cause for celebration

It has been a good couple of weeks around our house. Sunny weather tempted us outside, to the garden center and into the garden, digging, planting, dreaming of warm days outside but this week the rain came back. Like most, I’m refusing to put back the winter layers so huddle under blankets waiting for more sunshine.

 The boy had great success this week with his food. He’s up to half an egg (scrambled) and yesterday managed a whole bowl of cereal with milk. On top of the pancake win a couple of weeks ago and I’m starting to feel a bit optimistic that one day, we will all be able to eat the same meal for lunch or dinner sometimes.

And in general, the past few weeks have been easier all around. The level of rushing here and there hasn’t changed but the boy seems happier and more able to regulate his moods, and day by day we are better able to read him and help him before things go sideways.

His most recent adventure is fencing lessons. I admit it was with much trepidation I signed him up for 6 sessions. But the opportunity was not to be missed – lessons in a time frame that worked for us, an instructor with much fencing experience on the world stage, and the focus on eye-hand co ordination, balance and core control all with the hook of sword play to interest the boy all seemed to align. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The first lesson went well although it is always hard to tell from our non-communicative boy. He told me all about the 3 types of swords and that they don’t have a button on the end but something else that sounds exactly like a button.  Deep down inside I think I’m a bit jealous – I admit to wanting to learn to fence and shoot bows and arrows. Is there a yearning to be a warrior woman? The closest I get is warrior pose in the occasional yoga class.

 

Spring means the start of field hockey as well, another sport with sticks. This year I’m running around the field with the boys to help the coach corral the 13 boys. So I’m really hoping for sunny Friday afternoons for the next several weeks.
 

With all the running around, dinner has been fairly uninspired. For the most part it has been easy to throw together meals – eggs on toast, soup, salads, sausages, pork or halibut burgers, etc. A few weeks ago I got inspired to make some treats for a friend’s new dog. So I baked up some doggie treats following this recipe from Cesar the Dog Whisperer and reports are that the dog loved them. I made them squirrel shaped as I don’t have a small bone cookie cutter – the options were sheep, snail, pig or squirrel. The boy and I both thought squirrel would be the best.

Here is how I made them:

Cesar’s Basic Dog Biscuit (from here)

2 ½ c whole wheat flour (1 used about 1 ¾ c spelt flour and ¾ c oat flour)

½ tsp salt

1 egg

½ c chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Heat the chicken stock. Add the stock to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead until a dough forms (~ 3 minutes) and then roll out to about ½” thick. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes.

 

cookies packed for shipping

 

It's been a while

Sorry for dropping off the screen for so long. We've been busy with stuff - work, school, homework, soccer, swimming, loose teeth ( a certain boy has lost 2 so far this week), birthdays, parties, etc.

felt Christmas decorations

shark birthday cake for boy's 8th birthday

pals test paper boats at the beach

warrier boy at the beach

But mostly what has been consuming my thoughts and any spare energy I have is something that came onto our radar last summer. A couple of lovely people working with our boy at his school suggested that our boy might be on the autism spectrum, so began a new path for us. We recently had the "official" determination in the form of an assessment which did confirm that our boy is indeed on the spectrum. What used to be called aspergers and now is part of the autism spectrum disorder. As with anything, this brings positives (provincial funding for support for our boy and an upgrade in support at school) and negatives. So far, to be fair, most of the negatives are in my head as most people we've opened up to about this have been so understanding and helpful and supportive. With the benefit of financial support, we decided to tackle one of our long standing issues with the boy - his eating. We found an exceptional group of women whose job it is to help children with eating issues. And in the few weeks since we started the therapy, we have been amazed by our boy's progress.

It has been, fingers crossed, mostly good days lately. As we get to know what works with the boy and what doesn't we are navigating our way through. And spring is on its way!