So I haven't posted much. We had a cold work its way through the house and I'm finally feeling like a person again so it's time to get caught up.

We didn't go to church on Sunday because Bug got a runny nose and a low fever on Saturday. Crossing our fingers that this doesn't set us back at all with going to nursery. I did feel very very happy and blessed that it really does seem to be just a cold. Bug hasn't even really had a runny nose (Momma seems to have gotten the worst of it.)

On Sunday we were watching football (yay, football season!) and apparently it inspired A LOT of talking! He was repeating lots of what he heard on the tv and from us, and I've definitely noticed an uptick in him trying to imitate sounds. Maybe even some singing? I can't entirely tell, as there's no pitch to it, but long drawn out words make me think he's trying to sing! Every single day this week he's asked me to watch "baseball" (he means football).

Watching the Packers

Bug now points to objects in The Cat in the Hat as well as The Very Hungry Catepillar! We try to vary what we ask him to point at so that he doesn't get into a "rut"
 I also had success getting him to hand me the remote which was on the coffee table. He had to find it and get it and give it to me. MOTIVATION really helps. ;) I told him we could watch another episode of Dinoaur Train. Talking with our speech therapist, Kerry, she said that we should work on "what is that" with Bug. He is learning that we point at things in books, now we stretch and we can point at things across the room, and eventually outside.

Adam has managed to get Bug to say "Yes please" now (prompted) which is a fantastic step! It is great to have him truly confirm what he wants and I really hope we can see this go further!

This is how I've been meeting Bug's sensory needs while I've not had energy for anything.

 He's been a big fan of jumping on the air mattress! We do have a trampoline coming on Monday, so looking forward to that! I feel like the sensory diet stuff hasn't been working, but truthfully, I'm not very faithful to it. So I've decided to make a strong effort for the next few days until OT on Tuesday and if I still feel like it's not good, I'll bring it up to Lauren.

I also found some awesome kid's yoga videos on YouTube that we've been trying out. They're just short ones (10-15 minutes) but they tell a cute little story. Bug seems very interested in them, today (our second time doing them) it seemed like he was trying to do some of the poses. He liked having me do the lying down ones especially. If I would stand up, he'd tell me to "lie down." I told him that I was copying the lady on the tv. Hopefully we can make this a "baby step" toward Bug listening to others, following others' directions.

We've also been doing a lot of thinking about food and I've started doing some research. We are contemplating a dairy-free and possibly gluten free diet for Bug. I have long suspected Bug to have an issue with dairy. He has keratosis pilaris (those little red bumps--very common) and it has really spread from his face to his arms and now to his legs and bottom. I have read that it can be the only sign of a food allergy. There is also a lot of evidence (largely anecdotal) that a GFDF diet can help with speech delays and with sensory processing disorder and autism. We are thinking that we might try to decrease his dairy and then go dairy free for a month to see if there is an improvement.

The hardest part would be making sure that Bug still gets a balanced diet. Because he doesn't eat (most) meat, dairy is the main source of his protein. He does like green beans and will eat some peanut butter, but it is very difficult to introduce him to new things. So today I tried a little experiment. I filled a little ice cube tray I got from Target with a variety of different foods (peanut butter, yogurt, apple sauce and raisins). Really my goal was to see if he would try dipping his apple slices in the stuff. But he was very interested and ate the applesauce, some raisins and some peanut butter. I think the biggest problem was that they were such small little spaces that there wasn't much and it was hard to get to at. So I might try again with a muffin pan. And I have a little lightning bolt tray too that I can try.

So all in all, I feel like we are still making slow but steady progress. I do plan on talking about the dietary changes with the OT and I still have more research to do. Looking forward to the weekend with cooler temps (and healthier family) so we can GET OUTSIDE!