Altered Kid

Yesterday Maximus had a hard time leaving my side to stay at preschool. 95% of the time he's like, "gye mom!" (bye mom) and runs off. But for some reason, he didn't want to stay at school. His speech pathologist, Kirsten, walked into the room and he perked up. Maximus, Kirsten and I went into her office and he noticed some stickers and a bag of Cheez It Duos on her desk. He asked if he could have some and since he was having a hard time, I was to the point where anything would help. Anyway, when I picked up my suddenly happy Maximus later that day, I found out he ate the entire bag of the crackers. Typically when we eat a little off like that, I'll make sure we eat very healthy for the rest of the day.

Now, you're like, what's the big deal? They're crackers...sort of: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, SKIM MILK CHEESE (SKIM MILK, WHEY PROTEIN, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO COLOR), WHITE CHEDDAR CHEESE (MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF SALT, WHEY, BUTTERMILK, PAPRIKA, CHEDDAR AND MONTEREY JACK CHEESE (MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, PARMESAN CHEESE (PART-SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), CULTURED NONFAT MILK, LEAVENING (YEAST, BAKING SODA), GARLIC, TOMATO, SUGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, ONION, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SPICES, MALIC ACID, ANNATTO COLOR, SODIUM CASEINATE, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, PAPRIKA OLEORESIN, DISODIUM INOSINATE, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, PARSLEY, TURMERIC EXTRACT FOR COLOR, YELLOW #6, YELLOW #5, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, POLYSORBATE 80, SOY LECITHIN.

When you don't have certain things in your diet and you consume a load of crap crackers like that, it's going to affect your mood. Maximus spent the rest of the day as, well...a total butt hole. He refused to eat ANYTHING else and begged for more of the florescent orange crackers. I would have allowed him to have a few more if he ate other things, but he refused. I stuck to my guns and didn't give in. Holy cow, the fits that Jesse and I witnessed last night were something I've never seen. We talked about how easily affected our kid is when a wrench is thrown into his routine. This is the second time where he's gone off the deep end when his diet was changed.

Typically I only write about food and health on my food blog because it really irritates certain people. But yesterday was a total "ah ha!" moment as a mom. Today he woke up, ate a large bowl of slow cooked plain oatmeal and drank his healthy green juice and went to school as a saint.