july - second half.

Fraser had an annual diagnostic evaluation this half of the month. Every single patient needs to be evaluated. That means long meetings and thick questionnaires for the parents. We filled out one that took over two hours! It had very specific questions that required a "never, sometimes, frequently, or always" answer. Gotta love those. (Never).

The diagnostics measure how much progress each patient is making, i.e., how successful Fraser has been with each child. The meetings are exhausting and emotional, but necessary. The process is similar to what we had to fill out when Emmett was being tested. Neverending paperwork, I tell ya. 

^^at the children's museum. 

The other thing we have been hitting hard is trying to get Emmett pooping on the potty. Some days I feel like it's never going to happen. Other days I have hope. Matt worked with him on it one weekend I was out of town. Emmett sat on the potty for almost two hours, but never let it out. He even began falling asleep. :( Poor guy. He is still so scared to do it. We have tried to get him to wear a pull-up while sitting on the potty, but he refuses. We can't figure out the "why" he won't go yet. 

We are diving into trying Emmett on a gluten-free/casein-free diet. There have been studies found that a GFCF diet can reduce certain symptoms of autism, like meltdowns or aggressive behavior. It can take as long as six months before you see a difference, but we are willing to try it, even if only for preventative reasons. I know a couple of families that have had success on it for their child, but every case is different. We feel very strongly about not using medication on Emmett at such a young age. 

We are easing into the GFCF diet; it's crazy how many things you need to omit. I've started by replacing one food that has gluten and one food that has dairy. The dairy side of things hasn't been too bad, except for yogurt. Emmett loves yogurt. The gluten-containing foods is much harder, especially when he is as picky as he is too begin with. We've started with gluten-free bread for him. So far he's eating it no problem. The downside - super expensive.