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Jul. 1st, 2009 05:56 pmA-MAY-ZING Jambalaya I just made the other day...
-dice a red, a green and a yellow bell pepper, two celery stalks and two small yellow onions
-sautee all that in olive oil with generous amounts of minced garlic, one minced jalapeno fresh from your garden, and quite a bit of creole seasoning
-add it all to 10 cups of chicken broth, along with 5 diced tomatoes, and bring to a boil
-throw in 4 cups of raw brown rice, lower heat, cover, set a timer for about 35 minutes (to check on it...it could take up to 45)
-when that rice is almost done, throw 2 pounds of peeled and de-veined medium shrimp in a pan with half a stick of melted smart balance, some olive oil, juice of one lemon, more minced garlic, and more creole seasoning, and cook on medium for about 3-4 minutes, stirring here and there - then turn off the heat and just leave them on it to finish up
-AND cut up a bunch of all beef, minimally processed sausage and fry it til it's food
-then stir all that meat into the very hot rice, along with another 2 raw diced tomatoes, let it sit for a few minutes, and die happy
Granted now. This makes enough to feed Grant and I twice; Grant, Shaun and I once; and me two other times; with still leftovers for Aaron, Jake and the fridge. So. Use your judgement.
Aaron loved his birthday. He has been concentrating hard on this unicycle stuff ever since, taking breaks only to leap around on his moon shoes or build with the bionicles Opa gave him. I mean he seriously spends hours every day with the unicycle. The first day he could only get on with one of us on each side of him, and it was something that took minutes. The next day getting on was simple while holding the library table, but then he could only go about 2 inches before he fell (...a million times). Day 3, he is going from the library table to the edge of the library rug (this thing has yet to be outside so the tire's still clean new rubber), which is about 4 feet. He has barely hit the tile a couple of times now before falling. His focus blows my mind. I will not be at all surprised if he is riding all over the house on it like second nature before two weeks are out.
He also had his first hip hop dance classes yesterday. The beginner one, he was one of 7 kids, and the only boy. He did GREAT, I think he really stood out as having rhythm and it all being second nature. The second class is an intermediate/advanced class he is only taking for a few weeks to make up the cost of the beginner classes he missed at the beginning of the summer - anyway, it has more like 18 kids, and he is one of 3 boys in it. He had a harder time keeping up in there, with more complicated combinations and a faster pace, but everyone else also seemed to and the teacher was complimentary, so. He got sweaty and said he likes it.
To everyone who had questions about whether I've considered this or that possible diagnosis for Isaac: I have considered ALL KINDS OF STUFF. And, during the 6 months I was seeing a counselor 2 and 3 times a week, Isaac frequently came up (and she does also work with children - including Ananda - and had some ideas). I've talked to his pediatrician a couple of times and to a hospital doctor once briefly and thought about his genetics, as well. Basically, I am pretty sure he has a childhood anxiety disorder, which from what I understand can sometimes be outgrown. I would hope so. I am AFRAID he is bipolar, as that runs on Grant's side of the family (his sister and one of her kids are intensely bipolar), and he fits MANY of the criteria. And I say afraid because, well, you cannot outgrow that and struggle with it forever. If he is bipolar, I think it is a more mild case than I see in Mindy or Nadia - by the time they were Isaac's age there were more immediate and severe problems than we have with him. There is no real "treatment" for childhood anxiety except for medication in really extreme instances, and professionals don't want to even try to diagnose a child as bipolar until they're at least 7. Isaac does better all the time...when I think back to how he was at 3 or 4, I realize how far he's come...but. Yeah, I don't know.
He is a very social and outgoing kid who gets along great with strangers and thrives in AWANA and church nursery type settings, though, which is just one of the reasons why I don't think he's on the autism spectrum. He's also been verbally advanced from an early age, never toe-walked, and just isn't irregular at all about how he responds to or deals with sensory things. He has a hair trigger for getting all upset about little nonsense, yes, but it's in a very anxious, fussy way that rarely has to do with the sorts of things - like noise, smells, itchiness, etc - that bother Aaron. Routine does nothing for him, anymore, though it helped when he was a toddler. I think that is just how toddlers are.
PSA: Barnes and Noble has a no-purchase-necessary summer reading program wherein if your child logs 8 books they read and what they liked best about the book, they can pick a free book from a list applicable to their age group. Ananda is such a crazy bookworm lately she already has 7 logged (the first 3 Spiderwick Chronicles, the first 2 of her American Girl Kaya books, and the last 2 Emily Windsnap books). Turning in your log for your free book also enters you in a contest for a signed book by some author I can't recall.
-dice a red, a green and a yellow bell pepper, two celery stalks and two small yellow onions
-sautee all that in olive oil with generous amounts of minced garlic, one minced jalapeno fresh from your garden, and quite a bit of creole seasoning
-add it all to 10 cups of chicken broth, along with 5 diced tomatoes, and bring to a boil
-throw in 4 cups of raw brown rice, lower heat, cover, set a timer for about 35 minutes (to check on it...it could take up to 45)
-when that rice is almost done, throw 2 pounds of peeled and de-veined medium shrimp in a pan with half a stick of melted smart balance, some olive oil, juice of one lemon, more minced garlic, and more creole seasoning, and cook on medium for about 3-4 minutes, stirring here and there - then turn off the heat and just leave them on it to finish up
-AND cut up a bunch of all beef, minimally processed sausage and fry it til it's food
-then stir all that meat into the very hot rice, along with another 2 raw diced tomatoes, let it sit for a few minutes, and die happy
Granted now. This makes enough to feed Grant and I twice; Grant, Shaun and I once; and me two other times; with still leftovers for Aaron, Jake and the fridge. So. Use your judgement.
Aaron loved his birthday. He has been concentrating hard on this unicycle stuff ever since, taking breaks only to leap around on his moon shoes or build with the bionicles Opa gave him. I mean he seriously spends hours every day with the unicycle. The first day he could only get on with one of us on each side of him, and it was something that took minutes. The next day getting on was simple while holding the library table, but then he could only go about 2 inches before he fell (...a million times). Day 3, he is going from the library table to the edge of the library rug (this thing has yet to be outside so the tire's still clean new rubber), which is about 4 feet. He has barely hit the tile a couple of times now before falling. His focus blows my mind. I will not be at all surprised if he is riding all over the house on it like second nature before two weeks are out.
He also had his first hip hop dance classes yesterday. The beginner one, he was one of 7 kids, and the only boy. He did GREAT, I think he really stood out as having rhythm and it all being second nature. The second class is an intermediate/advanced class he is only taking for a few weeks to make up the cost of the beginner classes he missed at the beginning of the summer - anyway, it has more like 18 kids, and he is one of 3 boys in it. He had a harder time keeping up in there, with more complicated combinations and a faster pace, but everyone else also seemed to and the teacher was complimentary, so. He got sweaty and said he likes it.
To everyone who had questions about whether I've considered this or that possible diagnosis for Isaac: I have considered ALL KINDS OF STUFF. And, during the 6 months I was seeing a counselor 2 and 3 times a week, Isaac frequently came up (and she does also work with children - including Ananda - and had some ideas). I've talked to his pediatrician a couple of times and to a hospital doctor once briefly and thought about his genetics, as well. Basically, I am pretty sure he has a childhood anxiety disorder, which from what I understand can sometimes be outgrown. I would hope so. I am AFRAID he is bipolar, as that runs on Grant's side of the family (his sister and one of her kids are intensely bipolar), and he fits MANY of the criteria. And I say afraid because, well, you cannot outgrow that and struggle with it forever. If he is bipolar, I think it is a more mild case than I see in Mindy or Nadia - by the time they were Isaac's age there were more immediate and severe problems than we have with him. There is no real "treatment" for childhood anxiety except for medication in really extreme instances, and professionals don't want to even try to diagnose a child as bipolar until they're at least 7. Isaac does better all the time...when I think back to how he was at 3 or 4, I realize how far he's come...but. Yeah, I don't know.
He is a very social and outgoing kid who gets along great with strangers and thrives in AWANA and church nursery type settings, though, which is just one of the reasons why I don't think he's on the autism spectrum. He's also been verbally advanced from an early age, never toe-walked, and just isn't irregular at all about how he responds to or deals with sensory things. He has a hair trigger for getting all upset about little nonsense, yes, but it's in a very anxious, fussy way that rarely has to do with the sorts of things - like noise, smells, itchiness, etc - that bother Aaron. Routine does nothing for him, anymore, though it helped when he was a toddler. I think that is just how toddlers are.
PSA: Barnes and Noble has a no-purchase-necessary summer reading program wherein if your child logs 8 books they read and what they liked best about the book, they can pick a free book from a list applicable to their age group. Ananda is such a crazy bookworm lately she already has 7 logged (the first 3 Spiderwick Chronicles, the first 2 of her American Girl Kaya books, and the last 2 Emily Windsnap books). Turning in your log for your free book also enters you in a contest for a signed book by some author I can't recall.
