So about time to update this blog!

Had a busy but hectic holiday season. We LOVED seeing my sister, niece and brother in law while they were here. Kids were properly spoiled and loved their gifts.

Now it is back to life as usual. Shea was ill last week boy that was not fun. Nothing like a nonverbal child who is ill. At least the Tylenol and Advil really helped with most of his discomfort and fever. When it was coming on and he was sitting in my lap moaning pitifully I wondered if he were going to throw up on me....Yup you guessed that was the very next thing that happened EWWWWW!

So I made the difficult decision to pull Shea from Private Speech therapy at Children's. It made it more difficult to get someone to watch Cody and Skye (not to mention putting my wonderful people who help out a lot more,) Shea was fighting the in home speech through the school district a lot more, I question the therapist's skills, and Shea never connected with her. My decision has been reinforced by the fact that the therapist has yet to call me to question WHY I pulled him from her therapy. (I called during business hours last Friday and left a message.)

I think most of us are entrenched in the winter blahs. The sledding hill is all ice, it has been to cold to send the kids out or take them places, Cody hasn't even wanted to go to Karate (we have had him go anyways). Man I need the nice weather back (before of course it gets to hot LOL). I want to go to the park, play in the yard, go for walks, swim in the pool, go for bike rides......

Now onto Matthew's birthday party on Saturday and having a few people over for Superbowl on Sunday!

Thanksgiving!

Things I am Thankful for:
My kids (all 4 of them LOL)
A wonderful home, if crazy!
Matt
Our supportive family and friends
Therapy for Shea and that I can be home to make sure he gets what he needs
Our animals, even when I wish to put ducktape over their mouths!
That we don't have debt other then our mortgage

Gluten Free Casein Free Diet (GFCF)

So I am biting the bullet and starting "The Diet". With it helping so many kids how can one NOT try it. According to Shea's OT 80% of children with Autism have digestive issues also. I have a number for a doctor that looks into the kid's diet and whether they have certain metals in their system etc. Unfortunately he is in Sartell which is north of St Cloud. His OT may have a chiropractor who does the same thing, hopefully closer.

So I ordered a bunch of Gluten Free mixes/flours from Amazon, will be going to Coborns to check out their GFCF/organic section which I guess is very good. I also talked with another mother of an Autistic boy who has been doing the diet for 4 or more years. I also purchased some rice milk from the store. I am going to try to avoid soy as there is some question about its effects and with his paternal grandmother being allergic I don't want to invite any problems.

So I have started the Rice Milk and plan on doing some cooking this weekend. Hopefully I will get the stuff I ordered so I can get to it. The hard part will be cutting out cheese. Eggs are okay but cheese is a no go on the diet. Then they want us to try the diet for 3-6 months to see if it works or not. Should be interesting. On a good note Ghirdelli makes a GFCF chocolate chips!

Wish us luck!

A Ray of Hope

Well I went to an Autism Support Group that meets once a month in Albertville. I caught it on an off day as the person who runs it is having a family crisis, they didn't have anyone to watch the kids (I didn't bring ours so not a major problem for me.) I think they need to have a sign to stop one woman from monopolizing the meeting about her other personal issues that do not have to do with Autism but as it was my first time there it certainly wasn't my place.

One thing they talked about is that with the early interventions many children are being moved from being Autistic as having Aspergers. I guess a few colleges/universities in the countries are also starting programs for people with Autism. The U of MN is looking into it or starting one soon. It gives me even more hope for Shea's future. Of course I think all of our children are brillant, it is just a matter of finding what works for all of them.

Cody's Conference

Last night was Cody's Kindergarten conference. We brought Cody with since he wanted to purchase some books from the bookfair. He is doing awesome, in fact one of her top students. Ms. Sniezek told us since she now has her lower students more caught up she is going to start pulling Cody and others out for more advanced work. As she said he will still have to do the "boring work." LOL. For Kindergarten they want the students to count to 115 by the end of the year, he got to 101. At which time my guess is he got bored. Ms. Sniezek believes gifted and talented begins in 1st grade, I hope so. And I am going to look for some 1st grade work books for him. He is also beginning to read and loving it.

We also got to speak with his gym teacher who had nothing but good things to say about Cody. With 420 students lots of them he only sees once a week he knew right away who Cody was. The joys of only having him in 1/2 day Kindergarten. That is the one thing I wish there were more time for is art, gym and music. But at least he can do many of those things at home. Not exactly worth it to rush him into school and pay thousands of dollars for those few things.

And his Karate school is going to come to his school for a week in December. Cody will be ahead of the class there. Speaking of Karate I am now searching for pads for him. With him being a gold belt they want him to have him for class for safety. I am searching for them online and so far they will be much cheaper then buying them through the school. Man I wish I could wait until Christmas! Would be nice for people to get him that stuff rather then spending yet more money!

After conferences we dropped Cody off and Matt and I got a dinner out together! Nothing like getting out together once every two months. We really need to work on that.

Halloween!

Pictures