I’m writing this on a Thursday night (though it won’t post until morning), sitting on my deck by myself on a lovely evening in May. If any of you have ever had four kids, three of them teenagers, you know what my May is like. Currently we have soccer, baseball, horseback, color guard, drumline auditions,…
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The Celiac Report, Week 9… plus related updates on my daughter
We’re 9 weeks into the celiac journey with our daughter. My past celiac reports have resembled diatribes more than anything, so I thought I’d do something different this time. Bear with me a minute. Item 1: Julianna has always been a bit of a cutup. She laughs—loudly and lustily–whenever anyone laughs, even when she doesn’t…
Read MoreThe Celiac Report, Week 6
Our adventure with celiac-disease-inspired gluten-free cooking has progressed in the last month, so I thought I’d share my updated insights. 1. I have done so much web searching that Google now knows to add the words “gluten-free” to any food-related search string. 2. I’ve looked up so many ingredients. If you’d asked me two months…
Read MoreThe Celiac Report, Week 2.5
We’ve been doing the celiac thing now for 2.5 weeks, and I have a few initial experiences to share: Gluten free ≠ celiac gluten free. I keep hearing, “This is the time to be gluten free. There are so many options there didn’t used to be.” This is all true, but nonetheless it’s a big…
Read MoreUnwanted Adventures
Last week, my chromosomally-gifted daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease. Let me insert this appeal up front: We’re getting tons of advice from all quarters, so please don’t fill up the combox with that; I can’t process it all anyway. I have to learn things bit by bit. That was true when she was born…
Read MoreThe “Daily Buzz”
One of my daughter Julianna’s IEP goals for this year is to learn to express herself in writing. We’ve always had trouble getting from her what is going on in school; she needs help learning to bring what’s in her head, well, out of it. Her absolutely fabulous teacher identified that as a real need…
Read MoreAn Update On My Chromosomally-Gifted Girl
A few weeks ago I posted on Instagram about my chromosomally-gifted girl’s adventures in color guard costuming. The response was so sweet, it reminded me that for all my personal interests of music and fiction and photography, it’s my daughter you all like to read about the most. It’s been quite a while since I…
Read MoreDisability and Friendship
So here’s a thing you might not consider about having a kid with a disability: It is REALLY HARD to make friends. Think about it. How do little kids make friends? STEP ONE: They find kids at school with like interests and personalities. They come home and tell you about it. STEP TWO: A) If…
Read MoreTesting (or: when a morale-booster ends up being demoralizing)
This past week, we got the results of Julianna’s “re-eval.” Now, for those of you who are not immersed in the world of special education, part of the process is that every three years a child must be re-evaluated to make sure they still qualify for special ed. There’s a whole battery of tests, and…
Read MoreMad Lib Theology
Today, I visit my blog to talk about this girl: Wednesday nights, Julianna goes to “church school” (because it’s easier for little kids to say than “religious ed”) while we’re having choir practice. Usually, in the chaos of grabbing boys from the nursery, cleaning up octavos and books, and getting an overtired family of six…
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Kathleen M. Basi 