Food.

Food. It's a four-letter-word.

It shouldn't be that way. I, myself, absolutely love food. I may be the world's least pickiest eater. And I've always been that way. In fourth grade our teacher asked us what our favorite food was. I eagerly raised my hand and shouted out "Spinach!". The boys in the class teased me for days for that one. So sometimes it's hard for me to relate to the boys on this problem.

It started eight years ago when Corbin was born with heart defects. He had a hard time eating because he would tire quickly since he was in a constant state of congestive heart failure. My dreams of breastfeeding him subsided as I had to be flexible and feed him my breastmilk via a bottle, so I could add additives in it. We needed him to chunk up so he would be strong when it was time for the inevitable surgery.

Corbin always teetered on that line of Failure to Thrive, even after his surgery. And when he was older we had to meet with a dietitian to learn how to cook all of his food in oil and other ways to get healthy fats into him. He also had a carnation instant breakfast every morning. Even though he was struggling gaining weight, he loved to eat! He ate whatever I put on his plate.

When Brian was born I was happy to have that breastfeeding bonding. He breastfed for 16 months and gaining weight was NEVER a problem for him. When I started to introduce pureed vegetables he would eat them right up. He, too, ate whatever I put in front of him. I was patting myself on the back for raising two boys who had healthy, well-rounded diets.


Then when Corbin was about three he decided he didn't like vegetables anymore. He didn't like foods touching. He craved carbs. About a year after that Brian decided he really didn't like food anymore- unless it was starchy carbs.

It's been a struggle ever since.

Not only were the boys self-limiting but they both had obvious intolerances. When I took our whole family off of gluten three years ago, I was only looking for differences with Brian (which we saw!), but I was shocked that Corbin got on the growth chart for the first time in his life (since birth)! I wasn't going to knock it to coincidence. I know, that I, felt much better removing gluten and dairy from my diet. And I still struggle why I allow myself to eat all of it (it just tastes so good!!).

Then of course Brian has had his love/hate relationship with apples (The Phenol Effect, Phenols Strike Again, Tweaking the Diet: Phenol Removal). For a while, I was blaming it on the phenols (I'm sure you all remember, if not- look at the links above), but I am almost 99% sure it's an allergic reaction to the apples themselves.

Recently I've been having some success with getting them to try new things. Our biggest hit was thanks to suggestions from Brian's dietitian. Sweet potato & turnip chips. Simple. Yet I never thought to try it. I just cut them up thin, toss with safflower oil and sea salt, and bake. And Brian can't get enough of them (I'm sure due to the salt).

New foods we've tried that he loves and are really good for him- Udi's brand bread & pizza crust, Daiya "cheese", and Honest Kids juice pouches. All great alternatives for what he was eating previously, but not messing with his body like the old brands did.

Even though I can't get him to eat a great big helping of vegetables (besides the aforementioned chips) they are both at least taking a nibble of whatever vegetable I offer. In the past few weeks they have nibbled asparagus, brussel sprouts, green beans, cauliflower, red pepper, and cucumber. I've made some homemade hummus and Corbin loves it- no luck with Brian yet.

Maybe, someday, I will be able to have those well-rounded eaters, that I had myself believing I had years ago.

Let's Keep It Going...

Happy progress updates:

* Brian's mood has been really, really great. Sure he's always been a pretty happy guy but we're not even having tantrums during "homework time" anymore. Even yesterday during that crazy, very loud birthday party he never checked out or had a tantrum.

* Bed wetting is *almost* nonexistent. From accidents four times a week just a month or so ago.

* Sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!! We've had two night wake-ups out of the whole past month! Prior to that we were having them nightly.

* Lots of independent, spontaneous talking. Sadly, I still can't figure out 90% of it, because of articulation, but he's trying. Really, really trying.

* Even more imitative language. Copying everything. Even the bad stuff. Like Josh saying "Damn it, there's never clean towels when I need one". Thanks Josh. So far he only repeated it the one time, but if he says that at school, Josh owes me one.

* Medicine-taking has improved even since the last time I mentioned it. Though he had stopped screaming and spitting it out at me, I was still having to sit on top of him. Since Friday evening I haven't had to do that once!

* He's been less obsessive over certain toys and actually been pulling out a lot of toys that had dust growing on them and playing with those. But trains aren't going any where, don't worry.

* Slowly and very hesitantly trying new foods.

* Out-of-school speech & OT has been going really well! Thinking back to early September when it was a struggle to get him to play "Go Fish"- now he's sitting and doing several table-top activities all while smiling and laughing.

* And speaking of OT, when he walks in he is now grabbing the "pump swing" (pump your legs) rather than the "spin swing". Sensory wise, something good is going on inside of his little body if he doesn't feel the NEED to spin. And he's starting to get quite good at pumping those little legs.

* From the reports at school, not only is he more willing to attend to academic work, he seems to be really trying to participate socially as well.

Something's working. Knock on wood!

A How To Post

How to have the most awesome birthday party on the planet, that is!

You will need:


Cute nerdy glasses to be worn by even cuter little boys.


A birthday cake with steam billowing out of it.

Lab coats.


Spiky, crazy "Einstein hair".


Experiments:

Blowing up a balloon with the gas created by vinegar and baking soda.


Making "Gak" with borax, glue, and water.


Playing with Insta-Snow.


Sucking an egg into a bottle with a narrow-opening by changing the air pressure inside the bottle.


And the old favorite- Mentos & Diet Coke.


Plus: A brain jello mold, goodie bags (radioactive light tubes (glow sticks), pop rocks, magnifying glasses, and test tube experiments), lots of family and friends, lots of noise, lots of craziness, and lots of fun.

Mix it all together and have a great time!

8 Years.

Last night I was teasing Corbin, like the mean Mommy I am, and I told him that I spent too much money buying supplies for his science party so he wasn't getting any presents. He responded, "Ohhhh Mom! You don't need money to buy me presents- all I want is fifty kisses!"


Could you ask for a sweeter kid?


Corbin is eight years old today. I can hardly believe it.



Was it seriously eight years ago that I spent some 30 hours in labor? Was it really eight years ago that he came into this world and gave everyone their biggest scares of their lives? Was it eight years ago that I found out about unconditional love? Eight years ago that I realized what it felt like to know you would do anything to protect this new little stranger?


It's been an amazing eight years and I can't wait (well I don't want to rush it) to continue to see him grow into an amazing young man.
Love you Corbin! Happy Birthday!

Potential

Brian has had a few psychological evaluations that have recommended us looking into augmentative alternative communication (AAC) so I finally bit the bullet and asked for him to have an evaluation. I was even more excited that I found out the SLP I had wanted to do it with a few years ago and was told no, was the one that was contracted through our school district.

Today was the first day of Brian being assessed. This process is going to include two direct assessments as well as video-taped sessions for Mark, the SLP to go over. I really wanted to attend his assessment today at school but I had classes. I had made a mental note to try to call Brian's teacher when I got home to see how it went.

Within five minutes of walking through my door, Mark was calling me. He was very friendly and very enthusiastic about my little man. He reiterated to me how bright Brian was and how much potential he sees in him. He told me that he has obviously recommended tons of communication devices for kids, but at this point he's thinking he isn't going to need to with mine. He has a lot of ideas to promote further speech and he told me he was very confident in Brian's future for speech production.

He wasn't calling to tell me his final conclusions, but he wanted to let me know how much he enjoyed his time with Brian today.

I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear this. It was so refreshing to hear a stranger tell me my son has potential. To tell me how "bright" he is. I can't say I never hear it, because I do, from professionals who have been in our life for a while. But every experience I've ever had with evaluators who only meet him one time, has been a difficult one. Ones that end with them telling me how delayed he is, that he has mild MR (which I refuse to believe), and so on. So this call really made my day, I think Mark may be my new best friend.

This Is Not A Movie. It's Real Life.

There are days in my life that I just couldn't make up.

Let's take Tuesday.

Driving home from school, cruising on the interstate, when all of a sudden I can feel my van losing power. My van and I have a love/hate relationship. I love it, it hates me. I slowly pull the beast over to the side of the highway where it dies on me.

I call the towing company and am told it would be forty-five minutes. Forty-five minutes on the side of the highway, with no heat, and the sun is almost down. Lovely. Thank goodness, I had a cell phone to kill my boredom, and update my Facebook status with an appropriate "FML".

About twenty minutes later a police officer pulls up behind me with his lights all flashing. He comes around the back of the van with one hand holding his flashlight and the other secure on his gun in his belt. He is creeping around the van, peering in with his flashlight (probably thinking- wow, why does this van still have life jackets and sand pails tucked away in the back), gets to the passenger side where I start waving with a big smile on my face. I roll down my window and explain my situation and he very kindly offers to wait with me.

Within minutes the towing truck appears. I have never been so happy to see so many flashing lights surround my vehicle. I wanted to jump out and hug and kiss the tow truck driver, but thought that might be a bit inappropriate.

I ride along back to the garage where I have to wait for Josh and the boys to come get me (still about 45 minutes from home at this point). We're met at the garage by two very friendly men and a very dark garage. Well it is past closing time. But I think I may have seen one too many horror movies because at this point I'm just thankful that both the police department and Josh know where I am.

I'm ushered inside after I get the news that my timing belt has busted. I am standing in the waiting area (where there are no seats) and one of the men tells me to go sit behind the counter. I do, though I'm still a bit nervous. He follows me in and sits in a chair at a computer and pulls up some you tube videos to share with me some raves that he has gone to. Turns out he's a big raver. After the music's pounding subsided he then goes on to his facebook to share his pictures with me. It's there that he enjoys pointing out the subtleties like, "Haha, look at our eyes. They're all the size of half dollars if you know what I mean."

At that point, I decided to excuse myself from the office and I frantically called one of my sisters and spent the rest of the time on the phone with her- felt a bit safer that way.

Finally my knights in shining armor arrived and I was never more happier to see them.

To Stim or Not To Stim

Yesterday morning Brian seemed not only so "off" but also kind of sad so I thought a trip to our favorite toy store, Planet Toys, was needed. One of the reasons this toy store ROCKS is that we can go there and not buy anything- they have so many toys on display that kids are ENCOURAGED to play with. They even have a small jungle gym and slide in there now. Some of the employees know us by name.

Yesterday there was a lady there that I haven't met before. She honed right in on Brian, as he stood and watched this one toy, the Penguin Race. Of course he wasn't just standing and watching it. He was flapping, jumping, and squealing watching it out of his peripheral vision.

She smiled and asked me, "Is he verbal yet?" Woah. I think that may have been the most forward anyone has been to me, ever, regarding his autism. He was obviously portraying VERY autistic traits at this moment so it wasn't surprising to me that anyone familiar with autism wouldn't think that, but it still took me back a bit.

It turns out she use to work with kids on the spectrum. We laughed at how this toy must have been made for kids with autism. I was talking to her about how I always struggle during this gift-giving season on whether I should get toys he can stim on or not.

On Christmas morning I want Brian to rival his brother's enthusiasm for his new Harry Potter legos. And the only way I'll get that level of excitement out of Brian is by stimmy toys. He would be so excited to have a pile of presents that spin, blink, and have repetitive motions. But then I'd only be setting us up for more disappointment as I would have to put them up just to get him to interact with his family.

So far in my closet I have a fiber-optic lamp for him and these awesome stacking tops that do a really cool light design. So I guess that's my answer. I'll deal with the frustration later on just so I can see the smiles I want to see on Christmas morning.

I'm pretty sure that Penguin race will be joining the present pile.