6.20.2005

Happy Fathers Day

What a great day Leelo had today, how wonderful that his wonderful day happened to be Fathers Day. He played catch with Seymour for half an hour this afternoon, with commentary! He had incredible language all day long, fantastic eye contact. Babysitter A and Seymour both remarked upon it. Our boy was lucid and fun to hang out with, more like the Leelo of late March. Although even during his worst gibbering defiant space oddity days of late he was still coming up with gems like "I missed you, come here!" or "I want to go sit on the couch and watch Sn0w White!" or "It's a circle, it's a square, it's a triangle--it's shapes!"

I just happened to have slipped him an amph0tericin (anti-fungal/yeast) this morning for the first time in months. Coincidence? It's also two days after his B12 shot, which tends to put him in a good space though usually not quite so dramatically. I stopped the cod liver oil after some really loopy behavior two days after starting it, but would really like to get it, the NuTh3ra multivitamins, and extra calcium back into his diet because I am worried about his crappy limited diet and malnutrition.

He was also relatively mellow today. What could have been absolute hell--waiting with him and Mali and Iz for forty minutes in the crowded parking lot of an even more crowded (and totally f***ing scrumptious) dim sum restaurant--was tolerable. He was well behaved, listened to my requests, and didn't even need bribes.

He is starting to sing and move along with songs rather than only singing independently. Everyone in the dim sum restaurant's parking lot clapped when he followed along with Iz, Elise, and Danielle's rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." I wish he would remember his shoulders, but was still impressed by him following along even though the girls were going rather quickly.

He is back into singing in general, in a big way. He has excellent pitch, even though he muddles the lyrics after the first five to eight words of each line (though pronouncing that many words per line is itself an improvement). Current favorites: Some Day My Prince Will Come, Baby Beluga (barf), Iz's Mali chant: Mali-a Ho-ho-NEE! Also the vocal trilling of the Snow White wishing well song, the "Let's name the zones" song from Finding Lame-O.

His enunciation in general is improving. He now says "Pee Wee" instead of "Kiwi." When asked what his baby sister was doing during tonight's dinner, he very clearly said, "Eating sweet potatoes." He still prefers "Leelo" to his real name, though he can pronounce his own name clearly when motivated.

We started him on two new social questions: How old are you? and What's your name? These join the How are you? he already knows, but had previously mixed up with the age question. He answered all three questions correctly, all day long. He is also starting to wave, flappily and sometimes with both hands and definitely only when prompted, but it's a start.

We have been having fun with funny faces. He likes to imitate ours (tongue sticking out, etc.) and sometimes even initiates.

We are realizing that he doesn't recognize people's faces--he relies on general appearances: hair, coloring, build. Therefore he is convinced that towheads (Sage's) Lex and (Ep's) Merlin are the same person, as are KV and Supervisor Andil.

Strangely, he's been exhibiting some more classic autism symptoms: occasional non-social hand flapping, occasional spinning. He is also starting to repeat lines from movies and books, which he never did before. He tends to do it in context, though, when the movie is playing or when the phrase is appropriate to the situation. His elbow grabbing and squeezing have been out of control (although not today).

He is holding his cups oddly, with the heels of his hands only and fingers bent but deliberately kept off the cup. I may ask Supervisor M about his as his hold has never been abnormal before.

He is very excited about the high chair's reappearance in our kitchen. He wants to reclaim it, and thinks Mali's use of it is unfair. I don't blame him, he only got bounced out of it six months ago. He is far too big for it, poor sad boy.

He still acts so much like a two year old. We really, really hope that he starts maturing and getting some common sense soon, because otherwise parties and outings and parks are going to start really sucking. He's not going to be excusably cute and little, indefinitely.

In fact, Seymour witnessed some shithead 8 or 9 year old boys making fun of Leelo's wackiness and vocalizations at the crayon park's fountains yesterday. Good thing I wasn't there. I haven't yet had a chance to be Avenging Mama, but I don't think it'll be pretty.

He is back into saying everything twice, e.g., "Yes Mommy yes Mommy," though again not so much today. In watching Dorka the Explorer (unfortunately a Leelo staple) a few days ago, I noticed that they often say things twice. Hmmm.

Seymour is so very done with DAN. TMG, for instance, had an instant negative effect on Leelo: early waking, awful diapers, insant regression, more autistic symptoms. The irony is that TMG is supposed to be part of the B12 treatment pathway. I think yeast is still an issue, that is may be a big part of the caul between his world and ours. Hence today's experimental amph0tericin.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is another good day.

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