WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Another First

Today Alec hit another milestone!

He put together a 24 piece puzzle by himself. This is the first time he has ever finished one. He usually did only the faces, and then lost interest.

Guess what?! He finished two different puzzles today! Another step forward. I can't wait to e-mail the ABA team in Jackson.

My Baby Knows His Phone Number!

It only took him 3 days to learn it!

Alec is making good progress in therapy as the diet goes along. Both of his therapists have commented that he seems sharper, and "right on." He is getting all his questions correct. He is more cooperative with therapy - he was even waiting in the schoolroom after a break!

He has had a 1 - 2 second delay in responding verbally until fish oil pills. If we would stop the fish oil, the daly would return. Now thanks to the diet, his delay is gone without fish oil (he won't take it without soda) AND he is talking faster!

As for myself, I LOVE this diet. In 2 weeks I feel 10 years younger. No more stiffness or slight achiness when I wake up, no more headaches. I feel like running up the stairs instead of trudging. I have lost almost one clothes size! I don't know how many pounds because we don't have any nasty, vile scales in our house! :)

Just this AM there's a news story about wheat prices doubling! Looks like we got off bread just in time. But it's because the farmers are switching to GMO corn and soybeans!:( Thanks be to the Lord they haven't mass-marketed GMO wheat or we'd all have Morgellon's Disease. At least some of the corn is destined for bio-fuel!:)

Here's the wheat story link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24361263

Tagged Again!

This one's alot shorter! Thanks, Andrea. Now I can get my bro-in-law back!

3 Unimportant, inconsequential, uninteresting things about ME:

1.the only bone in my body I have ever broken - in my little finger on my right hand. Happened in the first grade.

2. I learned to smock when I was on bedrest gestating the triplets. Haven't sat down long enough to smock since they were born.

3. I majored in physics in college, BA - i.e. "cocktail physicist" - knows enough to chat about string theory but totally useless for real science work!

This time I'm getting:
1. Frogs and Bees
2 Irish Lassie @ the Brown Bull
3. Cowboys and Crosses
4. The Mc Cain @ McCain's corner
5. Mr. Tweedy @ the Brown Bull

Just This Morning...

As usual, I was trying to keep Alec quiet in church. It was only the first song and already he was shouting.

I leaned over and whispered ,"Be quiet."

He yelled, "BE QUIET!"

I tried to ignore him.

Then he shouted "Ahhhh!"

"You're being ugly," I whispered.

He wailed, "YOU'RE BEING UGLY!'

So we took a trip to the lounge for an attitude correction. He seemed to understand.

We return; another "Ahhhhh!"

I whisper something to him.

He shouts, "SPANK YOU AGAIN!"

We spent the rest of the service in the lounge. After the sermon our pastor hugged me and laughed.

Little did I know that while I was gone, Burke had put his head down in the chair, rump in the air with a little plumber-crack action, and Julia had proceeded in trying to pull his shirt down to cover up his rump. My sister-in-las thankfully moved down to tend to them!

Always an adventure!

TAG! YOU'RE IT!!

While I was chuckling to myself that my brother-in-law had been tagged by the Scottish Teuchtar and leaving a comment to that effect on his blog, he was busy tagging ME.



So here goes:



What I was doing 10 years ago:

We were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child. After 5 years of infertility, we were one month away from realizing our dream of parenthood.



5 things on my to-do list:

1. review Alec's ABA data and make new targets

2. put away the rest of the folded laundry

3. soak and dehydrate another batch of almonds ( for almond flour)

4. stake out the sheep and the goat so they will quit eating my landscaping

5. order the movie Autism Yesterday from Amazon - a documentary of kids recovered from autism



5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. Put up billboards everywhere that says "Autism is cureable."
2. Fund research for autism treatments.
3.Get my husband to retire.
4.Give large sums of money to fund adoption grants, and micro-loans to people in developing countries.
5. Buy everything in the World Vision catalog - goats, sheep, cows, chickens, water wells, schools, hospitals, everything!

3 of My Bad Habits
1. I procrastinate.
2. I'm indecisive.
3. I can't decide!

5 Places I've lived:
1. My parents' home in Jackson Miss.
2 . A dorm at Ole Miss.
3. An apartment in Mountain Brook, Alabama
4. Our first house in Homewood, Alabama
5. Our house now, my dream log house that I contracted, and the last house I will ever build!

5 Jobs I've Had:
1. restaurant hostess
2. psychiatrist
3. gestator
4. domestic goddess
5.blogger

5 Books I'm Currently Reading:
1. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Narnia Book 5 - our current bedtime read.
2. Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreyer - I love it! If anyone says they don't understand me, I'm going to throw this book at them!
3. Galatians - from the New Testament
4. Breaking the Vicious Cycle - by Elaine Gottschall.. Healing the gut as the basis for healing autism.
5. Children with Starving Brains - by Jaquelyn McCandless, MD. A medical treatment guide for Autism Spectrum Disorder

5 Folks I'm Tagging:

1. Frogs and Bees
2. Cowboys and Crosses
3. Adventures in Autism
4. MOM- Not Otherwise Specified
5. Irish Lassie @ The Brown Bull

GOOD CLEAN FUN

A dirtpile is a magical place for a kid!




Always building something!



King of the hill singing at the top of his lungs!









I remember when I was a kid, the excitement when someone would get a load of dirt in the neighborhood. We would all gather to watch, with bated breath, the dump truck unload it's cargo. We would play there everyday until the pile was gone. From the top, the pile would seem really high, and just a little dangerous. You couldn't help but feel like King of the World. Hours and hours of fun!

Getting Some Results!

Things have smoothed out a little around here.

And the kids are hungry! They ate 22 eggs last night, between the 4 of them. Julia doesn't have a nifty egg business anymore - we're eating ALL the eggs our hens will lay.

Today Alec was walking around munching an apple - a new sight. Julia ate THIRDS of green peas tonight.

I have lost my taste for coffee. Unbelievable, right? Strange but true - it no longer tastes like"nectar of the gods". I even put my coffee pot away.

AND I have lost a few pounds. I'm liking this diet more every day. I have more energy. My afternoon refrigerator raids have virtually stopped.

The kids are counting it down - "only 17 days left"

Alec is talking more, and Wait - cover your eyes if you have delicate sensibilities - He FINALLY had a truly formed stool! Anybody familiar with "mashed potato poop" knows this is very significant. Finally he's not getting stuff he can't digest.


In other news - soon the pimped-up version of Funny Farm Journal will be unveiled, thanks to a really cool b-day present from Queen Bee and Hippy Chick.
Stay tuned!

WE TURNED A CORNER ALRIGHT...

straight into the jaws of hell!!

Every 3 hours the kids change from nice to horrible, like Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde!

Remember back to your worst, most irrational PMS melt-down. Do you have the moment?

Funny later, right? So ridiculous during the melt-down you, maybe, could have laughed? It's even funnier when little people do it. My psychiatry training is coming in handy. They are like little delusional patients. You don't tell them they are being irrational, you just reassure them that things will be OK, not to lose hope, etc. Some examples : "I will NEVER get more markers!" "She's eating green beans just to make me look bad!" "Nobody loves me!"

Eventually it passes. Then they are little angels, being so loving and creative and helpful. They are still on the restaurant kick, only this morning it was a fancy restaurant - costumes required.

We are having quiet time now.

A Good Day

Thanks to everyone that has sent their prayers and support. We seemed to have turned a corner and things were much smoother today. The kids and I went to get some treats (toys, not food) to celebrate 5 days on the diet. There was NO MENTION of food while we were out shopping! I was so proud of them.

Tonight the kids decided to have a restaurant, complete with menus. Burke and Olivia cooked and Burke was the waiter. They used their best manners and our fancy glasses. They had a ball working together. Plus they ate, and ate, and ate! It's so much more fun to " eat out."

There has been a very strange side-effect on this diet. Since Day 3 time has moved much slower. Not in a bad "will this day never end" way. In a good way. I'm no longer anxiously rushing from one thing to the next, feeling overwhelmed with all I have to get done. Even though I am cooking 3 meals a day from scratch I have time in my day to hang out with my kids, talk to my husband, visit with friends. It is so noticeable that I look at the clock alot. It's like a Twilight Zone episode. How can what you eat change your perception of time? Makes you wonder. If this is life without grains, I love it!

Hello from the Detox Unit

We are still alive after 3 days of no sugar and no carbohydrates. Alive but not happy! I never thought I would see my kids weep over waffles, PB&Js, bacon and Mexican food. Their hollow eyes stare back at me from gaunt little faces. But I am NOT giving up! I think they expect me to cave, because honestly, I have several times in the past, threatened them with" food boot camp" when they whined about vegetables. After a couple of days I would get busy and give in to PB&Js.

But this time it's different! I am a woman on a mission! I am going to get my baby well from autism! Hip-hip-hooray!

Where are those cheerleaders when you need them?

In case you think they are being weenies, I can say that detox is not pretty. I have been quite irritable, achy, no energy, stomach ache, and this little ache on the back side fo my eyeballs. But I have not cried. Thank the Lord I have little sympathy for them now or I couldn't hold out. I can't leave them with Sheila or Dad because they ( admittedly) cave in easily. Which is a problem - because we are out of bananas. We have eaten 3 bunches of bananas in 24 hours! That might be a record!

BLESS THIS FOOD

"Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies..."

How many times have I said or heard this phrase and given it no thought? For the past several days it has resonated with me.

Today is D Day - diet day. Last night I purged the house of contraband - 3 lawn-sized garbage bags in the trash and 14 grocery bags to give away! At the time of this writing I have not had any coffee. My oldest is determined that I suffer just as much as they do, so she is watching me closely. Oooo - I just realized I didn't throw away the coffee!!

But for the safety of the children I might need some!!!

The kids have already started detoxing a little - as we would run out of things I would n't replace them. So no Sprite, so syrup, no ice cream. Suffice it to say there has been bitter weeping.

Burke even tried to talk his dad into taking him for a haircut. Burke HATES haircuts! BUT at the barber shop they are very generous with the lollipops! What a smart kid. It took us a few minutes to figure out his angle.

TTFN - I have to go make banana pancakes. Don't ask what's in them!

Cottage Industry

Julia has a nice little side business selling eggs. She feeds the chickens, gathers the eggs, puts them in cartons and sells them at our food co-op. This week we are going to kick it up a notch. In order to look more professional, we are going to print labels and stick them on the recycled egg cartons. This is a daunting task for the computer-illiterate like myself. In honor of our rooster Cookie who had to find a new home due to bah-ah-ahd behavior, I think we'll put his picture on the labels. I miss that stupid rooster!

10 ... 9 ... 8 ......

Eight days and counting down till we start the Specific Carbohydrate Diet! I have ordered my yogurt maker and found a source for fresh local goat milk.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Who ever thought I would be making my own goat yogurt?! This week I'll be making flour from almonds. I have been assured it's not that hard. Compared to giving up coffee and chocolate, what is hard?

We have gotten good results with the gluten-free, casein-free diet, but we are going a step further to clear up Alec's GI problems and poor eating habits. We are ALL carb addicts , so for everyone's health and to minimize Alec's access to unauthorized food, we are ALL doing the diet.

I hope I live to blog about it!

Our Little Professor

This is Soar-y, Burke's latest addition to his dino collection. He prefers the assembly-required species - the more parts, the better! Special thanks to Ms. Sheila for technical support during the construction. Burke has decided on a career path. "I will be a scientist so I can teach people and make things and talk about animals." It's a perfect fit because that's what he does now. Hopefully today I can get his blog up. He tried to set it up himself yesterday! When I caught him he was already on the Kodak EasyShare choosing pictures!

WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

http://www.walknowforautism.org/site/c.dfLJJTOqHkE/b.3908527/k.BEAC/Home.htm

This has been a week of highs and lows!

Easter Sunday I walked home from the egg hunt, hand-in-hand with my two sons, tears streaming down my face. Another year had come and gone, and Alec had still not found a single egg and put it in his basket. Same empty basket, same Alec. Only this year all the other kids his age had graduated from the safety of the back yard to the wide-open spaces of the front yard; they were BIG kids now. He sat in the grass of the backyard while everyone around him shouted and ran and rejoiced with each egg discovery. He didn't notice. He was playing in the dirt.

Monday wasn't much better; I was cried out . I asked the Lord for a word of comfort. My Bible fell open to Acts 14; my eyes fell on verse 22: "...putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit,making it clear to them that it would not be easy."

"Whoa," I said. "I wanted warm and fuzzy. You can't put that on a motivational poster."

"Buck up!" came the reply. "Easter was just yesterday. Remember Good Friday? Keep your eye on the ending. Borrow joy from the ending to get you through the tough times."

"Ohhh."

So re-focused, awed that the God of the Universe speaks to a mere mortal like me, and humbled flat to the ground that He loves and cares for me in such an intimate,personalized way, I plunged in again to the routine of fish oil, gluten-free chicken nuggets, ABA therapy, and detox baths.

I had begun to believe.... that there was a cure for autism. He had led me to the pieces of the puzzle. I had begun to believe....that one day Alec would be normal. He had put that hope in my heart, and confirms it daily.

Then several days later, it happened. We were sitting on the porch swing, Alec and I. Alec said to me,

"Come on, Mommy. Let's go swing on the horse swing. It's made from a tire."

What beautiful words! That was my son's longest spontaneous utterance of his life!

And you know what? We did!