Things at the end of the year

Well, let's see. Where are we now?

Rachel and Sarah got bikes for Christmas. It'll be interesting to see how that will affect their gross motor skills. It'll also be interesting to see the rules we'll need to put in place surrounding the bikes and going out on them. For now, the girls are only going to ride them when we can supervise, mostly because they have no idea how to ride a bike (or where). Also, though they've gotten much better at communicating, they still have trouble with sensory input and being constantly aware of their surroundings.

Rachel and Sarah have, for the past couple of months, been going to Activity Days. And doing a great job. :) The report back is that the other girls love them and things are going very well. I can see the possibility of a challenge in the future regarding boundaries, but I'm very proud of them so far in their social abilities. Very happy. :D

As for Stevie, we took him to a chiropractor friend of ours around Thanksgiving. He gave us several things to think about and avenues to explore. He also pointed out that Stevie seems to be suffering from lower back pain. That would make sense considering his hips seem to be doing fine and I haven't noticed anything weird in his legs. In the meantime, we've modified some of what we've been doing for him. Here's some things we've added.

Fresh Juice - our chiropractor friend talked to us about the digestive problems and brought up the option of enzymes. So, because we had to stop the breastmilk (had to for a separate reason that had nothing to do with Stevie) we have been giving him fresh carrot, apple and grape juice (separate, single juices... not all at once) as much as he wants with a focus for a week (carrot one week, apple the next, then grape, then we go back to carrot again). He really loves the apple and grape juice and will tolerate the carrot juice... we may end up mixing the carrot with apple so he gets enough. You'd think he'd drink huge quantities, but so far he hasn't downed more than three cups in a day, no matter how much he seems to love it.

Increased Sprouted and Living Food - Whenever he asks for fresh fruits or veggies, we give them to him. And we try to make sure most of his grains are sprouted and low-heated, then blended so they're easier for him to digest. Flour products, even whole grain, are a rare thing now.

Three Oil Massage - Yup, we're doing that full tilt again: castor oil applied before bedtime for two days, then olive oil for two days, then wheat germ oil for two days. We've found it really helps him if he takes a warm bath first. Also, we've found nothing takes out castor oil if it gets on clothes, so we lay down an old towel on his bed for those nights and put him in clothes that are specifically for those nights that we don't care about losing if they get stained. He LOVES the massage, especially when we get to his back and starts giggling now when he sees us get out the oil of the day. I give him the T.O.M. to feed his body through his skin as well as help him stay aware of his muscles. He's always more likely to bounce around and play after a massage (you'd think it would relax him but that hasn't been the case since the first week). I go along with this and we end up doing some of the games I used to play with Rachel to improve her muscle tone, as well as some that help with lower leg and abdominal strength.

"Cleansing" Tonics - I hesitate calling them this because they're really more nutritive than cleansing. They support the functions of different systems in the body. We're using these as a supplement to the slippery elm and Kid-e-Reg to increase his body's ability to break down the foods we give him. As of right now, he's taking Liver/Gallbladder Formula to help with bile production, Kidney Formula to support those organs while we work on that part of the digestion, and BloodStream Formula which is a general all-around tonic that we've found helps with digestion among other things.

Complete Tissue and Bone ointment on his spine - After the chiropractor pointed out that he seemed to have lower back pain, I used Cayenne Heat and CTB together on his lower back. After about a week of that, he complained when I used the CH so I took that out and just used CTB. Then, because I noticed he kept his whole spine straight and didn't like to look up at stuff, I used it on his whole spine from the top cervical to the tailbone. I apply it in the morning and when I do the Three Oil Massage.

The result? Well, we started the ointments around Thanksgiving and we're now on week three of the juices, extra formulas, oil massage, and ointment on his whole spine. Stevie now bounces along the floor instead of the straight, careful scoot he was doing before. He's started playing with sitting up and laying down, essentially doing sit ups... he avoided that before... it seemed to cause him pain. This also applies to side-sit-ups, which he's been doing more often as well, usually as a game with me. Also, he's been going crazy with hitting things with his toy hammer. He'll tap the floor with it as he scoots along. Which reminds me, he's starting to scoot without touching the floor. Often this is because he'll have two things in hand and doesn't want to let go of either of them.

We've also been noticing his sensory issues have been going down. He's not as sensitive to sensory input as he was before and I'm wondering if these "sensory issues" weren't the same as when I used to be in pain and wanted the rest of the world to drop off.

We aren't as concerned now with reflux. The only time I get concerned is when something gets him laughing really, really, REALLY hard.

Most importantly, he smiles most of the time now. And he hasn't been in the rocking chair for over a week... he's been choosing the floor so he can explore the house. :D

As for the doctor issue, one of our possibilities moved. And her replacement doesn't sound very promising. Oh, and another isn't accepting new patients right now; we're on her waiting list. So, we're still looking. I may try signing up on one of those mom bulletin boards like Mom Cafe and see if I can't find a local one that fits our family. This is becoming more difficult than I thought.

But hopefully we'll find one and I'll be able to get the girls involved in Spirit Horse next year. That's one of my goals for the year.

About Stevie

I wrote this as a reply to a friend's blog post regarding their little girl. Blogger told me I had exceeded the comment limit. :) So, I'm posting it here, changing the name of the child to protect privacy.

I don't consider Stevie as "special needs" (and hopefully won't) but this kind of regression isn't good, especially now that I've realized the source.

From comment:

Wow. We're going through something similar with Stevie, though we're starting to get worried. (Warning... long comment ahead.)

Before I say anything more (and end up frightening you), I personally knew a child who didn't start walking or even standing until 18 mos. She did both in quick succession and never had a problem with walking from that point on. Her mother worried a little but not much once she realized her daughter was still within normal developmental limits and didn't show signs of any other delay.

Now, our current situation with Stevie.

He didn't really ever crawl. He also learned to scoot on his bottom and used that as his primary means of getting around. About the one year mark for him, it looked like he was having some trouble but he could stand and even walk around holding onto something. My favorite memories of that time are watching him walk along holding onto the handlebars of a four-wheeled "bike" we have. And he would climb on the couch and crawl on occasion, though he didn't really like it, and would walk a few steps if someone held his hands. He also cried a lot and was more sensitive than any of our other kids (excepting Rachel and Sarah).

Sometime around 18 months, he still wasn't walking by himself. He also wasn't climbing up on the couch as much. He didn't even try riding the "bike" anymore. I tried getting him to walk by holding my hands and he would refuse, demanding I pick him up and carry him around (talking isn't a problem for him).

This kind of worried me, but Rachel was also delayed in walking and she didn't stand up on her own until she was about 18 months, didn't start walking on her own until about 2, and boys take longer so I thought maybe Stevie was just taking his own time on this.

A month ago I realized Stevie wasn't standing up anymore. He wasn't even using props and when I watched him try once, it was clear he'd lost muscle tone in his legs and hips.

I've also discovered that he's been having trouble with digestion. He's always been prone to infections of all sorts (I was pregnant with him during the foreclosure... a time when I had my hands full making sure everything Rob and I had worked for didn't fall apart... didn't take care of even the basics that I usually remember during my other recent pregnancies). Lately, he's been having trouble with reflux, bad enough that up until about a month ago (when we started treating it), it would wake him up at night. I'm guessing that his trouble with digestion and his lack of muscle tone are related, because I'm learning it's not just his legs that are effected. The only reason I haven't noticed his loss of muscle tone in his arms and trunk is because he really loves examining things and has forced himself to keep using his arms and remain sitting so that he can keep exploring. If his body is having trouble assimilating his food, then it would make sense that he would start to regress.

Stevie also still has a tendency to be very sensitive about... anything. :) He cries a lot as well and demands to be picked up instead of getting places on his own. I now see that he didn't want to use his muscles because he didn't feel the strength to use them was there. In my research, I found that crawling on all fours is how babies exercise their leg muscles. So, scooting on his bottom is a way for Stevie to get around using less muscle.

I don't want to scare you. I'm just surprised at the similarities and will be watching to see Aurora's progress. Also, I will start posting about Stevie on There and Back Again. We've started doing some stuff at home based on what we learned with Rachel and what we've learned about digestion, minus the speech therapy since he really doesn't need it.

Like I said, I don't want to scare you. If you feel there's nothing wrong, go with it. My experience with Rachel, Sarah, and now Stevie has shown me that mother's intuition is more correct than I thought.

Now, for the post proper. In the past month, we've starting using slippery elm and marshmallow root gruel (it tastes a lot better than it sounds... all the kids love it except for Rachel but it's expensive enough that we strictly treat it as medicine and give it only when necessary). The slippery elm/marshmallow root gruel has taken away the near constant diaper rashes Stevie used to get. It has also taken away his night reflux and seems to be helping more with digestion in general. However, he still has a delicate stomach. Too much laughter will give him the hiccups and whenever he gets the hiccups he gets very distressed, like he's about to throw up. So, unfortunately for his brother, no rough play... for now.

As for tinctures, we've been giving him a number of Dr. Christopher products. We've been using the Complete Tissue Formula in conjunction with Kid-e-Calc (apple cider vinegar based so that also helps with digestion) and, most importantly, Kid-e-Mins. Kid-e-Mins is like a child's version of VitalHerbs, a nutritional supplement very similar to the Superfood Rob and I take. It's a faster way of getting him the nutrients he needs than juicing (though I do that whenever I can as well... carrot juice mostly... especially since we've had a little trouble recently acquiring the Kid-e-Mins) and therefore makes his supplementation a lot more reliable.

As for exercise, I've been refusing to pick him up and carry him where he wants to go. If he wants to sit with me on the couch, I encourage him to climb up and sit next to me. Also, if he wants to be picked up, I tell him he has to stand first. Also, time in the high chair and any other sitting device has been severely restricted. He is never in a swing, only stays in his high chair long enough to eat and I have also been avoiding car seats and strollers whenever possible. If it were possible (and it just might be at some future point) I would replace the stroller with a sling as the sling encourages muscle movement, especially regarding balance.

The result in a month? He's tried crawling for the first time in about 3-4 months. His balance has improved to the point where I don't need to firmly hold his chest when he stands, though he still holds my arms for balance. He even takes a few steps. :)

I'm reading a book called Pediatric Physical Therapy by Jan S. Tecklin to see if I can find anything else that will help.

I'll post again in a couple of weeks about his progress and any changes/additions I make to his program. So far it's very encouraging watching things come back "online". :)

Update: I've noticed Stevie gets weaker when I use whole wheat flour. It's probably because it's so difficult to digest. So, we're using sprouted wheat with him this week. We'll see how that does him. We may end up having to do a sprouted grain diet like we did with Rachel and Sarah. Not too thrilled about that from a convenience aspect but it'll make it easier for all of us to focus more on a whole grain diet.