Brendan Loves this book!
In September Brendan had an appointment with Dr Melmed. It was really just his normal 3 month check up. However these appointments bring me so much anxiety, nervousness and fear to me. I just can never prepare myself for these appointments. I just never know what they are going to say. I made Brian come with because it does help when I have someone there for support. Dr Melmed does a lot of talking with us and asks us questions on how everything is going. I felt as if I was giving him a pretty good update and letting him know that Brendan has made good progress. We got on the subject of his supplements. He asked me what he was taking, "we give Brendan a multivitamin and DHA all liquid form every morning." Dr Melmed said so you are not giving him any calcium? I got a little flustered and said, "no, no one had suggested we give him any." He then began to explain to me that they had done a study at SARRC and kids who received 600mg of calcium a day showed an increase in there language skills. So he said go home and calculate how much you think he is getting a day and to start giving him the amount to total 600mg a day. He then said he wanted to start Brendan on a supplement called DMG(Dimethylglycine). He wants to just do a trial for a month. He said they also did a study at SARRC and kids that took DMG showed an increase in their focus and better behavior. I was totally on board with both of the supplements. I did feel a little overwhelmed but knew I was going to go home and research the supplement for myself and then make the final decision. He then started to play and talk to Brendan. He then said when we come back in 3 months in December he wants Brendan to see the phycologist first and get a behavoir test done along with ADOS test again which will gives a better idea of where he is at on the spectrum. When he had the test done last year he tested on the severe side of the spectrum. So my fingers are crossed that we get a better result. I will keep you all posted when that happens. When we got home we discovered Brendan was only getting about 200mg of calcium a day so we immediately started him on the 600mg a day. We did that for about a week before we started the DMG to make sure he didn't have any reactions. We started the DMG and honestly I don't know if it is just coincedient but after the 3rd day of being on it 2 different therapist who didn't know he was on it made a comment about how engaged and focus he seemed. So I guess it is working. I have also noticed a difference in his focus. So we will continue the supplement and see how it goes.
Brendan has decided to basically stop sleeping at night. He has been getting his 2 year old molars now for a couple months. The pain he has with them coming in really sends his sensory and sleep to another whole level. He has been waking up at 3:30,4am for the day or waking up 3-4 times a night. It really isn't fun for Brian or I. This has been going on for over a month. I am just at a loss of what to do. He goes to the dentist next week so I am looking forward to them looking at his molars and telling me how much more he has to go. When Haley was teething I would just give her Tylenol or Motrin but with Brendan it is different. His gut(stomach) is so sensitive that I just don't have those options.
Brendan's new favorite thing is to count 8,9,&10 and he also loves to say "bye, bye". His imitation skills have gotten so good. He will try and repeat most of the words you say. But the crazy thing is he will not speak unless you say the word first. So if I didn't speak to him all day he would be completely silent. So yes you all see him saying words on the videos that I post but he will not say them without someone helping him. I just hope that this will change someday. He has also started what I would call the bratty 2 year stage. Since it is natural as a mom when we don't want our kids doing something we say, "Brendan STOP". Well since he is so good at repeating he will just whine and say, "STOP" back to me and cry at the same time. I think because he has started to make some of his own choices that when he is wanting something and can't have it he really doesn't understand. This has been leading to LOTS of tantrums. But overall he is doing good. He brings such joy to my life and his therapist life. It is so nice when his therapist get just as excited as I do when he does something for the first time!
We got the chance to take our family photos as we always do this time a year. We attempted to have them taken in June when we were in Huntington Beach but unfortunately Brendan wouldn't cooperate at we didn't get any pictures without Brendan crying. So I had no idea what Brendan was going to be like the second time around. I basically prepared myself for another disaster. Well let me just tell you he was in great mood that morning of pictures. Marnee Marriott who has taken my kids pictures since birth has the MAGIC touch. She was making Brendan laugh, he was telling her to "go" which he wanted her to run and tickle him. We had the best time getting our photos done. The pictures turned better than I ever could have imagined. I definitely can't wait to share the pictures but you all will have to wait until you get your Holiday card. Thank you Marnee for capturing such amazing memories of my family. She is absolutely the best and if you are in Arizona then you need to hire her www.marriottphoto.com
I just really want to SAY THANK YOU again to everyone who has donated to Team Brendan. We have definietly made a name for ourselves in this autism community and I couldn't be more proud to share this journey with everyone.
You can donate here for Team Brendan:
http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/arizona/teambrendan14
