I am ashamed to admit that my child has never really been forced to try new foods. We have not always eaten healthy. Honestly, we used to eat a whole lot of fast food/takeout/delivery. I'm not proud of it. This year is all about making good choices. I'm also going to admit that in the last 2 weeks, we haven't gone back to our old habits. I've made dinner every day for the last 2 weeks. Yes, that is a feat for me, One that I'm proud of. We have only eaten out twice and both times were at Subway.

For dinner, I'm really trying to focus on getting lean meat, complex carbs from vegetables and complex carbs from good starch. This for us, is kind of new. Since we started this new way of life, Dechlan has been much more open to eating good foods. Like a lot of children with special needs, we have a hard time getting him to eat. Now that we are eating better, he is eating better. We do have a bit of a fight when it comes to him eating salad or green beans, but he does eat them. He's been great with trying new foods. I made turkey soup last week and loaded it up with carrots, butternut squash, leeks, onion, celery and potato and loved every single vegetable in it. He even went back for seconds which is very rare. Then I made spaghetti squash with vegetable tomato sauce and he adored it. He's been asking for it for dinner ever since. Tonight, I made chicken, baked potatoes, baked sweet potato for me(I hate white potatoes) and brussel sprouts. I cut them open and put some nonfat sour cream on them and he gobbled them up without a fuss. It's amazing!!

We have been trying to find healthy snacks for him. He loves to snack and I'd love to get him into eating healthier snacks. Tonight I got him to try almonds and he loved them. He does love strawberries and apples but I'm trying to find other healthy snacks for him. I'm thinking plain popcorn(which we know he loves).

So my question is, what kind of healthy snacks do you feed your picky eaters?

I've been so busy lately! Back to school routines have been a bitch. Dealing Dechlans doctor a lot lately has also kept me busy as well. The reason we've been dealing with Dechlans doctor so much lately is because he has finally gotten an official diagnosis. She's been helping us with different resources and finding tricks to help him as best we can. She had thought he had ADHD but upon more observation she has diagnosed him with Mild Global Developmental Delay. What that means is that he isn't developing at the 'Normal' level that he should be. She has assessed that he is about 24 months delayed. Now we're fighting to get him the proper support at school. It's a very frustrating process.

We also had a wonderful visit from my brother! He came for Dechlans birthday. It's hard to believe that my baby is already 5 years old. It was a complete surprise for D. He had no idea his Uncle Chris was coming to see him. He was only here for 5 days but it was great. On his actual birthday we had a fun filled day. We went to the Disney store. They do this very cute ceremony every single morning. They get the help from a child to use the big Disney key to open the store. Once it's all done, the child gets his own miniature key. Dechlan simply loved it. He had so much fun. He was given gift certificates from a family member so he got to pick out his own toys. His Uncle Chris bought him a ton of toys and movies. He was so spoiled! They gave him a little button that said Happy Birthday Dechlan and even put him name up on the screen. He just loved it! Then we went to Starbucks where he got some juice and him and I shared a pumpkin scone. Then home to Skype with all the Grandparents. We then made our way to the movies to go see Paranorman and Mucho Burrito. He had so much fun. Once we got home, he got to play with all his new toys and have dinner. I made his favourite, rice, coleslaw and Rainbow Trout. He was so surprised when he saw his Pirate cake. Overall his birthday was great.

Sunday, Nick and Chris went to see a movie while I baked cupcakes for Chris' birthday. And Monday we went to the Zoo. It was a beautiful day. It wasn't busy and we had a ton of fun. Sadly we had to drop Chris off at the airport that night.

So I should be back to regular blogging.

We went camping last weekend! Well sort of. We left home around 3pm and hit traffic. We didn't make it to the campsite until 6pm. By 7pm we were set up.

We had dinner and then went for a dip in the lake.My water baby had a grand ole time! We got back to our site around 9 and got the fire started and then got Dechlan into his PJs. Since it was his first camping trip, he was a bit freaked out by the dark. He got over that once he started roasting marshmallows.  I would like to point out that I have a weird kid. He doesn't really go in for the sweet stuff. He ate 1 marshmallow and decided that was enough for him. He liked to actual roasting of mashmallows more than eating them.

Around 10pm he started yawning so it was time for a stop at the outhouse and then off to bed. I also want to point out that he thought peeing in the 'hole' was the greatest thing ever. I'm not going to lie, I'm terrified of outhouses at night. I will hold it until morning. No joke.

He was passed out in no time. We got to enjoy some adult quiet time and then we started yawning. We cleaned up and put out the fire and went to bed. It was so hot that I had a hard time sleeping. Nick can sleep anywhere and in most environments. I'm jealous of that.

I'm not sure what time it was, but our fire decided to somehow spark back to life. Nick had to get up and put it out again. Then we heard some kind of animal running around. That must have woken Dechlan up, so he ended up coming to lay in our tent. He snuggled in and I thought he was going to go back to sleep but instead decided it was time to have a chat with his Mommy.

What felt like hours later, we started falling asleep and then Nick started snoring. Dechlan decided he wanted me to go sleep in his tent with him. So off we went to his tent. We both fell asleep pretty fast. 6am rolled around and Dechlan starts singing and playing drums on my butt. Time to get up I guess.

Nick and Dechlan toddle off to go pee and then the rain started. Seriously, I've never gone camping where it didn't rain. I'm okay with rain. I swear to you, I thought I was going to see Noah's ark float by. It was awful. Thunder and lightning. 3 hours go by and the rain just keeps getting worse, the wind was really picking up and freaking Dechlan out. Finaly we decide it's time to give up and go home. Dechlan was just frantic at this point. Plus his tent was leaking.

So we put Dechlan in the car to stay warm and out of the rain. We start parking stuff up and the rain keeps getting worse. We we SOAKED by the time we were done. Our rental car has to be cleaned before we give it back because of all the rain and mud that got tracked in.

The lesson we learned? Don't book a camping trip a week in advance. If there is ANY chance of rain, I will not go. Nope, I hate camping in the rain.

I'm sorry, Grandma and Grandpa. I WILL complain and NOT camp in the rain.

Today I woke up feel like crap. I wanted to stay in bed. The day actually turned out pretty good.

First, I woke up to find my place almost spotless. Yes, my husband cleaned for me! That probably saved me an hour or so. Then I got a call from the development specialist saying that they are moving up our appointment from June 13th to May 30th.

Then we took Dechlan to school and went to pick up my parcel from my mom. Like always, it was full of awesome stuff.

We picked up Dechlan and found that our boy is starting to speak better. He came home asking for things in a full proper sentence. He wanted to colour and he said 'Can I please colour, Mommy?' instead of 'I colour please?' School is doing wonders for him. They're really helping him. The teacher says that he has a special chair just for him that has a little cupholder that he keeps a squishy balls in that helps him concentrate during class. I'm really thankful for the special needs assistant and his teacher. They've really helped him. I couldn't be happier!

Dechlan has his first school concert next Friday. I'm so excited! Nick is probably going to take the day off to see it. I'm going to record it as well! My baby is growing up.

Today started out awful and turned into a wonderful day. Now I'm off to make dinner.

Last Tuesday he had to get vaccinations done at the doctor. Usually it isn't a problem. He gets a bit groggy the next day but that's it. He was sleeping so much during the day which is rare. He hasn't napped in a year or so. But he was sleeping for 3 hours every day.

Friday evening he started crying and telling us that his arm hurt and lifted his shirt to reveal a HUGE red patch that was hot and swollen. I ended up calling Ontario Telehealth and they said we had to take him to a doctor within 24 hours. We found a walk in clinic and took him in ASAP. Turns out his poor little arm got infected. Nick and I suspected that the doctor didn't swab his second arm before giving him his shot.

The red spot is almost gone thanks to anti-biotics. D he's being a champ, but he still feel a bit crappy. Thankfully he doesn't need anymore shots until he's 12 years old.

Dechlan has his physical yesterday. He of course had to get vaccinations which went over so well. And thankfully are the last ones until he is 12 years old.

He's a tall and skinny boy. He's 42.5 inches tall and 42lbs. He's extremely healthy too. Everything is good. Some of his development is behind but we knew that. We're waiting for his appointment with the  development specialist in June.

We've decided to NOT send him to school for the rest of the year. We kind of want to hear what the doctor has to say. Plus he keeps having accidents. It's getting a bit frustrating for all of us.

But all in all, he's doing great.

I want to start off with saying that I've been a very bad blogger lately. I've been slacking on blogging.


We made so much progress this week. We finally got Dechlan's birth certificate in the mail. We got down to the OHIP office to get his new OHIP card.

We've booked an appointment for his vaccinations and to get a referral for a hearing test. We have an appointment in June with a pediatric specialist. She will basically testing him to see if he only has a speech delay or if it's something more. From what I hear, she's one of the best doctors in her field in the GTA so I'm pretty happy about that. She suggested that we see about speech therapy from the Early Years programs. We have an appointment booked and hopefully they can see him. He's at the age where the only people that might help him is the Peel School Board.

Speaking of school, we're registering Dechlan for school on Monday!! As many people know, the reason he hasn't started school was A) His lack of potty training. B) His speech delay.


Now that I know the school will be able to help him, we're ready to send him to school.


On a very happy note, Dechlan is officially daytime potty trained!! I'm not sure how to get him to be nightime trained but I'm sure it will come.

For the last week, Dechlan has stopped sleeping through the night. He wakes up every few hours. He doesn't nap during the day and is so bloody cranky now. It's so frustrating. I'm sick of him yelling and crying about every small thing. I have no clue how to get him to sleep through the night again. I feel so bad for him. He tries so hard to go back to sleep but it takes around a half hour for him to get back to sleep every time.

He's also discovered how to sass and troll people. We're currently into the 'Really?!' phase. He talks back and just overall trolls people. He's so much like his father it's scary. I'm praying his sass dies down a little bit.

Yesterday we started potty training Dechlan. We expected a huge fight from him. He hates having to take time away from his play time.

He did a lot better than we had expected. He had a few accidents but did well overall. Today has been a bit harder. This morning he used the potty without any accidents. This afternoon he had 2 accidents and has put up huge fights to pee on the potty. I hope he decides he wants to use the potty again.

He refuses to tell us when he needs to pee and refuses to poop on the potty. I really hope he comes around. It's still early in the potty training so I'm sure he will start telling us in no time.

Any tips on potty training a stubborn 4 year old?

Dechlan is 4 years old and he hasn't really understood or even really cared about Christmas. He's really gotten into it this year. He doesn't quite understand the whole Santa thing but loves Christmas anyway. He has really gotten into the Christmas tree decorating. We even got him his own little tree and he decorated it. He really loved it.

You never fully appreciate Christmas until you have a child, or atleast that is how it was for Nick and I. I have always loved Christmas, but having a child has made it even more amazing. It's been really special for us.

Dechlan has really gotten into Christmas. He loves the movies, the decorations and even baking with me. What has really been cute is hearing him hum along to holiday music. It's the cutest thing ever hearing him sing Jingle Bells. He says it's his favourite. It's just amazing hearing him sing the songs.

It gets more and more amazing every single year with him. His first Christmas was at 3.5 months old. He opened 1 gift, decided the paper was better than the gift. Then he proceeded to fall asleep. It was absolutely amazing.

His 2nd and 3rdand 4th Christmases were spent trying to get him to just open ALL the gifts and convince him that he could play with the toys a little later. Hopefully this year he understands that. Either way, Christmas is always amazing for him.

He is the only Grand-child for my Mom and Nick's parents so he gets spoiled to death. I have to admit that we spoil him as well. That's the great part of having one child, you can spend so much more on the child.

I just love the Holidays with my little family. I'm so thankful for them. You really do make my Christmases the best and brightest.

Dechlan is very rarely sick. He has only been sick once before today. He woke up this morning with a stuffy nose and it has progressed to coughing.

Dechlan is always on the go. He never sits down. Today, he hasn't really done anything. He's been snuggling and watching tv.

My poor boy. I hope he wakes up in the morning feeling better. I hate seeing him so lethargic.

Today we took D to a play area and we watched him play with another boy. He never did well at the daycare at the gym so we stopped taking him. I realized that he really does well when it doesn't involve toys. It was amazing seeing him communicate with the other boy.

I'm not a big fan of being around people. Actually, I prefer to be at home with my family doing stuff together. I think my fear of being around people has hurt D's development. Nick and I have decided that we will start taking him to the Ontario Early Years Centers and once a week take him to a play area.

Nick and I could really use some time out as well. We have both become somewhat antisocial. I need to get over my fear of being with people.