CORN , OATS, RICE, WHEAT

Deqlan is fascinated by our pizza boxes - shame poor thing love to carry it around and say PIBA, for Pizza, but cant have a crumb! I have gluten free flour though, so maybe i should give pizza making a go?
Went i wanted to leave for Nanna yesterday morning, i couldnt see Deqlan so went looking for him - guess where i found him? In the bath, with his clothes on, taps on to...its was a lovely luke warm temperature, but we got to watch him now that he can open taps!!

keaton jumping on the trampoline ! We went to visit Rob, Theresa and Reece just before their new little arrival is due on Monday - they have the hugest garden with a trampoline and jungle gym and tons of space and lots of hills to run and roll down from - the boys had a ball!

Deqlan in action on the trampoline

Corn, Oats, Rice and Wheat!!!

One of Deqlans favorite things to do at the moment is to build towers - blocks, toys, cars, this one is off the teddies and other little toys in his room. Shame he got so upset if one of them rolled off..he took our hand to help him balance the toy to make his perfect tower of teddies!

Deqlan has such a great time playing soccer with the boys - his laughter was a delilght to hear and his face a treasured memory - we are so proud of you Deqlan Ross!

Throw the ball Dada!!!

Checking out Bretts Moves!

All is very well on our side of the world!

Deqlan continues to thrive and do so very well, learning new things every day.

New words Deqlan has said the past few days

CORN

OATS

RICE

WHEAT - from a cheerios box Deqlan fell in love with when we went shopping over the weekend. He immediately pointed at the words on the box, we told him what they said, and he immdiatley said COR, O, RYE, WHEE - FOR CORN , OATS , RICE AND WHEAT - he loves looking at the box and carrying it around, showing us the words and saying them so proudly!MOOO - the sound a cow makes, it used to be mmm but now its clear as day

BAAAHH- the sound a sheep makes, even with vibrations, to cute

ANK YOU - for thank you

Incy - for incy winsy spider

BANG - for the nursery ryhme 2 little bangers , one went bang!

TA - so beautiful said, when giving something to us

VOVO -for Volvo the car

VALPRE - a make of water here in South Africa, Deqlan loves throwing these bottles around

BOING BOING - like the sound of something bouncing! I showed him once with a ball with strings on on the weekend and made the sound of boing boing - which he immediately started saying to! This is a massive deal At our very first speech therapy sessions, the girls wanted us to attach sounds to everything, pushing a car, a helicopter, you name it , in the hope Deqlan would repeat them and Whola, he is doing it now!! We are so so proud of you my boy!

PIBI - pizza!

Nanna and I are going to a conference this Saturday on the bio medical treaments for Autism , by a great doctor, who is going to go into very detailed explanations of even the cells of the body...so we are looking very forward to it. The course runs for the next 7 months, 1 saturday a month - so we are hoping to learn lots and lots! We have been told that there is a lady with aspergers who had chemotherapy when she was younger, and she thinks the chemo triggered the aspergers - so i would LOVE to chat to her! There is also going to be a horse riding therapist there - i have heard so many wonderful things, so look forward to chatting to her to!

Deqlans tummy SEEMS to have finally come right , touch wood, after 2 weeks of diarreah- he is still eating and drinking and happy - so its not a tummy bug. We think its par for the course with all the intestinal issues Deqlan has, and kids on the autism spectrum, famously have issues with their tummies! We changed pro biotics to now inclulde a digestive enzyme and mucosal protector, pro and prebiotic - so maybe that did the trick?

Deqlan is as cute and adorable as ever, so loving and willing to give lots of hugs and kisses and smiles and jumps for us. He is however getting very frustrated when he cant voice something - for example - he will be wathcing a dvd, and it skips or jumps because it has a scratch - he will then pull me to sit down and tap me on the cheeck - because he cant say, fix it mama! Its his way of getting my attention to it. We say very sternly no smacking when these happen, and try to show Deqlan we understand why he is upset and we will try and fix it.

He is also loving to throw things at the moment, most things, just to watch what they do when they hit the ground - either bounce like a ball or splinter into a few pieces like the remote! This Liezl reckons is a form of stimming - self soothing or it could be a sensory issue - so - i have got tennis balls to try and tell Deqlan to throw when he feels the need instead of the tv remotes, which amazingly still work....??? Liezl has given us a few ideas which we are going to try out and let you know how they go!

Speaking of throwing and tantrums - the two were most certainly put together this week when we had to visit Woolworths to sort some FICA stuff out ( thats a whole nother long story, complaint letter and lots of tears and waisted hours of a story). We had to go to the accounts office in very furthest corner of the shop, and of course Deqlan didnt want to wait and stand in the line doing nothing, who would ...so he decided it would be fun to run as fast as he can to the front of the store, which is hundreds of meters away...one of us had to stay to keep our place in the que, after all it was the 8th time we were back to the store for the FICA regulations...so off Mark ran after Deqlan , about 6 or 7 times , and then it was eventually our turn to get to the front of the till. Then Mark had to stand at the till while i ran after Deqlan - i think i must have sprinted after him ten times , right to the front of the store - i ran so fast i had a stitch and just couldnt run anymore.But of course Deqlan doesnt understand how unfit Mama is so cried and screamed and then cried and screamed and hit and threw his car across the floor. of course we got glares and stares and of course the on lookers didnt understand and looked at us as if to say , give your child a hiding, he is being naughty ! If only they knew, that this was all a communication and not a behaviour - our boy just wanted to run.....Deqlan eventually calmed down after i happened to walk into a dvd shop on the way to the car, and the music just seemed to calm him....

I found such great finds at Dischem ( our local chemist0 the pastfew days - among them being marshmallows...ones that Deqlan can eat!!! Free from everything that is dangerous to him! and best of all, Deqlan loves them!! I also found some suckers , but Deqlans not to fond of those...we will try them again, and i found some gluten free musli, but Deqlan just spat everything out, i thought he wouldve enjoyed the crunchy pieces? Oh well we will give it another go in a few days!

We went to Lisa , Dale and Cole last weekend to welcome them into their new home ...and i was a little worried about how Deqlan would be, in a new environment, at night time, with quite a few people he doesnt know to well yet...well he surprised us all, he had a fantastic time. He made friends with Josh a little 6 year old, who Deqlan tried to hug and follow around. He also played soccer with the boys, and by the boys i mean, the dads and he had an absolute ball , watching the ball bounce up and down and running after it to catch it. Our friends were so impressed at the amazing progress has made since they last saw him. Coreen even said, ' were is Deqlan and who is this?' We were so so proud of Deqlan , we are every moment of every day, but to watch him enjoying himself and laughing and interacting with other people, is a joy that is priceless and treasured.

Tommorow is packing day for Busy Boxes! We wish you all the very best ALL HANDS ON DEC FRIENDS and hope its a fabulous day, i know its going to be another massive success, please send lots of photos - how little Dec continues to inspire so many people around the world....

I personally wanted to say thank you to my Mom, Meggie , Kathy & Vicky , Sophie and friends for the beautiful, colourful, creative, useful, awesome things you all contributed! I had to make two trips to Claire who know has a very full boot and back seat , thanks to all of you - Thank you so much, you have brought plenty of smiles to some amazing kids , who are going to be kept busy while they heal and have their treatment. I know if they could, they would thank you to!

A very special arrival was welcomed at OR Tambo airport last night! Mom and Dee met Aunty Elaine and Debbie as they landed from their flight from Canada after nearly 24 hours of travelling! Its wonderful to welcome you back "home " Debbie and Aunty Elaine, we cant wait to see you and cant wait for you to meet the boys! We hpe you have a stunning time here- i cant thank you enough Debbie for making your Dads dream come true of having you here to love and spoil !! He is smiling from ear to ear and we are so happy to have you both here!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, Nanna and I will be hitting the books tomorow, thank goodness Nanna will be able to explain all the medical stuff to me! praying we learn lots and continue to be able to put it into practise as we are watching Deqlan climb through the window , more and more each day!

God Bless and lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

'FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU', DECLARES THE LORD.'PLANS TO PROSPER YOU NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE'

JEREMIAH 29;11