The Great Ketchup Caper

Another Gage moment. I get out of the shower today and I hear this funny noise in the kitchen. As I walk into the kitchen I see it.....Gage has gotten out the bottle of ketchup from the fridge and squeezed almost the entire bottle on to the floor. Not just in one place but ALL over the floor. And to top it all off he has taken the broom and and used it like a paint brush and smeared it everywhere. It looks like my kitchen floor has a lovely red glaze on it. He was very proud of himself, because as I looked at him and said "Gage what are you doing!!!?" he looked up and smiled, pointed at the floor and simply said "tep-up!"

Just some pictures

Shaving cream boy!

Makinna's first day of school

"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat with out losing heart." Robert Ingersoll

Today I feel defeated. Its only 12 noon and already I feel like I've had all can take. You see Gage has these phases when he is irritable, and into everything! We are in one of those phases right now.
Makinna has school today and Gage is off all day, as am I. So I thought we would go grocery shopping so we won't have to do it over the weekend. Mistake #1. Gage hates Wal Mart. He literally screamed almost all the way through the entire store. And I mean the kind of screaming that makes people turn their heads and then think to them selves. "What a little brat." But honestly I'm way past caring what other people think. So we finally get out of Wal Mart. I have to go to the bank. Mistake #2. Gage unbuckles himself and I have to stop in the parking lot and get him back in his car seat. So I finally get home and take the groceries up stairs. Mistake #3. When I get back down I find that Gage has found a ball point pen and written all over the leather seats of my car. He proceeds to try to get to his daddy's circular saw and throws a tantrum on the floor because I won't let him have it. I go up stairs to get him some lunch. Mistake #4. I come back down and find that Gage has emptied 7 brand new bottles of water onto the garage floor. I just turned around and walked out, and thought to myself....."At least it wasn't the living room floor"
Like I said its only noon, I just can't wait to see what the rest of the day holds. Please pray for me to keep my sanity until bedtime.

Off To Kindergarten

Makinna is officially off to school. She started kindergarten last Thursday and goes all day. She's been well prepared with preschool and kindergarten jump start this summer, but its still not the same as saying goodbye to your baby on the very first day of real kindergarten. I was fine getting her on the bus until it pulled away and then I got sniffy. Not because I don't want her to go to school, I am so ready for her to go and so is she. Its just the end of an era. The end of having them under your wing. For the first time in her entire life she will be spending more time with someone else than with her own parents. I hope I have instilled good manners and values in her and a good work ethic that will make her successful in school. I think I have because in the last month I have had 3 different people compliment me on what a sweet, polite and caring little girl she is. I like to take some of the credit but much of that she was born with.


Gage however did not do so well with is "Bebe" being gone. He cried when she got on the bus the second day, and several times throughout the day he would look at me and say "Bebe?" I would tell him that she was at school and would come home on the bus. When it was time for her to come home I asked him "Do you want to go wait for Bebe and the bus?" He squealed with delight and stood at the end of the driveway jumping up and down and repeating "bus" and "Bebe" until they finally came. He walked up to her and hugged her and gave her a kiss. (He does not GIVE hugs and kisses often, he mostly tolerates receiving them)


Most of all I am soooo proud of my little girl. She ran off to the bus with a smile and a wave. She is growing into a truly fantastic little girl, and I'm glad she's mine.

A Day In The Life

I often tell people how busy we are. Gage is the busiest 3 year old I know. I thought that I would post what a day in our lives is like. Now this changes with the day and will be different once school starts. Once school starts MY life will get easier but Gage's will get busier. Makinna is also going to Kindergarten this year so both kids will be in school! Of course I will work more. But this is just an example of a day for us.....



6:30 am I get up and get a shower. Makinna is up and watching TV in our room while I shower. Gage is awake and playing in his room.



Morning: Not that different from other families, I try to empty the dishwasher, get a load of laundry going, dress and feed the kids. Gage requests to go out and swing probably 5-6 times and I manage to put him off.



8:20am Makinna catches the bus for Kindergarten Jumpstart (she has this program for 2 weeks this summer)



8:30am Gage's therapist arrives. For the next 3 hours we work with Gage doing ABA drills at the table and working on requesting and other skills. He also gets some free time and I manage to put the laundry in the dryer.



11:00am Gage gets lunch and I make and pack a lunch for Makinna.



11:30am Gage's therapist leaves. Makinna gets off the bus from jumpstart and has enough time to go upstairs to the bathroom.



11:40am We leave for Hanover for the Autism Day Program that Gage is in. It is at least a 40 minute drive.



12:30pm Drop Gage off in Hanover. For the next 3 hours Makinna and I do things like go to the library, run errands, pick up groceries or any other things that can be done. It does not pay me to run home and then back again.



3:30pm Pick Gage up from the day program and drive 40 min home



4:15pm Arrive home and usually Gage throws about a 20-40 min screaming tantrum because he doesn't want to get out of the car.



5:00-5:30 Daddy gets home



5:30-6:00pm I feed Gage some dinner. Our dinner most likely won't be ready until 6:30 -7:00 and he gets really grumpy if he has to wait that long.



6:00-7:00 Gage wants to swing, Makinna wants to color, etc etc and they are completely up my butt.

6:30pm our dinner is ready and I try to eat but Gage is pulling at me to swing him, finally Daddy steps in and Gage screams through our dinner and Makinna crys. (This is very often how our evening meal goes)



7:00pm Bath Time!! Finally! Gage (sometimes Makinna) gets in the tub and trys his best to turn it into a swimming pool. Then snack, a little TV and off to bed

8:00pm Bed time. Daddy reads Makinna a story and I lay down with Gage. He has been going to sleep better so I don't have to lay there for 2 hours while he uses me as a human trampoline. Then once he is asleep I have to tuck Makinna in and snuggle with her.

9:00pm Kids asleep. Make coffee, turn on dishwasher, fold the clothes I forgot about in the dryer. Talk to my husband finally!

10:00pm Off to bed to get rested up for another sprint in this marathon called my life.

BLESSINGS AND CURSES: be carefull what you wish for you may get it!

Gage has come so far in the last year and we have so far to go. But its come to my attention lately that progress is sometimes more work. So I've come up with a list of blessings/curses that have been bestowed upon us:


BLESSING: In November Gage learned to say Mommy for the first time
CURSE: I now hear "Mommy" several times a minute through the day

BLESSING: Gage is improving with his self help skills
CURSE: Gage frequently pulls down his pants and pees on the floor

BLESSING: With the help of melatonin Gage falls to sleep peacefully without any screaming or crying between 8 and 8:30 pm
CURSE: Instead of sleeping until 8am Gage is up bright and early between 6 and 6:30am.

BLESSING: My husband recently put steps at the back door so we don't have to go through the basement to get to our fenced in back yard.
CURSE: Gage now wants to get in his swing at 7:30am.

BLESSING: Gage is becoming more adventuresome with food. He is interested in foods he used to turn his nose up at.
CURSE: He often is interested in "off limit" food with wheat or gluten in them

and finally...
BLESSING: We have a curious, sweet, loving, funny little boy

The Proof is in the Poopy

WARNING: This post contains descriptions of poop!
We have been following the DAN Protocol which entails many supplements and "non standard" practices. I try to approach all of this with an open mind and healthy scepticism. I don't want to not try something simply because its not mainstream, but I don't want to blindly buy into these "non standard" practices either.
Right now we are just finishing up 20 days of Nizoral, a medication the kills yeast. The idea being that Gage had soooo many antibiotics the first 2 years of life that he probably has an overgrowth of yeast and no healthy gut bacteria. Signs of yeast overgrowth are, foamy poops, hyperness, nondescript laughing, red cheeks, and many more. I never really knew what a "foamy poop" was. I mean Gage has had loose stools almost his entire life. I can count on one hand the number of formed poops he's had. I would have described his poop to be like oatmeal. (little did I know this WAS the "foamy poop")
So we do the Nizoral. The doctor said if he has yeast he will get a "die off" reaction, where the yeast die and release toxins and makes you feel bad. Well we had it, terrible behaviour, diarrhea, itching etc. And then it subsided.
So you ask did the medication work? Well the proof is in the poop! After 22 days on the Nizoral, Gage had a real formed, normal looking poop, and has had one everyday for 5 days! I'm amazed. He is also gaining more language. He is consistently saying "I want____" for requests. He is even saying four words at a time. "I want chocolate milk" "I want open door" And he is requesting all day long. " I want...I want...I want...." (Why did I teach him that phrase again???)
Anyway we have normal poop in our house again. I guess that is just proof of something wrong with the body not just the mind. Well now its off to the next step of our DAN protocol.