Week 43

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

In the spirit of Valentine's Day and LOVE, here is a video of Ryan with his cousins Amelia and Alyssa singing a song called "I Love My Nonna and My Papa", taught to them by none other than their nonna!  Be careful, if you watch it too many times, the song gets addicting!

And what would a Valentine's celebration be without lots of sweets???

Ryan enjoyed his special cake and cupcakes!

Unfortunately this week was not all sweets and smiles.  Ryan had some tough days.  We received a couple of bad reports from school revolving around Ryan having difficulty following directions.  After reading one of the reports, I asked him about what happened at school and he hit me and ran to sulk in his room.  We noticed "off" behaviors at home as well.  He had difficulty sharing and displayed lots of odd behaviors like running around in a zone, talking to himself, and making weird movements with his hands.  We haven't seen this kind of Ryan in so long and to be honest, it scared me a little bit.  Even his appetite at dinner was not normal and several days during the week his cheeks were red.  This led us to believe that he ate something that he shouldn't have.  But what??? 

I received the following information from the mother of one of my students.  Here is a blurb and a link for an upcoming conference, and also the link to an online newsletter called Autism Spectrum News.

2011 Young Child Expo & Conference brings together top leaders to provide the latest information about essential topics in early childhood development. Early childhood professionals and parents will learn also about services, resources, and products to help all children reach their full potential. In one unique event, this conference integrates learning about typically developing children as well as those with special needs, including autism.  http://www.youngchildexpo.com/

Here's the link to the newsletter: http://www.mhnews-autism.org/

Ryan and Thomas watching a Thomas the Tank video.

Here are some pictures that I took last week but did not post on last week's blog.  I had experimented with making GF bread for the first time. Ryan was so excited as it was baking. He kept asking what the smell was and if he could eat it.

Catching a whiff while it was cooling down.

It was delicious. We had some warm and there was plenty left over to slice and store for Ryan to eat during the week.

Last week I also made a huge GFCF and egg-free chocolate chip cookie for the kids.  I used a recipe from a cookbook I received as a Christmas gift from one of my students.  It's called The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelly Rudnicki.  The recipes are all dairy, egg, and and nut free.  They are not gluten free but I am able to swap out the flour called for in the recipe with some GF flour varieties and Xantham gum.

DC

Day 8

After not seeing Ryan for three days the progress he made was quite noticeable. He affectionately greeted me this morning with smiles and hugs and he was truly happy to see me. His sentences make more sense and are more complex than they have ever been. He's interested in things going on around him, and he is developing a sense of humor.

We ran into a few odd food incidents today. During mid morning he was craving bread. He ate two slices of rice bread, toasted, and then asked for two more. I made him two more slices realizing he must have been hungry since he didn't eat a very good breakfast (2 bowls of cereal had to be thrown out because he refused to eat them with the soy milk and the rice milk). After his fourth slice he continued to want more and broke down into several small meltdowns. We made him one more slice. Then in the afternoon he craved bananas. He ate three bananas today! He tried for a fourth this evening just before bed but we told him 'no' and he could have it in the morning; he accepted that compromise. However, he continued to talk about the banana as we went through his bedroom routine and tucked him into bed.

He looks thinner to me. I will weigh him tomorrow and see if he has lost weight in the past week.

DC