Attack of the kissy face boy. And some updates

First, tho, a picture of the aforementioned kissy face boy. He comes RUNNING, all puckered in a fish face when one of us leaves for work, and its REALLY cute.



I've been off work this week, and so have been doing a lot of yard work. Lots more to do, but here's a shot of Dominic outside by his sandbox, which is on the list of areas that need more work. I cannot believe how big he looks.




So, remember I mentioned Dominic had developed a love of worms? well, Rod suggested looking online, and what do you know they make Worm Farms (apparently very similar to Ant Farms). So I ordered one. It came, we put it together, and now Dominic gazes at the worms frequently. I had just added 2 big ones we found on the cement and took this shot. You can kind of see them at the very top.




Big news for today - Dominic got dressed ALL BY HIMSELF. He's 4 and a quarter, and finally we told him to go get dressed and he did. this is HUGE. Ever since the regression, we've had to either dress him entirely, or walk him through every single step. He got it all right with the exception of his underwear, which is on backwards. I wouldn't think that was terribly comfortable, but you know, whatever. It'll be interesting to see if he continues this.... the big goal for us was to get him to the point where we said to go get dressed and he could just go do it without prompts and without meltdowns, and without trying to put his shirt on his legs.

Rainy day indoor fun...

So, its rainy today, and there was no therapy and no school. Dominic took his body sock out of the drawer and put it on himself. He has worn the thing almost all day. he was distressed when i made him take it off to each lunch.... but here's an example of how he's been self amusing with it... and if he doesnt have bruises on his shins from this I'll be shocked.

Falling behind again in posts... some updates

I haven't posted much because really things have been kind of holding steady...

- Today is Dominic's last day of school. I really don't think he has any concept of this at all. So no afternoon stuff until June 1 when Alpine starts. We have today and tomorrow with our regular D11 therapist, and we MIGHT have the summer person starting next week, we don't know yet - her contract isn't signed yet, so she can't discuss schedule. ITs supposed to be signed this week.

- Everything's all sorted out to do Alpine. We are going to be paying up front for it, and then AFTER each billing month, Alpine will send a bill to our insurance and if they pay anything - which the policy says they won't, but we might be able to slip it in under the radar, we'll see - then they'll reimburse us. I'm not holding my breath. All we have to hope for is that nothing breaks this summer because we are quite literally emptying the savings for this.

- I read a really interesting article over at AgeofAutism - no real science behind it, but FASCINATING. Dominic doesn't seem to have high metal excretion, much to Dr K's consternation, but one thing thats not uncommon on the parent boards I'm on is for the metals to show up after you start treating for yeast and virus's. Which goes along with this guys theory. Anyway, the 31st we're doing another provoked urine challenge to see if there're more metals, and we'll get the results the end of June.

- Dominic had his second dentist appt the other day. Last Fall the dentist said he saw staining, but no cavities. This time, I had concerns about Dominic's back molars, and the Dentist confirmed a cavity. Because Dominic literally has to be held down (by me - fun) and completely flips out when the dentist (well, anyone) looks in his mouth, to fill it would require general anesthesia. (a basic cleaning would require that too, which is why we haven't done one yet). We're taking the watch it for 6 months approach and if it doesn't get worse, then we'll just keep watching it. I really like this dentist. He's the most highly recommended pediatric dentist in Colorado Springs, and for a reason. Anyway, I touched base with our nutritionist, and we're really going to back off of sugar (to the point of minimal fruit and juice and pretty much no sugary treats which will make him sad), work hard on rinsing his mouth with water after he eats, and we're going to try xylitol candy which actually the Dentist recommended for his reinforcer this summer at Alpine isntead of gfcf chocolate chips. I sure hope he likes it... I ordered some and it should arrive soon.

- Enhansa is still showing signs of doing things. Dominic's now up to 1.5 caps a day. We'll get him up to 2 this weekend. He is really detoxing something, tho what I don't know - because he's SWEATING a storm at night - just his head, and by a storm, i mean his pillow is DRENCHED when we come wake him up at 10 to go to the bathroom. There are some people online doing 1200mg a day, we'll be at 300mg the end of this month, and thats where I think we'll stay until at least the end of June. The stuff is expensive.... a bottle of 75 150mg caps - so about 5 weeks worth of 300mg a day - is $52 before shipping. BUT - with these kinds of results, its definately worth doing for several months.

- Verbally, things are pretty much the same. He's TRYING to use multiple words together, but its coming out very garbled. He is getting MAD when we don't understand things, and it seems like he's doing a lot more of the grunting and pointing too. Which drives us batty. Last night when I got him up to pee at 10, he was almost sleepwalking, and he wandered out to give Rod a goodnight kiss, and actually said "love you" which is phenomenal and blew us both away because he stopped saying that last November when he had the second virus. He's back to saying "night night" as well, and sometimes will echo "dreams" when I tell him to have happy dreams. So its small progress. very small.

Quick updates....

Once again, I'm falling behind. ITs because I'm spending as much time as I can outside trying to extricate my strawberries and iris and lilies from the rampant mint, oregano, snow on the mountain and hops in the backyard. 2 smaller beds DONE, the big bed to go in the back yard, and then I'll tackle completely removing the front flower bed, putting in a new border (current one rotted...) and putting back the plants without the weeds (ha, right, i know). Side Story - Dominic likes worms. Every time he'd see one when i turned dirt, he grabbed in and HELD it. He must've had 10 worms by the time we came in. He was sad to let them go, too.

Anyway, this morning Dominic's REA's supervisor made the observation that Dominic seemed to be much more able to come back to center quickly and on his own instead of going off on a hyper spell (he loves playing w/his REA and some of the things make him laugh, and then he gets all wound up). Today they were working on Numbers... the REA blew up a balloon - 5 breaths worth - and counted plus did numbers on her fingers for each one. He repeated the numbers, and did some of them independently. At the end, she waiting for him to say GO and then released the balloon - which flew all over the living room and amused him endlessly.

This afternoon his preschool teacher told Rod that Dominic had an amazing day - he sat on the floor with his legs neatly crossed for circle time. To this point, in this classroom he's been in a cube chair for circle time because he cannot concentrate enough to sit on the floor. She wanted to know what we're doing differently... ITs the enhansa plus the actifolate we added back in last week. Everything else has been pretty stable.

Ooooh. More talking

This morning as I was leaving for work, Dominic told me ByeBye, which is normal, but then he let loose this gobbledegook with 'ood day at the end. It really sounded like he was trying to tell me to have a good day. Then as he and Rod were going to the gym at lunch, Rod sneezed and Dominic independently said bwess you, which he USED to say all the time.

Small steps. Good steps.

He's scared of Miller Moths.

And its the beginning of our yearly invasion. This should be... interesting.

if you give a poodle peanut butter.....

he will lick for EVER.

Required reading...

just keeping this one close for myself - it really resonated.

Dominic's still having good results from the Enhasa. We're seeing more words, more connection. he's having hyper swings right now, but he had those about this time with the first level of the med, too. So it should level off soon.

Bread! WE have GFCFSF YUMMY Bread

I baked bread for the first time in easily a decade yesterday. I used the Bobs Red Mill GF bread mix, and it was good. Yummy. I ordered a case from Amazon, and will be doing this instead of buying the expensive $6/loaf from the bakery. Much cheaper and quite good.

Dominic got his foot stuck on the elliptical trainer yesterday while I was upstairs. I heard him yell "i'm stuck". It was appropriate and correct, and clear.

told you he loves to swim....