Tuesday, December 04, 2007

No Sugar, No Shows, Know Peace

Pin It Now! Last week I decided to do a little experiment. I didn't let Elijah watch any shows or sugar (Lydia already doesn't get any of those delights yet) for the week. Before you go reporting me for being a bad parent or a good parent - depending on your perspective - hear me out. Elijah was being a punk. His attitude a lot of the time was not good for several weeks. I know, I know, part of it is "the age," but how long can we ride that train?

He definitely gets a little tude after watching a show (and I am talking decent kid shows like The Backyardigans and Clifford - not Sponge Bob or Desperate Housewives). Part of it is the whining for another show, but there is also an aftershock for a little bit afterwards. I don't know if it is sensory overload or what, but he watches TV with his mouth dropped open and barely moves.


But the TV tude is more temporary than the sugar surge. And it is not like I give him a lot of sugar, just a little bit here and there. But guess what folks? It's enough. We noticed a big difference in the attitude in a sugarfree Elijah.

This experiment was not without incidents. One day Elijah was very quiet in his room. It was only about 10 in the morning. Shiloh checked on him and said he was sleeping beneath his parachute tarp thingy. Sounded a bit strange to me. When he emerged from his room after a few minutes ( he had not napped - SHOCKER) I noticed there was something crunchy in his mouth. It was a peppermint candy and I have no idea where it came from. I had planned to have the exorcism only last for 5 days. This pushed it out 2 more days.

On another day, he was getting himself "some water". But the water is not located on the side of the refrigerator. What was he doing in there? My Mom said, "He is drinking something out of the fridge?" What could it be with a dark outline around his lips? Balsalmic vinegar? How about Hershey's chocolate syrup straight from the bottle. Busted. Add another day to the deprivation. Here is Elijah's account of the heist.



Tuesday was the reinstatement day. He had a yogurt (for those of you who don't know, yogurt has a lot of sugar in it), eggs and a piece of toast with some butter and honey on it. He had a small piece of chocolate from the advent calendar (that chocolate in the advent calendar is a whole other blog) this afternoon. But from here on out I think I am going to really watch and limit his sugar intake. So far so good. Here is the dessert I gave him ...
apple, almond butter and chocolate or carob chips.


Lydia is happy with her raisins.

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4 comments:

Meghan said...

Ha Ha so Awesome! So tell Elijah that Adam says Sugar us bad but Star Wars is very Good ha ha.

Rosalyn said...

i grew up in a home where Granola, homemade brown bread and peanut butter, chickens and brown eggs ruled. I would do stuff like Elijah. Hearing that you gave him Carob chips makes me go YUCK! I was six or seven and couldn't believe my good fortune when in the cupboard I spotted this great bag of chocolate chips! SCORE! I grabbed a handful, chucked them in my mouth, chewed and about hurled! From then on, when I wanted something sweet I'd eat a spoonful of bisquick.

Bill and Jenn said...

Wendy, we've noticed the same attitude with Lexy when she's had too much sugar!! Thankfully, she'll gladly eat an orange (or any other fruit) instead of dessert-- our little Fruitarian. Good luck with limiting sugar intake. Hard work this time of year!! :) Take care.

Amy Taylor said...

Hahaha. We've had the same thing going one here. Dane is a maniac on sugar. Well more of a maniac anyways :)
We've introduced the "dessert banana" - which is just a banana. But the word "dessert" in front of it makes it so much more enticing.