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Monday, 10/15/12: Weight = 254.2

Sorry to have left you with such a downbeat post last time. And to have followed that by not posting anything for almost two months. It’s been crazy here. Let me tell you just a little bit about it:

1. School:

• My mom came to visit on 9/5, the day both boys were supposed to start school, but they didn’t. Zoo Keeper’s school staggers the start for kindergarteners, which is actually a great idea, so he started on 9/6 instead (the full-day thing worked out just fine, BTW). BamBam’s preschool turned out not to start until the following Monday and his autism group started the week after that.
• Zoo Keeper came home having met a bully on his third day of school. I’m working on a separate post for that, so you’ll hear all about it soon. To relieve any worries you may have, it’s all fine now.
• BamBam’s preschool had an open house on Friday, 9/7. Just before we left the house that day, I got a call from his bus driver to tell me when she would be picking him up, which is when I discovered that he had been switched to the afternoon preschool. Not a big deal for most days because the autism group is just flip-flopped and he’ll be in school the same amount of time. Totally ripped apart his Mondays, though. The Mondays that I had very carefully scheduled with OT at 11, music at 12:30, and ABA at 2:30.
• I freaked out.
• Talked to BamBam’s teacher at the open house and realized she moved him so he could stay with his two buddies, H and S. Yes, I absolutely want that, so I set about changing the rest of his schedule.
• We had already pretty much decided to drop OT for the time being, so I just made that official. His wonderful music teacher and I found another class for him that’s actually working out much better than the other one would have, so I’m quite pleased there. But ABA was a huge problem.
• Our ABA TA is very tightly scheduled. She had already stopped sessions with Zoo Keeper because she didn’t have any slots open when he was out of school and the only time she had available for BamBam was that 2:30 slot. So, we not only lost a TA that we loved (the boys both still ask when she’s coming over and BamBam calls anyone with dark hair by her name), we didn’t have a replacement.
• Our ABA Program Manager came through with another TA. We like her very much, but she works full-time at another job and doesn’t start with us until 5:30pm. I’m not sure if that’s going to work out for us, but we’re giving it a try. Three nights per week from 5:30 to 7:00.

2. Surgery and exercise:

• Sparky and I signed up for an intensive team workout competition beginning in September and ending on 12/1. You have one weekly workout with your team and you schedule two other workout classes to attend each week. They also have team challenges where you all go through some physical tests (like timed running or some other sort of race-type thing) to earn points for your team, but also so you can see how your fitness improves over the course of the competition. There’s lots of support from your team members and we thought the accountability would help us in our quest to get back to the gym.
• I had surgery for carpal tunnel on my right wrist on 9/13. I went in thinking I’d be up and at ‘em pretty quick, but that’s not how it worked out. Prior to registering, I talked to the manager at the club about the surgery and the competition thing. She said they had an in-house physical therapist who specializes in hands and could work with me and class leaders to make sure the workouts were modified for my wrist. Unfortunately, when I went to make my first appointment with the PT, she didn’t work there anymore and they didn’t think they would be replacing her anytime soon. Great.
• I picked the occupational therapist my surgeon recommended and she unwrapped my hand/arm five days after surgery. Yikes. After talking to her about it, seeing what my arm actually looked like, and, oh yeah, THE PAIN, I realized that I needed to drop out of the competition thing. I could do lower body cardio, but I couldn’t participate in their classes, which all involve some amount of lifting. There was just no way to modify them enough to accommodate my wrist. Luckily I had talked to the manager about it beforehand: she gave me a full refund.
• I’m still having a little trouble holding a pen, though it’s getting better. Typing is almost normal, though it wasn’t for awhile, which is a big part of why I haven’t posted here.

3. Food and diets:

• The boys and I were tested for food sensitivities in August. Turns out both boys are sensitive to wheat; gluten; and, to a lesser extent, milk. So we decided to go gluten free.
• I went through our pantry and threw out anything with wheat in it. There wasn’t much left: wheat is in freakin’ everything.

• 

  Part of the gutted pantry.

• 

  Most of what was removed from said pantry and given away.

• Before the change, BamBam would pretty much eat graham crackers, pizza, chicken nuggets, chocolate chip cookies, toast, pop tarts, and goldfish. Now he limits his eating to the gluten free versions of graham crackers, pizza, chicken nuggets, chocolate chip cookies, and the occasional pretzel. I don’t care that he doesn’t eat toast anymore and I’m over the moon that the pop tarts are gone, though my life would be easier if they took them off the check stand end caps at Target. Goldfish, on the other hand, have been a problem. He saw a little girl at the zoo with a baggie of goldfish and the meltdown that ensued was epic.
• Since nobody makes BamBam approved gluten free chicken nuggets, I found a recipe and make them myself. Pain in the ass, but if it means my son will have protein in his diet, I’m on board.
• Udi’s makes a decent pizza crust, so we supplement with those. I noticed early on that BamBam would remove the cheese from his pizza. I thought it was about the toppings, so I made him a cheese pizza, but he took that off as well. My mom tried putting the cheese under the sauce. He ate that, but he had an…unpleasant gastrointestinal result. My mom thought it was the pound of bacon she fed him that morning, but other factors lead me to believe it was the cheese, so he’s now off dairy as well. Not that he was voluntarily eating dairy anyway.
• So BamBam’s pizzas became just gluten free crust and sauce. I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese on top because it didn’t seem to distress his system, it helped me feel like he was getting at least a little protein (however infinitesimal), and he couldn’t pick it off.
• He eats a pizza and a half at one sitting like that. They’re small pizzas, maybe 10” diameter, but still. To help with the protein issue, I started mixing a little raw protein powder into the sauce before I spread it around. It’s only about one gram of protein per pizza, but it makes me feel better. Plus, he only eats one whole pizza at a sitting now, so it must be doing something. I’m hoping that something is giving him protein to fill him up.
• A few weeks ago I was inspired to try a new way of eating myself. I studied up for a bit, then started on October 15, which is why I put my weight as of that day at the top of this post. It’s going really well and I’m super excited, but I’m going to try not to evangelize about it. I’ve already done that to a couple of people accidentally, just through my heightened enthusiasm, so I’m trying to rein that in. Apologies to the people who’ve been on the receiving end – no offense meant and it wasn’t directed at you. Honest.
• The new way of eating basically cuts out stuff like added sugar/sweeteners, grains, legumes, and dairy. As I said, I’m excited…but that doesn’t mean that carb withdrawals don’t suck. They so totally do. I’ll post more about it in a few days.
• There’s absolutely no cheating allowed for 30 days, which means…
• Halloween is going to suck.
• Also, we’ve decided to revisit potty training for both boys in the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck.

They closed down the coffee shop I loved to go to on Sunday mornings to write. I’ve been looking for a place to substitute, but most of them will require me to eat or drink something I buy there. And, under the rules of my new diet, I can’t eat or drink most of what they offer. I can buy a bottle of water, but that doesn’t really tell anyone walking by that I’m a customer rather than a loiterer.

Today I’m in a Barnes and Noble and it’s been okay. I feel at home with the books. I bought a water and some herbal tea that fit the diet criteria. But a man just came and sat down very close to me when there’s a whole other table on his other side. What’s that about? Now I feel trapped in this corner and I want to poke him with a sharp stick so he’ll go away. I think I’ll go home instead. It smells like maple syrup in here anyway. That’s not a good smell for me right now. Largely because I can’t have any. So I’m taking my toys and going home.