Birthday

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes. It was a great day. It started off well. "Happy Birthday" were the first words out of N's mouth this morning. We even had a full conversation before he asked to watch TV. L and I took N to school then headed to the gym. I keep thinking I need to video tape our morning school drop off routine. It's the same every day. N takes off his seat belt, puts on his backpack and hugs the back of the front passenger seat while I slowly creep forward to the front of the drop off line. He fumbles to open his door and jumps out. I roll down his window. He stands right outside his window then yells "Bye, Mom. Bye, L" as loud as he possbly can. As he runs towards the doors of the school L yells back, "Don't talk to me, N!" (That's a change from earlier this year when L would yell, Bye back N.) Then N struggles to get the school door open and makes his way inside. L and I peel off and head to the gym. This morning we made it to my favorite work out class called Sh'Bam where L says "Mommy shakes her's (yes, her's)  booty."

Mom came over to our house for lunch. She came bearing gifts and a delicious GF/DF/YF chocolate cake... L was super excited to see Grammy. He talked her ear off like I've never heard him talk before. We ate lunch and visited before it was time for L to take a nap. He asked Grammy to read books to him before nap time. He didn't have to twist her arm too far. Mom and I had a nice visit before I headed out to pick N up from school. I really enjoyed picking him up from school 'cause we got a few minutes where it was just the two of us. We got to walk at our own pace and have a sweet little conversation. Grammy not only brought me gifts, but she brought Chutes and Ladders for the boys. N loves it! N and Grammy sang Happy Birthday to me and we blew out the candles and chowed on the yummy cake. L was still asleep during our initial celebration, so we re-lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday after his nap so he could have a turn celebrating.

Then it was time for our babysitter to arrive. She watched the boys while D and I went out for dinner and movie. We ate at Biaggi's again. The one item on the menu that I could find that had the least gluten, dairy or yeast was the Atlantic Cod served on top of whipped cauliflower and wilted spinach. It was super duper delicious. I got to eat the gluten free bread they serve because the waitress informed me that it's GF and yeast free. D and I enjoyed a nice, uninterrupted conversation during our meal. That's hard to come by at our house. After dinner we saw the movie "Lucky One." We really enjoyed it. It's pretty sappy and kinda predictable, but it was entertaining and a nice escape.

Tomorrow we're going to try to Skype with J, T and E. Dad is visiting J&T right now, so maybe we will see him too.

Art Cart: Giacometti

Today was my turn to teach the kids in N's class (and the class across the hall) Art Cart. We have a total of 38 kids. The lady I share the Art Cart responsibility with has a lot more experience at Art Cart than me. She's taught me a lot. She's the one who pointed me to The Usborne "Art Treasury" book by Rosie Dickins. It's a terrific resource. I might have to put it on my Birthday list! Anyway...I taught the kids about sculpture and a famous sculpture named Alberto Giacometti. I was surprised that the kids knew what a sculpture is. We talked about the various materials used to make sculptures. Giacometti mainly used bronze. We have numerous bronze sculptures in the our area, so I showed the kids pictures of bronze sculptures around town that they may have seen or will have the chance to see locally. Then I showed them pictures of Giacometti and his works. Giacometti’s sculptures were mostly of people. He would carve and carve and carve them until they were almost twig-like. That’s why they are all so slender. The kids found it interesting that the sculptures were so slender and had such big feet. After we talked about Giacometti, I walked the kids through how to make their own sculpture using pipe cleaners, foil and clay. This project idea is found in Dickin's "Art Treasury" book as well. I prepared the foil ahead of time by cutting it into strips. I also prepared their pipe cleaner people in advance. All they needed to do was wrap the people in foil, add the clay feet and wrap the clay. They found it to a bit more tricky than I thought they would, but once they got the hang of it they enjoyed it. Several of the kids were able to make their sculptures stand up in various positions. One boy said his was doing the limbo. One girl said her’s was surfing. We had fun with that. When they were done making their people each student got a crossword I made that contained words related to sculpture and Giacometti. I was amazed at how well they could do a crossword! D and I talked about it and we don't recall doing crossword puzzles until we were much older! Art Cart is always a lot of preparation, but it’s worth it. The kids don’t have an official art class, so this is all they get in terms of art education. I enjoy it and so do they.

Food Allergy Update

A while back I mentioned I was prepping for food allergy/sensitivity testing. I got the results back a few weeks ago and am surprised by them. My test shows that I have reactions (sensitivities) to all dairy, yogurt (not sure why this is separate from dairy), bananas, kidney beans, baker's yeast, brewer's yeast and goat's milk. Apparently the protein in goat's milk has an almost identical structure to the protein in cow's milk, so it often shows up on the test even if you don't drink goat's milk. Surprisingly gluten did not show up on this particular blood test, but my body has proven itself to not like gluten, so I am staying away from it. For the time being, I am on a gluten free/dairy free/yeast free diet (GFDFYF) Eek! My nutritionist has me on this diet as an effort to heal the damage these allergens have done to my stomach and gallbladder. The goal is to heal my system so it can overcome these allergies. Some may be temporary, some may be permanent. Eliminating dairy and gluten from my diet made the majority of my symptoms go away, but I still had a nagging gallbladder attack feeling. I've done my very best to eliminate yeast (in addition to gluten and dairy) and, after only three days, my gallbladder symptoms have subsided. Hallelujah!!