Typical is not off

Gus has had a substitute teacher for a few weeks now. His regular teacher broke a limb just before Christmas and hasn't been back yet. Heaven help us, she needs to get well soon. I keep getting notes home that he's 'off.' As if I'm supposed to know what that means. Honestly, by most people's definitions, he's a bit 'off' by design. So, is she telling me he's 'off ' from his usual 'offness'? What am I supposed to make of this?

I figured he wasn't getting his work done, so I've been drilling it into his head every day before school. You have to do your work, you have to listen to what your teachers are telling you to do. And he comes home with the same thing. I finally asked him what's going on? Is he doing his work? Is he listening to the teacher? He has said that he is, and actually, judging from the amount of homework he's been bringing home - no more than usual - I had to believe him. So I finally wrote the sub a note asking for specifics. What exactly is he doing that is so 'off?'

The note came home today that he's needs constant prompting to finish his assignments and that he seems to be in his own little world. He seems to be having trouble focusing.

What on earth is this woman doing in a program for spectrum kids?

That loud thudding noise you hear is my head slamming into the desk.

This is the note that I wrote back: "That is pretty typical for him."

Is she kidding me?

And by the way, on day 4 of the gluten-free diet, I have goofed and put spices with MSG into our dinner. But there has been zero change so far. If anything, Gus has been more hyper than usual. Except when he's in school, then he's just zoning out into his own little world. This life is going to drive me to drink one of these days.

Going Gluten Free...sort of

Wow, I haven't been here in ages! Sorry for the prolonged absence. I took a hiatus to write a novel back in November, which I did succeed in drafting, and then I was asked to revise my first novel, but I've been sidetracked with the inspiration to write a new one. So, I'll probably be sporadic at best. There hasn't been much new going on either. Gus's teacher had an accident just before Christmas and hasn't been back to school yet, so I think he's missing her. He's been sort of unfocused at school, not doing his individual work. But otherwise, he's pretty much been status quo.

My friend the dietitian came to see him this week and again recommended that we try a gluten free diet for just 2 weeks to see if there's any level of change in his ability to focus and attend to tasks. Since we've tried everything else, we decided to go for it. She left me a couple of cookbooks and I bought a bunch of gluten free food yesterday. Today is the first day of the trial. I'll need to find some Xantham gum soon - many of the recipes call for it. But this morning I made some gluten free pancakes from a mix. I had to tweak the recipe because of the cholesterol issue (the recipe called for eggs) and I used applesauce with low fat milk. They came out surprisingly good!

Gus is aware that there will be some dietary changes and I think he may be fretting about them a bit, but right now, he's pleased. Those pancakes really were good. I'm hopeful.