Buddy Boy Update

Buddy Boy had a difficult December. He was sick for the second half of November and the first three weeks of December. To make it worse his teeth were bothering him. He has been grinding his teeth a lot. He also started biting his lip, during December. I imagine it was to distract him from his pain of his teeth. He also was getting severe stomach aches. It has been hard to see him not being his happy self. He really is a happy boy though. I will have to get a video of him playing. Because of the difficult circumstances Buddy Boy didn't really enjoy his birthday. We took him to see a doctor, which came back negative. We also stopped giving him milk to help with his stomach aches. There is a theory with Autistic people that many of them have difficulties with dairy and wheat. Buddy Boy was drinking (when not sick) a gallon of milk a day. He would constantly ask for it, and he would wake up in the middle of the night asking for it. Then he would have a stomach ache until we gave him more milk. So we switched to soy milk. It seems to have made a difference. Some people totally get rid of all dairy, and wheat. We haven't got to that stage, but cutting out his milk cuts out 95% of his dairy, and he has not seemed to have the addiction to wheat. Mom has read a lot of books, written by doctors and others about Autism, and one compared milk to crack, and how it seems to have the same effect with some Autistic children. After observing Buddy Boy's behavior, it seemed to me like crack would be a good way to describe it. But don't worry. The rest of the family still gets milk. We tried making it a fun birthday without all the hoopla. We also went to temple square, which it was too cold for the kids to enjoy.
On a good news note, Buddy Boy has been handing me and Mom things (book, juice cup) and then asking for more by signing more, instead of just signing more and making us guess what he wants "more" of. We have been so excited about the increased communication skill. It has been wonderful to see him playing and happy again. ~Dad