Progress?

Haven't written in a while.  Things have been pretty busy.  And as I suspected, spending time with friends and family is just the medicine I need.  I have been feeling much better and I truly believe that is in direct correlation to having spent time with friends and family.  It started with an overnight at my cousin's house.  Left the kids and Tim home alone which I was a little apprehensive about but all went well and I had a great time.

Then my mom came out for three days and we scrapbooked during the days with friends joining us twice as well.  Out of that came a standing once a week scrapbooking day which we already stuck with this week.  So good to have something to look forward to!

This past weekend, we went to visit my brother and family in New Hampshire and my cousin and her son came along as well.  My oldest daughter, Emma, watched all of the kids while the adults went out.  We had such a great time!  Tim kept commenting on how much he was enjoying himself while we were out.  He really seemed a lot like his old self.

I have said that this kind of time is what gets me through and I really do feel fortified now.  I just need to make sure it keeps happening!

I have been trying really hard to reserve judgement on whether the weaning process with the Keppra is making a difference.  I have vaguely felt that the leg pounding has decreased (though certainly not stopped!). Being a behavior analyst, I should have taken some data before so I would have something concrete to base it on.  But as usual for behavior analysts, I don't follow through when it comes to my own family!

I definitely have been seeing some changes however in personality, motivation, and multi-step task completion.  As I said earlier, that night we went out in New Hampshire he was "fitting in" more than he has in a while.  He also sat with us and didn't try to wander off.  He has definitely been more talkative and participates more in conversations.  And other friends have noticed it as well which is my true gauge as I'm with him every day so I don't always trust my opinions.

And then tonight....it's not going to sound like much but it was huge for me!  We went out to do the trash.  Typically I have to verbally walk him through every step of how to sort the recyclables and then go back and correct what he still hasn't gotten right.  He also will often try to put more than one barrel out for the trash even though we are only allowed to put one out so I will have to go out and take the bags out of the second barrel and pile them on top of the ones in the first barrel.  Well tonight, he collected trash throughout the house and carried the recyclables out with me. When we got outside, he put the trash into the one barrel and pulled it out to the street.  We started to sort the recyclables and I was prepared to remind him how but he just did it all on his own.  I even stopped helping and just watched amazed at what I was seeing!

Probably should have left it at that but when we came in, I asked him to help me empty the dishwasher and he jumped right in!  Like I said, small potatoes in most houses but it has been years since he was able to complete these tasks without a verbal walkthrough!

I'm no longer talking myself out of the changes I'm seeing.  They are there!  And he's only got this week left on the smaller dose of Keppra and then he's done with it.  Can't wait to see what else we might see!