GAPS diet update

I've been dragging my feet lately when it comes to blog posting! I've been meaning to post about our progress and my changing philosophy on the GAPS diet.

After Lucy was in the hospital last month (and there was a possibility that the GAPS diet made her symptoms more likely to occur), I decided to back off 100% adherence to GAPS and reevaluate what's good about it and what I want to move away from.

The good:

• Going on GAPS has greatly broadened Nate's diet and improved his eating habits. 
• Whole foods meals--almost nothing processed
• No sugar--and no ketchup addiction for Nate! Eliminating sugar alone definitely helped with hyper behaviors.
• Helps me stay away from the "easy fix" meals like peanut butter and jelly on gluten-free bread EVERY day for lunch for Nate

The bad:

• Completely eliminating all grains, including super healthy ones like quinoa
• No wiggle room for occasional off-diet treats

My updated philosophy has been to stick with the good stuff from the diet--whole foods meals, no sugar, no easy fix meals every day--but back away from the extremes. I've added quinoa into the daily rotation (the boys don't care for it, so I've been mixing soaked/cooked quinoa into other things like the breakfast sausage I make). I am not making every single dish for every single meal from scratch (today the kids had Trader Joe's packaged roasted seaweed as part of lunch). On Sundays after church, we get In-n-Out meat patties for the kids and one order of fries so they can each have a handful. Fruit is still a between-meals snack, separate from other foods, since it is digested differently. I'm not making Nate drink broth with every meal anymore. I feel like adhering to the GAPS diet with total dedication for three months was a good thing, and now it's time to back away, holding on to the great things we've taken from it.

School

As I mentioned briefly, Lucy got into Journey School! We got the call a couple of weeks ago that she'd moved up the waiting list from number 10 all the way into the class. That means that Nate is now number 1 on the 2nd grade waiting list.

Lucy and I went to a brief meeting with several of the kindergarten teachers. They asked me about Lucy's temperament, eating and sleeping habits, likes and dislikes, etc. They do this for all the children and take the information into account when dividing the classes; they try to balance the classrooms this way. I'll be very interested to see if Lucy's "home personality" comes out in the classroom. Although the teachers exchanged smiles remembering other "shy in public, crazy at home" students who reveal their "home personalities" by October or November, I tend to think that won't happen with Lucy. I think she'll save up all her tantrums and craziness for the car ride home from school each day. :)

One of the reasons I didn't post right away with the good news about making it into the school is that I've been struggling with some indecision. I do believe this is a good decision for us, but I can't help feeling guilty for giving up on homeschooling. And there are some things that are so nice about homeschooling that I know we'll miss. (For example, we've gone to the pool several times in the past couple of weeks by 11:00 or 12:00--when the kids would normally still have several hours of school left. Another "nice about homeschooling thing" we'll miss is the flexibility, especially with travel: my sister Lucy is getting married in September--yay!!!!--and homeschooling would have meant we could travel to Virginia for however long we needed/wanted. Being in Journey School will mean the children will have to go to VA for the shortest trip possible.) So, like I said, I'm still wavering. I don't think I want to homeschool; I'm just mourning the loss of the great things about it. (I think.)   :)

Video games

I know video games are supposedly "bad" for kids--fries their brains and all--but I've been loving them. The kids play them really nicely together, which is more than can be said for many, many other activities. This morning, I overheard Nate and Levi playing Mariokart (a car racing game) together. Nate helps Levi by telling him which buttons to push, and then he cheers him on. It's so cute how excited they get when Levi gets something other than last place. (Nate, having finished the race first out of the ten cars, cheers Levi on until he finishes. Then they celebrate: "Levi, you got ninth place! Yayyyyy!") We also love the Wii Sports games (bowling is the favorite, I think) and the dancing game we have. Since we have two remotes, the kids do really well rotating turns and cheering the others on when it isn't their turn.

If/when Nate and Lucy attend Journey School in the fall (side note: Lucy got in to the class! And Nate is #1 on the waiting list! Separate post about that soon), we'll have to reconsider our video game policies (because Journey School recommends/asks for no screen time during the week--which I think I would follow moderately). But for now, I love it.

Popsicles

The kids have been loving my homemade popsicles. I just make extra juice in the juicer in the mornings and put the extra into the popsicle molds to freeze. Today's creation: apple and carrot juice with frozen raspberries.

Boots in the bath

Levi tonight.

Photobooth fun

The Photobooth program on our Mac is really fun. Here are a few pictures from a couple of months ago. I'm pretty sure Nate has taken hundreds of himself on the "kids" profile on the computer.

A boy and his bike

Last week, I found a balance bike (a bike without pedals that helps kids learn how to balance on a bike before they go to a "real bike," never needing training wheels) on Craiglist for Levi. It took him about 2 days to figure it out, and now he is in love. He thanks God for his bike when he prays ("Dear Father, thank you for this food. And thank you for my bike. And thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen.").

Here he is on the second day:

Here he is on the third day:

Within minutes of this video, Levi rode his bike head on into a tree while avoiding a car that was pulling out of a parking space. Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet, because he made contact pretty hard! It also splintered the front part of the bike pretty badly. I thought it was beyond repair, but Jon was able to fix it the next day. Levi was very, very happy.

Nate is 7

Happy birthday, wonderful boy! Nate is 7 today and is turning into a "big kid." He has matured and grown up a lot in the last few months.

He is so sweet and excited when opening his presents and always thanks the giver. One of the things I love most about him is his enthusiasm! Nate is also smart, happy, and responsible. We love you, Nate!