chicken itza

well, its getting on for two weeks and the good results are still being got. amelia is settled, calm, and very happy. who would have thought to just feed her some sugar and butter he he. well, its a little more than that, but effective nonetheless. we had one off day on saturday, after a too-late night the night before. (andrew and i were watching a movie with some 'suspense' built in . . . she heard the music - nothing more - and yelled out that there was A BIG BIG MAN on the TV - which, at that moment there was - a HUGE statue of paul bunyan . . . go figure. she is that sensitive i guess). THEN we had a bad night's sleep (andrew coughing and snoring intermittently with a heavy cold), and THEN she had ONE CHOCOLATE FRECKLE WITH COLOURED hundreds and thousands on it. i kid you not. one!!! (andrew ordered her a babyccino with white marshmallows and no chocolate sprinkled on top, but forgot that HIS coffee would come with its own freckle. it was flogged and eaten by amelia before he registered). well. WELL. hell let loose that afternoon. she wouldn't - couldn't - get to sleep. then until bedtime she was a screaming whining grizzling angry little person. quite a familiar sight BEFORE we started the diet. but this was its first outing since. she had a reasonable sleep, woke up kinda grumpy (first time since diet started), and came back into a good frame of mind and being by mid-morning. PHEW.

andrew and i were blown away by how tiring and difficult for EVERYONE that one blow-out had been. and how frequent that kind of day/afternoon has been of late. we are very very grateful that we discovered joan breakey. although still bemused at what amelia can and can't eat. joan's book is very clear on how severe a reaction can be for a little kid - but we are hoping that it was a multi -level reaction, not just one little artificially coloured, flavoured and sweetened chocolate freckle. although, she is NOT getting her nibblers on one of those things again for a VERY long time. we need our sleep!

she has been saying some super cute things lately: i shall share.

i told her that daddy and i are looking for a new little house closer to his work so that we can live there. she asked solemnly: 'can i come too?'

we drove andrew down to work yesterday, and came home in time for lunch and a sleep. she cried just before going to sleep because: 'my daddy is in his office all by himself, and i'm very sad.' (she is one of the main reasons we are moving closer, so she can see her daddy at work during the week.)

she will look us up and down before we leave the house and ask: 'are you wearing that out today?'

she also tells us that things are her 'fravorite', that we are her 'best fweinds', that 'one day when i was a big girl and you were little, i used to tell you off.' . . .

imagination is running riot. we have BABIES by the truckload being put to bed all over the house. my personal favorites are the neatly folded table napkin, tucked into bed between very meticulously laid out top and bottom sheets made from two teatowels; and the clear plastic salt grinder laid gently to rest beneath the arm cover on the couch after being breastfed. heaven help us if we step on, sit on, or move a baby without asking. seeing a folded teatowel on her chest, being 'burped' and patted is a lovely sight.

she has mad intricate phone conversations with people using anything as a phone.

she has a running dialogue with boys on our ceiling touching the blue and green sings (things). andrew and i are frequently asked to intervene when one of her imaginary people is playing up. we get to tell them to go into their room or to say sorry to amelia.

she has a totally imaginary language going as well, and chats to us and her 'friends' in this.

music is still a very very very big thing. she is now singing plenty of songs by memory, making up words and verses, or splicing different songs together. it is a regular thing before she goes off to sleep.

no pen is safe in her reach. she dismantles them, including removing the nib, and they are beyond repair. she has also learned how to unlock the toilet door from the outside. andrew won't allow her to come into the loo with him (how very dare he), so she endeavours to break in before he comes back out, using a spoon or butter kinfe blade very proficiently. she practises this skill, locking door, closing it with lock on inside, and then breaking in. handy.

her drawing is coming ahead in leaps and bounds. she makes lovely owls, corncobs, koalas, and daddy with his coffee (enormous long legs, big eyes, a frown and a teeeeeeeensy weeny cup at the end of an extraordinarily long arm). she has also drawn anatomically correct parents more than once . . . i include a sample for your amusement.

her drawings are intricate, detailed, meticulous, and involve much huffing and puffing to be properly explained. we are gobsmacked at her abilities. i will get andrew to scan some stuff so i can put it up here. there is always a story afoot, and much to learn from letting her tell it. the combination of music and drawing, for her, is a very powerful one. she gets on a very productive little path and hums and sings happily while churning out her art. she is also taking photos with a wee camera that is easy to use. andrew's rear end was one subject recently, and was photographed from afar, close up, very close up, and too close up to be socially acceptable, which had her in fits of giggles at his reaction.

in short, all is delightful, sweet, and very very calm. we are so grateful that this diet has allowed her to feel more at ease physically, and thus manage her reactions more rationally. it has allowed the whimsical nutcase to fully surface and to enjoy full days without going into the depths of despair unnecessarily. we think that had we known some of this stuff earlier, her ratty days as a baby may have been a thing of the past.