Blue Bendy Straw Motif

I have always liked the word Motif. It has a certain romance and grandeur to it. When I say it I can feel the red velvet seat beneath me as I watch a tragic Opera. Oddly enough a blue bendy straw seemed to be my motif of the day. Nice color of blue, but completely devoid of romance. In fact it was twisted into the oddest shape. Fortunately what it lacked in romance it made up for in unique composition. It was in many ways a plastic metaphor of my existence.

Have you ever had something that just kept reappearing in odd places. Something you are certain that you have put away or thrown away but like a sprite it taunts you, popping up impishly out of nowhere. Enter a blue bendy straw motif.

I was in the space of deep thoughts when it occurred that most of life's lessons are blue bendy straws. They keep popping up in their same old odd shape. No mistaking, it is the same lesson just laying on a different floor. There is a verse found in Philippians 4 :12-13

"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

This is my blue bendy straw. I find its familiar shape everywhere in my families autism experience. Oddly enough it is sometimes easier to be content when there is little to hope for. I find that when things are going well I want them to be better and loose the perspective that makes living with contentment a reality. For now things are going quite well with Scarlet. She is so much more easy going now that we are back on the diet. She is gaining ground with her IBI experience. She has mastered her matching program, she is a little whiz at matching. She is coming out with more and more words. She is starting to do things like, clap her hands for the song "If you are happy and you know it clap your hands". She has been giggling lots and trying to make us laugh. She loves to do those little hand clapping games that are popular with little girls her age... with lots of help of course. She is gaining ground on her voice output device and loves to find it and to ask for "TV". Her little sister knows this and brings her the voice output device when she wants to watch t.v. Things are moving in the right direction, but there is still a LONG way to go.

There is a familiar shade of blue lingering just on the corner of my perceptions and as I look in its direction, it is unmistakably that oddly shaped lackluster companion of mine. In this place of new growth with Scarlet, I look upwards with a smile, because even the most ordinary things can be beautiful. I can celebrate with each appropriately executed hand clap, because the God who gives me strength is my help and he is present and he is presently placing blue bendy straws in the most unlikely of places.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet revisited

Well, we are two weeks into our extreme diet experience. Specific Carbohydrate Diet revisited has come easier than I thought. We have followed this diet for a year and were already in a pretty good groove with it. I really, really miss rice. It was the only thing I had added, but apparently, it wasn't time. This time we are doing the Specific Carbohydrate Diet with a twist. It is actually called the GAPS diet. It is taken primarily from the SCD diet and is basically the same except for it's view on when milk products should be introduced. I have found the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome my Natasha Campbell-Mcbride(the neurologist who formulated the GAPS protocol) to be compelling and informative. I am so much better informed on why this diet even works in the first place. The SCD diet has worked wonders for Scarlet and after the initial die off symptoms (the bad bacteria dies as you neglect to feed it what it is hungry for ie. sugars and starches, this creates symptoms of fatigue, bad mood, headaches, etc. called die off.) she has become more calm and alert again.

This diet calls for a pretty strict regimen at the beginning when it is first implemented and we must start at square one. I have been trying to read the book in order to do it completely right this time around. I do not want to do this again...even though I am happy to have found it helpful. So, I have just taken the rice out of Scarlet's diet, but we will have to start with just bone broth and move up the latter of easily digestable foods. I'll keep you posted on our ascent.

As for really great things happening.... Scarlet signed the word "no" to me and then later in the week shook her head "no" while signing it to her therapist. This is a really big step. For her to have to power to say "yes" or "no" would up her communication quotient exponentially. Also, she has mastered her matching program in her IBI therapy. She is now matching alike objects with different people watching and in different rooms of the house. She is so proud of herself and we are so proud of her.

For family day today we were at grandma's and grandpa's house playing outside in the snow. The neighbor's golden retriever decided to come and play with us. Scarlet laughed and patted and followed the dog around. She was even shouting out the word "Daw" for dog. It is so exciting to see her even acknowledging animals. There have been times in the past, when she has blatantly ignored any type of animal and refused to look at it. Today she was engaged and fascinated. I love those words.

So here goes the SCD/GAPS experience in overdrive...lets hope we hear more of her voice every day.

Mall madness

It's been a while since I have been to the mall, but we had a free morning and the girls were feeling a little house bound. We decided that a trip to see the kitties at the pet store, might just be the thing we needed. Now, we three girls do venture out often to the grocery store where we are a tightly contained unit of Skye in the buggy and Scarlet always attached to my non-buggy-pushing hand. Despite having a rather wide girth, we usually maneuver without incident through the grocery store and to the check out. The mall is a little different. There is so much open space to run free in, and lets face it... there hasn't been much running free since winter zipped us up in its icy jacket (my exact imagery is a straight jacket, but out of respect for my Canadian friends I will defer from using such a term....can't help but think it though) So, today, Scarlet got to run free through the mall to her little hearts content and to public alarm.

It is often hard to balance letting an autistic kid be autistic and protecting the innocent bystanders from the unconventional sights and sounds of such freedom. Today, I let her be happy, unfettered...alarming. There were maybe only three other families in the entire mall, so I figure it didn't matter. However, when Scarlet came running, hands flapping high in the air above her, the mother and father of a the brown haired toddler ran frantically to their daughter who seemed precariously near this anomaly of a child. They kept rather close watch on Scarlet from that point on. I get it. I do. I have other children. I know a Scarlet's behavior is less than proper, but at least they could have shown some consideration to this little autistic girl's mother and removed their daughter to safety with less urgency.

On the flip side, I spent about 5 minute savoring the peels of laughter coming from Scarlet as we cuddled and played before bed time. It is a treasure of the richest kind to have her laugh appropriately at being tickled or during some one on one play. It is like finding an ancient Egyptian tomb and excavating King Tut's treasure. I only wish the "public" could see some normal moments like these, then maybe she would be less reprehensible.