He had a great birthday, with some major milestones-this was the first time he was ever excited about his birthday, he barely slept the night before. He opened his presents himself, with a little help. He's never been interested before. he blew out his own candles, also with a little help. He also said "happy birthday me!" which was just too cute.

for those of you who are wondering-he had eggless peacan brownies frosted with honey and cheese (tasted like cream cheesefrosting). I also made ice cream with yogurt, honey and bananas. since he rarely gets honey any more, Ben was thrilled.

We met the in-home speech therapist today, I liked her , and more importantly, Ben liked her. It was great to have her here where Ben is at his best. She was surprised at how friendly and engaging he is, and he of course showed off like crazy.  I hope it was the start of something beautiful!

I had the other two kids tested for "leaky gut" as this runs in families....and Nate has it as well. We are currently trying to figure out how to address this with two kids. In fact, all three are "sensitive" to wheat, eggs, milk, oats and yeast. So we'll be doing some major revamping of the diet around here. I told the kids to be grateful they're not allergic to sugar-they have a friend who is!

After a lengthy phone call with our SCD counselor, Patti, we have decided to shift our focus slightly to the Vitamin K protocol. It has to do with too much calcium building up and then releasing into the brain, causing irritability and hyperactivity. At least that is how I understand it at this time. A new research project for me. Please pray, I have been putting this off because as I "lurk " on the listserv I can see that it is very complicated. I'm not sure I have the energy to embark on something new. But neither can I continue with a seriously hyper active boy, so there you go.

Let us know what other questions you have-we forget sometimes not everyone knows this like we do. We'd love to hear from you!

Ben's developmental age is approximately 2 1/2. He is 4 on July 29th. He can now do many developmentally appropriate things and has made about 1 years worth of development in the last 4 months. His speech, language,social and some cognitive skills are still seriously delayed. Ben cannot tolerate any foods other than those listed on this site. Most kids can tolerate a great deal more after this amount of time on the diet. However, he gained 6 lbs in 4 months, his rashes disappeared, he began sleeping through the night, he began to potty train, he only poops 2 times per day now instead of 8, he makes better eye contact, he began talking, he can now follow simple directions and much more.

After reviewing Ben's test results, his Naturopath, also an MD and a Defeat Autism Now operative, stated, "This is the sickest child I have ever seen so young."