What Birthdays are Like When You have an ADHD and Sensory Seeking Child

This past weekend we celebrated Christopher's birthday. His actual birth date is December 6th but with the craziness of the holidays, not to mention the fact that I waited too long to reserve a birthday site, we ended up celebrating the big day in January. I rented the therapy pool at the local YMCA and afterwards had pizza, cake and presents in the Big Room. Hey you only turn 6 once so I wanted Christopher to live large!

I don't really know any of Christopher's classmates so I thought this might be a great opportunity to meet the parents and maybe be able to set up some play dates for the future. So i decided to invite his entire class, plus the Kindergarteners in the before school and after school program. That means in addition to my friends and their kids, I had a guest list of 30 kids. That freaked me out a little because all those kids would come with at least one parent and possibly a sibling and the thought of 60+ people at our party was a little overwhelming to me.

What really happened was that hardly anyone RSVPed at first, so I actually started wondering if anyone was going to come at all. So of course that stressed me out. Ultimately we ended up with 10 kids plus their parents so in the end it was actually a really good sized group with some great people. But I was still receiving RSVPs once I had already arrived at the venue so they sure did leave me hanging.

Unfortunately for me, I have been battling a cold for the last week and I woke up the morning of the party feeling really lousy. I didn't want to get out of bed at all. So I didn't until 12:30, when I absolutely had to go shower. I had to make some semblance of an effort to look civilized after all.

Initially I wanted to go to the YMCA ahead of time to decorate the room but I just didn't have it in me. I did make it to the store to pick up Christopher's cake, which looked really awesome. He really does love Angry Birds so the party theme was pretty easy:

Christopher is normally gluten free and artificial dye free but I let him have a "normal" cake for the party because I thought, hey how much could it hurt? Plus he had two friends coming with nut allergies and I didn't want any allergic reactions and ambulance trips at our party. It's funny. You know your own child has a severe sensitivity to gluten and artificial dye but as the mom, you cater to the other kids' needs, even though you know it's going to be rough on your kiddo. And so with that in mind, I went with a marble cake and fun colorful icing. The kids loved it. Christopher was thrilled at the time.

Unfortunately for me, the fun times didn't last. We had about 1/3 of the cake left over and like an idiot I brought the rest home so Christopher could polish it off. Waste not, want not and all that. I figured when we got home from the party, he'd crash hard from all the activity but it was the exact opposite actually. He was bouncing off the walls. Meanwhile, I was the one exhausted but couldn't lie down because I had "play with me play with me play with me" on indefinite loop being yelled into my ear.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson and just tossed that dye-filled cake. But nooo I let Christopher have these "treats" all through he long weekend. And as a result, for the rest of the weekend, Christopher was extremely argumentative, aggressive and all sorts of tantrum-y. I literally couldn't wait to go back to work on Tuesday after a 3-day holiday weekend with the kiddo where he alternately yelled, screamed and defied, in addition to repeatedly telling me he hated me. I walked into work on Tuesday on the verge of tears.

What I've learned is that from now on, we have cupcakes with a butter cream frosting. I can add cake toppers to make them look special and if I absolutely need a fun color, I can buy organic natural dye on Amazon.

Thankfully for us, the majority of kids didn't come so the 10 kids that did show represented a great number. Christopher could handle 10 kids. 30 kids would definitely have been rough on my over-stimulated kid.

Thankfully I at least have great photos so hopefully with time I only remember the good and forget all about the bad with that darn cake. Here is a photo of Christopher's friends singing him happy birthday. He's not smiling because he's just soooo overstimulated here:

In the end, it was a mostly successful party and I am glad I had it at a venue that did the majority of the work for me. If I had had to clean my house and make all the food and organize the kids for a backyard party, I think I would have cried. I do recommend the YMCA as a party venue for the 6 year old crowd and would absolutely do it again, if I were to do the whole day over.

In a nutshell, this is what I learned throwing a 6th birthday party for my sensory seeking ADHD kiddo:

1. Make sure the venue isn't too overwhelming. I wouldn't recommend Chuckie Cheese's because it's just total sensory overload. Swimming worked well for my son because he finds the water very calming. But some kids with SPD issues cannot handle the sensation of water so well. Make sure you do what works best for your child.
2. If your child is normally gluten free, casein free, dye free, organic...whatever...make sure you stick with it at the party or else you risk a major meltdown. 
3. There are GREAT ideas on Pinterest for cakes for the ADHD and SPD kiddo with the special diet, so if you're looking for ideas, I suggest you try there
4. Cupcakes are a great idea if you need to accommodate gluten allergies and nut allergies. You could make one batch of cupcakes GFCF cupcakes and one batch of "regular". Make sure they all have butter cream frosting though so that the kids don't fight for the "cool colors". Also, make sure that the cupcakes are all correctly labeled so nobody accidentally ends up with the wrong type
5. Keep the guest list small. Too many attendees means you risk total sensory overload
6. Do what you can to limit overhead noise. If you don't need blaring music, don't have it
7. No candy! Unless you want to see a meltdown happen in 5...4....3....2....1...
8. The party should not be longer than two hours. Anything more and the kiddo would get overloaded

And that's my birthday experience for yet another year. Until next year...happy happy birthday Christopher!

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe that Halloween has actually come and gone already. Where has the time gone???

My little guy wanted to dress up as Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. However, that particular costume cost $10 more than the generic pirate costume from Target. So I just told my kiddo that he was Jake and dressed him as a regular old pirate. He was comfortable, I was $10 richer and everyone was happy. Win-win all around.

Halloween's a tough holiday for a child with ADHD. The sugar and dye from the candy makes my son SO incredibly hyper. Plus the sights, sounds and flashing lights of the night totally sends him into sensory overload and he tends to start melting down. Plus, ADHD kids thrive on routine and this was a night that took us WAY off our normal routine. It can kinda be a recipe for disaster if you're not careful.

I discovered a couple of tips and tricks for a positive Halloween experience and I will share them with you here:

1. Start earlier, not later. My son really needs his sleep and if he gets to bed too late, it's ugly for him (and everyone else around him) the next day. So for that reason, we started trick or treating by 5:15 so we could be done on the early side. We were done by 7:15 and home in bed by 8:30.
2. If you sense your child is becoming overwhelmed, make that your cue to leave. My son started to melt down and at first I tried to pull him aside into an impromptu time out to calm him down. Yeah that didn't really work. There was way too much loud activity going on around us. When the whole trick or treating experience started to not be fun for him or me anymore, then we left and went home. It was a bummer because my friends and their kids were still out and about and I personally was having fun. But if your kid's miserable, you will soon be miserable as well. Sometimes you just have to recognize your child's limitations and accept that. I give him credit because he did last for two hours but when he was done...he was done.
3. Take advantage of the Switch Witch. I want my son to have the fun experience of trick or treating but I do not want him eating 10 lbs. of candy afterwards. The processed sugar and the artificial dye makes him go absolutely bonkers. And not in a good way. So we had a visit from the Switch Witch and that solved all our problems. The way the Switch Witch works is, your child leaves all their candy at the foot of their bed and overnight while they sleep, the Switch Witch comes in and switches your candy out for a requested toy. In our case, we got an Angry Birds Star Wars Jenga Tie Fighter game. My son LOVES it and he's not running around insane, making me want to scream. Once again, win-win for everyone.

Even though we got home by 7:30 on Halloween night, my son was so incredibly over-stimulated that he was awake until 10pm that night. The next day was Friday and he managed to make it through the school day okay but by the time Saturday rolled around, he was pretty exhausted. So we've had a pretty low key weekend. Lots of napping. But hey at least we'll both be relaxed and well rested for the week ahead now.

Was Medication for ADHD The Right Choice?

It has been one week since my son's ADHD was diagnosed and I started him on medication. Truthfully, he received the diagnosis week ago Thursday but I was so flat out swamped with work and then sick with an awful bout of food poisoning, that I couldn't get the prescription filled until Sunday. Not enough hours in the day sometimes.

Anyway, I really struggled with the choice to medicate Christopher because the idea of medication that comes with side effects can be a bit scary. But ultimately I have to say it was the best decision I could have made. Christopher is doing amazingly on the medication and it has really improved his life.

The kiddo is on 10 mg of Metadate CD, which as I understand is the "hot, new" ADHD medication. Hey check us out. We're trendy. Who knew? Anyway, I'm happy with it because it really works and I don't see any side effects other than Christopher's appetite is a bit wonky. Some days I have trouble getting him to eat anything but then it all seems to catch up with him and he's starving a few days later and eats everything in sight. I need him to have all his nutrients though so I do worry on those low hunger days. I guess it's just important to ensure there's always foods that he likes in the house so that I can get him to eat something when I need him to eat something those days.

Other than that, Christopher has done GREAT on this medication. He tells me he loves the way he feels too. He said he could complete his school work more easily and that he didn't have any "do-over" work on the table (which I guess is what you get if the first time you do some work, it's not perfect and you need to do it over. Yeah they are working these 5 year olds pretty hard).

I've also noticed that he's just calmer and his teachers tell me they see it as well. He's not hitting or slamming into kids in the after-school program anymore, which is huge since that was a problem for us.

The big test was soccer yesterday. Christopher has a way of getting a bit intense on the soccer field and next thing you know, every little kid around him has been knocked down as he fights to get the ball into the goal, like he is a one-man soccer team. Last week they actually stopped the game five minutes early because of the intensity and the coaches were afraid someone was going to get hurt.

This week, Christopher was a soccer playing superstar. He has all the speed and all the agility of a fierce competitor but none of the aggression. He's competitive and was matching up pretty well against two kids on the other team that were amazing players (as far as five year olds go) as well. Christopher went after the ball, not the kids and that was awesome to watch. Christopher scored FIVE goals yesterday and I credit his medication for giving him the ability to focus and control himself so that his skills were able to shine instead of his behaviors.

I know it's a personal decision that every parent needs to make based on the needs of their child but in our case, I'm really confident we made the right choice. Please note that I also still think diet plays a HUGE role and so Christopher is still gluten free and artificial dye free. Plus I've started him on a multi-vitamin that has Omega-3 in it since I hear that helps with ADHD behaviors. I figure that I can keep him on a lower dosage of medication if I also treat his disorder with diet as well. This way I can stave off any potential weird side effects that I read about and which make me nervous. So far so good though and I'm hoping for the best.

Shhh...Don't Tell Them It's Healthy

I'm a single mom and have no social life anymore. Since it was Sasturday night and I didn't have anything else better to do, I decided to break out a bottle of Pear wine that I bought at the Nashoba Valley Wineries a few weeks ago and bake some tasty foods to enjoy over the next few days. What I didn't tell my little kiddo was that I made the dishes extra healthy adding purreed vegetables, chock full of vitamins and minerals. He didn't know the difference. Chock one up for mom!

The first dish I made was a pepperoni pizza bake. Instead of using normal pie crust, I substituted a cauliflower puree that was ahhh-maazing. The pepperoni and cream that went into that recipe weren't all that healthy but the cauliflower was and hey it's Saturday night and we've got to live a little bit right?

The next dish I made was a gluten-free red velvet cake that had two pureed beets baked into the batter. Once again, the kiddo loved it and it was a lot healthier than the average slice of chocolate cake. I felt just a smidge less guilty feeding him the sugar if it came infused with healthy beets.

I think it's important to give my son lots of tasty options for meals and desserts, since he's not allowed to have so many of the things he used to eat because of the ADHD diet. He used to cry when I'd tell him, no you can't have something and I'd feel terrible. But now with all the research I've done on gluten free and dye-free diets, he really does eat quite well. All in all, there's really no reason to miss out on anything.

The only thing I haven't been able to replace is bread. Christopher does not like GF bread at all and just won't eat it. I don't sweat it though. Bread really isn't all that healthy for you anyway.

If you're interested in either of these recipes, feel free to check them out on Pinterest here.

The ADHD Kid Diet

I've decided to medicate my kid (for now at least) to manage his ADHD symptoms. I think he does need it, although the idea of side effects can be scary.

However I would like to do as much as I can for him through simple diet management. The medical community isn't jumping on the diet bandwagon just yet but other moms living with their ADHD-affected kids are finding some things are successful. And I trust them. For example....

Elimination Diets:

I have removed gluten and artificial dyes from Christopher's diet. Since doing so I have noticed a dramatic improvement in his demeanor. Where he used to be violent, he is now much calmer. He used to spin around in circles and slam into people. He couldn't stop himself from hitting, biting and pushing other kids. No one wanted to be around him. And I was at my wit's end.

Once I removed gluten and artificial dye from Christopher's diet, the aggression stopped immediately. It was a god send! However, he can still be a little impulsive. And he will still get over-stimulated and sometimes slam into people. Clearly we're not completely done.

According to WebMD, there are other dietary changes we need to make.

• Eat a high-protein diet, including beans, cheese, eggs, meat, and nuts. Add protein foods in the morning and for after-school snacks, to improve concentration and possibly increase the time ADHD medications work.
• Eat fewer simple carbohydrates, such as candy, corn syrup, honey, sugar, white rice, and potatoes without the skins.
• Eat more complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and some fruits (including oranges, tangerines, pears, grapefruit, apples, and kiwi). Eating complex carbs at night may aid sleep.
• Eat more omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in tuna, salmon, other cold-water white fish, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and olive and canola oil. Omega-3 fatty acids are also available in supplement form.

So in essence, say no to:

• Gluten 
• Artificial dye
• Candy
• Corn syrup
• Sugar
• White rice
• Potatoes

Say yes to more: 

• Beans 
• Meat
• Nuts
• Oranges
• Tangerines
• Pears
• Grapefruit
• Apples
• Kiwi
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Walnuts
• Brazil nuts
• Olive oil
• Omega-3 supplements

Sounds like I've got a grocery list to make...

Diet Fail This Week

Christopher got into trouble at school this week for pushing kids. Plus I realized he was acting out at home again. I actually had to put him into a time out the other day for the first time in weeks. This surprised me because he had been doing so well.  But soon I realized this was entirely my fault. I had gotten lazy on enforcing his diet and he ended up eating gluten and artificial dyes, which make him act aggressively. I know this and yet I still let it happen. Bad mommy!

My kid had been doing so well... SO well on his gluten free, artificial dye free diet. He was listening and respectful and he was keeping his hands to himself. I know he still had the impulsive thoughts (because he told me so) but he was able to override while he followed the elimination diet.

However this week, I knew he was getting a Pop-tart each day during the after-school program and I didn't stop it. I also saw that one of the kids had a birthday and brought in Blow Pops for each of the kids in the program to take. I let Christopher have one so I wouldn't seem like the "mean mommy". On another day, the kids played Bingo and when each child won a round, they'd get a lollipop. So Christopher had yet another no-no food this week and I allowed it because I didn't want to be mean.

Last but not least, I *thought* I had bought gluten free ice cream cones at Whole Foods but I bought organic, wheat-based cones instead. So every night, I think I'm giving Christopher a healthy GF treat for dessert and lo and behold, instead I'm actually contributing to the problem. Mommy fail.

After being told that Christopher's behavioral issues had returned and seeing his hyperactivity for myself, I realized I needed to be super strict with his diet. This mom had learned her lesson the hard way but I learned!

So now I will provide a Gluten-free, artificial dye-free snack + dye-free juice to the after school program every day. I'm also throwing away the remaining ice cream cones. Lastly, when Christopher comes home with a dye-filled piece of candy, I'll just switch it out with an approved treat. He really likes Lucy's Brownie Cakes so I will always keep a stash of those in the house. They're a bit pricey but I think all kids should still be able to enjoy tasty treats and this also helps me not feel like "mean mommy".

So now Christopher's week-day diet will look something like this:

Breakfast

Chocolate milk

Sliced fruit

Handful of garbanzo beans

Lunch

Honest Kids Juice (favorite flavor is grape)

Two turkey roll-ups

Sliced fruit

School Snack

Pirate Booty

After School Program Snack

Honest Kids Juice 

Lucy's chocolate brownie

Ta da! This will work. Christopher will still have a fun, tasty treat with the other kids while also ensuring that he maintains a strict diet that helps regulate his behaviors more effectively. So we'll just have to see how it goes. Wish us luck....

Red Dye #40 is a neuro-toxin????

Now that we're on a gluten-free, dye free diet, my son no longer likes to "spin". And by spinning, I mean he would spin around at high rate of speed and then slam into whomever or whatever was next to him. It was really really aggressive and everyone within a narrow radius of his orbit hated it.

I noticed a few days after our new diet started that he wasn't doing this anymore. I was like, huh. Awesome. I didn't know which component of the diet had caused the change though. Was it the gluten or the dye? Then I read an article about red dye #40.

The reporter for this article interviewed a woman who's daughter stopped spinning around in circles as soon as they eliminated red dye #40 from her life--in her case it was in the child's allergy medicine. I had no idea that there were so many artificial colors added to kids' medicine but apparently that's something being addressed by the FDA now. Wow.

Artificial food coloring is derived from petroleum and can be described as a "neuro-toxin." Per the article:
"Neurotoxins damage nervous tissue. Dr. [David W.] Schab, the Columbia psychiatrist, concluded in his report [a review of 30 years of scientific studies involving food dye and behavior] that the dyes likely cause 'neurobehavioral toxicity.' When I asked him why the reaction occurs in some kids and not others, he said ... artificial food colorings have a drug effect, the same way nicotine has a drug effect, or Vicodin. This is probably why AFCs [artificial food colorings] have a greater effect on children; children are smaller. Dosage is a size-relative factor." And all this is why the FDA is considering the link between AFCs and behavior, and whether the agency should ban them or require warning labels."

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), our use of food coloring has increased five-fold in the last 50 years. Yes, Americans are clearly eating a lot of junk and it's affecting our children.

The CSPI wants the FDA to ban eight artificial food dyes. They are specifically targeting Red #40, Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. These dyes make up 90% of the food dyes on the market and cause the most problems.

The bigger "wow" is that the EU already bans these food dyes but the FDA isn't so sure there's actually a link between aggressive behavior and artificial food coloring. Um, really all they have to do is go online and find the study after study showing causality. Really makes you wonder if the FDA is truly an independent government entity or if it's getting some $$$$ from the huge food distributors who would stand to lose millions if they couldn't keep mass producing this garbage. Hmmmm.

Anyway, change won't happen overnight so in the meantime, we need to be much more vigilant about what we as parents are feeding our kids. The bottom line is we need to educate parents and medical professionals about the dangers of artificial dyes. If we all knew that we were spoon-feeding our children a steady diet of neuro-toxins, would we really continue to do so? I think not.

If you'd like to read the original article I referenced, please see it here:  http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/03/31/hidden-food-dyes-five-surprise-grocery-store-items-to-keep-away/

Healthy Eating Can Be Fun!

Now that I have my kid on a healthy gluten-free, artificial dye-diet, I couldn't be happier. He is so calm and fun to be around. And the diet really is easy to maintain too. You just have to be a little creative.

For example, Christopher loves slushies but the ones from the local ice cream shop are full of nasty dyes that make my kid act like an insane lunatic. So now we make them at home instead using pureed fruit and my son loves them!

I went to Target and bought the Squeezy Freezy Instant Slushy Maker and now we enjoy tasty, healthy slushies that are actually fun to make together. You can find them on amazon.com as well.

If your child likes slushies the way my son does, you'll want to invest in the Squeezy Freezy and in some recipes as well. My kiddo loves watermelon, so I'll attach a watermelon slushy recipe here. Hope you enjoy!

Watermemelon Squeezy Freezy Recipe:

1 Freezy Squeezy

1/2 watermelon, chopped in pieces

2 cups of chopped strawberries, quartered

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups ice

Freeze the Squeezy Freezy cup for at least three hours (overnight works best)

In a blender combine watermelon pieces (ensuring that you removed the seeds), strawberies and sugar

Puree until drink is soupy

Add contents to Freezy Squeezy cup

Let sit for a few minutes then squeeze. Voila! Your fruit drink has been transformed into a tasty, healthy slushy.

Unless you bought several Freezy Squeezy cups, you will have lots of slushy mixture left over. You could now add the ice to the blender and chop the juicy contents until it has a slushy consistency. Add the slushy to glasses, garnish with fruit and enjoy!

Gluten-Free/Dye-Free Diet Update: So Far So Good

I've noticed a dramatic difference in Christopher's behaviors since he started his gluten-free, dye-free, low-sugar diet. This diet is hard to keep up--boy does my kid miss sugary, junky treats but it is so worth it.

I took Christopher to a play date at a local park on Saturday and my friend commented to me that this was the farthest away from him we've ever had the opportunity to sit. Usually I would have to hover right next to him, calling out, "don't hit. Don't push. Move back". Boy is that exhausting.

But on Saturday, Christopher made friends with another little boy and played very nicely with him. So my friend and I could talk to each other and catch up, which is rare. Well that is until some other kids came along and they wanted to play with Christopher's Disney Cars and so we had some sharing issues happening. But that's age-appropriate and Christopher's an only child so that's understandable. I can deal with that. Christopher really does need to learn to share. But I digress....

Anyway, I've done a little research and there are tons of stories that link ADHD to gluten sensitivity, artificial dyes and even casein (from dairy). The scary thing I'm reading is that some kids metabolize gluten like an opiate (i.e. morphine and heroin) and that's why you get the crazy, out of control behavior.

I also read an article on Forbes.com that said artificial dyes that have been proven to cause Cancer in the '70s have been banned. However yellow dye #5 which is still considered "safe" and found in all our foods has been linked to hyperactivity, anxiety, migraines and even Cancer. Yes, this is in the food you are eating!

How is it possible that we have kids acting like they're on heroin and there isn't more of an uproar? Why didn't Christopher's pediatrician suggest I remove gluten and dyes from his diet when I told him my kid was ADHD symptomatic? It's not like there's a huge gluten lobby, funneling money to Congress to ensure that gluten manufacturers continue to rake in the dough (pun intended). You'd think that the doc would suggest that right off the bat. But he didn't. As a matter of fact, when I said this is what we'd be doing he was very "meh" about it. He said it works for some kids and doesn't for others and not to expect too dramatic a turnaround in behaviors. Crazy that he doesn't know what I now know: diet can really affect a child's behaviors.

We live in the Boston area, which is known to be one of the most medically advanced cities in the country so you would think that we would be on the forefront of this type of research. However if that's the case, I'm not hearing of it. Why isn't' this happening? Everything I'm reading suggests that this is a huge problem that is only getting worse. Shouldn't we be addressing diet more aggressively?

By the way, Christopher is the only kid I know who doesn't like cheese so we don't have to worry about casein thankfully. Whew on that one.

If you're interested in seeing any research on the topic, feel free to click a few links I found in my search:
http://www.corepsych.com/2007/08/celiac-notes-opiate-withdrawal-from-gluten-and-casein/

http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/commoncomplicationsofcd/a/Gluten-And-Adhd.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2012/08/27/living-in-color-the-potential-dangers-of-artificial-dyes/

You Are What You Eat

When my son was on the foster adoption track, he was deemed "hard to place" because of behavioral issues. He was in a total of seven foster homes before me, two of which were Intensive Foster Care homes. He was scaring his care givers with self-harming behaviors and so intensive measures were taken.

Because of this, Christopher came to me with a host of issues that we've had to work through over the course of the last two years. Some stuff has gotten better. For example, he truly believes now that I am his mommy and that this is his Forever Home. Lots of one-on-one attention, stability, love, consistency and nurturing has gotten him to that point. He also has therapists he sees once a week and has a weekly visit with a therapeutic mentor, all which helps immensely. I also think it really helps that I got him pretty young. He was three years old when he came to live with me and the resiliency of the little kid spirit is pretty darn awesome.

We were doing well in some ways but I just couldn't stop the aggressive behaviors no matter how hard I tried. No matter what I did, he would still hit, push, bite or kick kids. When we were on vacation earlier this summer, multiple family members came to me with their concerns. They caught Christopher attacking a baby on the beach with a piece of wood. And they all told me that not only was the action disturbing but also the weird smile on his face while he was hitting this baby. They all told me it was kind of scary. And as the parent, that was scary for me to hear.

We are waiting for our evaluation with Children's Hospital but the wait times are looong. I needed to do something while we wait, so I decided to amend Christopher's diet and you know what? It was the best decision I could possibly make.

The Diet

I have Christopher on a gluten-free, dye-free, processed-food diet now and I have seen a DRAMATIC change in this kid's behaviors. He is calm. He listens. And he is happy. I LOVE THIS HEALTHY NEW DIET!!

Christopher's nanny told me that she noticed a difference. My friend who we had a play date with yesterday told me that Christopher was the best she's ever seen him. I literally could cry I'm so relieved.

I can't control everything unfortunately and there was one day where Christopher got back into his old diet habits last week. On Thursday, the nanny gave in and got him pizza (full of gluten) and his therapeutic mentor, Daniel, got him a slushy (full of sugar and dyes). After eating the slushy, Christopher had an epic meltdown, threatening to beat me (WTF??) and screaming holy murder on the bike trails in Cambridge. I think his body was reacting to all the crap that he hasn't had in a week and simply revolted. Needless to say, Daniel will not be giving Christopher slushies anymore and the nanny needs to follow my diet requirements for Christopher. I pay her a LOT of money. Not to mention, it makes her job easier if my kid is calmer right? 

It kind of stinks that I have to constantly say "no" to my kid when he wants a sugary, neon-green treat but I'm looking at the Big Picture here, as this is really in his best interest. He's happy when he's able to control himself and his self-esteem is stronger too. Kids want to play with him and he feels better about himself. If it takes eating fresh veggies and organic meats to get him to that place, then that's just what I've got to do as a parent. It's expensive sure but in the end, my kid is really worth it. And it's a lot cheaper than ADHD medication, that much I know.