Autism Night Before Christmas

Autism Night Before Christmas
by Cindy Waeltermann

Twas the Night Before Christmas
And all through the house
The creatures were stirring
Yes, even the mouse

We tried melatonin
And gave a hot bath
But the holiday jitters
They always distract

The children were finally
All nestled in bed
When nightmares of terror
Ran through my OWN head
Did I get the right gift
The right color
And style
Would there be a tantrum
Or even, maybe, a smile?

Our relatives come
But they don't understand
The pleasure he gets
Just from flapping his hands.

"He needs discipline," they say"
Just a well-needed smack,
You must learn to parent..."
And on goes the attack
We smile and nod
Because we know deep inside
The argument is moot
Let them all take a side

We know what it's like
To live with the spectrum
The struggles and triumphs
Achievements, regressions...

But what they don't know
And what they don't see
Is the joy that we feel
Over simplicity
He said "hello"
He ate something green!
He told his first lie!
He did not cause a scene!

He peed on the potty
Who cares if he's ten,
He stopped saying the same thing
Again and again!

Others don't realize
Just how we can cope
How we bravely hang on
At the end of our rope

But what they don't see
Is the joy we can't hide
When our children with autism
Make the tiniest stride
We may look at others
Without the problems we face

With jealousy, hatred
Or even distaste,
But what they don't know
Nor sometimes do we
Is that children with autism

Bring simplicity.We don't get excited
Over expensive things
We jump for joy
With the progress work brings
Children with autism
Try hard every day
That they make us proud

More than words can say.
They work even harder
Than you or I
To achieve something small

To reach a star in the sky
So to those who don't get it
Or can't get a clue
Take a walk in my shoes
And I'll assure you
That even 10 minutes
Into the walk
You'll look at me
With respect, even shock.
You will realize
What it is I go through
And the next time you judge
I can assure you
That you won't say a thing

You'll be quiet and learn,
Like the years that I did
When the tables were turned.......

Back to square one

On my way back to Germany i had plenty of time to read this new book i got "Hope for the autism spectrum" by Sally Kirk. Its about their journey on the spectrum, biomedical interventions and diets. So i read about all the stuff i already know but also find a lot of new things and helpful guidance with probiodics.

After finishing the book i couldn't help but wonder if we are on the right path. We stopped SCD a couple months ago and went back to "only" GF/CF. In the beginning all was good, Nicky was happy to got his cereals and rice milk back. But a couple weeks ago the problems started again. Constipation, twice in a week and on top of it: Eczema on arms and legs. Big ones. So seeing all this going on and still facing the yeast issue, we obviously don't can get rid of it, i think we are better on with SCD. On top of that i want to try the rotation diet and acid-alkaline diet. The rotation diet regulates how often a food is eaten. The low acid-alkaline diet avoids food that are high in acids, like oranges, tomatoes etc. I know it all sound like this poor kid will not get anything to eat, but we did the GF/CF/SCD and all was good. He was happy and he didn't had any poop problem. I don't wanna use enema any longer, he hates it, and who doesn't.

I also have to switch with probiodics. We give him SBoullardii now twice a day for the last 3 months after doing a round of Nystatin. He does good on it, but i know i have to rotate probiodics. Today i started with SCDophollus and want to build it up. Let's see how that goes.

I also want to contact a local homeopathic practicioner, who also has a son with autism. I want to go the natural way as much as possible with Nicky.

It's good to be back!

Welcome to wonderland

So we decided mom needs a little break and can open her Christmas present even before Christmas eve: A flight to the US to visit our friends and do a little Christmas shopping. And so i arrived with little flipper in tow on Wednesday. Writing this at 4 o'clock in the morning means that we are still suffering jet-lag. But life could be worse. Yesterday i spend with my best friend Jen doing shopping at Target, Homegoods and TJ Maxx. Having a lunch at Panera bread and walking through the isles of Shaws supermarket felt like wonderland for me. Oh how i miss them all and this country. Its so much fun, but dangerous, with all the deals in the stores and the Christmas decorations all over the houses. A few impressions, maybe not everybody understands:

• "Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane..." is one of my favourite Christmas songs, i even had it on my cell last year as a ring tone :O) .
• Spiced apple cider, yummy, no more to say..
• Little candle lights in every window, just beautiful
• Rockefeller Plaza and its huge christmastree, what a show, 30.000 lights
• Salvation army man standing in front of the grocery store with its bell asking for money for the hungry and poor, our Philip just has to put something in, i love that kids learn here early that giving is sometimes better then getting
• Reindeer nose and antlers on cars, just a classic :o)

I could go on and on, its beautiful. I am so happy to be here, it refills my batteries after an exhausting year. I am glad Wolfgang and Nicky are doing fine in Germany, only that can make me relax, knowing my family is o.k. I know for sure that our Flipper is SO o.k. right now, having an all day play date with his friends Kate and Livie here.

Well, i gotta go, i am seeing so many friends today i miss so dearly. It's going to be an exciting day. Happy Saint Nikolaus day!

A happy day - for mom

Happy days are rare for us right now. Everything seems to be so hard and i often feel somebody is putting some big rocks always in our path. I feel not treated right, unfair. Things with school are hard. The fact that services here in Germany just suck (excuse me!). You have to have a prescription for every therapist and have to fight with Health insurance and doctors who is going to cover. On top you need of course stuff for your kid (like diapers, a special car seat and communication devices in our case), you want some funding to get some income relieve, because one of us will always be a care giver or you have to hire somebody for that. So life was hard on us, since we moved in, and very often you feel you can not go forward any longer. And then comes a day like today: I found out that we get

• this special car seat for Nicky, so he is finally safe
• the communication devices we waited for for so long

We also found somebody who is making its masters in special ed. and especially in TEACCH. Nicky will be her child she will study in this. That gives US the opportunity, to learn more about TEACCH, which is the learning method in Nicky's school.

She also will probably watch Nicky for a week, while i am gone with Philip to see all our friends back in the US.

And i started the day on a beautiful horse, riding through this peaceful landscape and feeling just free. The biggest luck of the world you find on the back of a horse a german saying is. It's so true, this is my therapy, who needs a shrink when the horse is the better therapist for you.

Happy "special-mothers-day" to me !

November 9th - what a date in german history

While i was watching the news yesterday it hit me that two mayor milestones in German history happened on the same day. The "Reichskristallnacht" or the Night of Broken Glass happened November 9Th-10Th in the year 1938. At that night over 200 synagogues burned and Jewish businesses and homes where destroyed. In this single night 30.000 Jews where arrested and deported to concentration camps. From this night on Jewish people had to wear the star on there clothes. This was by far the darkest night in Germany's long history. And even its been 70 years since then, people in this country know the details and they live on with that thoughts and just know how horrible this part of German history is.

On the exact day just 19 years ago, Germany had the happy day where the wall in Berlin fell. People danced on the wall, they hugged each other after being separated since 1961. When the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

A little help from Mr. Flipper

Enjoy!

Just autism

This is a very sad post, but i feel to share it with you. I went to a parents-meeting from Nicky's classroom yesterday evening. It was a nice evening talking to this parents and learning about their kids and the problems they face everyday. I found out, there are two kids in the classroom with a disorder called Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCL).
Late Infantile NCL begins between ages 2 and 4. The typical early signs are loss of muscle coordination and seizures along with progressive mental deterioration, though afflicted children may show mild-severe delays in speech development well before other symptoms appear. This form progresses rapidly and ends in death between ages 8 and 12....
On my way home i just thought, what they must go trough every day, just seeing the child slip away more and more.
You ask yourself why? ...and then you go home, hug your (just) autistic boy in his sweet dreams and cry.....

Turning things around

The last weeks we made some changes around Nickys diet. It took me a long time to finally go for it. The first thing we did is changing back to "only" GF/CF and leaving SCD behind us. the last results on Nickys tests came back with very high levels of Yeast in his gut. After all this work over the last 10 months we couldn't get rid of the yucky yeast. And after the decisions for me to go back to work we needed a plan where everyone can cook for the kids. With SCD its a little tricky.
The other thing was a medication called Nystatin. Its good for all kinds of yeast infections through your whole body, from mouth to the "rear end" :O).
The first days on Nystatin where tough, lots of die-off-reaction, with tantrums and sleepless nights. It was tough on us, exhausting and you feel you have to give up on all the intervention you do with him. But then comes the light on the end of the tunnel and you see your child crawl through it. It happened last weekend, we went to see Wolfgangs family. Nicky was in good spirits, he walked miles through the autumn-forest, without being pushed or pulled. He smiled at Onkel Walter and he sniffed on everybody (his new thing for saying "I like you!).

We also started with auto-immunizations. Its a serum, a lab makes out of nickys yeast-overgrow. He takes it and his own body builds up antibodys. He also has reactions on that, but seems to be in a better mood already.
There are plenty things you have to try if you go on the biomedical train. some work on your child, some don't. I am sure we will find the right path soon.
We will start with Tomatis Therapy next year and antiviral-therapy. There is a believe that kids on the spectrum are born with viral infections or they got it early in life. I believe Nicky is one of them, just thinking of the Hip-infections he already had in his life (4). Anybody here with a typical child who had that???? Get the idea?
Well, i keep you posted, stick with us and your good spirits will always support us.
Lots of love
k.

Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Quote of the day

"Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the drigger!"

Out of Jenny McCarthys new book "Mother-Warriors" on the cause of autism

Just saying HI and we are still alive ;)

Hi everybody! We are still alive. Life just cought up with us and we trying to catch a breath here and there. A lot has happend in the last three weeks and i want to put it together here. First of all a few pictures from Mr. "Noodle" Nicky beeing the partyboy of the day while his school celebratet its 40th birthday. Nicky had so much fun dancing with his much bigger friend Lars.

On a different note: I applied for a fulltime-job at a big hightech company, just 20 minutes from here. And i got the job, i am so excited! Its in their export departement, where i am responsible for China, Middle East and India. I fitted the profile exactly, especially my english was in my favour :o). If you want to check them out: http://www.rittal.com/.

I am starting november 1st and till then i have to do tons of work to get this family ready for this step. We are in the search of a nanny right now, but probably have to cover for a few weeks with babysitter and family. Keep your fingers crossed that we find soon somebody who fits to our family. If you know somebody, let me know.

We are going on vacation next saturday. We will go to the Northsea and the Frisian Islands, just five hours north from here. Its going to be cold and unfriendly, but we will be there in our winter gear and enjoying the fresh air. We will make long bike rides, going on a carriage ride along the shore, where usally is water, they call it the "watt". We also plan to visit one of the islands and some more things. We will stay at an old Windmill with vacation homes.

We are all looking forward to this break after a hektik year. I will post pictures when we'll be back.

Love - The Gebhardts

Eating Fish

Living on the US-eastcoast brings lots of positve aspects with it. One is that fresh fish is always available. And the prices are mostly fair. Moving to the very middle of germany means "No fresh fish at all" . You can buy frozen salmon and other fishes that swim in the northern sea from germany. If you go to a bigger grocery storey you usally also get it fresh. But not this variety. You just buy what you get. Pretty sad you say. That was my first and second thought too. Till i looked on the packages of frozen fish where it comes from. So i read Vietnam, which is about 3 billion miles away. And guess what - its the cheapest fish you can get here. That always stunnes me, that goods that travel so far are the less expensive ones.
So beeing me ,and following my resolution to only buy regional, i am not buying that fish. I will buy some fresh trout or other fish that comes from hatcheries in the area.
And looking at that link here http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694 we learn more and more that all our fish is toxic, full with mercury.
So, yes i miss the fish-variety, but i just lost my appetite in fresh fish.

Mealtime prayers

There is a saying in germany which translates like that: We came to ......, like the virgin marry to her baby. And that's what i think every time we sit down to eat when Philip is forcing us to a mealtime prayer.

"We came to mealtime prayers like the virgin marry to her baby"..... Totally unexpected! We usally have to hold hands and ey!: There is no giggeling and god forbit that you say the wrong words. We are very proud that he just picked it up from kindergarten like nothing. Enjoy it.

With love from the Gebhardts

The weekend in K-town

Last weekend we went to Erikas house to celebrate her birthday. She turned 77 and we organized a sitter to go out for a nice dinner at an italian restaurant in her town. We had a great evening with too much wine and prosecco. The food was good and everybody ate too much.
The next day turned out beautyful and Wolfgang and me decided to go to the "Landesgartenschau" , the gardening show in Kaiserslautern. Kaiserslautern is also named K-Town from the americans, because the Airbase Ramstein is close by.
The Gartenschau is a beautyful place from spring till autumn. Thousand of flowers everywhere. They have special exibitions, for example about water or fishes. Philip always has to see the fishes, its a dark house so you can see the fishtanks better.
There is a big playground area, where you can spend hours. It's the usall stuff like swings and slides. But the slides are build on big wooden treehouses, which makes it little scarry. Philip never got on them so far, but he tried it this time and was very proud that he made it. The swings are huge, they look like big coccoons,

There is also a water-playing-area, where kids can pump water up and follow it down on the rocks till it ends in a little river, called the "Lauter" . There are waterfalls and a little pond and Philip was busy following this little river down to the lake. Of course IN the water.
The reason i like this waterplace so much is that at least half of the visitors and their children are americans. You see kids in Lands End clothes and daddys in John Deere caps. I feel very much home there and Philip is always excited to find kids who understand him :o)

Nicky enjoyed the afternoon sitting next to the waterfal and watching the flow of the water.

I guess for next year we will buy a year-round-ticket, because this is already the third time we went this year. I hope some of you will be able to enjoy it when you visit.

Have a great sunday .... and Go Pats!! :O)

A batch of joghurt

Well, for most of us, joghurt is just another form of snack. And usally its also very healty for our tummy-area. In the last years you see commercials about joghurt that has some "good" bacteria, so your intestians do a better job for your overall health. All true, but you don't have to buy that "special" joghurt, that is double as expensive as normal ones. Just buy FAGE brand, its yummy and has all the good bacteria you need.

The reason i am writing this is that in the SCD diet homemade joghurt is the best resource for healty intestinals. And because Nickys intestinals where severe damaged from whatever it was (antibiodics, milk, gluten, suger and other food he was not tolerating) we waited for this day today for about half a year. Nicky is milkfree for over 19 months, so he hasn't eaten any products that come from a cow, sheep or goat.

So, i made my first batch of homemade joghurt. I found my old joghurtmaker in my mother-in-laws house and tried it. It was not hard to make. Just cooking some organic(BIO)milk, putting in some good joghurt (FAGE) and then it had to ferment for 24 hours in the machine. It has to ferment this long to get rid of all the milkstuff that could hurt Nicky's tummy again.

anyway, the result is YUMMY.

So i gave Nicky one teaspoon this afternoon. And now we wait, for a reaction, a good one (hopefully) or a horrific one.

Keep your fingers crossed that he sleeps well tonight and just tolerates the Joghurt .

The picture also shows my first batch of homemade applesauce. I got the apples last week from a friend; all organic apples, Philip picked them all :)

Autism and Potty training

When it comes to autism, there are many things that just don't come easy. One of them is toilett training. I read many books and talked to many people about it. But for us there was never a good timing. Because toilett training means you have to life after the clock. Every hour or so you gotta run with your child to the bathroom.

My favourite ABA-Verbal Behavior author is Robert Schramm. In his book he has a whole section about Potty Training. He writes about skippig the diaper at all. From first day on, and night. That did sound impossible for me a year ago. But Nicky is dry every morning now, so we decided we could give it a shot.

So for the last 4 days we are without diaper, means Nicky, but we are with him: In the bathroom every hour. The timer is always ticking. And you have to leave everything what you are doing right now to go with him.

So far we are doing good. And YES we have accidents. Yesterday was a not so good day. But i am not giving up now. I see that he enjoyes beeing without diaper.

Nights are still accident free, that makes me most happy.

Well keep your fingers crossed. The funny thing is, that now that we are in germany, we would get diapers paid for from health insurance, lol.

Nickys first day of school

What a special day for us! Nicky's first day of school. It was very sweet and we all got dressed up for this special event. The new school, the Friedrich-Froebel-Schule in Wetzlar (http://froebel-schule-wetzlar.de/) made a special welcome party for the new six students in first grade. After a warm welcome and music, the kids had a chance to see their new classroom, where muffins and a cute decorated table waited for them. The parents had to leave... We had some coffee and wondered how the kids are doing in there. Some shy connections between parents. Everbody was nervoes, even me. But our little, big Nic did great. He just sat down on this table and waited till somebody will start the party :O) . He was so cool and a pro. I think he is glad to be back in this routine.

After exchanging some words with the teachers and caregivers the first day in the new school was over. We celebrated this beautyful day with a trip to our lake here in Niederweidbach. The kids (Nicky, Philip and my niece Laura) had a blast. The lake even has a sandy beach. It's not Horseneck beach, but close, lol.

All about energy and environment in germany

We went to my husbands familys home last weekend. It's a two hour drive. We had wolfgangs mother with us, who stayed a few days at our house. So i had the chance to sit in the back with the boys and just look out the window and enjoy my old home country.
While we where driving i had the idea for that article today: All about henergy and environment in germany. And i have to say i did'nt realize in what specific way the germans are taking care of that matter. I knew that they HAVE to sort out all recycable material for many years back. I knew that the cars are very gas-efficient, because, the most of them are very small (i guess an american would freak out driving with this high speeds in a little car). I know you don't get a plastic bag on the check out for free (1 Euro!).
But there is so much more going on i didn't know of. Did you know that germany is the country with the most windmills in the WORLD? This little country...i was stunned to learn that fact. You see them everywhere, on every hill; and it's o.k.; they belong to our countryside, they are not disturbing at all. At the G8 summit in Hokkaido back this July the leaders of the world asked for more nuclear power. Germany made a contract 10 years ago to END all nuclear power programs within a certain amount of time (i don't know the year know) and get energy out of other resources. I like that a lot, i hope it can stay that way.
Well back to germany today. There is the fact, that every house in germany has an energy pass. It tells the owner how much energy his house needs. You can get an energy consultant, who advises you how to safe more money. Cool huh?
CARS: Gasprices in the US are high, but back here the gallon is (are you sitting?) $9. Most of the cars are very efficient now, mine for example goes 38 miles with a gallon of gas. You can image that heating oil is pretty much the same in price like the stuff you get on the gas station.
Since this year, cars have to have a special sticker on their windschield. It comes in different colors (red, yellow, green) and depending on the level of the exhaust emission you are allowed (or not) within citys, schoolareas and so on. So most of the big trucks for example are not getting within citys any longer, except they have special papers for delivery and pick up.
I found that very interesting. There is a city very close to our town that wants to make it a rule that every house has to have solar panels on its roof. Well, i think that's a little harsh to dictate people what they should put on there roofs, but i guess they also offer good funding for that project.

As a result of this policy germany has kept it's clean drinking water in most areas. The soil is free of chemicals and stuff that would end up in our food.

We had our scandals too, trust me and they are still happening. We have our industry here, close to homes. But the regulations for that kind of business are hard .

This is a very clean country and hey....just come and check it out :)

Now, i gotta go, sit on the patio with a glass of GAVI and enjoy the quiet time without pollution (and kids, lol)

Good Night!

Love

ME

Artwork

Well the weather is not our friend since we moved in here. Rain and cold and no end in sight. Philip keeps busy with drawing everything that comes into his mind. He loves the ROBOTS movie, so he started with drawing robots. He surprises us with drawings of music notes and also with him writing words without our guidance. Here are some excamples he drawed (and wrote) all by himself while we where still in bed sunday morning.

Oh where, oh where...

Moving here from the US has many positive aspects. I think i named them all while we celebrated our farewell. But all good things have negative aspects too. Unfortunally. Going through the grocery store is cute here, you are through in 15 minutes and you saw all isles in the store :)
I find myself searching for many things, but especially for BEEF! Yes, this red meat is very rare here and i ask myself why? Is it that the americans own the burgers? Is it that the best cows live just around G.W.B.'s ranch's corner? Is it true that germans are pork-eaters and can not handle a good, bloody steak (hmmm, just stop thinking about it and the craving will pass....).
It's not that you can not find beef here, its just very expensive, not affordable is better described! NO WAY to have beef 2-3 times a week. NO WAY!
I bought some beef the other day for stew (It was already precut, i guess germans would not really know how to handle a steak!). And while i was washing the meat i almost lost myself in thoughts about this great steaks, burgers we have enjoyed the last 8 years. Without appreciation that was.
So, you americans: Next time you rush down your preformed burger patty (what a heavenly invention is that anyway) or your medium-rare steak (let's just dont think about this Sirloin strips that sceam eat me when you remove them from the grill) , yes, next time you have this bite of soft meat and the smoky juices in your mouth, think about us. Us, eating pork, previosly frozen fish and the chicken.
And if you still plan to visit us, prepare yourself: This is the land where we eat different. Not bad different, but beef-less!

MAHLZEIT (ENJOY YOUR MEAL/T )

Getting settled

The last week went by so fast. Philip started with Kindergarten, which goes every day from 7.30-12.30. Next week he will go three days till 2.30 and two till 4.30. He will eat his lunch there and will have a little resttime. I will report how he is dealing with the longer days. Even he loves his new Kindergarten, he of course has trouble to communicate with his new friends. But kids can talk,even without the same language. Philip already brought home a few new phrases and words, like "Los gehts". That means "Let's go". With that phrase he is rushing me out of the house in the morning :)
Nicky still enjoys his lazy mornings. He sleeps till about eight, then a little TV, then his breakfast and then we do something fun.
Nicky lost his two front bottom teeth last week. Both where never found, you can guess where they endet up :( He looks funny now. It made me sad, he is growing up.....

Yesterday and today we made walks in the nearby forest and fields . Its so beautyful; i was stunned. It felled like vacation in tuscany. The air is filled with sounds from the birds and is full with smells from flowers.
There is a path going from our town to the next one, about 2 miles away. The path is named ''Hochzeitsweg" which means ''Wedding-path". It goes through forest and fields. The fields are not belaboured, so many butterflys, bees and birds feel home here.
Philip found a watchingtower, but look for yourself.....

Dance with the Backyardigans - Moves by DJ Nick

While is was preparing dinner today, Nicky found the treasure chest of toys that is always hiding in some of my kitchen drawers. As a mom of an autistic son you sometimes have to hide very noisy toys. Its then more a surprise when your child finds them and has fun with dancing. This is new with Nicky. He dances, he shakes his bum and he sometimes even lifts his arms. Hey, does he have that moves from his father? Enjoy!

A new friend for Philip

Since we moved in on the 4th we've been busy getting everything back on its place. We had 482 pieces. Most of it are boxes, but also furniture or stuff like bikes.
Our house is on three levels, lots of stairs, very good excercise :) Its an up and down of boxes and stuff to finally find the right place for everything. And since we moved in without any closets, all our clothes are in baskets right now. What a mess. But we are starting to love our new house, we find ourselfes in the old routines in the morning, like snugglebuggeling in our bed with the boys :)
Jerry the cat finally found her home now too. After almost two days outside not beeing seen she showed up yesterday evening beeing hungry.
But the best treasure happened to Mr. Flippy. He found a friend. The neighbours son, Timon showed up yesterday with his sister and their bunny and cat in tow. Both are blond like swedish kids.
I paid our neighbors a visit and found myself talking ENGLISH to a canadian-german very sweet couple. Both are music teachers and life the very organic way. Their house is build completly out of wood and has many features i loved in an instant. They have a vegetable garden and a big pond with a waterfall.
Well needless to say, we didn't see a lot about Philip for the rest of the day. He followed Timon, who is eight wherever he went.
Wolfgang and me asked ourself why we out of the sutten let Philip go without going with him. But it is this little village we life in now. Its sleepy, quiet. Everybody knows everybody and everybody watches over the kids.
It was funny, while i was talking to our english talking neighbors, all other neighbors just came out and said hello. Everybody told me where i will get what for shopping, how things work. When school is starting. It was very funny. I felt includet :) It made me really happy.
I found out a few nice things here: The bakery comes almost everyday and stops with a delivery car right in front of the house. There is a lady who deliveres eggs once a week, and the chicken are happily scratching outside the barn :) She also sells turkeys on christmas.
Wolfgang got the TV fixed yesterday, that gives us a little brake in the evening. It stayes bright till about 9 o'clock, so the kids stay up later.
We also have a playground just around the corner, Nicky already knows the way there. It has some climbing bars and Nicky is always on top of it. He already wanted to hang upside down on one of them. We where very impressed.
Tomorrow Philip and me will check out the Kindergarten right across the strees. He is very excited.
Love you all and have a great sunday!

Welcome to germany

Wow, it has been a month since my last posting. A lot has happened in the last four weeks.
On June 25th we had the closing at 11 Kingsley Circle and it was time to say good bye. It was hard, but the excitement was stronger. We got on the plane to germany with eight pieces of luggage, four of handluggage and Jerry the cat with us. Thank haven for a big minivan ;) We had a flight with Iceland Air over Reicjavic, which is four hours from Boston and then another three to Frankfurt. When we arrived in Reicjavic it was midnight there, but with midsummer there it was still bright and sunny.
We arrived in Frankfurt the next morning and stayed at my mother-in-laws for a week.
We learned that the container with our stuff will not arrive before friday, so we decided to move in today (Thursday).
Philip was excited to finally see the new house. When we arrived we had to go through all three floors to check everything out. He counted bathrooms and he had to see his and Nickys rooms "under the roof" .
Nicky had a harder time to adjust. Well its a very empty house, nor furniture, so the echo is very loud.
Tomorrow morning the container comes. Long waited for and many hundret thoughts how to make things, here is the day. Moving-in-day!
Wolfgangs sister comes to help and hopefully we will manage to get the house kind of organiced by tomorrow evening.
Well, i gotta end here, our take out pizza is ready to eat. I will post soon.
Love to all and i miss you guys!

Wash in Cold Water

June 5Th was World Environment Day and here is a great tip from a new website i just found: Its planetgreen.com and they just have the best stuff you can do around the house, garden, beauty, food and so on to safe on energy and safe the planet.
Here is my tip for you next trip to the washing machine: Turn the heat down to cold-cold. Switching to cold water can save you upwards of $100 a year in reduced energy costs! In situations where hot water is necessary, for example, to kill dust mites in bedding or to clean heavily soiled items, use cold water in the rinse cycle.

Lance squeeze over - here comes Philip

Jeah, you better be careful Lance, here comes the "Tour the france" winner 2020! Philip is riding his Bike without trainingwheels. We just took them off this saturday and off he went. No holding on to Mama, no fear. He just went off, we are very proud, but it makes you also sad. He grows up :(

Homemade Bug Remedies

If it comes to gardening you can face the evil and the mean bug in every shape and color. And within a blink, your flowers and shrubs are only half their size and the beauty for this flowering season is gone.

I always got very angry as soon as i saw bugs sucking on my beautiful roses and i killed them in an instant with very aggressive bug killer. Yeah, get this, bug!

Not so this year and never again. Just imagine the stuff you breath in while you are happily spraying. Ever wondered why people get more and more allergies? There lies the answer.

Well anyway, yesterday, while i was strolling through my lovely garden, here they where: Green mean bug on my huge rose bush, red ones on my black eyes Susan's, white ones on my annuals. I got angry...and decided, that poison is not the answer for us any longer. I went in my kitchen and after an hour of cooking garlic i started spraying . Get that, stinky bug!

The recipe is easy, just chop a dozen garlic gloves, cook them, strain and pour in a sprayer.

Another one (and very effective): Put a cup of chili peppers such as jalapenos in a blender or food processor Add four cups of water, and puree the mixture. Then strain the stuff and pour it into a sprayer. You've got a non selective spray, so use it to target only the harmful insects. Be extremely careful to not get this spray in your eyes or even on your skin.

Another thing you could do is hand picking, like with Japanese Beetles. For the last 7 years we have the same fight. They can chop your garden down in no time. There are traps available and in some gardens, if the wind is right, they might work. Didn't do it for us, unfortunately. Because i am going through my garden every day, i know every leave that grew that day, i just pick them by hand. Just put on some rubber gloves and have fun attacking them :) . It works for us very good, our Hibiscus are still in full Bloom by the end of the summer!

Happy bug hunt!

Tested Seventh Generation products

I changed a lot in my household. If it comes to cleaning, i only use baking soda and vinegar. There are still things i have to change, like the detergent for the dish washer. So i tried the Seventh generation brand i found now at Shaws markets. I bought it, used only half what i use usually and i have to say, my dishes are clean. I find now peace that my dishes are not cleaned with toxic detergent.
Here is there website with coupons:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/coupons

Another thing i found is trash bags that are made out of 70% recycled plastic. The brand is Earth Sense . Yes they are not the cheap brand, but for me its worth it.
There are many "earth friendly" products in the cleaning isle. But don't be fooled by brands like Lysol. They want to "hop on the organic wagon" . Go with products that used recycled content or with the USDA organic label.
Happy green shopping!

The german version of a rhubarb cake

Well, it is rhubarb season and my cake is always a hit, its easy to make and super yummy. I even made it for Nicky with almond flour and honey and he is addicted to it now :o)

2/3 cup soft butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (Shaw's has it, if not just use a few drops vanilla extract)
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
rhubarb
lemon juice about 1 tsp.

Mix butter and about 1/2 cup from the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Add three egg yolks one after the other, then add the 3 eggs. Keep the egg whites, you need them for the topping later. Mix flour and Baking powder first and add it slowly to the butter mix. Oil a spring form and preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Wash and cut the rhubarb in inch long pieces.
Now put the dough first in the spring form and add then the rhubarb. The original recipe says just cover the dough, my husband loves to have the double from the rhubarb, the cake gets a little more soaked. However you like it.


Bake for 35 minutes. In the meantime take the 3 egg whites and beat them till they are completely stiff. Add the rest of the sugar and the lemon juice. Avoid kids around you at this moment or they eat that part of the cake completely :)
After the 35 minutes pour the egg whites over the cake and bake another 30 minutes or until the topping is brown.

Tastes better when cooled down and out of the fridge.
Enjoy!

Going organic in your garden

Gardening season has just begun - here are some hints and tips you easily can follow even without being a big gardening person:

• Fertilizer - do you really have to? That's the question i am asking my husband - and the answer is no - you don't. Just the thought that my kids are running right after fertilizing barefoot in the grass and rolling in it makes me sick. You also bring it in the house and lets face it - its poison for you, your kids, for your allergic nose.
• Sprinkler - most of the time it is not necessary to sprinkle the lawn. most of them are over watered anyway. Safe some money and water!
• Plant some shady trees and shrubs around the house - safes big on A/C.
• Use the cut from the lawn (but only if you didn't fertilize ;o) )under mulch or in your vegetable garden. I did this last year in my vegetable bed and the weeds are so much more under control. And it brings in some very good worms, which are so important for healthy soil.
• Plant bee friendly flowers: With the bees dying mysteriously we want to make there life easy and keep that honey coming, here are some flowers, that are easy to take care of: Alyssum, Ornamental Strawberry, Marigold, Zinnia, Bottlebrush, Eucalyptus Ficifolia "Red Flowering Eucalyptus", Native Eucalyptus, Wild Mustard, Flowering Plum, Flowering Pear, Sage Brush, Toyon, Escallonia, Mexican Sage or Salvia leucantha, Cotoneaster, Orange tree, Lime Tree, Lantana, Ceanothus, Hibiscus, Albizia Julibrissin "Silk Tree", to name just a few.
• Start a compost and you will have you "homemade" food for flowers and vegetables.
• Use cows or horse manure. Roses grow crazy with horse manure. Also crumbled eggshells and coffee grind mixed in Roses soil are a great fertilizer.

Happy spring to all!

The new house in germany

I know this posting will be hard for my best friend here in Attleboro (Hi Jen!), but i thought to post some pictures about our new house in Germany. My father was driving by the other day and i asked him to take some pictures. I need to make myself and my family virtually comfortable and want to imagine how we live there.

Its a small town northern from Frankfurt. Just 3000 people live there, very cosy. It has a bakery, a butcher, a little grocery market, an elementary school and, this is very important, a soccer club :) . The street where we live has other family homes, so Philip will have many friends to play with. The school where he goes is just across the street. Unfortunately Nicky's ride to his school in Wetzlar is at least half an hour.

We live in middle of nowhere, the end of our street ends in the fields and the forest. I imagine myself running there every morning (Yes Paul!) and hopefully convince my husband to do the running with me.

I haven't seen the house, Wolfgang visited in march and i think he did a fine job to find the right house for us.

Well, see for yourself. Nobody lives there right now, which means nobody mows the lawn :)

Special Olympics - What a special day for us!

Hi, i haven't writen a few days. It's been just a busy week. Today Nicky's School attended the 20th Annual Special Olympics here in Attleboro. What an emotional day, we are so proud of him. With over 500 Athletes it was packed on the Attleboro High school Football fields. It started with a parade, where police departments from different towns came with their cars and motorcycles. What a sight. While Philip and Wolfgang watched the parade, Nicky and his class got ready for walking into the stadium. Everybody cheered! I felt that Nicky was very proud of himself. He smiled and was very happy. He was not bothered by the sounds and people. He did very well.

A girl was singing "Somewhere over the rainbow" and that was the point where my emotions cooked over :) Two Athletes lit the Olympic fire and the games where on!

Nicky finished second place each in Softball throw and 10m assistant walking. He RUN! We got home exhausted, but with two medals. I love this country and what they do for Special People.

Enjoy the pictures!

"Shaky Banana Pancakes"

Well i thought about it for days: Nicky loves his Pancakes in the morning. They are yummy made out of almond flour, eggs, honey, vanilla and baking soda. But the problem is (and i just learned it while i was reading a new book on the diet) that almond flour is very hard to digest and can slow down the healing process of the gut. So are raw vegetables, fruits, onions and so on.

There is an intro diet and i wanted to give it a try.

I got up this morning and made him mashed banana pancakes. Just Banana, eggs, Honey, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon.

The reason why i call them now shaky banana pancakes is, because i was shaky when i put them in front of him. First he didn't look to happy, but then he shoveled in . That's my boy ;) . This will be his diet only for a few days. If he is doing better without the almond flour we will not reintroduce it for a while, which means i have about 10 pds. of almond flour in the basement :(

I am glad Nicky is a good eater. Every change we made so far he was just fine with it. Thank You Nicky for sticking with Mommy's experimental cooking :)

News on the house

Well we had the inspection last Sunday. After a list of doable and no so doable things we are a step further now, going through attorneys list. Its kind of exciting, a roller coaster i would say. One moment you thing the deal is settled and the next moment you are not sure about that any longer. But we are positive and we know this family loves our house. And hey whats not to love ;o)
But i guess by the end of the week we are safe, closing date is 27Th of June.
The boxes in the house are getting more and more, now i have them in every room. Whenever i am in a room with the kids i can fill one or two.
Well its a beautiful vacation week with the boys. We don't do a lot. In the morning Nicky rides his tricycle and Philip builds castles. In the afternoon we move with the sun and splash in the little plastic pool on the deck. I just finished the Kite Runner. I haven't finished a fiction book in a long time. Very good book, i loved it and can not wait to read the newest book from the author.

Happy Earth day!

Its Earth day, even our little Philip knows. I like the waking up of a country that produces nearly a quarter of the worlds greenhouse gases. I like to see that every grocery shop is know selling there reusable bags, that more and more organic foods is moving from the natural food section in the "normal" isles. I like to see more Prius cars, they make me smile. Its the every day that counts, its everybody who counts. Its on you to teach your children now about taking care of there environment.
I was thought very early in life that we do not throw trash just in the bushes, our of the window. We rather take it home and throw it in the trash can, because every piece of trash you just trow out of your car window is hurting some animal and lets face it: It looks horrible. Just have a look around you next time you wait for the green light. Dunkin donuts joins Mc Donalds. Welcome to the Fast food world.
Don't get me wrong, i looove this country, but the green thinking is just on the starting line.
It started about 20 years later than the Europeans did. We do not have plastic bags in our grocery stores in Germany , well only if you want to spend a buck for one. Maybe you don't want to travel now to Europe any longer :) ?

Well and because its earth day, i have a few things for your every day life you could change little by little:
Did You know that the dryer is after the fridge the appliance the average US household uses the most. Safe some energy and just hang your clothes on drying racks or hangers. I do that with my boys pants and shirts. They dry there and i just have to hang the hangers in there closets. Voila, easy! Yes i still put all my towels and smaller laundry in the dryer. But on a normal washing day i have about 5 loads of wash, but only 1-2 for the dryer. Hanging the cloths outside on a drying rack is also very healthy, you don't need any fragranced drying sheet, mother nature smells so much better :) Oh and in the winter i hang the boys hangers in there closets when the clothes are still damp. Works great in the dry air during heating time. Yeah i know, drying racks outside are a sign of poor people, at least thats what people think here. Well, lets have a look to Europe (Yeah, again!) and these people are not poor, they are just very smart, they just use mother nature for them. So, yes it is ok to hang your clothes on a drying rack. You dont have to do that in the front yard...... :)
Something about cleaning supplies:

1. Next time you make the trip to the store to by all this fancy, expensive, full of poison cleaning supplies think about this: Is it safe that my kids touch the table after i cleaned it with a cleaner that has an ingredients list longer than this article today?
2. Do i really need a room fragrance spray or is it enough to open the doors?
3. Try baking soda next time if you have a blogged drain, it works great and its cheap!
4. Well i discovered Microfiber clothes . And in a combination with vinegar your stainless steel will shine better than with every other cleaner.
5. Try natural stuff on the toilette, you can do either a combination of baking soda and vinegar or you buy the natural stuff in the store that smells like you are standing in middle of the Rock Mountain forest :)

Try to avoid spray bottles whenever possible. I found for example a great shaving cream in the natural section, it comes in a tube, smells great and its supercooling on your skin. Its from ALBA and costs just a little more than the other stuff.

You wonder why i am writing all this. Well here is my thought. I believe that my son's autism is an outcome of the environment that surrounds us. He doesn't have a genetic disorder, his brain looks just like ours. He was born with autism, it didn't come later after his first year or so. He was autistic from the beginning. His condition is an outcome of the air we breath, the water we drink and the food we eat. And don't get me wrong, i was careful like every mother is when she is pregnant with her child, but there are things we can not change.

But we can for the future of our children and there children. Please start today, plant a tree. Or check out Today's item about Earth day: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24243346/.

Celebrate our blue planet. Happy Earth Day!

SCD Popsicles with Mango and Pineapple

I decided to give Popsicles a try. I felt sorry for Nicky not getting that kind of treats any longer. And with summer just around the corner the time had come. Nicky loves all fruits, so i just took a pineapple, a mango and some orange juice. I blended it in a food processor and stuffed the Popsicles forms. Off to the freezer, and here is what came out :

The boys looooved it :)

A break from autism and selling the house

We took a break yesterday from our busy life and took the Vette to Cape Cod. We had a sitter and left at 3.30. After getting over the bridges we took Route 6 through Sandwich and Dennis.It was so beautiful. No tourists yet, but all art galleries and gift shops where open. Everybody was out and about to buy flowers and breath in the spring.

Driving slowly through this old towns with the roof down on the car was amazing, you could smell the air, every flower, the ocean breeze.

We remembered an Italian restaurant in Chatham from our stay on the Cape a few years ago . Its on route 28 and its name is BUCA's. We wanted to end the evening beautiful like it started. Oh wow, there food is amazing, the service great. You just keep eating, nobody rushes you. Perfetto!

I still can not believe it :)

It's been a few days that i posted on our blog. We had some very exciting days but i have to add this good news now. Our house is under agreement (Yeah, i learned some new words from the realtor world :) ) Anyway, after our open house on sunday (Remeber, we went to Bass Pro shop to get out of the house, what a lucky trip) we got an offer on monday. The offer was not very good and we got very frustated. But hey, this is the market right now and people are trying. I would too, if i would be a buyer. Anyway, we came to an agreement yesterday, which is very good.

I woke up this morning and thought this is a dream, i couldnt believe it. But it is true. Now we are going trought inspections this sunday. I think our house is in great shape and there is nothing to fear, but we are still nervous, something could come up.

I keep you posted whats going on at the Gebhardts.

Getting closer to the move

Well, you all know The Gebhardts are moving end of June back to Germany. Right now the work is kind of overwelming. Lots of phonecalls to make things right in Germany: getting registered, getting the cars to the right time on the right place, making shure the kids are fine at school . Lots of organisation with the moving company, tons of paperworks. We have to get all medical records for Mr. Nicky and us.

The month of May is going to be crazy. By the end of the month the moving company with the container will come. By that time we will be without ANYTHING. Scary thought, we will camp on matresses in front of a borrowed TV (thanks Jen :) ).

Its getting so close and it scares me. Leaving our friends and starting new. I hope this will be the last time in our lives that we have to start new. I am not a big mover and i hate to leave my friends.

I just talked to our DAN doctor, Pam Farrow. She encouraged me to keep going even we have difficult days with him. The stimming in Nicky always comes when he tends to be constipated. We give him Oxypoxder from GI ProHealth. I love that store, its products are made especially for autistic kids on the SCD diet. The Oxipowder works naturally. Not like Mirolax, which is so bad for these kids guts.
Well anyway :) We are going to increase the amount of Boullardii during the April vacation week. Nicky gets very stimmy with 3 caps. a day but Pam thinks its good for cleaning out his system. What a great week we will have , ha ha.
On May 1st we will see her to get the first B12 shot. I am hoping to get some more sounds our of him after this.
That's for today. While i am writing this, Nicky sits on his chair in front of the TV and shakes his head like crazy. Looks like we are having a long Epsom Salt Bath today :)

What a fun afternoon

On Friday after i picked up the boys from school, i let them play in front of the school on a little fenced in area. Lots of kids play there when they come out of the school. Philip always enjoys to play with all his (girl-)friends. Nicky usually just watches or looks at the American flag. Not so last Friday. He was running after Philip and was laughing loud. He looked at the parents standing around till he found me in the crowd. Then he smiled and walked up to me. These are moments that make everything worth.
There was something else: Nicky tried to walk around the fence towards the parking lot. Very slowly. I said "Nicky, you have to walk back here" Well, my smartypants-son turned around and walked backwards toward the parking lot. How smart was that. Everybody laughed out . His smile was so cute and bright.
He is doing amazing, he understands a lot. He remembers his signs if he needs help or has to go to the bathroom. He has his own will. Today we went to the Bass ProShop just to spend a few hours. When we walked in, he heard the water and that's where he wanted to go. He took my hand and pulled me through the whole store till we arrived at the fish tank. That was his will and does not every kid have that, most of them a strong one.
Well i could get on with my little stories. The progress is steady, but we always have days where Nicky is not doing well. I think we have to cut out tomatoes, i think they make him very hiper.

3 months on the SCD diet - it's hard

I created this blog for using it as an diary for my son's changes after we started the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). We've been so busy that i barely had time to do so. Here is an update on his condition:

Nicky is diagnosed with PDD-NOS since age 2, he is now 6. With the last tests in school he was at a stage like a 1-2 year old. He is non verbal and still in diapers (probably will for a few more years!).

In November 2006 (Nicky was almost 5) we decided to see a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor, who recommended a gluten and casein free diet. He also recommended some supplements, to go after the Yeast, that showed after testing Nicky. I cut Nicky cold turkey and oh my god...he was like a drug addict the first days. He never ever had tantrums like that before. After three days he finally calmed down, i almost gave up :)

We saw an increase in concentration and less stimmings. He accepted all new foods we offered and after a while we figured out how to get all the supplements into his mouth :)

By about march we tried out B12 shots but couldn't see any improvement. Little did we know that Nicky's yeast just didn't go away with the supplements we gave him (Probiodics). Feeding him with starches and Rice milk and sugar made it even worse.

But he did some new sounds which just was worth so much more and weighted in so much more than the stimming stuff he did.

By summer our DAN doctor recommended Nicky needs to to chelation. I read allot about it and was not sure if this is the right thing. But after the test came back with high results on mercury and other heavy metals i was ready for the treatment. We started very slow and every time we wanted to increase the amount of chelation meds Nicky stated stimming allot. So we stayed very low with the thought that we might do that for years now (getting up every weekend to give him the meds avery 4 hours). We tested him again in November 2007 (thanks for my curiosity :) ) and the result came back with a big surprise: The heavy metals where gone. It was weired, we don't know how it happened. But hey, we where happy, especially because of the fact that Nicky got worse and the stimming came back allot.

In November 2007 we tested again for yeast. The test came back with even higher results for yeast as it was before GF/CF. During chelation we gave Nicky extra supplements for treating the yeast, because i knew that chelation feeds the yeast.

After that results i had it. I wanted to start all new. By that time, Nicky was on about 15 different supplements and nobody except me didn't even dare to get into that system any longer. I could not leave him with somebody.

That was the time when i read allot more about SCD and Enzymes. I took all supplements away for 1 week and started then to give Nicky only Enzymes before every meal . Oh wow, i got calls from school that he is doing so good. He was happy and was able to sit for an entire hour for his ABA sessions.
I decided to give the SCD diet a try. By Christmas we did cut off all potato, rice and pasta products. Christmas vacation was not good for us, very bad, lots of stimming and constipation issues.
Beginning of January we changed DAN docs and saw Pam Ferrow. I loved her instantly. She gave me hope again. It was a hard year for us, lots of ups and downs. Pam suggested to go after the yeast first and start with SCD right away. The next day i started.

Well since then its been 3 months, mostly improvement. His eye contact is so good, his receptive language is by that point where you have to watch what you say (Never say gummi bear in our house!).
We started with Boullardii 3 weeks ago very slowly (1/2 caps./day) and increased to 3 caps./day. I believe he can not tolerate 3 caps. only 2/day. He just stimms more and is very unhappy.

But i have to say the big issue with constipation is gone. It only came back one time right after we started SCD and thats normal, like i read in diff. forums and the tons of books i am bringing home every week :)