Danged grocery store turkeys! And Preschool is going well!

OK, so for Thanksgiving, I cooked everything we ate from scratch. I made my own stuffing using mushrooms, chopped pecans, onions, and a bit of homemade chicken broth. I made mashed "faux-tatoes" using cauliflower. I made mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk in place of the sour cream I used to use (because sour cream gives me migraines now). I made pumpkin pie using coconut milk in place of the evaporated milk and agave nectar, maple syrup, and smidgen of Sucanat in place of the sugar with no crush at all -- just used an oven-proof glass pie plate. (no, I don't think it was Pyrex brand, I think it was Anchor Hocking, and they do call it glass, Stacy, just ovenware). It used to be borosilicate glass, but apparently they have changed it and use lime now. I made roasted Brussels sprouts with olive oil on them. I also made dh some nasty boxed stuffing loaded with MSG (but didn't eat even a tiny amount of it -- I don't even like stuffing made from bread anymore anyway, it tastes like soggy bread to me -- which in fact it is, LOL). It took me quite a while. Oh, and I made homemade cranberry sauce using the same combination of sweeteners.

So I should not have ended up with a migraine. And the first day, I was fine. It was the second day it started to kick in, and I can only conclude it was the grocery store turkey breast I bought because I was in too much of a rush to go to the health food store to buy one that wasn't injected with an MSG-laced "solution." Big mistake. I should know by now that if I eat any meat that has been processed in anyway by a mainstream manufacturer (ham, lunch meat, ground or whole turkey, etc.) that I will end up with a migraine headache. They should have to put a big warning label, "Contains MSG" on these things, but they get to hide it as "broth" or "flavor" instead. Ugh! Anyway, after a ton of magnesium and some Petadolex and green tea, I got better, but never again.

I had gone to the supermarket for something totally unrelated, now I know I have to be super careful and plan these things out better. It's partially because I agreed to take someone else's day for preschool on Wednesday, and partially because I took a first aid class Tuesday evening. I just have so much less free time with ds in preschool -- who knew?

Preschool news!
Speaking of preschool, C is definitely doing well in school and enjoying it. He really craves time with other kids, and we just don't get that all that much on our own. Not with the same kids consistently enough, anyway. His friend A and he used to get together fairly regularly, but it was becoming less and less with her in school. Now he gets to see her at least those three days a week, plus often another day or on the weekend. He also sometimes visits the kids downstairs, but they often eat dinner at 7:30 or 8, right when he's ready to go down there. They are from India, and have kept the tradition of a later dinner (which they call supper, I think). His other neighbor friend, E, is in Kindergarten, and is in both before- and after-school programs because his mom works full time and his dad, who also works full time but has earlier hours, rides his bike to work (about two blocks away) and couldn't pick him up from school. And now that he's in school and going so early with his mom, he has to go to bed at 8 PM. So we generally only see him on weekends.

Being an only child, C has a constant desire to be around other kids (or maybe it's just being my kid), so school is really the only way he can get that. We've tried homeschool groups, but they meet irregularly and are never the same kids twice. It's just not worked for us. Plus, to be honest, when it's just the two of us, we don't do much. I get drawn into the computer, and C gets sucked into his DVDs, and the whole day will go by without our interacting. Now at least we interact a bit more when we are getting ready and when we are on our way to school and on our way home. C has been learning more -- he sometimes recognizes words, can count at least to 30, and we read more when we're at home so we're both learning more about insects, among other things (we have several books about them). I didn't realize that dragonflies went through incomplete metamorphosis, for example. Or even that there was an incomplete metamorphosis, for that matter. Pretty cool.

Also, I'm now able to go shopping without ds -- while he's at preschool. Before that, if I tried to leave him with dh or a friend, he would freak out and cling to me. He doesn't do that at school. He does sometimes cry a bit, but he gets over it and is fine. He still won't stay home with dh, even after being able to stay at school, so I know it's not a permanent change. He accepts the rules at school, but at home, with us he sort of is in charge, which I know isn't good but it's the way it's gotten to be.

Anyway, I again say that I will not buy another grocery store turkey as long as I live!