so, i have this habit of identifying a potentially lethal ingredient in food/products/toys, and going on a wholesale purge. this summer, obviously, was the lead debacle, earlier in the year i had a panic attack regarding the carcinogens in our bath and body products (since toned down a bit, given ava's penchant for nail polish), i have avoided trans-fats for a while now--years, i think, we eat as organically as possible, and now the kids even know to ask if something has high-fructose corn syrup in it.

i was actually very proud of myself when, after reading an interesting article on the metabolism of high-fructose corn syrup, i decided to make sure it was not in our food, and when i raided the pantry, i only had to get rid of one or two things: rice krispies and some sort of nabisco product. the things i was worried about (pasta sauce, etc) turned out to be ok. hooray for paul newman.

however, in the past few weeks, ava has had some "ants in the pants" issues. make that a whole colony of ants in her pants. given that all of her other idiosyncrasies that drive me nuts tend to resolve over the course of a few weeks, i assume that this will too, but on the other hand, it is not really new. just more of it. basically, it is super-hyperness. but really annoying, and potentially dangerous if you are 2 and a half years old and have the dumb luck to be in her way as she careens through a doorway.

so, tonight, after a very very tough evening that took all of my patience, and then some, after she had finally settled down, instead of "talking" to her about it (which usually results in the most random explanations from her that indicate she has no idea as to why i am not happy--i mean, why wouldn't i think she was funny?), i thought and thought and thought and thought, and finally, despite there not being a very consistent correlation, perhaps before giving her another lecture about kindness and thoughtfulness blah blah blah, i would simply see if it might just be something she was consuming. like sugar. now, ava does not really eat that much sugar. she has been known to say "no thanks" to a starburst. but there are some things that she really loves. ice cream, creamsicles, and tonight she discovered the wonders of cheesecake.

of course, it could also be red dye # something, or blue or yellow, and it could be wheat, or corn, or none of those things, but you have to start somewhere, right? it is not inconceivable--she currently has a nasty red burn-like thing on the back of her hand from the foaming soap i bought after caving to the pleasepleasepleasepleasepleases -- i mean, hey, it's not sugar! turns out, that sensitivity that has characterized ava since she was born? yeah. soap that comes all foamy out of the nose of a plastic hippopotomus is just not a good idea.

so, sugar. i talked to her about it, and she was actually open to the idea. if you think about it, with this explanation, she saves face, and i was careful to remind her of all the wonderful things that have nothing to do with sugar.

this is going to be hard with carter, and i have not solved that issue yet. i still dispense little sweets to him when stuck somewhere (the car) with nothing to alleviate his distress.

but we are going to try. and with that resolution, i went to the kitchen this evening, after they had fallen asleep to get rid of the sugar. and you know what? i only threw a handful of things away. 2 ice-pops that were not all-fruit, and some lingering jellybeans, and some petrified gum. i hid the very expensive organic ginger-lemon cookies, since i could not justify throwing them away, and i put the gummy bears up high, for the same reason. i did not get rid of 2 mixes -- one for brownies, and one for sugar cookies, because they will last through this experiment, and she doesn't eat them anyway. and i only had to throw away one thing made with white flour too.

i have to say, i was proud. everyone thinks i am a super-sugar fiend, because i have a chocolate addiction, but i only eat one or 2 small chocolates a day. my pantry and my refrigerator were on the honor roll. this is also helped by the fact that ava does not really like typical kids fare--baked goods, sweet breakfasts, etc.

and i am not going to totally deny her either--in my opinion, that could create a monster who shovels sugary sweets into her mouth at every opportunity sans mom. so, we will just do it ourselves--no reason why we cannot make our own ice pops (other than the fact that it is completely impossible to find functioning ice-pop molds), and yogurt pops, and other sweet things using non-refined white sugar.

we'll see how it goes. worst case scenario? in 6 months, i will be trying to figure out how to wean her off salt and vinegar potato chips...

and if sugar is not the culprit? hmmmmm....i don't know.