Centrelink and Toddlers Helping in the Kitchen.

In my first post of the year I mentioned that Paul and I decided to apply to Centrelink for Carers Payment and Allowance. We put in our application at the start of the year and were told it can take up to 48 days to hear if we've been accepted or not. Well today I recieved my phone call - we've been declined for financial support and they'll give us a Health Care Card (which we already have). Their reasoning for us being declined is that the doctors section of the paperwork said that Asher's not developmentally behind for his age. I was aware before I applied that they were more likely to give the help to people with children that have physical disabilities, but I'm still extremely frustrated.

I've requested a new set of paperwork to be sent out - I'm going to resubmit my application. This time I'm going in with 'all guns loaded', I am currently ringing around trying to get letters from everyone that has worked with Asher and I and has an understanding of CSID. So again his GP will fill out the forms and this time I'm going to attach letters from his dietician and our CYH nurse that has worked with us since Asher was 6 weeks old. I'm very frustrated as a lot of children with special needs are not developmentally behind for their age. Fingers crossed that next time I update about this subject I will have better news.

Now to the next part of my update. Over the weekend I was whipping up a batch of one of Asher's favourite treats (his Oat and Yogurt Bars) and decided to let Asher help. As he's still quite young there's not much he can do, but I've watched him in his little play kitchen pretending to pour and stir and I let him help with the stirring. Here's a couple of pictures I wanted to share on my blog to show the joy he got out of helping. Of course once these were cooked he loved munching away on them again!

So can he have...?

A lot of friends and family find Asher's diet very overwhelming - and who could blame them! While Paul and I have to live this everyday they do not. I have lists around the place of things Asher can eat, things we're trying and things he can't have. The top half of my fridge is dedicated to Asher's food, Asher's anaphylaxis plan and Asher's asthma plan.

So I thought I'd type it out for those interested. If it's not on the list, he can't have it or I haven't tried it with him yet and boy do we space out introductions of new foods! He doesn't actually like everything on this list, but that's when my sneaking can come in handy! So here are Asher's lists, up-to-date as of January 21st 2010!

Asher's OK list.

Vegetables:

- Broccoli.

- Cauliflower.

- Green Beans.

- Swede.

- Spinach.

- Lettuce.

- Celery.

- Capsicum.

- Mushrooms.

- Zucchini.

- Turnip.

- Asparagus.

- Leek.

- Garlic.

Fruit:

- Packham Pears.

- Blueberries.

- Cherries.

- Blackberries.

- Grapes/Sultanas.

- Avocado.

- Paw-Paw.

- Tomato.

- Currents.

Meat:

- Chicken.

- Beef.

- Lamb.

- Pork.

- Tuna.

- Whiting.

Misc:

- 'Our Mate' spread (tastes like Vegemite).

- Heinz Pureed Pears.

- Nuttalex Olive Margarine.

- Philidelphia Cream Cheese Spread.

- Organ's Gluten Free Flour and Self-Raising Flour mixes.

- Glucodin Powder.

- Oatmeal.

- PLAIN cows milk (some milks add soy!).

- Cheese.

- Fruisana Fruit Sugar (fructose).

- Yoplait ForMe Yogurt.

Asher's NO list.

- Banana (ANAPHYLAXIS).

- Sucrose (Sugar/Cane Sugar).

- Gluten.

- Soy.

- Sunflower Seeds.

- Large amounts of rice/corn starches.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Bake.

Asher is still going through vegetable strikes every so often, so anything with lots of vegies I can find that he enjoys is a plus! I started with this recipe and made a few changes to make it Asher friendly. He really loved this meal and enjoyed his left overs the next day!

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Bake.

Ingredients:

- 3 chicken breasts.

- 1 tin Asparagus spears, chopped.

- Handful frozen beans, chopped.

- Brocolli and Cauliflower.

- 300g Sour Cream.

- 1/2 cup chicken stock (we use Gravox stock as it is sugar and gluten free).

- Tasty cheese.

- Parmasan cheese.

Method:

- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Cook chicken and vegetables (except asparagus).

- Once cooked chop chicken into bite size pieces. Put in a saucepan with asparagus and other cooked vegetables over low heat.

- Add sour cream, chicken stock and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

- Transfer into oven-proof dish. Top with parmasan and tasty cheese. Cook in oven for 20 minutes or until heated through and golden brown.

Like I said earlier, this was very popular with Asher (and Paul!). Asher finished every mouthful on his plate - which is extremely rare at the moment!

Cheesy Vegetable Mini-Muffins.

Like a lot of toddlers Asher is currently going through an anti-vegetable phase. As Asher's list of vegetables he can actually eat is rather small, I wanted to create something for dinner time that he'll actually eat.

Cheesy Vegetable Mini-Muffins.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups Vegetables, cooked and chopped.

- 2 cups Orgran Self-Raising flour.

- 2 eggs.

- 1 cup grated cheese.

Method:

- Cook your chosen vegetables and chop (or puree) them.

- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and spray a mini-muffin tray with olive oil spray.

- Whisk eggs and add to flour, cheese and vegetables. Mix well to combine.

- Spoon mix into muffin tray and cook for 20-25 minutes until golden and skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

I made this a while ago but I'm pretty sure I got around 24 muffins out of this mix. I froze batches of them and reheat them to add to Asher's dinners. I used brocolli and beans (I pureed the beans as Asher hates them). These are a big hit, if Asher doesn't eat anything else on his plate he will devour the muffins!

I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will edit this post with one soon!

2010.

Well, happy 2010 everyone! We made it through our first Christmas after Asher's diagnosis without too many issues. We've quickly learnt to come prepared with 'back-up' food as just one off ingredient can cause a bad reaction for Asher. This is something we are still learning about ourselves!

Since we made it through Christmas so easily, you'd think we'd still be dealing with everything well. How wrong that is! We are currently dealing with Asher's first severe reaction since his diagnosis 5 months ago. I forgot how tough it was to watch my baby in so much pain. Asher's reactions can vary, this time we are having a lot of wind issues. He's waking frequently during the night needing help to push out wind. Once it's out he falls straight back to sleep on our shoulders. He can get very irritable and distressed when in pain and is extremely hard to comfort. At times like this, The Wiggles are quickly becoming our saviours as Asher instantly calms enough to allow me to cuddle and massage him once they're on. We believe it's rice starch that is causing the issues with Asher. We have been trying to work out his limits and have been increasing his intake, obviously too much. I've also had some people tell me that they need to watch their child's carb intake during the day, this is something I'm going to research further as it may help us.

Throughout all this Asher still never ceases to amaze me with how brave he is. We are having so many beautiful moments that he'll have fun playing with all his toys with a big smile on his face. Children can be so resiliant. Paul and I always comment on how proud we are that with everything that he's gone through he's grow up to be such a happy and loving toddler.

Now that we are in the new year I am going to make it my resolution to post in this blog at least once a week. At the moment I'm currently attempting to get Carer's Allowance/Payment from Centrelink. Our weekly food bill is getting bigger and bigger all the time as Asher grows and needs more food (as well as more variety). This is getting tough for us so we decided to try to claim the allowances.

I've also started asking around about Sucraid for Asher. I started with his GP and he gave me a number to ring. From what I've been told only one other person is on Sucraid in Australia and it's extremely hard to get. I think this would help us out a lot, so I'm going to try my hardest to get it for him.

I'll keep the blog updated on how we go with both these things. Hopefully once Asher's stomach has calmed down again I will have the chance to share another food discovery that works for him.