I DRAW WITH A CRAYON!

Deqlan loves this photo - its of Mark and Me and Don and Sam ( our best friends in the UK), taken the morning after we got married. Deqlan is carrying it around, and here you can see he is using Dada's finger to point everyone out , then we tell him who he is looking at , and guess what, he can say Don!!! ( hope that made you guys smile Sam!)

We got my old work pc and loaded it with a whole lot of power point presentations we have created for Deqlan - cars, alphabet, numbers, colours and family - Deqlan loves looking through the slideshows and saying the names of the cars, colours and family members - i think this is also an excellent learning tool for our guy and we plan to make many more presentations on specific subjects. Deqlan is becoming a pro at using the mouse and arrows on the keyboard

Waiting for the computer to start up , and still admiring the photo of Sam and Don!

A lovely game Deqlan plays - he takes the photos, i created for our family Christmas tree, and lays them out across the floor. Deqlan loves counting them and pointing to each photo saying each family members name...but he isnt saying his name....last night we started to teach him to say MY NAME IS DEQLAN and he is trying very hard to say it, to precious!

Our gorgeous, blessing, Deqlan Ross

"1, 2, 3, Cheese" Deqlan says these words when i ask him to smile for the camera!

and again ' 1, 2, 3, CHEESE!"

How gorgeous are these two in their striped shirts, i was so glad i had my camera ready for these pics, very rare indeed, sitting together, sitting still, happy and smiling!

These pose, they actually both said 'CHEESE' and laughed!

ha ha ha, look at Keatons face!

Birthday boy Caden enjoying his sandpit

Keatie enjoying the jungle gym

Mr Malakai loved throwing the sand around

Me and my gorgeous Deqlan taking a breather from all the running around!

The birthday boy showing me his 'crocodile teeth'! You very cute Caden!

Deqlan admiring the aeorplane cake - there where little aeroplanes stuck down with icing on the tray, so cute, Deqlan did sneak a taste of the icing in, when he thought i wasnt looking!

Keaton and Deqlan!

Sorry been so quite, been a very busy week, havent managed to sit down and do this post all in one go!

Deqlans tummy is on the mend from the parasite , although his appetite is not the greatest. On Thursday last week, after we started the medication, he came to me and said ' EAT' he couldnt get the rice down quick enough! I was delighted! but over the past few days, Deqlans taste has only really been for 'CHIPPIES' Lays gluten free chips, popcorn or 'DONALDS' fries...Deqlan will cry and perform when we try and give normal meals that he normally enjoyes, somes times i do get him to eat it, others , not a chance!

Deqlan is on Diflucan now , because the flagyl he was on for the parasite had yeast in , which did cause his candida to flare...Deqlan started hitting himself in the face, scratching our arms, sometimes biting my arm, increased kicking of doors and cupboards to...after one dose of diflucan, that has decreased, thank goodness, its awful to watch Deqlan hit himself...and no matter how loud you shout and say no, he will continue doing it. You have to , in a firm voice, say NO - and just carry on doing that , hoping Deqlan will know its not the right thing to do. Because Deqlan cant voice if his head is feeling funny or if his frustrated, it will come out in these behaviours - but a change in behaviour in Deqlan almost always will signal bloody candida!!!!

What i am very happy about is that i found organic carrot juice at woolies, which i now mix just a little in to his pear juice...so its a different tast to just pear which is the only juice Deqlan can have, plus i am getting a vegie in to his diet, a good one!!!!

We were all so impressed with Deqlan when arriving at Cadens party, he ran to the cake and excitedely exclaimed 'CAKE, CAKE!' wow, how far we have come...he also treated Elriza to his display of the alphabet

Saturday night, we were treated to Deqlan singing a brand new song ' HELLO CODY, HELLO CODY, HELLO CODY...LA LA LA LA LA LA' When i asked Candice at Little Leaps if they were singing someting along these lines, she explained this was the greeting song for the boys in the morning, they sing each boys name and then end with 'ITS GOOD TO HAVE YOU HEAR' Apparently Deqlan sometimes sings louder then anybody else!! I wish i could be a fly on the wall to see this and so many other things the teachers tell us about....

Deqlan continues to learn SO MUCH from the love and learning dvds. The current one we are one starts with a polar bear - and thats how Deqlan tells us he wants that DVD ' PO-LAR BEAR'. This dvd has stepped it up a notch a little more difficult and longer words, a lot more sentences ,and Deqlan has learnt them all!

' I SEE A POLAR BEAR'

'A COW SAYS MOO'

'I DRAW WITH A CRAYON'

Along with many new words:

POLAR BEAR

ROCKET

BLAST OFF

SWEEP

PENCIL

TRICKS ( WHEN I SAY YOU GETTING UP TO TRICKS DEQLAN!)

LIPS

CALL DADA ( WHEN ITS BED TIME, I TELL DEQLAN TO CALL DADA)

YE - HA ( LIKE THE COWBOYS SAY, A DJ ON 5FM SAID YE HA , AND HE IMMEDIATLEY REPEATED IT. NOW WHEN HE COUNTS INSTEAD OF SAYING HOORAY OR WELL DONE, DEQLAN SAYS 'YE- HA'

WHO PA ( YOU KNOW LIKE THE GREEKS SAY! DEQLAN LOVES SAYING THIS AND WILL OFTEN FALL OVER LAUGHING SAYING IT)

Deqlan has become a pro with his shapes to, thanks to this dvd;

CIRCLE

SQUARE

TRI ANGLE

OVAL

RECTANGLE

A lot of kids on the spectrum to echololia - which is just repeating what you say without always understanding what the words or phrases mean....well...

Deqlan saw a crayon on the kitchen counter, called Dada and said 'I DRAW WITH A CRAYON' then took the crayon and drew on our tv and tiles! I didnt care about the tv or tiles - he was understanding what the object was, what it did - he wasnt just saying the words!!!!! He understood what it ment! wow, we are blessed beyond words to think where we were this time last year and were Deqlan is now, THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS!

We are hoping to get to a restaurant/ deli in Johannesburg this weekend called O Crumbs to see if we can find some new and exciting and safe things for Deqlan to eat, hold thumbs!

great news for Dee today, his PSA levels are down again! Thank You Lord for this great news!

My Grandad had to have a prostate biopsy on Tuesday as his PSA level ( prostate cancer marker) was 34, should be under 6 for an 80 year old man, so needless to say we are very worried about him. I continue to stand firm and ask God for the results to be clear of cancer, please will you pray so to, we get the results next week Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to Aunty Val for yesterday, hope you had a beautiful day with all your loved ones and only the very best for the year ahead!

Have a great day everyone , God Bless, thanks for all your prayers and love and support

Lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

SACRED HEART OF JESUS WE PLACE OUR TRUST IN THEE, ALL FOR THEE OH LORD, OH MY JESUS ALL FOR THEE