' i am james and i like bananas'

Deqlan never used to like things on his head, brushing hair, cutting hair, washing hair! We are delighted to see that he goes to fetch his cap now to put on his head and tolerates it for s few minutes!
Deqlan lining up the bikes at papacinos - all is fine and well until other kids come along and want to ride on the bikes = no more line for Deqlan = a very upset little guy -we got to work on helping Deqlan cope with other kids in social situations like this, where he cant have all the items to line up! So we try and avoid an upset, if we see kids coming, we try and distract him with something else, then go back when the 'coast is clear'

Our little bike rider! A few months ago, he wouldnt even get on the bike, now he gets on all by himself and is picking up more and more speed with each try!

Deqlan LOVES merry go rounds and was delighted to find this one at Centurion mall for the holidays - of course we have already made a couple of visits with Deqlans pure delight as a result

Deqlan carefully building his wall of bricks, he does get very frustrated when they fall over or he cant balance them just right, but practise makes perfect my boy!


We has such a lovely celebration with Grandpa! He said it was one of the best days of his life..you could see that! It was wonderful to be together with all the family again and catch up after so many years/months of not seeing each other.

Deqlan was a superstar and coped very well with all the people, he was quite entertaining and friendly to most to!

On the entertainment front...Mark came running to me with Deqlan in his arms saying Deqlan had stuck something up his nose, i was to go and get a tweaser. Deqlan went to Mark and said 'NOSE . OUT' I sprinted so quickly up Meggie's stares, i dont even remember getting up and down them. I tried to get the metal ball out Deqlan had pushed up his right nostril! I was in such a state i think i pushed it a little further in! Mark told me to go and get my mom who was lovingly cutting Grandpa's birthday cake. I sat praying and crying with a million thoughts running through my head, as i watched Nanna get the metal ball out after three tries. Thank You Lord and thank you Nanna- i was in such a state Conrad had to give Mark and I a shot of whiskey. I just had visions of us needing to get Deqlan into theatre to get it out...i dont know why he decided to push something into his nose, he has never before! He seems to be discovering this "apparatus" this week by breathing his nostrils in then laughing! So we are watching him very closely and have thrown all little bits and pieces out of sight!

This week was back to school, not officially but for a week of playing and fun and getting back into routine again before the real deal starts next week. Deqlan was ok to stay yesterday when i dropped him off , but today politely told his teacher Ayline ' THANK YOU BYE BYE' and gave her a kiss ...shame....he just wanted to come home again. I stayed for his occupational therapy session which is going so well by the way, you cant believe the difference to when he was with Anneke last year, to this year - wow He has come leaps and bounds and craves the specific activities targeted to help with specific things..Deqlans favourite is the frog swing. He calls it 'HOP HOP AGAIN AGAIN' which you can sit in, lie on your tummy in, bounce around, twirl around..its awesome, but while he gets the enjoyment out of the swing he needs to do certain activities. At the moment Anneke is working on Deqlan picking up bean bags and throwing over skittles - this is an activity which will help with Deqlans planning , his balance and proprioception.

I had a 'WHAT WAS I THINKING' moment last week. Woolies ran out of Deqlans organice rice milk, which we know he can tolerate and is 'clean' of all the no no's Deqlan isnt allowed. When they run out , we scower the 8 woolies in around surrounding area, and hopefully within a day or two crisis is resolved and Deqlan is drinking his 'MILK HOT' again. This time, no stock . For 2 Weeks! We resorted to a powder rice milk which is mixed with water - we have done so before, but only for 3 days max (when Deqlan has his vma markers done , we switch to this as it doesnt contain vanilla like the woolies one - this can affect the score). This time, we were on the powder variety for 2 weeks. Deqlan was a little more 'feisty' then normal, a little more concerned about lining and grouping things together, but most concerning was his tummy. Shocking nappies again, after every single thing he ate, a different colour - i could go on my friends, but i will leave the discription there. After Mark and I wracking our brains on what could be upsetting his tummy so much, we investigate the powder rice milk option a little closer. Nanna gave us a call on Sunday morning, saying she checked and one of the ingredients in the powder variety - MALTODEXTRIN - was gluten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So Deqlan has been on a gluten trip for 2 weeks! No wonder his tummy was so unhappy and that he was a little more feisty ..thank Our Lord, thats all that happened for it - thankfully Woolies is back in stock, and i continue to clear the shelves each time i go to ensure we have enough stock should there be a 2 week delay again. Our little Deqlans tummy is just so so sensitive , we can tell immediately when something has been ingested that shouldnt be in his system!


Deqlan has taken a liking to watching You Tube clips - it all started with Nanna finding Flipper the dolphin - which both boys love and can even sing the words to - we found the most awesome clips of colours and numbers, days of the week, fruit and vegies - you name it - Deqlan continues to love learning visually - this is the best way for him for sure. He picks up on the words and tunes of songs and rhymes so quickly - but we got to keep an eye on the clip - Deqlans new sentence ' I AM JAMES AND I LIKE BANANAS' he even says it with the same accent the little boy does!

We had Logan with us for a long part of the holiday and it was great to see Deqlan initiating games with her..he really loves her and asks for her all the time. Logan really got into the swing of the world cup and loved watching with us, screaming with us for bafana and brazil and even predicting the scores!



Deqlan continues to love his love and learning dvs, but we know listen to the audio cd in the car when travelling and this results in a massive smile on his face when we start driving- new sentences include

'delicious means its tastes good'

'vibrate means to shake'

'eject means to take out'

'collapse means to fall down'

'1 plus 1 equals 2'

'1 plus 2 equals 3'

Well hope you all ready for the Germany Spain game - of course we are shouting for Spain in honor of Connor Gerber -please continue your prayers for him and his family. Please also pray special prayers at this time for jed ,katie, nick, quincy, elizabeth, nathan, and for Wills scans on Wednesday to give great great news!


ALSO

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEV! WE HOPE YOU HAD A FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY! EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SO FAR AWAY FROM YOU, WE SENDING YOU ALL OUR LOVE AND BEST WISHES AND PRAYERS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD TO BE THE MOST AMAZING AND MAGICAL EVER! ALL OUR LOVE AND GOD BLESS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE COLE FOR 7 JULY - HOPE ITS A MARVELOUS DAY WITH LOTS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER AND CUDDLES, STAY AS CUTE AS YOU ARE! LOTS OF LOVE AND HUGS TO YOU!

Have a great evening everyone

Lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD