Confessions of an Elimination Diet Dropout

Well, not really a dropout. Let's just say "We're on a break" the Elimination Diet and I. She is a cruel mistress.

To date, I have discovered that I am quite strongly allergic to rice, of all things. Additionally, I can say without a doubt, Soy and I are not friends. However, after that, things get fuzzy...is it tomatoes that are causing my problems, or chocolate? Or perhaps Millet, or Teff? Or could it be Cane sugar? Winter Squash? Maple Syrup? Honey?

And so, I have to go back to a strict diet of lentils, Mung and Adzuki beans, veggies, and a few mild fruits. Then, I have to painstakingly "challenge" things as innocuous sounding a Millet and Squash.

But Saturday night I had Pizza! And Sunday I had Candy Corn and Coke and fried chicken and Ranch dip and steak and mashed potatoes and jojos and PIE! And today, I've had a sausage breakfast sandwich, a donut, and a mocha!! Wow...so fun. On the other hand, I don't feel quite so healthy as I've been feeling. So I definitely don't want to make this kind of indulgence the norm.

I'll begin my Lentil penance on Wednesday after I restock my pantry with Elimination Diet vittles.

Milestones

Isreal is one. It's gone by way too fast...



He's really great at walking now, and he loves to climb...scares me nearly to death! He wants to go and do so much, but luckily, he still loves to snuggle and takes great joy in people.

He's a great hugger--he'll hug you on command: "hugs!" He will also make kissing sounds when I say "kiss" and sometimes he'll even give kisses.

He is very in to music. every time he hears even a musical...sound, he'll start rocking and bobbing. And during his little adventures around the house I've heard him humming--simply adorable!

He can sign "all done", claps enthusiastically, and I think he tried to sign to nurse the other day--he seemed pretty pleased with himself. I'm not great about teaching him signs...but he is getting it, so I should work on it.

He doesn't talk a lot. He makes a ton of noises, and communicates...but he doesn't have words like Eve did. By the time she was 1, eve had a huge vocabulary. He has maybe half a dozen words. "Wow" is a recent favorite. He also like "sit" and "dog."

Why does he have to grow so fast? Lately, whenever casual references have come up, Tom's been quick to point out that we may be done--it breaks my heart to think of no more babies! ugh.

As is customary, he got two Birthday parties, and his very own mini cake, each day. The cake was on my allergy elimination diet, even the frosting! I made a big cake with white frosting for the non-birthday folks, and a little one with green frosting (colored with pureed spinach!) for the Birthday boy.





I'd love to share the frosting receipe, but I was really winging it all along. I used coconut butter, Hemp milk, and coconut oil, along with sugar and vanilla. I will say, making your own powdered sugar is time consuming. Next time I'm just going to order corn-free powdered sugar. Eve says she wants a pink chocolate cake. I'm thinking Beets will be the coloring of choice!