Today is the five year mark.
Five years Seizure Free!!!
Yippie!!!
Atty continues to grow and thrive. He turned eight in February. He's wrapping up second grade and looking forward to the summer. We still follow the GAPS protocol, but have loosened up a bit. He now eats some rice and other non-gluten grains. We've added in potatoes, sweet potatoes, and all types of beans with no problems. He occasionally has a treat with sugar in it, but this is still very limited. We generally don't eat refined sugar as a family, sticking mainly to honey or maple syrup as sweeteners, but it's nice to have the freedom to ALL indulge in an occasional treat. For example we recently found a bubble gum at our local co-op that didn't have any soy or food coloring or other nasty things in it, but it was sweetened with sugar. We bought it, and have a wonderful time trying to blow bubbles, something my kids have never done before. I didn't regret it for a moment and plan on going back and buying more because there was no negative reaction from any of the kids and we had a blast chomping away on it. ;) He also recently tried a bread called Happy Camper, made out of different seeds, all non-gluten, soy and dairy free. So far he hasn't had a bad reaction, so fingers crossed! :)
Just this past weekend he figured out how to ride his bike! Last year we turned his bike into a balance bike by taking off the training wheels and pedals. He struggled with it and wasn't very happy about it but he finally started learning how to balance. This year we put the pedals back on but he wasn't very motivated to learn how to ride. Over the weekend I suggested going on a family bike ride (first one ever!) and off we went. It was bliss. There is this amazing paved trail that goes on for miles and miles and miles, and I can't wait to continue to explore it with the kids. Anyway we told Atty he could push himself along with his feet, or learn how to ride his bike. After some very slow going, where Ryder and I took turns supporting and encouraging him (and practicing a bit of tough love) he started to ride! At one point when he was getting really frustrated and had a lot of negative talk I told him he was a, "Can Do" kid and if he could overcome seizures he could do anything! I talked about how our words affect us and how he needed to tell himself he could, instead of he couldn't. Then I traded with Ryder and rode off with the other kids. A little bit later I heard Ryder singing to Atty. He was singing a sweet song about Atty being a bike rider now. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough there was Atty just riding along like nothing. It was the best! Big ol' smile on his face! The whole rest of the time he kept at it and made sure to keep him dialog positive, even when he was struggling. I was really proud of him! This type of coordination is really hard for him and he's come a long way to be able to do it. :)
To see him jumping and running and playing makes my heart so glad.
I'm proud of this whole bunch and all they have done, changed, or given up, to help keep Atty successful and supported and thriving.
What a team!!!
Here's to another amazing seizure free year!
