Gluten Free

So I went to a local health food store on Friday (I think there are maybe 2 in the area.) It was just like walking into a corner of California. Oh, it made me miss Trader Joe's. I think there's one in KC. We need to make a road trip!

Of course, health food is at least twice as expensive as regular crap, but it's for a good cause so I'm not complaining.

Kiki's been gluten-free since New Year's Eve now. As far as immediate effects, last night when I was giving her a bath, I noted her skin is now smooth! It had been so bumpy on her arms and legs for a while now. The doc had said it was eczema, and I'd been putting cream on her like crazy with no effect. Less than a week of gluten-free, and her skin is smooth. Woot!

As far as her hair goes, she's got two more small bald spots on the top of her head that she's just developed in the last few days. But, right in the front where she'd started to recede first, there's a fine, white-blonde fuzzy patch of hair growing in. Yay! I don't know that this is a result of the new diet; I know that with alopecia, the hair starts growing back in as spontaneously as it started falling out. In any case, hopefully we're turning a corner.

I've started counting her calories because she eats like a little horse. I've been telling the docs for almost a year now that I've been concerned about her slow weight gain and the fact that her growth has slowed so awfully much. They keep assuring me that it's just because she's so active. Which is true, but I wonder sometimes if they also think she's a picky eater. And she isn't! She eats lots. I've pegged her at about 900-1200 calories a day, which is just about right for a toddler (that I can glean from the 'Net, anyway.)

Hopefully, this diet will fix all that too.