Hey mom... who stole my Goldfish?!?

Going along with the theme of change here...

   We've recently decided that as parents we needed to be more proactive in how we handle/deal with the fact that Isabella may have ADHD. If you have ever met her you know that she is a very funny, smart, silly, sweet little girl. There is no doubt about that.  More & more as she gets older it is becoming apparent that she has some, lets say, quirks. John is familiar with these quirks. As someone with ADHD himself it's something that he is used to dealing with. Me? Not so much. So we made an appt to meet with Isabella's doctor to go over our concerns and to discuss how we should handle them. He was very good with her and gave us a lot of information. Once of the things we have learned is that kids with ADHD do a lot better on a special kind of diet. Well, I say special but really it's just a very basic, healthy way of eating. This means no processed foods, no food dyes, nothing in a wrapper, nothing with ingrediants you can't pronounce, restrict sugar, restrict fried foods, avoid fish ( mercury), no dairy.

YIKES.
Now, I will not claim to be the healthiest eater out there and if you know John you know how much he loves his chicken wings and burgers etc...but when it comes to my kids I've always tried to make sure they eat healthy well rounded meals. That being said, I never saw anything wrong with goldfish crackers as snacks, watered down apple juice to drink, and a little bit of something sweet for dessert provided everyone was eating their fruits & veggies.  This new diet however does not allow room for such things. So we're easing our way into it. We've cut out a lot of the fake stuff. No more crackers, tasty desserts. Snacks are things like plain or multi grain cheerios and raisins or carrots. Desserts? Yogurt.  Are some of these things still on the naughty list? Yes. Are they better then some of our older options? Yes. We are getting there. Isabella is nothing if not a stubborn picky eater and she hates any sort of change. So to just suddenly change everything about the way she has been eating would probably cause her to dig her heels in deep and refuse to try anything new. Doing it this way seems to actually be working, the other day I actually got her to try a new vegatable. Slow & steady wins the race right?

To be clear here, no Isabella has not actually been diagnosed as ADHD. The doctor seems to think she is sitting right on the line. She is either a very ( very very) high strung "normal" kid or has a very mild case of ADHD. Because of her age he feels it's probably a little too early to get into a formal evaluation without first trying somethings on our end to try and help her. So that is what we're doing. Hopefully this change of diet works. From what I've read a lot of parents that have used it have seen a noticable difference. Wish us luck!
   

NO, we have not fallen off the face of the Earth!

I promise! Things have just been a little bit crazy around here as we adjust...but I am begining to think that, that's the new "normal" if you know what I mean.  Ok, so lets see if I can catch us up!

  Connor started walking in January, luckily I didn't miss that, boy would I have been upset! He turned one in February  and we had a party at Grammie & Grampy's for him. He's still pretty huge for his age and eating everything in sight. Now when he is hungry he likes to run to the fridge and try to open it yelling "BITE!" he's adorable! He's got a few words down and babbles a lot and is just the most lovey huggy little boy I've ever met. Bella is fully potty trained, has been for awhile. She's still taking dance. In fact last week she graduated and earned herself a "most improved" title. This week is her recital which she is super excited for. She loves dancing on stage with her friends. I have a feeling she is going to be the dramatic one in the family. The kids went back to daycare last week and seemed to jump right into the mix. We just recently went to an open house for preschool for Isabella so hopefully she will get picked for that and will start next fall.  If not, she'll stay in the daycare and will start kindergarten in fall 2013 ( I don't even want to think about that!)

So that is whats new with us. The days, weeks, months seem to be flying by. Pretty soon here we'll be celebrating Isabella's 4th Birthday! How on earth did my tiny little baby girl get to be 4 years old?!