One Month Successes!

I've posted a lot tonight to try to catch up with the past month, but I forgot something really important... to take note of all of the successes we've had! It's been such an exhausting month, but we look at how far JD has come, it makes it all worthwhile!

I think our biggest success is JD's language. Now he's not speaking in full sentences or anything BUT he's made huge leaps! When he was diagnosed a month ago he had about 6 words... go, yea!, wheee!, five, chugga chugga and choo choo. A month later and we're at over 30! It's AMAZING. He's picking up things left and right because we're working so much harder with him. I started by using an approach from behavioral therapy called VBA (or verbal behavior analysis), it's done by pairing an object by saying the word OVER and OVER again until they start repeating. It's not easy by any means! His first word was bubble and when he was able to say that for the first time, it was like his whole face lit up. He was so proud of himself!

My favorite thing he's learned is to say "i love you" by pointing to his eyes, then his heart and then me (or whoever is doing it with him). It's so uplifting that it can fix any problem in my life. I have no clue if he understands what he's saying, but to me it's worth a million dollars!

JD has also become much more interactive this month. He learned how to wave (something he should have started around 1 year) and he has learned how to bring me things when he wants something, such as his sippy cup for more milk. Before he just threw it at me. I know they seem like little things, but it's huge in our lives.

We've also totally changed the way our kids eat. We're not doing the casein free/gluten free diet or anything, but we've cut out the junk. JD is eating turkey, fruit, veggies and pasta for almost every meal. We've made it a huge change in our lives to being dedicated to eating at home and it's been huge. The kids eat better, we're spending more time together and we're teaching him good social skills.

I'm sure there are more things to include, but those are the biggies for me! I'm so proud of him and the entire family for changing how we think and do things to make his life better!