Growing Up In Fits and Starts

I went roller skating today for the first time in about 20 years! Katherine had a birthday party to attend, and of course, I tagged along. I was a little nervous about it since she's never done it before, but she did well, all things considering. "All things considering" means that since the poor kid is saddled with my un-athletic, un-coordinated, non-graceful genes, she handled herself well despite the fact. But enough about us. This is Ben's blog. I don't have any big news to report about my favorite little guy, other than his new passion for peanut butter has led him to acquire new skills. Now I have to keep it up on the shelf, because Ben will fish it out from my lazy susan, and somehow he managed to get the top off (his motor skills must be improving) and dig his hand in it before I found him smeared in peanut butter. As he grows, we are faced with the realization that the challenges of raising Ben will intesify on some levels. He's so big and tall now that he can reach an amazing amount of things that we don't want him to reach. In a perfect world, he really can't be left alone for a minute. Time and time again he's proven to us that if there is trouble to be found, he'll find it in the time it takes to make a telephone call. He's a pleasure seeking machine. Even if he perfectly understands that he's not to do something, if we're not around and he wants to do it, he will. He'll eat a crayon, bite the hands and feet off of his sister's dolls, GET INTO PEANUT BUTTER! Sometimes he even watches us to see how close we're paying attention. I never know what to expect with Ben. Life is sure interesting with him around. Until next time!

Snow Where We Live!

Back In the Saddle Yet Once Again . . . .

Okay, we gave in and put him back on the gluten free/casein free diet. And yes, it does make our life harder, but it also makes our lives easier. Instantly, he's started sleeping well again. Hasn't had really any tantrums the past few days, where, on the regular diet, they were a daily occurance. He's still stimmy, but he's always that way. Haven't really figured out what to do to make him want to stim less, other than finding things to occupy him, but obviously I can not do that constantly. We did have a nice little ABA work session today and I think I'm ready to get back on track with that. There are so many things I want to do with Ben, but the magnitude of what he needs versus what I have the time to give him is overwhelming. Started a new supplement called Behavior Balance. Just when I thought I'd run out of new supplements to try, I found one. I guess in one sense I've given up trying to "cure" him, but I can't help holding out hope that some new thing will at least help him a little. I suppose that's the plight of the parent of an autistic child, and unfortunately, it makes us easy target for unscrupulous professionals who prey on people's hopes. But enough of that. I wanted to answer a question submitted about my last post --- Mozart and the Whale in not really a family movie. There are some disturbing stories/scenes in it that I wouldn't want a kid to see or hear, though it might be okay for a teenager.

Mozart and the Whale

Saw a movie last night . . . it was called "Mozart and the Whale". Rob didn't like it much and bailed out half way through. I thought it was alright, but the thing that made us rent it in the first place was the two lead characters have Aspergers. It was actually kind of funny, and if you didn't know anything about autism, it might have been enlightening. Asperger's is obviously not as severe as autism, but in one scene, the male lead and his Asperger's friend were at a laundry mat not to do laundry, but to watch the dryers spin around. Then they comment "That was a great load." I could see Ben doing that as a grown up! The male lead was based on a man I saw last year at the Autism Society conference. He was the keynote speaker. He really didn't strike me as having Asperger's but perhaps he's assilmilated into society as he's gotten older. He was probably in his late fifties now.
As for Ben, the gluten is definitely affecting him, but we can't decide if it's a positive or a negative effect. He's been VERY energetic (a euphimism for hyperactivity), yelling more, stimming more, sleeping less, and crying at the drop of a hat. He has also been extremely cheerful and his teachers report more affection towards his classmates, and his being more socially cued in. He's paying better attention to his surroundings. So what gives? Right now, I'm kind of leaning towards putting him back on the diet, but I'm going to give it the month of January to sort itself out. Maybe it's an adjustment thing.

A Ride on Dumbo!

Everyone is Better Now, even me!

Well, all the kids are well and healthy now, but Rob and I were sick on our Disney World trip over Christmas. He is better now, and I'm almost better, but not perfect yet. It amazes me how long it takes me to get over sickness now. When I was younger I never had a cold for longer than a week, but now it just drags on and on. Oh well, back to the kids. Ben did AWESOME on our Disney World trip, much better than I could have ever expected. He was happy the whole time and tolerated almost every ride we put him on. His favorites were the merry Go round and the Dumbo ride. Disney World was much more fun for him than MGM or Epcot, but he was a happy cheerful little person during the whole trip. On to his next big change. We've abandoned the gluten/casein free diet. For now at least. He's very happy to be eating goldfish and drinking milk again, and for now, we're going to let him keep on doing it. I plan to pay close attention to how the month of January goes for him. He does seem a bit more stimmy and hyper, and there's been a couple of nights when he's had trouble getting to sleep, but some of that may be his body adjusting to it. On the whole he's been quite happy and affectionate, and he hasn't lost any of his signing ability. I must admit I haven't really done any ABA with him since before he got sick, so it'll be a while before we catch up to where we were.