Hermetic Homeopathy, Week 2 diary, 23-29 July

 Week 2 - I didn't do a very good job of jotting things down as they happened, but there are some things that stuck out about the week.

Platinum days 4-7
Day 4 - This was a sheet changing day and Dominic did something brand new.  he came into the linen closet and emphatically asked for Angry Birds (a set of his sheets).  I got them for him and then he helped make his own bed.  He probably did 50% of it.

Nickel, days 1-3
The 27th - This was field trip day at the Y and they went to the space museum.  On the way there, the schoolbus they were riding in got in a fender bender when a car hit it.  It had a flat tire.  Dominic hung tight with minimal anxiety while they waiting 45 minutes for a replacement bus and then went on to have an excellent time at the museum.

He had a good amount of anxiety every day of the week around me picking him up from camp.  Very emotional in general.

One day this week, a counselor recounted to Rod this story... It was lunch time, and Dominic got his lunch box and sat down to eat, but the rest of the kids were horsing around.  He wouldn't eat until his peers sat with him and he got flat out upset to the point of tears that they didn't sit down right when it was time for lunch. 

He had really good therapy sessions all week.  On the 28th, he was doing speech therapy and hadn't had time to have a meal right before (we have discovered he does MUCH better therapeutically when he is full rather than empty), and he was very hungry.  midway through, he looked up and REALLY fast said "isdinnerreadyyet".  then he said it again. Our ST and I were both amazing.  A whole sentence, albeit run together... spontaneously.

We've been working on his OT exercises to integrate the specific primitive reflexes which impact speech.  Mr Jonny told me last night that Dominic's speed at progressing with the exercises is astonishing.  That he is used to seeing the kind of proficiency we have achieved with the ones we're working on in a matter of months not a week ish. 

He's falling asleep without help (melatonin, etc).   For the first time in almost 8 years.  Mind boggling.

This morning, Daddy had to go teach a yoga class.  First time EVER that we can remember - Dominic said spontaneously "Daddy, Class?".  Instead of daddy, bye. 

I think that the combination of brain balance primitive reflex reintegration and hermetic homeopathy is incredibly synergistic and we are seeing really positive things.  I know that the big HH gains come during the gold period, which we start next week. It lasts a month.   Its really weird to be giving almost no supplementation, and he's still muscle testing no for footbaths.   If this protocol gets us conversational speech AND reduces our dependency on a plethora of supplements i won't know how to behave.

Hermetic homeopathy diary, week 1 15-22 July

I like to journal the little things I see during a new protocol so that i can remember them later when I come back to look.

Day 1:  Constitutional Remedy
- Dominic and i have had a routine at camp in the afternoon  When I pick him up, I ask him how his day was and he says "swimming fun".  That's been the routine ALL summer.  Today, I got there, he came running up to me and said "swimming fun!!" without me asking.  a peer of his told me he had an AWESOME day.  This morning, about 2 hours after his first dose, he gave me a hug and said "i love you" spontaneously for the first time outside our very entrenched bedtime routine.   He muscle tested NO for an ioncleanse footbath which is odd, but we'll go with it.

day 2 Constitutional Remedy
- took him to see finding dory and he cried at the sad parts.  emoting entirely normally.  Then he played in the fountain

Day 3, constitutional remedy - this child is more ravenous than ever

Day 4 - prep day 1
See reading post.

Platinum days 1-3:  Very emotional overall. Lots of tears for no apparent reason. ALSO =- best speech therapy sessions he's had in ages.  Random Funny, on Friday his OT Jonny was over and I offered him dinner.  Dominic literally pushed Jonny out of the way and made him a plate of tacos.  We were agog.

I am going to attempt to video this....

the setting...

Post shower, doing bedtime routine.  Dominic is tucked in.  He reaches over to his bookshelf and pulls down a book my mom made him shortly after he was born.  Very simple, very few words.  He opened it, and he attempted to read it to me.

I think he got about 80% of the words and I helped with the rest.

THEN

When Daddy got home an hour or so later, Dominic was still awake so i had him do it for Daddy!!!

And then he did it again the next night with a different book.

this is HUGE.  I will attempt to video it soon. 

Shenanigans....

I need a new umbrella.   A certain little boy made off with mine,  and ended up breaking it while pretending to fly.

Did you get that?  Pretending.  To.  fly.

and I just love that he was safe about the jumping part.

Crazy week + new protocol

Camp called me Wednesday and told me Dominic was laying down and crying, asking them to "call mommy".  I asked them if he had a fever, no.  I asked if he ate all his lunch, yes.  I told them I could come get him but it sounded like he was fine.  They called back a few minutes later and asked me to come get him.  I did. 

He came home, laid on the sofa for about half an hour and then had the best Speech therapy session he's had in ages. I had texted our therapist and told her he'd come home sick and it was up to her if we tried therapy.  We tried.  it went great. 

He never had a fever, never lost his appetite... he just wanted to come home, so he played the counselors like a violin and played hookey. 

I'm going to call that downright amazing. :)

(camp has now been told that unless he's got a fever, is bleeding, or is vomiting, he's fine)

Recently (the last few weeks), Dominic's been really enjoying hot sauce.  On everything from meat to corn muffins to Salad.  The last few days I've caught him chugging from the bottle.  Its really cool to watch him develop true preferences.

We are so very very close to the recovery finish line that I can taste it.  As such, we are starting (today actually) a homeopathic protocol that is kind of different, and that has brought speech to many much less verbal kids than Dominic in the community.  Its a 10 week protocol (6 on remedies, then 4 for them to settle in).  As she was trained in Eastern style homeopathy, her perspective is very different.  Its fascinating, and I'm hopeful that it will help Dominic, who has to work so hard for every little gain we get.  And if it doesn't do anything, its okay, because its not a "break the bank protocol".

We are backing off of much of the things we've been doing (my wallet is silently doing cartwheels) for the 10 week duration and potentially longer depending on how things go.

Stay tuned for updates!

Tales from home Based Therapy - July 11 and 12

We love home based therapy so much at this point.

We all know that Dominic is routine oriented and if he get SUPER used to a routine (like we always do legos for OT or we always do ST on the floor of the living room) then when you try to change it up he freaks.  So, I have asked both therapists to mix up activities and locations they do therapy for generalization purposes.

Its going pretty well.  On Monday, Jonny and Dominic played catch in the living room while balancing.  At one point, Dominic was balancing on one foot on the upside down bosu while playing catch.  He found this whole exercise the funniest thing ever.

Then Tuesday, we had Sarah here for Speech.  I didn't catch it on video, but this is what happened and to me its a HUGE cognitive gain:

Scenario:  Dominic and Sarah sitting at the dining room table doing work.  The ipad is Dominic's reinforcer and he had just finished his first reinforcer break (they take one after every 3 activities) and Sarah was getting him reengaged for the next activity.

Dominic:  points and clearly says "Look at That"
Sarah Looks
Dominic sneaks the ipad back on while she's looking.

Well, that's new....

Dominic loves Tarzan.  Absolutely adores it.

So it was no surprise when this happened, in fact i think its a FABULOUS use of the Virginia creeper vine that is currently attempting to eat my deck....

Rocky Mountain dinosaur resource center

We took a family trip up the mountain to the dinosaur resource center in Woodland Park for the 4th.  It was one of those - okay, now we've done it, we probably won't again kind of experiences.

Here're a few pictures....