First Day Jitters

Maddy did great. She would get a little teary, and then jump up and down in excitement, and then get a little teary. She is definitely her mother's daughter.

Feingold, Ice Cream, and Fits

Almost 8 weeks ago now after receiving yet another call from Casey that Maddy was hitting, throwing, and having a wild temper tantrum I ran to google and typed in everything I could think of.... Looking for an answer. I mostly came up with toddler information, or autistic studies, or allergic reactions. I was pretty sure Maddy wasn't a toddler, and I've had her evaluated for everything else. But, this day 8 weeks I typed in some magic set of words that led me to The Dr Feingold Diet. I researched it, and set a date a few days away to start. Once Maddy and the whole family started this I was amazed at the change. She was less anxious, had more attention, and even her speech seemed to improve. Still, I kept it mostly to myself still thinking this was crazy... But since it was working I'll just keep doing it. I had my sweet girl back, the girl I remember at age 3. The girl who patiently waited her turn, and didn't scream in anger.

Last night at Maddy's kindergarten welcome BBQ they were serving Sno-cones. Sno-cones are Maddy's favorite, and a definite Feingold no-no. I tried to bargain with her and offered a McDonalds vanilla soft serve as a replacement. (Thinking there were no artifical dyes or flavors.) Within 10 minutes of eating this ice cream though, all of Maddy's tantrums and dark circles under her eyes reappeared. She went into a tantrum that had her screaming in the kitchen floor. It has now been 24 hours and she is still dealing with the reaction to this. She looked at me tonight and felt so badly that "she was now on Santa's naughty list". She also said, it's a bad day mom, it's a bad day. So, even though I still think that the diet can be a little cooky and maybe I look like a crazed mom just looking for answers... I believe it works. And I am grateful.

The Night Before Kindergarten

Maddy: What comes after kindergarten?

1st grade of course! -I said

Maddy: ok, then turned over and tried to close her eyes. 

She was tossing around and finally turned to me and said, "Mom, I don't want to get older because I can't play with my Barbies then."

I told her that of course she could still play with her Barbies and reminded her of all the older girls she knew that still did. She then took a deep breath, and went fast to sleep.

So, while I am a little choked up to have a kindergartner... I am smiling because she's still my little girl.

Aquarium du Québec

Montmorency Falls

We walked these stairs!

Quebec Part... I forget!

Seriously one of the best vacations we have been on. Here are some snapshots.

The view from our room!

The sauna :)