Just when I think that everything’s better, out of nowhere, there are plates hurled again at breakfast. Thank you, Peter, for catching that one before the carefully peeled potatoes made their way across the kitchen.

So, I’m revisiting the morning and wondering what went wrong along the way to spur this behavior. What were the signs? What could I have seen but didn’t?

Oliver came downstairs smiling and prancing, seemingly happy to see Emil and I. He ran to the sofa and did a headstand. This is what he usually does. The pressure on his head seems to be soothing to him. I was making breakfast, Emil was playing with playdoh. Oliver was chirpy and grinning. I gave Emil some potatoes. He was eating them happily, minding his own business. I asked Oliver if he wanted some potatoes, too. He yelled, ‘I hate potatoes’. I ignored him. I then asked him if he might like some ketchup on them. He yelled, ‘I hate ketchup and potatoes’. I didn’t react and decided to switch from the topic of food to drink. Somewhere during this time frame, he asked if he could watch tv. I said, ‘maybe later’. I think that just added fuel to the fire.

Then Julian came downstairs and gave him a hug and said ‘good morning’. He didn’t revolt against that. Peter came downstairs and asked him if he’d like to join us at the table. He sat down but then stated that he wanted the potatoes peeled. He said, ‘sure, no problem’ and peeled his potatoes. Sometimes Oliver needs to get his way a little bit but then he’ll get on board with the plan after you give him a little control. Today that just further enraged him. I made some eggs for the other two boys with butter. Oliver never likes eggs, so I figured that it would be okay to cook them with butter for the other boys (Oliver’s not eating dairy/gluten). Then, he says that he wants eggs. I put a piece on his plate. He then started freaking out that he wanted a bigger piece before he even had any. Then we had a full fledged tantrum starting. Plates being flipped over, etc. Peter took him upstairs.

A couple hours later…he won’t eat more than two bites of food. He wanted a waffle. I made one. With chocolate chips and maple syrup. He ate two bites. Then he saw the left overs from breakfast and wanted the potatoes again, with no skin. Okay. Done. He ate two bites. He said he’s not hungry. My mom said to make him a milkshake. Good idea. Made him one (dairy/gluten free of course) with a banana in it. He drank about 1/2 cup.

Is it the gluten-free thing? Has he lost his appetite for food because of that? Is that causing him the tantrums? Is it that he was sick the past few days and he hasn’t eaten so he’s not hungry yet? Prior to this I was noticing how well he was doing. Fewer tantrums, better focus. More creativity and lots more laughter. He was bee-bopping around here last week in great spirits. He was also easier to talk into things and push the boundaries a bit. Now that he doesn’t seem to be feeling as well, he’s not at all flexible and is not easy to get along with. He simply cannot rebound well.

I wish that I had more answers for my questions. I feel like when we have a string of good days in a row I get closer to figuring this out. Then we’ll face a health set back and it seems like everything that we learned doesn’t work and the rules have been rewritten.