Yesterday was a HARD day.

Tuesday night, Garrett was having tummy troubles again and there was nothing I could do to comfort him. He threw up three times and was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep. He was trying but he would just wake up screaming a few minutes later. It was horrible. I finally brought him into bed with me to see if I could do something to make him feel better. I tried to rub his back, but he didn't want to be touched. He took my hand, placed it on his tummy, and then rolled over. Neither of us slept that night.

He was finally starting to drift off around 6:30, when Bronson came in and woke him up. We all got up and changed clothes. I fixed breakfast. Garrett only ate two bites of his toast. He started falling asleep on the stairs around 10, so I carried him up and put him in his crib. I usually change him back into his pajamas before he takes a nap, I made the mistake of not doing that.

When he woke up before 2, I went into his room and saw poop on the wall.

Yeah. Yesterday SUCKED.

After two baths, more laundry and disinfecting everything upstairs, I came down to feed a now starving Garrett. I made him a protein shake (hemp milk, rice protein, strawberries and bananas) and that was sufficient to fill his little tummy.

He went to bed at 7 pm and woke up at 8 this morning. Today is already a million times better than yesterday.

New routines

With Garrett's communication difficulties, even something as simple as a drink of water requires a routine. It has taken almost the entire six weeks that we've been here to get this down. He still has trouble with it sometimes, but if I give him a cue, he knows what he is supposed to do next.

I leave a cup on the edge of the bar by the fridge where Garrett can see it. If he wants a drink, he guides me to it and I'm hoping he will eventually point to it. I pick up the cup and hand it to him, giving him another opportunity to communicate with me.



Garrett hands me the cup and I fill it with a half inch of water.





When he is done drinking, he has to hand it back to me to indicate that he wants more. If he doesn't hand it back to me, he's done. It has taken a LONG time to get this part down. Even now, sometimes he'll forget and he'll throw the cup down and scream at me. If he does that, I'll wait until he picks it up again (which has only happened once), or he guides my hand down to pick it up, and we start over again.




Note: Did anyone notice all the eye contact in these photos? Crazy! Because he's looking at the camera. He's not looking at me.

He's been approved!

We got our referral authorizations this week for Garrett's therapy. He's authorized to receive services for Speech and OT. And it's at least twice what he was getting through Montgomery County.

We're still waiting on approval for ABA and that will hopefully come through next week.

Trampoline!

I finally got around to setting up the trampoline that Garrett got for Christmas. We decided not to spend the extra money for one with handles because we thought he would hurt himself. But right now, I'm almost wishing that this one had a handle. Garrett doesn't have the core strength to stay balanced while he jumps. He's all over the place. I can stand there and hold his hands, but then he wants me to pull him and make him jump. I want him to do it on his own, so this might take a little while to get used to.

Garebear, The Mashed Potato Eater

It wasn't just a fluke! Garrett will happily eat mashed potatoes now.





*note: The spoon is just for show. I always put utensils with his food just in case, but he never uses them.

Look what my boy can do!

I've had these on my camera for the past month, but I just had to share.





I'm so proud of Garrett!

It takes a lot of concentration for him to put the blocks together. He gets easily frustrated if he can't figure out how to turn the block at just the right angle so he still needs some help. This is something else that we're still working on.

For Christmas, Garrett got some toys that he's used in therapy over the past six months. We'll be playing with those from now on, too.

What a difference a month can make.

Garrett did not do well with this move. He was at a few different houses on the day that the movers came. By the time we got him home, he went straight to bed. When he woke up, I changed his diaper and then let him loose to run around. He walked around the living room and dining room and noticed that everything was gone.

He flipped.


Luckily, we had kept his little chair that he eats in. I sat him down and put his tray on and all was right with the world for a little bit.

It took him a few days to get settled into the new house. Once our household goods were delivered he did much better. He has his own room here, which is a great improvement for him.



Since we've been in the new house, Garrett has made a great discovery. He can take me by the hand and guide me to something that he wants. This is much better than dealing with a twenty minute screaming fit and having to guess. We're still working on it, because he doesn't point or gesture, he just takes you to the general area of what he wants. It's not perfect, but we'll take it!

He has not started his early intervention therapy yet. We're waiting on referrals and couldn't get in to see his new developmental pediatrician until January. We have met his new primary care manager and he is awesome. He put in for our specialty referral and asked about Garrett's improvement with speech and OT. When I mentioned the dietary intervention, he listened. He didn't look at me like I was crazy, so he gets a thumbs up from me.