Third Grade is done? Nooooooo!

Rachel loves horror movies. Her favorite is Child’s Play, she is very twisted. Both of my daughters have scoffed at movies that I saw at their age that gave me nightmares for YEARS! When we watched Nightmare on Elm Street they told us it was cheesy! My jaw dropped! Freddy Kruger haunted me until I was at least 23. Watching it as an adult and with movie technology – well it is kind of cheesy.

My daughters always ask me if I believe in “monsters”….and I do. You don’t spend three years working in a Brig’s legal office reading through court documents and not get exposed to real life monsters. The guy that couldn’t take his 18-month old crying so he slammed her head with the refrigerator door and then put her to bed; later his wife found the baby hemorrhaging; the baby is brain dead. What a jem he is; his parents are probably really proud. Or the nut job I went to high school with who shot and dismembered a couple they met while vacationing. They then dumped the bodies in a dumpster and went on with their beach vacation. They got caught B&Eing a Hooters a few days later and the sick-o had bullet casings, the dead couple’s jewelry and license on her. Sad part about this story is her parents ARE proud of her! So yes, monsters do exist, just most of the time they aren’t burned beyond recognition and wear a creepy hat. They look like everyone else and can even function in society….at least for a little while.

But there are also amazing people out there that you would call a “godsend”. This is a picture of Mrs. Eileen Holden; she is Rachel’s third grade teacher. Mrs. Holden is a monumental person in helping with Rachel’s celiac disease. When Rachel first got diagnosed the biggest challenge turned out to be school. Although I have packed both of my daughter’s lunches since they started school, call me crazy but fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pizza, frittatas (what is that anyways?), spaghetti and the infamous mixed vegetables from a can do not need to be in anyone’s diet let alone a growing mind, that wasn’t the challenge. The challenge was in the classroom, the birthday parties, or the “Big Event”. There are cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pizza, pies, even ice cream – you truly don’t realize how much crap has wheat in it until you have someone that absolutely CANNOT have it in their diet. No more cookies and cream ice cream, butterfinger toppings, cones, waffle bowls or crunch anything.

We were cruising into about week three of Rachel being gluten-free and her stomach pains completely gone and she came home from school one day unusually quiet, and if you know Rachel she is NEVER quiet. I kept asking her what was wrong and she kept saying nothing but I could tell she just wasn’t ready to talk about it. I finally got it out of her and she told me someone had brought in cupcakes at school for a birthday party and she was very upset that it just sat on her desk in front of her and she couldn’t eat it. Although she really, really wanted to. And all the kids looked like they were really having fun and enjoying their cupcake. Life just wasn’t fair, and she asked why she had to have celiac. My heart broke for her – as an adult it is easy to understand that you shouldn’t eat something because of health reasons or to look cute in shorts – but as a kid it’s a tough pill to swallow.

If you are a parent you know how hard communication is with your child’s teacher. Even with phones in the classroom, email and the standard school visits it can be difficult for them to juggle 20 kids and all their parents. Establishing a relationship with the person that spends more time with your child during the week than you do can be a challenge. And when you or your child isn’t having a good school experience life just isn’t as good as it could be.

I sent a note in to Mrs. Holden to see if we could come up with a solution – maybe Rachel could be excused while the other kids ate cupcakes and could she keep an eye on the food choices Rachel was making during the “Big Event” while Rachel learned what all had wheat in it. If I knew all the birthdays of the kids in the class I could have gluten free cupcakes on hand to send in. (yeah, I know that is absurd – you promise the craziest stuff when your baby is crying and you want to fix it for them?)


Mrs. Holden’s note back was a keeper, but what was even more amazing was how the rest of the school year has gone. Mrs. Holden explained to me that she has celiac disease too! And that she would be more than willing to keep gluten-free treats in the class and when there were parties she would let Rachel choose one of those treats while the others had their cupcakes. She even talked to the class about why Rachel was eating something different and the way she explained it got all the other kids on board of the “help Rachel stay gluten-free” wagon. (Can you picture a small town’s alcoholic – his truck is parked outside the local bar and the town folk run in and slap the drink out of his hand and drag him out!)


Mrs. Holden also helped Rachel make good choices on a field trip to Sarku – did you know there is wheat in soy sauce!! I sure didn’t. She has been monumental in helping Rachel cope with celiac and Ray and I are very thankful that she came into our life. I should mention that she is also a fabulous academic teacher and not just a good gluten guard =) She is a no excuses kind of gal – I love it. She doesn’t accept any excuses on why you can’t do something or why you didn’t follow the directions. The kids know they walk the line with her and I am truly sad to say good-bye to her this year as Rachel moves on to 4th grade. But I am confident that the skills Mrs. Holden has shown Rachel will set her up for success in 4th grade. Thank you, Mrs. Holden.


A few other people that have been godsends in the celiac hurdle: Michelle Lavendar. Michelle is Kayla's mom. Kayla is Rachel's BFF =) When Rachel hangs out at Kayla's house Michelle always makes sure she has gluten free snacks for Rachel and Kayla loves Rachel so much for her birthday she insisted her mom get an ice cream only cake so that Rachel wasn't left out =) An absolutely amazing mom. Thank you, Michelle.

Theresa Goven, Rachel's "new" Nana. Theresa recently married Larry - Larry works with Ray and is a very good friend. They bought a house in our neighborhood recently and Theresa has adopted our kids as her own grandkids - although I'm not so sure she's old enough ;-) Theresa has gone out of her way to get schooled up on "what has wheat" and always makes sure she has gluten free food at her house for when Rachel comes over to visit. Thank you, Theresa, it means a lot that our friends are on board with helping us keep Rachel healthy.