Happy Mother's Day From Brooke

I haven't seen Brooke for 10 days. I've been busier than a beaver with my dad in the hospital for almost 2 weeks now. Brooke did come over for a Mother's Day cookout today. She gets out of the car and comes over for a massive hug. The little girl is strong and squeezes hard. Brooke is just so loving now. In the span of 3 hours, she had to run over and hug about everyone in the house. Not all at the same time, she stretches it out. Most of the time she sits in my lap and watches Tom and Jerry cartoons. She usually takes my arms and wraps them around her waist, so that I will hold her tight.

Brooke is your typical autistic picky eater. She ate her hot dog and salmon, but wanted nothing to do with her corn on the cob or salad. This is why a good multi-vitamin is so important. Like any little kid though, Brooke loves dessert. Grandma had gotten her a box of GFCF brownies in Clay Center. When the dust had cleared, I was told that Brooke had ate about 5 brownies.

The only good speech I heard from Brooke all day was when she wanted a tractor her cousin was playing with. Brooke was sitting in her little car, and cousin Mandy came over with a toy tractor that spins. Brooke wanted the tractor, but Mandy wouldn't give it to her. Brooke starts to climb out of her car and Mandy takes of across the living room. Brooke starts yelling "hey, come back", and starts chasing Mandy. Brooke yelled it again as she goes off on a full run. I heard Mandy crash and burn in the kitchen, and 2 little girls yelling and screaming. Brooke's Mom rescued Mandy and the tractor, and informed Brooke that Mandy was playing with tractor. This made Brooke upset, but she came back into the living room to continue watching Tom and Jerry.
Later Brooke wanted to wrestle on the couch. "HI YAH" she says as I am caught with a karate chop right across the face. Brooke still hasn't learned to play gentle. She then goes to work on my mid section with karate kicks. Grandpa stops her and explains to her not so hard. She seemed to understand, took my hat off, put it on her head, then returned it on my head.

Brooke has come a long way since January. She still has some issues to address, but it will not happen overnight. She will be going gluten free next month. Gluten is supposed to have a morphine type effect on most autistic children. We are all very hopeful this will also help Brooke when it is removed from her diet. However, unlike milk products, gluten takes much longer to leave the system, and some kids have actual withdraw symptoms when it starts leaving there systems. Just like a smoker without cigarettes. But Brooke will get through it ok. She has a mountain of love behind her.