Ben LOST it !!

Well, Ben had another "lose it" moment in church yesterday. I also had another "lose it" moment as a result of his lose it moment but that's another story. So anyway, we made it through the responsorial psalms before we had to make a hasty getaway. I tried everything. I took him into the nursery but he wouldn't stop crying. I used distractions but he wouldn't be distracted. We even tried the little chapel in the back of the church but then some people came in and started to pray, and well, I knew that Ben's crying wasn't condusive to prayer. So I left and went outside and sat on the bench while he pitched his fit. He was upset of all things, because of my purse. I changed purses back to using on that I've had for a while but hadn't used. Ben apparently had a memory of this purse having lollypops in it and kept trying to give it to me - his way of asking for one. Unfortunately, I didn't have any. I tried to show him that and I took everything out of it, and let him look for himself. This didn't do any good and once Ben has his mind set on something, there is no turning back. Ben and I spent the remainder of mass sitting in the minivan, waiting for Rob and the girls. This whole incident clouded my mood yesterday, but we did have a nice lunch afterwards. So at least something good happened. The autism conference was a success, and I was definitely inspired by some of the speakers they had. Thanks Kathy, for going with me!

Some progress is made

Well, well, well. I hate to be too much of the optimist, because I've been burned before so so many times. . . but Ben did a couple of cool things yesterday. I gave him one drop of NDF plus in the morning for the sake of full disclosure, but I really don't think that has anything to do with it, after all it's just a drop, right? At school in the morning they have a star with each child's name and picture on it on their classroom door. As part of their morning routine, the child picks their name out and puts it on the I"m here sign. Well, Ben is completely clueless about this, he usually just picks the nearest star, no matter who it is, and tries to put it where he's supposed to . Yesterday he actually picked out his correct picture and it wasn't even the nearest one! It's almost like it was intentional. Hmmm . . . maybe it was just luck but he also had a cool report from his TEACCH playgroup. His teacher there cut 5 square holes in a box and gave Ben 5 blocks numbered 1 through 5. She put the number 1 block in the first hole and then, Ben, unprompted, without any visual cues, proceeded to put the 2 through 5 blocks in order in the rest of the holes by himself. His teacher said that he even self corrected when he put the number 4 block in the fifth hole, he took it out and put it in his proper place. Every so often Ben surprises me and today was one of those times.

WooHoo! Have I Been a Lazy Blogger!

Didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. On my list of things to do today: Go look at a latex mattress that's on sale and Rob wants me to look at ... pick up Ben ... pick up Katherine ... make more muffins for Ben ... make some gluten free meatballs for Ben ... feed the kids snacks before the respite worker comes to take care of Ben while I cook, and play with the girls (yay! she'll be here for 3 hours). Do some more laundry (it NEVER ends!!!!) Balance the bank statement (Boo!). Straighten up (this also never ends). Make a list of all the things I need to do every morning so I won't keep forgetting them. I'm such an airhead these days. Call Ben's dentist to make an appointment to have him checked out. He's been crying lately when we brush his teeth and I want to make sure he doesn't have a cavity. Made one of my twice a week trips to the health food store to buy Ben more GF foods. Went to story time at the library with Caroline. Writing this is wearing me out . . . :-) Ben is on a new product called Liver Life and I'm going to start giving him the NDF Plus again tomorrow to hopefully start getting rid of some of the toxins that are inhibiting his brain function. I'll use up the whole bottle, and if I see no real improvement, I won't buy another one. It'll take me a while. He's been pretty happy the past couple of days. I even kept him with me at church on Sunday instead of taking him with me to the nursery and I was surprised at how well it worked out. I sat in the way back out of the main part of the church so I would disturb the least number of people possible. I brought a couple of koosh balls and a top that he proceeded to spin on top of the missals, but for the most part, he was quiet. I actually could concentrate on the mass. I'm starting to dislike taking him to the nursery because he's so disruptive and noone but me seems to understand him. But maybe this back of the church thing will work out. It's nice to be able to go as a family.

Trying to get some normality . . .

Well, to put it shortly, Ben is Gluten Free, Casein Free again, and we're just trying to keep him stable. His OT at school was concerned that we were unstabilizing his progress by messing around with his diet and now he was harder to work with and more uncooperative than he was before the holiday break. She wanted us to put him back the way he was, and so we have. He's been on a rampage lately, messing up the playroom by throwing things on the floor, and so I'm in a process of reorganizing it to make that more difficult. He threw the hamster cage on the floor one to many times and finally cracked it, so I had to move it out of the play room and now Katherine's hamsters are living on the kitchen counter. Ben is getting taller and stronger, and can reach up onto almost all of our kitchen counters without help. I can see how his autistic behaviors are going to intensify, if for no other reason than because he's growing up. On the bright side, Rob and I are thinking about chelation again, with the NDF Plus, and possible DMSA. We also have an appointment with a Autism Disorder consultant from Hillborough on Thursday, and we're hoping to put it all together and have her help us figure out what we should be doing to help Ben. I think she focuses on theraputic intervention, like Verbal Behaviour and ABA therapy, and will help us get started in these areas. I am looking forward to the upcoming autism conference here in Chapel Hill in a couple of weeks. Kathy will be here for that.