PANDAS

I am getting back to blogging! Yay! So, over the winter, (since I last blogged,) the craziest thing happened. A friend of mine who is also on facebook posted this article:

http://bodyecology.com/articles/are-you-or-your-child-at-risk-how-to-protect-against-this-serious-strep-related-illness#.UZayDMo7irj
Of course her posting this was not the crazy thing...

This happened about the same time that Eli's behavior was starting to spiral out of control a bit. The weather is always hard on these kids with autism in the dead of winter, but this was something more. He had some negative behaviors that were not normal for him, and he also often seemed out of control of his body and also expressed it verbally when I asked him why he would not stop. I figured it might be time for another "yeast protocol" round with his doctor's anti-fungal prescription and extra strict diet for about a month. (Yeast build up is a problem that crops up with him sometimes, even though we are careful. The yeast protocol gets things under control again.) However, the PANDAS article was in the back of my mind and gave me the extra motivation to take him in.

To my surprise, when we went in, he was diagnosed with strep. I was completely floored. He was at the tail end of having strep and I didn't even know. His doctor explained why his disrespectful, out-of-control behavior was caused by the infection. I recalled Eli mentioning a sore throat, but he is not so good at drinking his liquids, so I just got him a drink of water. He mentioned it twice and did not bring it up again so I thought we had fixed the problem. Apparently, though, our real problem was PANDAS, caused by a case of strep.

I am so, so, so, so grateful that I was on the lookout  and we got him the help that he needed. (Anti-Biotics, Pro-Biotics, and Yeast Protocol.) We got our sweet boy back. I can't imagine what may have happened if I had been unaware. This problem can happen to anyone, really. Be aware and tell your friends.

Wisdom of the Jone's Bottle Cap

"You and your partner will be happy in your life together."

When I opened my Jone's Cream Soda yesterday and read this, I thought "Duh, Jones! I already knew that." Not only will we be happy, but we are happy now, and have been happy for 9 years.

Challenges in life, such as autism in the family, can help make a relationship of the rock-solid-last-forever-like-a-diamond kind. One thing it takes is continued communication, and lots of it. You can't be united to stand the test of a common goal or challenge without this.

Happy New Year

This holiday break has been the best ever. We have spent so much time just as a little family and some time with other family members. We have been working with Eli on socially appropriate behavior, and I can see we will need to communicate with his school on making him more responsible for this. His positive behavior was commented on by an extended family member regarding one recent gathering we went to, so that was great.

I think Christmas Day this year was the best ever. It was just us, and our little Bear is old enough now to be excited over opening gifts. He has now had a chance to play with and enjoy all the gifts that he got, but on Christmas day, his favorite thing ever was the set of fat Crayola crayons his dad got him. Eli actually had a hard time sleeping, and ended up getting up earlier than we liked. He has never done that before, but we realize it is typical for his age, so he gets a thumbs-up for Christmas excitement.

Just to follow up with my last post, Sustainable Gifts for Kids, this photo shows some of the more sustainable gifts that our kids received from us and from "Santa." Some of these things were passed down to us and hung onto for the occasion, and some were thrift store finds that got refurbished. The Fisher-Price barn got cleaned and had some gently used figures from ebay added, and the xylophone got a new dad-made mallet. They were all a big hit. Eli had fun playing the old coin hockey game, which was also a great find. It was great to see him get into a game that did not require a controller. Another plus is, we saved ourselves a bit of money.

Now it is 2013! I can't believe it. I already started going crazy organizing the house, realizing I never really did get it the way I wanted, considering I was almost 9 months pregnant when we moved in. It is going to be fabulous. I have been reading up on the tiny house trend, and it is neat to see how efficient the space in a little one or two person 400-500 square foot home can be. Although we have a bit more space than that for our 4 person family, I have committed to do more to make our space more efficient and tailored to our lifestyle.

Our family tradition is to eat out as a family for lunch on New Year's Day. The Red Robin we have here serves gluten-free buns with their burgers, so that was our big indulgence of the day.  They are also very conscious of food allergies. It is nice to have somewhere special to take the kids out to eat that they like, just to celebrate a holiday.