Well I must say that Christmas 2006 was a success. We only had one blip and that was at Christmas dinner at the in laws. Cuyler was only interested in eating pasta. Nothing else would do. So I took him and his meltdown down to the basement so that everyone else could enjoy their dinner without his screaming. Once he calmed down I brought him the french fries that had been prepared for him earlier. After he had a few of those, we went upstairs and he had the pasta that Grampa cooked for him. He had good time opening gifts and handing them out - each time saying "Mewwy Kwissmass!"
We came home around 8pm to put them to bed and wait for Santa.
Cam came into our room at 7am - on the dot - and excitedly said "Mommy! Daddy! It's Christmas Day! It's here! It's finally here!"
We opened Cuyler's door and were met with....yep...you got it! SHIT. Poop! Poop and more poop. Up to his neck...down to his ankles. All I heard was this sweet little voice "Change bum Mommy?"
It made complete sense - all the meltdowns. All the regression I felt we were going back to. It all comes down to the poop.
We needed to bathe him and do a major cleaning in his room before we could start our Christmas day. Luckily my Mum stayed over and did his mattress and sheets while Sean bathed him and I disinfected.
And Cam...oh Cam...what would we do without you!?
He told Cuyler "It's ok bud. I'll wait for you. I don't wanna see the presents til you're ready!" Never complained that he had to wait. And wanted to help in any way he could.
We eventually made our way downstairs and the kids were so excited. It finally felt like a real Christmas morning. Cuyler unwrapped gifts, and enjoyed them! It was the "Year of The Game" at our house. When anyone asked what to get him, we suggested a game that supported RDI. And we got a ton!

My Dad came over in the afternoon and Cuyler ran over to the tree and grabbed one of the gifts for him and said "Mewwy Kwissmass Gwanda!" He did that 3 times - it was so cute!
Sean's parents came for dinner - which was delicious. Sean did most of it. I was really proud of him. It was his best roast yet AND he did all the cooking while still not 100% from him "procedure" last week (YEP! MM Hmm! He got snipped! The Big V. Sterilized - hahaha! No more babies for us!). My early Christmas gift to him - letting him get it done!
All in all - it was a really good holiday.

Back to the poop. We are going to assume that his diet has been interfering with his mood and his demeanor. He was miserable, cranky and in a constant meltdown. We were getting negative feedback from school everyday - he just was not managing. After all the work we had done and all the progress he had made. We just slacked off and got lazy because he ws doing so great. We cannot let that happen again.
On Christmas morning, we realized that he had gone back to his old ways as far as his bowel movements were concerned. Going maybe once a week. And when he was on that bm schedule, he was so difficult to deal with. He seemed very unhappy. And I suppose he was. It really would suck if you only took a dump once a week!
He was so skinny, his tummy so flat after that big poop Christmas morning. We didn't realize how distended his belly was until he had emptied himself out.
So we're back to being very diligent with the diet. Cutting back on his sugar. Increasing his flax powder and cod liver oil. I didn't realize that Sean had not been giving him his probiotic every day. And what a difference already.
He's been so pleasant and happy. We had an amazing morning today. We had a "birthday party" - I totally followed his lead and made a cake, with candles for him out of playdough. I made a present out of playdough and he handed it back and said "No present. Make balloons!" So I did. Then he said "Hat Mommy. I want boofday hat." So I took out some construction paper and asked him what colour. "I want owange boofday hat Mommy." So he got one. And we sang "Happy Birthday" about 6 times. Each time blowing out the candles. It was just "special time". Where I felt connected and engaged with him. We laughed alot and he smiled the whole time.


On a side note:
Cam had his first game of his first hockey tournament today. He scored the first goal of the game and went onto score another! Final score 4 (his team) 3 (other team). Cuyler did great at the arena and had fun clapping and cheering!
Cam will be in net tomorrow - I'll be a ball of nerves. It's the worst watching your kid play net! My only consolation is that he loves being between the pipes - and he's good at it.
But still...