Last weekend we took our daughter skating for the first time. In 3 months she will be 6 years old, and until now never showed any interest in skating. Suddenly she was ready, and luckily we had already purchased "bob skates" in anticipation of this day. Never heard of "bob skates"? They're two (yes two!) very dull blades attached to a rectangular length of plastic. And the best part is that they attach to any regular snow boot.
She was comfortable, and best of all, she felt pretty stable on the ice. And to be honest, I seriously wished I had a pair to throw on my boots. I'm not a great skater, and my feet hurt in my skates even before we got on the ice.
We are lucky to be able to skate at the Olympic Oval here in Calgary. It's a wonderful facility that is very family friendly, and more importantly, it's nice and warm. A great place to take a little one skating for the first time. So, that's where we went.
We stepped out onto the ice and after a few shaky and "why-the-heck-are-my-feet-slipping-and-sliding-all-over-the-place-maybe-this-wasn't-such-a-good-idea" moments she found her footing. And our brave, brave little girl who usually finds such physical activities so difficult, discovered she loved to skate. Skating is difficult; it requires strong muscles (and feet!), stamina, and it requires a lot of balance and control. My daughter's physical therapy sessions last year focused a lot on building her core muscles so she could balance better. And it paid off. She had to use a skating aid to skate, BUT, she felt confident on the ice, and sure that she could handle herself. She would not have felt this way 6 months ago.
So, off she went. Lap after lap after lap. One and half hours later she was ready to stop, but only because she was hungry. And as I was taking off her snow pants, I realized she was drenched in sweat. I don't think her body has ever worked so hard, and had so much fun at the same time.
And after, even though it was 10:00 at night, we went to a restaurant and had nachos (one of her favourite foods!) She earned it.
While listening to the B-52's song "Love Shack" on the radio, in the car with my daughter.
"Mom, what's a shack?"
"It's another way to say house. When I hear the word shack it makes me think of a small house. Something like a cabin."
"Then is a love shack a love cabin?"
"Yes. Yes, you could say that."
"What's a love cabin?"
"I would say that it is a house full of love. Full of people who love each other. We live in a love shack. You, me, Daddy, and Daisy."
"And the fish. Mom. They're part of our family."
"Yes, and the fish, too."
Silence.
"Mommy, our love shack is full!"
Yes, it is.
These last couple of weeks my daughter has been feeling awful. She has abdominal pain, joint pain (in what seems like every single joint in her body), headaches, sore gums in her molar area, neck pain, back pain, thumb pain, and she's gassy. We went to the doctor last Thursday, he ordered some tests that all came back fine, and she is still feeling awful. She wakes up feeling bad, and spends the entire day complaining of something or another. And it's made her cranky. Very, very cranky. And you absolutely cannot blame her. But, it's making me cranky too. Very, very cranky. Especially because we can't figure out what is going on with her.
So, now what? What the hell are we supposed to do? She is feeling ill all day long (for a couple of weeks now) and the doctor can't find anything wrong with her. How much longer do we wait before going back to the doctor? Certainly it isn't normal for a child to feel this way, for this long, without cause or reason. It is difficult when, as a parent, you are responsible for how your child feels. And for the pain your child feels. I know she is waiting for me to do something about it. To make it go away. But, I have no idea how to do it. Absolutely no idea at all.
Meanwhile, my little trooper has been getting on with getting on. She goes to school, plays, reads, eats, and laughs. Halloween was a highlight. There are interruptions when she can't help but complain about her pain (quite often) and then she goes back to whatever she's doing. Yesterday, it was organizing some animals and dinosaurs into groups, based on whether they were herbivores and carnivores.
If only we all had the stamina of children.
The cranberry oatmeal inspired an idea - cranberry granola bars. My daughter, who loves food, was so excited by the idea of making our own granola bars. We love granola bars, but I don't often give her them to eat. Many of the store bought ones are loaded with sugar, and include a host of ingredients I can't pronounce, and even worse, don't recognize. So, after a long google search, I came up with a recipe for us to try.
We mixed together:
2 cups of rolled oats
1/2 cup of ground flax seeds
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups cranberries (frozen or fresh)
Then, we blended together (really well):
1/2 cup of honey (although next time I may lower that to 1/3 of cup - it was a little sweet)
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (next time I may try 1/4 oil, and 1/4 unsweetened applesauce)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. It's much easier, and funner, to use your hands. Bake in a 350 F oven for about 30 minutes.
Cut and serve. We had them for a mid afternoon snack, and for breakfast Sunday morning. And they stored wonderfully in an airtight container. Chewy and delicious. And next time, for a little treat, we may add in some dark chocolate chunks.
And the best part? Full of ingredients we could pronounce and recognize. Doesn't get much better than that.
Our morning today started with a hearty bowl of oatmeal. Little A loves oatmeal, and now that the cool fall weather has arrived, it has become our go-to breakfast to take the chill off frosty mornings. But, today I had an odd craving for cranberries. I have never put cranberries in our oatmeal (never thought of it) but this morning, I took a handful of cranberries out of the freezer and tossed them in with the oatmeal, along with some chopped apple, cinnamon, and a spoonful of maple syrup. Delicious and satisfying. A loved it (I mean, the kid savoured each and every bite) and then she asked me to take a picture of it.
"Sure. Why?"
"So I can look at it later. After it's all in my tum-tum. Then I'll remember how yummy it is."
Good idea.
My daughter walks on her toes. And has been since she started walking. Actually, that's not quite true. She started walking when she was 22 months old, and she did (I have photographic evidence) walk in a heel-toe pattern, with her feet flat on the floor. But, it didn't last long. Soon after, my husband and I noticed that she was always toe walking when she was barefoot. Then, about a year ago, I noticed that she was walking on her toes in her running shoes at school. I know that toe-walking is common with children on the autism spectrum (and apparently most often seen in children with Aspergers) but the struggle to keep her off her toes is exhausting.
We find ourselves dealing with regular bouts of knee and foot pain (which no one can find a cause for) that I assume has something to do with her being on her toes all day long. I worry about her calves. I worry about her ankles. And to be honest, the worry is driving me crazy. And trust me when I say that it is driving her crazy too. Not because she doesn't want to be doing it, but because we nag her all day long. Our cries of "flat feet! flat feet! flat feet!" are usually met with a frustrating sort of a growl. Because she likes walking on her toes. She doesn't know why (or maybe her 5 year old mind doesn't understand why) she does it. She just knows it feels right. It feels normal. It feels good. So, why are we trying to stop her?
Well, because I worry that it will cause problems with her muscles and joints as they grow. I worry she'll end up in leg casts to stretch her heel chords. I worry it will mess up her hips somehow. And (as shallow as it may seem) I worry that other kids will make fun of her.
Don't misunderstand me. If I knew for sure that her toe walking wasn't going to hurt her physically in any way, I would let her continue doing it. I mean, it is how she walks, and like I said, to her it feels right. Imagine if someone told you to walk on your toes all day because that was normal? Imagine how difficult it would be for you because it would just feel so wrong. Because instinctively you walked in a heel-toe pattern. Imagine if you had to think about each and every step you took. Not so easy, right? She, like so many other on the spectrum, is such a trooper, and has an amazing spirit.
I've talked to several doctors about this, and they aren't too concerned about it right now, only saying that we should try to help her stay off her toes. For now, there are no physical problems that are a result of her toe walking. Except for my concerns that it might be responsible for her knee and foot pain. Hey, they can't find any other reason for the pain. So, for now we will try to keep her off her toes whenever we can.
And besides, I keep thinking she's taller than she really is.
I swear, sometimes it seems like we get more cries and whines than we do smiles and laughs. But, when I do hear my pink dinosaur girl laugh, it comes from deep within her belly. It just bubbles right out of her. And it can literally knock her over. Her balance can be precarious enough at times, but catch her in a good laugh and more than likely she'll end up on the floor.
I hope to find her there more often.
