May!

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well, time for an update...

Miles is doing ok, he is talking a lot more now. He says "ready, swing, peek a boo, mommy, daddy, elle belle, apple, nana (banana), monkey, quack (when I sign duck), finished, fish, water, flower, shoe, sock, eat, stop...", and he signs finished, fish, claps for more, doggie,

So his speech is improving, I started using coconut oil for the yeast we still have (no it did not go away), which is antifungal. It seems that the antibiotics just tipped his system in the direction of the yeast over good bacteria in his gut, because he is still only pooping twice a week, and is very uncomfortable when he does, and I'm not sure what else to do. We did 7 weeks of grapefruit seed extract and cranberry juice in our smoothies, oregano oil occasionally (which is fungicidal and bactericidal), I quit eating chocolate, we have cut down on the white rice flour products, and we are on our second round of two weeks of Diflucan (which is about the third line medicine for yeast).

What happens with yeast is that sometimes it gains a foothold in the gut and converts from its spore form to an aggressive hyphal form, which can attach to things, and is the yeast responsible for punching holes in the gut. So to say I'm concerned about his little system is an understatement. I finally found however a very strong probiotic from Klaire labs that I have been giving him and Justin, and it seems to be helping a lot. I didn't realize until my current chiropractor pointed out that the probiotic I have been using for months for Justin only has 1 billion viable cells, which is fine for a kid with a normal gut, but for our family it doesn't even cut it. 5 billion is the minimum for Miles, and 50 is the minimum for Justin. Right now I'm taking 200 billion to try to get my gut in the right direction- away from the yeast.

I also found a book on Sensory Processing Disorder and Speech issues, written by a speech therapist. I thought there must be some reason why Justin wasn't helped at all by his 6 months of private therapy. The other night he bit his finger while he was eating so hard that it bled. He bites his fingers regularly, like he doesn't even know they are in his mouth. And at times he stuffs his mouth with so much food that he gags. The book is fascinating, from what I gather he is under-responsive to tactile (touch) stimulation in his mouth, and has poor body awareness that leads to him feeling unstable while he's sitting, which contributes to his eating issues. And if he is having trouble eating, he'll have trouble making the sounds he needs to talk.

So we are on the state merry go round again, he will be evaluated for Speech Therapy by the AEA of Iowa and for Sensory Processing deficits. I am hoping this will answer our questions about his speech issues. He keeps correcting me and telling me that the way I say things is wrong!!

The kids are funny, if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile- if I let Justin get away with one little thing, it's downhill for the rest of the day. Like the day I let him wear his Spiderman costume to the Zoo, he wandered off the playground and was missing for 20 minutes. I tried not to panic, and went to the top of the play structure, and he was over at the petting zoo, just decided to go over there himself. If I let him take everything off and get himself wet with the hose after he's watered the plants, he doesn't listen for the rest of the day. Just when I thought he was getting easier...

Elle is doing well, almost 6, she is growing so fast I can't keep up. She scored two goals at soccer the other night! I keep trying to convince her to do dancing, to no avail. Math is coming along well, as is her reading. She keeps checking out Scooby Doo chapter books from the library and they are a bit over her head, but she tries.

The drama with the playgroup has pretty much blown over and things are much better now that it is warmer. We're getting together more now that we can be outside with the kids, and are planning a group garage sale in June. Which reminds me- there is all this stuff from my past in my basement and closets. Letters, scrapbooks, pictures, knick knacks, taking up space. I really want to chuck it all, because I feel like it is taking up space in my life where other things need to be. I am starting to think that trying to capture time is impossible and that is what I have been doing, by creating all these scrapbooks and albums. It is nice to look back, but if you are putting all of your energy into the past, are you really living in the present moment? I don't think so.

I am reading The Not So Big Life and it talks about doing what truly matters to us, and figuring out where we are spinning our wheels. I realized that if I put as much energy into forming relationships as I do to buying clothes and doing laundry, I'd be a happier person. I have always been resistant to having people in my daily life because it means I have less control, and that I might get hurt or be upset if we move again. But I am starting to realize that the longer I live like that, the less happy I am and am setting a poor example for my kids when it comes to socialization and being integrated into a community. So I am trying and it has been much easier than I thought to be "out there".

I'll write more when I have pics.