert.  But it was DRAMATICALLY better!

I will be keeping records of our journey and am praying that we uncover some nutritional answers to help our sweet Caleb.

SPECIFIC REQUEST:  that Caleb develop a taste for an alternative milk (We are trying almond and coconut).