Merry Christmas From Brooke

It has been awhile since the last update on Brooke. We spent a lot of time together yesterday for the annual Christmas Eve family get together. Brooke came into our house with her Mom singing Jingle Bells. All the words weren't real clear, but you could easily tell what she was singing. She went thru many different changes yesterday. From not wanting to being bothered by anyone so she could watch Tom and Jerry, to playing with her cousins and wanting other social interactions. Brooke is on the gluten free, dairy free diet. She is still able to occasionally get a piece of food she shouldn't have. Her Mom told me she doesn't see much difference in Brooke if she has a dairy product. When Brooke gets a gluten product, her Mom says she is a different person with severe fits and much harder to control.
All in all, she was very good yesterday. A few things I found quite interesting with Brooke. 1st, we had a candle burning in the kitchen. Brooke was quite intrigued with the candle. She put her hands together as if she was praying, and bowed three times in front of the candle. She then tried to blow the candle out. When she couldn't get it done, she wanted me to blow the candle out. I told her I would lift her closer so she could blow it out. I lifted her up, she took a deep breathe, and blew the candle out.
The next interesting thing with Brooke was with artificial flowers. She would get them out of the pot, hold them up to her nose, smell them, then say "Umm."
She would bring them over to the others in the house so they could also smell them. She then went over to the corner where she thought no one was watching, and started eating the leaves off the artificial plants. Her Mom ran over to pull the leaves out of Brooke's mouth, and Brooke bit her. Her Mom said Brooke eats leaves off real plants if you don't watch her. But she refuses to eat green vegetables.
When it came time to open presents, Brooke had no problem at all. She would open each one, study it for a minute, then go on to the next. Her favorite was a small drum. She sat there beating on the drum, once in a while losing a drum stick that went flying across the room.
After about 6 hours together, it was time for Brooke to go home. Brooke had other ideas. She hid behind furniture, refusing to put on her shoes or coat. After a few minutes of this, I put on my coat and said good-bye to Brooke. She quickly got up, put on her coat and came running outside after me wearing no shoes. I was out in the yard by this time. Brooke climbed a chair and jumped over the porch railing into my waiting arms below. I put her in the back of my car so Grandma and I could take her home. When we got home, Brooke got out of the car easier then I thought. There was a catch, once I got inside, she wouldn't let me leave. She unzips my jacket and sweatshirt and pulls them off me. She then pulls me in the living room and makes me sit so she can get in my lap. I try telling her I have to go home. She interrupts me by saying "Shhhhh." She then grabs my hands and wraps them around her, holding on tight. After about ten minutes of trying, she releases me and climbs down and watches TV. Grandma and I can leave the house with no trouble at all.
After the first of the year, I am going to make Brooke an appointment with an autistic specialist in Kansas City. These doctors are referred to as DAN doctors, meaning Defeat Autism Now. They are trained at the Autistic Research Institude located in California. They have a very high success rate treating autistic kids. They use an approach know as biomedicine, which is actually natural vitamins and minerals. Test are run to see what isn't working properly in the children, and then they recommend a treatment plan. The doctor I hope to get Brooke into has treated nearly 1000 autistic kids, and is highly recommended. Brooke has come a long way in the 9 months we have started her on basic biomed treatments. Hopefully the doctor in KC can fine tune the treatment to help Brooke improve even more.