Yesterday was Tom's Birthday!

We had a great day, here. While Eli was at school, Sophie and I went to the store and picked up a cake, frosting, and birthday candles and hats. Sophie was so excited that it was daddy's birthday and we were going to have a party. I promised when Eli got home, we were going to make the GF/CF cupcakes.

So, Eli got home and I gave him a little while to get settled, and we made cupcakes. Eli helped pour the ingredients in and stir, and Sophie helped stir and lick the bowl after I put the batter in the cupcake holders. It was so great that BOTH children could help me make the cakes. After we got done with frosting (Sophie's favorite part), we made construction paper birthday cards with stickers and crayons. They each decorated the card for daddy.

I think the best part was when Tom got home from work and Sophie came in from outside and yelled, "DADDY! It's your Birthday!" and sang to him. He was really pleased with the kids' efforts and was smiling a lot. After supper we had cake while wearing birthday hats and also ice cream (the children had soy ice cream). A huge mess was made by the cupcake eaters. Tom and I had chocolate cake with creme brulee ice cream..YUM YUM..Good fun was had by all!

I think one of the best things, though, is that Eli willingly participates with us now. He helped make the cake, he helped frost, he made the birthday card for daddy, and he put on his birthday hat and sung his own little birthday tune. I'm so pleased to have him as part of things now. Even 6 months ago I couldn't have gotten him to be in the moments with us like he was yesterday.

Tom and I stayed up way too late chatting and cuddling...now I'm up way too early with the boy who is on a normal sleep schedule!

Back to the Blog!

Now that I've finally got my camera back and a little bit of time in the mornings before Sophie gets up I can get back to blogging about the children and especially Eli and the RDI program.

First off, let me just say I have nothing but positive things to say about RDI. The vibrant, loving boy that we had before age 2 is coming back to us. He is now actively seeking us out for engagement, looks at me or his father often for information when approaching situations, and just overall seems to feel more confident and happy. I feel more confident as a parent with him now.

Yesterday, both children helped me clean the kitchen. We are now applying our RDI activities to life as often as possible. Eli loves to play his woosh woosh game (basically I spray and he wipes) so we've translated it into helping me clean surfaces all throughout the house. Sophie is at that age where she wants to help mommy too, so both children got to help wipe while I sprayed water for them. The counters look great! The hard part for Eli is translating the wiping from a table top surface to the back door glass...the upright surface is harder for him to process, but we are working on it. The door has a lot of funny streaks!

The other thing that made this week particularly hard is Eli found himself on a mound of fire ants and got bit all over his feet and legs. It was just awful..he had one bad night that was very reminiscent of my older children with chicken pox..just up miserably crying because it itched so bad. Feet are SO sensitive, and to have these horrible painful itchy bites all over them..well..
Benedryl helped a lot, and then apparantly with fire ants the bites get infection..so we had to pop all the bites and get that out. After that things were fine, but then the other night his feet got bitten by mosquitos (that being the only bare spot on him) and he was miserable all over again. This time I used Caladryl, then Hydrocortisone, neither worked..so finally benedryl cream which took a while to sink in. He got so fascinated with creams providing relief that I had to hide every cream and lotion in the house yesterday because he kept applying them to himself...!! He is a sensory seeking boy and enjoys textures like creams and lotions. I think I'm going to get him some of his own lotion to put on every day.

Anyway, the good news is, RDI is definitely the right choice for him still..he is blossoming. His teacher at the new program says he is participating more at school and I am seeing the signs of that at home. It's like doing RDI has brought me a happy child who feels a whole lot less frustrated and a whole lot more competent and content. There's still a long road to go, which will have bumps and turns, but we've gotten off to an amazing start!