Mia's First Baking Experience

When you are determined that your kid is going to eat the same thing her friends are eating, you have to get creative where Mia is concerned! It started with a recipe that was sent by someone in our local support group for a banana muffin recipe that had minimal ingredients. I usually ignore any recipe swaps, even through allergy groups because it's depressing to see great ideas...if you aren't Mia! This one looked promising so I read one of my allergy cookbooks on flour substitutions, then read my sheet on high altitude baking. I made the first batch by myself, after she went to bed. They weren't bad at all! I tweaked the recipe a little more the next day and let her help me. We made enough to take to preschool the next day since we were the parent helpers. All but one kid ate them! Even her teachers seemed to enjoy, or they were being very nice! My only gripe is that they are slightly gritty from the quinoa flour. I could probably do away with it all together and may try using only the rice flour next time.

She loved "stomping" the bananas! Very enthusiastic.

Those little legs needed a boost

She could barely see into the bowl!

Now for the test...

Mikey likes it!

8 out of 10 preschoolers can't be wrong, right? That stat is only because a little girl was not there!

Daddy is back from The Field for a week or so, I don't know when they are going back out again. Mia really misses him when he's away, I'm not sure how she will handle the deployment. I'm fully expecting behavior problems, that seems to be the universal reaction for the kids of deployed parents. She threw another hissy on Friday but it was significantly shorter. Next time, the teachers and I agreed that we'll just do the normal routine to get ready for school and I'll leave, hissy fit or not. She's beginning to see that it gets results.

We spent the weekend trying to knock some things out that have been patiently waiting for our spare time. I managed to get all of her prescriptions from her old compounding pharmacy in Alaska copied and typed up with their appropriate refund form. They swore up and down (and left, right for that matter) that for compounds I'd have to submit a claim on my own. Our new CP tech said she had no idea why they couldn't do it. I thought it was because they didn't cover the meds we needed, but it's possible they were just ignorant. The doctors didn't like dealing with this pharmacy (they always managed to screw something up, and our nurse had to fix it). I did try to submit them before we left, but they were returned because I actually put the wrong birthday. I can't believe I did that. So, this time everything is typed neatly and accurately!

Today is a lazy-ish day, not by choice! We're waiting for one of the workmen from the housing office to come and take a look at our thermostat. Everything else is working, the furnace, the screen on the thermostat... We think it's the switch. We are "scheduled" loosely for the afternoon. The lady on the phone said they would be there somewhere between 12 and 4. Nice, huh?

Oh the THREES!

In the Blister News, it lanced itself today and now looks more like a burn, which just makes it that much more pitiful. She yelled for me this morning before preschool and holds up the finger and says, "What's that?" It was weeping fluid so we put a band aid over it.

Today is the first time she threw a cattywompus about going into her preschool classroom. She did it twice for the PT as I wrote earlier, but NEVER for preschool. She howled for a good 20 minutes at least, stuck to me like a koala with gorilla glue. We sat in the library rocking chair where I asked questions:
"Do you hurt?" "No."
"Does your finger hurt?" "No."
"Are you scared?" "No."
"Are you afraid of leaving Mommy?" (nods head "yes")
Once I figured out what was bothering her, I told her that I'd stay with her and we'd do art together and play on the playground, but she had to use her own body and I had to use mine. That worked for about two steps before she was attached again. We sat down at the art table, Mia in my lap, where they were making very cool tile paint prints. She stayed in my lap until I used washing the tile as an excuse to get up. I moved her to a seat in front of a clean tile board. That was the beginning of her normal preschool day. Everyone was so very kind about the wailing! No one suggested that she go home, they just let her get it out and tried to divert her attention. Tomorrow we're parent helping, and I'm expecting another fit (just so I'm not as surprised and thrown off as I was today!)

Now for a dose of irony! We were behind in tuition payments while searching for renters and waiting for the credit card machine installation to be completed at the school. The very day the credit card machine went up, I paid in cash. I must have bugged the daylights out of them asking when the machine would be up so we wouldn't get further behind. Last week we finally got the rent deposit. It sounds like the rent will be a week after our mortgage is actually due for some reason. So instead of the end of the month being tight like everyone else, the first of the month is our crunch!

No pictures for today because she is laying down for a very long nap. I'm not entirely sure she's feeling 100% yet, after getting off of the steroids. Now that she's on antibiotics it's just further messing with her lower GI. The nap will be good for her. It made time for me to FINALLY test this banana muffin recipe that was passed around the local allergy group email ring. I had to modify it for both Mia's restrictions and high altitude cooking, but so far so good! They look and smell good....I just tasted one and WOW! My FIRST allergy recipe that requires mixing and baking and MIA CAN EAT IT!!! It's actually very yummy, so I won't feel like I'm torturing kids when I bring them for snack tomorrow. I'm glad I mixed the flours up, I don't think it would have turned out as well with just rice or just quinoa. I also added in some oats. I used organic apple juice instead of water for more flavor, which was another good idea. Neat. I think the only tweak I'll make for next time is less quinoa flour and more rice flour so it isn't so grainy.

Poor little finger!

Mia's finger looked worse today. Usually the swelling goes down over night with an extra dose of Atarax, but it turned red around the perimeter and it seemed to me that it was a travelling red, so I called her nurse and managed to get squeezed in after OT. Her PCM wasn't there but the doc who saw us gave her Keflex, saying he had no idea what it could have been but that it did look like it was infected. We hung out in the Peds lobby after the first dose of Keflex just to be safe. All was well! I remember her handling Keflex better than any of the other antibiotics.

The doctor was also amused that she actually uses a Nettie Pot for sinus flushing. It's weird, she actually reminds me and seems to enjoy it. I wasn't so sure of the idea until I got a whopper of a head cold or allergies when we were visiting Virginia. My mother in law said that it would help and bought a sinus rinse kit. I tried it and she wasn't kidding! So I just showed Mia how I did it emphasizing that it feels weird but that it's so funny that water comes out of your nose. She got a kick out of it and wanted to try, and that was that.

I controlled myself at Joanns today, in case you were wondering. Those beautiful little ceramic birds and metal bird wall thingies were still there, but I kept going! They also have some gorgeous dark wood box trunks that were great, but I bought my patterns that I picked out the night before and we left. Yay for self control!

What a day.

For the past two PT visits, Mia has melted into a puddle of tears and I-don't-know-what. It was sudden, like she just realised that Mommy wasn't with her. I have gone back to the rooms with her the past two times, thinking that it could be a separation anxiety that just kicked in VERY late. When your kids go back with the therapists, they are never really alone. They share rooms and use the hallway and stairway for the most part. We have no clue what clicked in her head, but it doesn't happen to that degree for feeding therapy. Maybe she knows that I'm coming back with her without fail...I don't know. We're puzzled. She did better today than she did lasts week. Last Tuesday we barely got her to do one activity and she was tearing up and on the verge of crying the whole time. This morning we were able to get her to do a puzzle with a magnetic fishing pole (she would then carry the puzzle piece over a step stool and to a designated spot, rinse and repeat). After the puzzle she started crying and ran to me, stuck like a fly on flypaper. We tried to get her to do her favorite things like running and the ball pit but she didn't want to do either. I ended up taking her to the ball pit room where another little guy was getting his therapy and we managed to ease her in. It seems like it's just overload to her little system.

It didn't help that she also had a big owie on her finger. It's definitely an allergic reaction, but it happened between the front door and the clinic. It had to have happened in the car, because her hands were fine when we washed them before leaving. As you can see from the first picture, it's a whopper. She had a little spot that blistered on Sunday and we never figured that one out either.

This one does a better job conveying the size. Keep in mind it's a petite 3 year old finger!

From this angle it just looks like a gray spot, but it's actually a giant blister that looks like it has some pus inside.

All of this happened as I had become more nonchalant about the allergies. Not that I'm letting her play catch with a can of mixed nuts, but I seem to have come down a notch on the vigilance when I clearly shouldn't have. After she goes to bed, I'm scouring the already clean looking kitchen (again) in case I missed some onion or milk or what ever it could be. Tomorrow after OT/FT, I should probably do the same for the car (again). Martha aint got nuthin on me.

The wind is howling outside. There is some scuttlebutt in the weather forecast about snow, but it won't stick. The temperatures aren't consistently low enough for it to stay. My friend Sierra in Anchorage says they already have 4 inches! I guess I do miss that part, having the snow. But this place is still awesome.

I found some great fabric on sale at JoAnns today. I have one of their magazines that has reusable coupons, and they aren't wussy little 10% coupons, either! I also found the most beautiful findings for jewelry making. BIRDS and NESTS! I don't know what it is about birds and nests but I'm so excited that they are the "in" decor right now. I think they are actually on their way out, because the bird decor is on 60% clearance at JoAnns right now. I controlled myself today, but I can't make a promise for tomorrow! They are doing a super sale that is insane, and since crafting isn't for everyone, it isn't loaded with too many people in the store. It's borderline, actually. The patterns are .99 so I'll be going back!

Yes, she is stuck in the window of her castle. I had an interesting time getting her out.

Showing Daddy how to build a garage shelf

BABY DRAGON! The flavor of the month as far as companions go.

The 1st Annual Ruth Washburn Harvest Festival

It started with a pumpkin heist and ended with a festival.

The preschool has it's own garden where the children learn about planting and growing, responsibility and so forth. Back in Spring they planted pumpkin seeds and they had grown into very nice pumpkins that they planned to turn into projects and baked goods. A few weeks ago, it was discovered that the pumpkins had been stolen in the night. I'm not talking about a teen prank with two or three pumpkins gone, but somewhere between 20-30. After the community replenished the pumpkins and then some (as blogged earlier) the teachers put a few out in the patch to show the kids. THOSE were stolen as well, along with the very expensive copper irrigation system. The festival was still on.
The need for a sponsor for the festival was great, and a local Whole Foods store quickly stepped up, providing a tent that served free fresh fruits, veggies, fruit leather, cookies and drinks. In addition to the food, they handed out their reusable shopping bags and said that RW is the school of choice for the donations that are given when people use their own bags. The food and bags were great, but they also hired security guards for the school through Halloween. The guards are SWELL, but they also bought a new irrigation system. Now, irrigation systems rock, but they are having a day in February where 5% of the entire day's proceeds go to Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School. I hear that they are also sponsoring or donating to the silent auction that we're having on November 15th. If this hasn't at least dinged your view of corporate food chains, something is missing in your heart!

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Why, those ARE Zebra's hoofbeats!

Doing my volunteer hour at the WF tent

Who doesn't love a smiling kid on a tire swing?

Contemplating the questions of life atop the crowes nest

Gary says she was really good at the bean toss game, getting the bags in the holes quite a few times.

Festivals will wear you out!

A view from one of the playground hills

Why do I bother with cute clothes? Because I love Spray-N-Wash.

Pumpkin Patch!

Friday was Pumpkin Patch Day! Two of our neighbors and their kids came along to a local ranch. Turkey Creek Ranch does "hayrides to a pumpkin patch" each Fall. It's such a neat thing to do in a world where gameboys and Spongebob babysit most kids.

Mia sits outside the main house waiting for the ride to start

Joined by Brian...

and Matthew

Trying to get all four o these kids to look at the camera at the same time was much akin to herding kittens.

It was a beautiful ride, BIG trees and gentle bumps

This is as close as we got to cooperation!

Mia and Baby Leah

The things we do to get babies to smile!

Mia's pumpkin

No way, no how was this kid leaving her pumpkin unattended

Big strong!

Notice the way they set up their "pumpkin patch".I was quite pleased with it. I dressed her up in a cute Gymboree outfit thinking of the super sweet photo opportunities, thinking about dirt and mud after we had already hit the road. I was very relieved when they had already brought the pumpkins out of the patch and arranged them for the kids on a big bed of hay.

We made it through the haybale maze with our pumpkins! She really did carry it farther than I thought she would. It wasn't until the wagon pulled up to carry us back to the parking lot that she got tired of hauling it around.

Baby Leah and her mommy, Marissa, navigate the haybale maze, Leah style!

Signs you need to limit NPR time

I am thinking that the NPR on the way to preschool is actually being absorbed by two minds.

1. Mia's vocabulary now contains the following words: Bailout, Crisis, President, VeePee

2. I heard her talking to Obama and McCain in the bathtub.

3. She might be able to hum the themes to various segments on NPR/PRI

4. She claps when the audience claps during speech clips.

5. Mia is probably more politically savvy than most Americans.


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In other news, the GI office called today and said that her blood work came back showing that she is a go for 6MP. The PA was worried about the coverage since it would very likely have to be compounded. It does come in pill and capsule form but you can't break or crush them for whatever reason, so they need to mix it in a liquid. Once the PA heard that we already have Atarax compounded she was more optimistic and called the pharmacy. The pharmacist was also feeling good about it, saying they seem to have a lot of luck with TriCare (fingers crossed, knocking on wood). They said the pharmacy will call us once they get the Rx, and submit it to TriCare first so we aren't stuck with a whopper of a bill. It's not cheap stuff. According to one website, 400 pills would set you back about $650, and that's ordering from a discount website.

Speaking of bills, we were nearly going gray over a few notices we received from Children's. Apparently they billed TriCare but never got paid so they sent a few kind worded letters asking that we facilitate an investigation into why they didn't get their money. TriCare said they had no record of pending bills. I called Children's and went over our info, only to find that somehow they were billing under the wrong ss#! TriCare didn't even bother to let Children's know that the number wasn't matching the name or any person on record. So, who do I send my bill to?

Metberry Gulch, this past weekend