Sleeping

When we moved here in early 2005 Logan was still sleeping in a crib. We bought him a race car bed and put it in his room for him so he could get out of the crib. It never worked out for him. He likes to rock or bounce himself most nights so he took over our couch. We ended up moving the couch into the playroom so he could get comfortable and sleep without us waking him. For the past couple of weeks he's decided he wants to snuggle with Mommy and Daddy in the wee hours of the morning.

He had been coming in around 4:00 or 5:00 so that wasn't a big deal. A couple of times it was earlier so I'd grab him up and go lay down on the couch with him until he (or I) fell asleep. I decided that it was time to try again with the toddler bed. For the past two days I have been cleaning out and setting up the boys room. We had made it into a storage room since he wouldn't use it and Ryan is still in with us. We put a television in there as Logan likes to watch a movie while slowing down and going to sleep each night. The room was ready by the time they got home from school yesterday and the look on his face was so worth all the work and sore muscles. He was grinning from ear to ear and jumping up and down. I let him play in there for a little while then made everyone go play out in the playroom until it was time to settle for the night.

I put his movie on for him, got him to climb into his bed with his favorite blankeys and his favorite stuffed animal. He fell asleep pretty quickly with minimal fuss. I was so thrilled and so tired from all the work that we went to bed around 10:00. At 11:00 the door to my bedroom flies open and in comes my little dynamo. He jumped into bed with us so I grabbed him up and head out to the couch. I had planned on laying down on the floor next to his bed if this happened but I was just too tired and sore to do it. We lay down on the couch and he was out within an hour. I was able to sneak back to bed and sleep for about 4 more hours before he came back into the bedroom. We got back up and followed the same routine again. I was able to get another 25 to 30 minutes after he fell asleep again.

I'm happy with his falling asleep with very little fuss but now need to work on keeping him in there for longer periods and making myself take him back into that room when he does get back up. Anyone have any suggestions?

Information

I recently received some interesting information regarding feeding issues similar to Ryan's. It seems that another parent from one of my groups is going through the same thing with her child. They supplement with Liquid Zinc and have had good results; their child is trying new foods again. I am looking into finding some for Ryan to try; don't want to purchase anything bigger than a sample as you never know what flavor he will accept. I had heard that Kirkman Labs has it but it's raspberry and that isn't a flavor we've tried with Ryan. I know whatever we get it will have to be added to his formula or his bananas. Hopefully we can find something with very little taste or minimal taste. I also found it on Autism Coach but I believe they recommend that you mix it with a citrus juice and that's out for Ryan. I'm going to be trying some banana/apple juice with him this week to see if he will tolerate it. We've not had much luck with him drinking anything other than the Next Step formula.

On Thanksgiving I tried to get Logan to try some turkey. I have to give him credit, he did let me put a small piece in his mouth but then he just spit it right back at me. He did the same thing with the mashed potatoes. His teacher was able to get him to try some new GF/CF pretzels that another parent brought in to class. I think I may have to send new foods to school with him as she seems to have better luck getting him to try new things. I have been trying to get him to eat the waffles we bought but he's only eaten a few and then refuses the rest for me. If I send it to school in his lunch box for his morning snack he eats it with no fussing. Hmmmm I wonder what that is all about.

Early Intervention Update

I finally spoke to Ryan's E.I. case worker on Monday. It appears that their speech and occupational therapists in our area have a waiting list. Here I thought the reason they weren't getting back with us was because it was taking a long time for the local hospital to get signed up to be a provider. She originally said that we would be looking at February before he could have speech and not sure when the O.T. would have an opening. She contacted another provider in the area and they do have an opening for speech and should be contacting me sometime this week or next. She did say once we get him on this other provider's schedule we will bug them for his O.T.

I don't expect to hear from them this week as it's Thanksgiving so I'm hoping to hear from the early next week. This particular provider dealt with Logan before he turned three so I know they are reliable. As long as we can get our feet in the door; we can bug them for the O.T. and I think they will find us a therapist pretty quickly. I can't afford to pay the hospital their full charge and the insurance should be running out soon. (only 20 visist per year; what a crock that is for the kids who really need it. I think the insurance companies need to revise their plans to meet the ever increasing need for our children)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

GF/CF Diet

With four children it's hard to keep Logan out of the food he can't have. He's the only one on the GF/CF diet at this point. Once we get Ryan out of the stage he is in now with his foods, he may end up on the diet too. I have to keep the others away from Logan or he will snatch at their food. He's pretty fast for a five year old.

Most of the time I have Katie over on the kitchen side blocked by a baby gate so she can eat her meals. I hate to do that because she ends up sitting in the highchair and at almost three years old that isn't working. We have recently begun to have her eat at the little desk we have in the living room. (My First LeapPad desk) It gets a little messy but it's better for her to sit down there then to continue in the highchair especially as Ryan is now in need of it. I had been putting Ryan in Logan's booster seat (with it's own laptop tray) but that is hard because it has to be strapped into a chair or on the floor. Meal time at our house goes in shifts, it's just easier that way for me. Marie can eat at the table with Logan because she is old enough to keep him away from her food. They get to eat first, I then will grab Katie and Ryan on the kitchen side and have them eat. After all four have been fed, it's time for Mommy and Daddy to eat. Most days, I make a meal for me, Daddy and Marie so that she gets her veggies. I have to admit though, even with me not working I will sometimes give her special treat of soup and a sandwhich just so I can have some down time when I eat. I guess that makes me a bad Mommy.

Whatever....

Okay, big surprise here, but no word yet again from Early Intervention. It's funny; they wanted my husband and I to go to a dinner they were putting on to talk about their program. How we were in it with Logan and now will be again with Ryan. We couldn't get the time to do that and now I'm not too sure it was a good thing. I could have let everyone know how the wheels of this place have ground down to a complete halt this time. I have no idea what is going on but I'm SOOOO not impressed with them this go around. I will be placing a call to them yet again today to find out the status. If I hear back from them before Thanksgiving it will be a miracle. Thank GOD we have insurance that covers 20 visits of therapy (each) per year but that is almost up. The good thing about that is the year is almost over and we get to start again January 1st. (But what happens between now and then when the insurance doesn't cover it???)

Logan has been doing pretty well lately (other than the vomit cough he has) He's been attempting to say more words. Hello, Bye Bye, medicine (WOW!) and he now knows his numbers and letters. Cheryl had him picking out different numbers and letters from a scrambled jumble and he was spot on! YEAH Logan!! She is now going to start working with entire words for him. I passed that information on to his teacher at school and they are going to do the same thing.

Oh, one more thing, which is totally AWESOME. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post but it's just so GREAT, I have to say it again. He is now coming up to me, points towards his butt and says "diaper!" when he has a b.m. I really believe we are close (super close) to him becoming ready to be potty trained. He says "pee pee potty" when I mention it's time to see if he's ready to start going "pee pee in the potty like a big boy". It would be so wonderful to have only two children in diapers instead of three. If I could get his almost 3 year old sister to join him then I would only have one in diapers and could use all the money we save from that for his therapy!!

Logan

I had an interesting weekend. Logan has had a little head/chest cold for a few days. I've noticed that he won't cough up the excess phlegm. It's almost like he can't until it's about to gag him. At that point, he vomits up what has been sitting in his stomach. He did this to me Saturday and again yesterday morning. Once he gets the nasty chunks out of his stomach, he's fine and wants to eat and drink. I'm going to ask the doctor what this is all about. He hasn't had to use his Nebulizer in a few years and am wondering if we should be using it with him.

Latest Update

Okay, I thank you all for crossing your fingers and toes for me. I have scheduled his visit with the neurosurgen for the same day as the follow up with the neurologist. We will go in the morning to see Dr. Gegg and then the first visit after lunch we will see Dr. Kojic. It should be an interesting day. I will get the oldest ones off to school and have an hour to get ready for the road trip. Curtis will be keeping Katie so I can get all the information with minimal interruptions at the two doctors visits.

Glad we only have to make two trips to Orlando for doctors visits in December instead of three. It looks like this month there are NO trips scheduled; at least not yet anyway. It worked so well last time I asked so..... Keep your fingers and toes crossed that we don't have any visits to Orlando this month! Thank you!!!!

Update - Neurosurgen

I called the Neurosurgen's office yesterday to make an appointment per the neurologist. Of course, they said they had to have the records from the neurologist before they can make an appointment for a new patient. I had to explain that I had deliberately waited almost 2 weeks as to give them plenty of time to get the paperwork. After sitting on hold for 10 minutes she came back on the line to say they did have Ryan's file.

She wanted to know why we were sent to them (hello! the file is in front of you!) so I had to explain that I had a 'script from Dr. Kojic and I can't read her handwriting. She decided to read the file and then to call me back with a date for his appointment. I explained about the CS MRI and when it would be so she was thinking they could schedule for the same day. Since Ryan's last MRI lasted a little over 3 hours (From the time they took him in to the time he woke up and I could take him home) I am not too sure that will work. He's scheduled for 11:00 which would put his wake up time (give or take an hour) around 2:00. I have to get back on I-4 and head further into town to get to the neurosurgen's office so that would put his appointment at/around 3:00 or 4:00 depending on how close they want to take it. Once they see him and we get to get back on the road it will put us in rush hour traffic in Orlando on a Thursday night. I hate driving at night and I REALLY HATE driving in Orlando. I hope they decide to see us the following Thursday. (Keep your fingers and toes crossed!)