H*ly Sh*t!

Like the rest of the world, I am a HUGE Oprah fan. Her show gets TiVo'd daily at the HinJew household. If I get the chance, I watch it after the children go to bed.

If you have children and have not yet watched yesterday's show, go do it now. Really. Right now. You need to see it.

Until I saw yesterday's show, I had no clue that a Webcam is a pedophile's biggest dream-come-true. Merely plugging it in brings this slime into the bedrooms of our children where these perverts lure and manipulate our children into doing all sorts of lurid acts.

Yesterday's show highlighted a young boy, age 13 at the time, who plugged in a Webcam to enable him to speak to his friends online and, perhaps, meet some girls. He thought that the people he was talking to were 13 year-old boys just like him. They weren't. They were pedophiles and lured him into doing all sorts of things. Read his story now.

It's horrifying enough to learn this news. Yet it gets worse. With the help of a NY Times investigative reporter, they learn the identities of the boy's 1500 "clients". Many of them were pediatricians, teachers, guidance counselors, and other professionals with easy access to children. It truly frightens me as a parent to know that the people I trust the most with my children might hurt them.

But anything I say here cannot do justice to the excellent job Oprah and her team do in portraying the information. Please, watch it now.

First Day/First Grade

Simi's first day of first grade went well. He brought home an empty folder, a skinned knee and no homework.

The highlights of his day included making a new friend and playing freeze tag at recess.

So...there it is...

Scenes From The First Day of School

Observations from Simi's school:

A little boy holding his even littler sister's hand and taking her to her first day of class. He gets near the class and gives her a little push to the door ... then walks away to get to his own class.

A little girl taking her little brother to his first day of school. She gets him to the door of his classroom, kisses the top of his head, then pushes him into the room and walks away to get to her own class.

A mom trying to push a stroller (with an infant in it) and hold the hand of a toddler - in the mad crush of kids and parents - while taking another young 'un to the first day of class.

A little girl carrying a backpack which was bigger and wider than she. By the looks of it, the backpack must have been REALLY heavy.

The gym teacher helping a little girl find her classroom.

First Grade

Today is Simi's first day of first grade.

It's been an auspicious start to the year. Simi is not in the classroom we anticipated and the school is completely unorganized this year. For example, we haven't received any word on bus routes/times, so we had no idea where to wait for the bus, the bus number, or what time to be at the stop. Teachers said that last minute changes occured to cause students to be moved around as late as last Thursday. It's just a mess.

Simi's Kindergarten teacher speaks very highly of his first grade teacher and she has certification in teaching academically gifted children. She and the assistant teacher seem very nice.

As I was driving Simi to school on his first day, I flashbacked to his first day of Kindergarten exactly one year ago. Simi seemed nervous today, but much less nervous than he did last year. Simi also didn't seem as excited about the experience as he did last year. Although I didn't cry this year, I certainly felt like I wanted to.

As we entered the classroom, the teacher very nicely introduced herself to Simi and told Simi to choose a seat wherever he wanted. Simi just stood there and froze. I helped him find a seat. Simi introduced himself to the other children in the class and I watched him get started in putting his name on his bookmark. He wasn't as engrossed in the activity as he was last year.

I passed by the computer lab on my way out the door and was quite impressed by the equipment. Shiny new-looking Apple computers awaited students use. Nice.

Interestingly, just a short while ago, a charter school where Simi was waitlisted contacted me. Simi has a spot at their school - to begin in two weeks - if he wants it. Sigh...

I can't wait to hear how his day went.

Asher Update

Asher's great energy continues. It's obviously the vitamin supplements we're giving him that's making the difference. I'd never guess that something as simple as a multi-vitamin would make such a major difference.

So now the conundrum is....do we scope or not? According to the protocol set by the specialists, Asher should be scoped every three months because the damage is occurring inside his body and symptoms may not be readily noticed. So, according to these guidelines, Asher needs an endoscopy at July's end. Thing is, it's incredibly invasive and it hurts Asher and there is evidence that general anesthesia damages the mitochondria. Seems to me like after every scope, it takes Asher at least a week to recover.

The doctor at Duke suggests we not scope unless symptoms suggest it. But how do we know the culprit unless we scope? How do we know if all the vitamins and supplements and additional food are true passes unless we scope? What if damage is occurring and we don't see the symptoms?

So...do we scope...or not?

Milestones

It's been a big week for Leila here in the HinJew household. She's moved out of nappies and into training undies. She's very excited about it and showing everyone her new pink underwear. She says now she goes pee pee on the potty just like her boys. Well, Leili, perhaps not just like the boys.....

She has also made the long overdue transition from her crib to her big girl bed. She and I made the trek to the store to pick out new sheets for her new bed. She excitedly picked out sheets with the Disney princesses on them. I wasn't surprised; she's so into princesses these days. I suggested to her that we buy the Tinkerbell sheets too, so that she'd have a spare set. She didn't really care about Tinkerbell and just went along with it to make me happy. So now Leili is in her big girl bed and wearing big girl underwear.

In other Leila news, she insists we call her "Leila". We've been calling her "Leili" for nearly her entire life. Now, when I call her "Leili", she replies, "I not Leili. I'm Leila!". OK then.

My baby is growing up....

Energy!

For the third continous week, Asher's energy level and health remains GREAT. I'm on cloud 9! Something as simple as my child's good health makes me the happiest person on the planet. Woo hoo!

As Asher's energy level soars, so does his naughtiness. I guess that's to be expected. It's nice to have "normal" problems for a change.

Asher still struggles with cognitive stuff. It is my hope that as we balance his body nutritionally, this part, too, will improve. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, Leila is doing great in her potty training. She's got a lot of personality, that one. And Simi is having a ton of fun at science camp (in the morning) and native american indian pottery (in the afternoon). At science camp, they are exploding mentos in Coke, creating paste using corn starch and water, and making pennies rust with vinegar. It sounds very messy. He loves it. In pottery camp, they are making clay pots, clay snakes, and weaving baskets. I ask him which of the two camps he likes best. He likes both equally. Cool.

And Another Thing...

OK, perhaps you'll put this in the weird/crazy mom category. Or perhaps you'll see it as another piece of the "what's up with Asher" puzzle that will help us heal him:

Asher is SUPER ULTRA SENSITIVE to temperature. Until now.

For example, last year, both Simi and Asher took swimming lessons last summer. When I say it's HOT here in North Carolina in the dog days of summer, I ain't exaggerating one bit! Temperatures reach nearly 100 degrees and routinely hover over the mid-90s with 80-95% humidity. The swimming pool where they took lessons is heated to a temperature that it pleasing to the skin. Well, pleasing to everyone's skin but Asher. Asher was the only child wearing a thermal suit in a heated swimming pool in the hottest days of the Carolina summer. And he shivered.

At Asher's pre-school, they routinely have sprinkler days during the summer. The children love playing in the sprinkler! Asher wouldn't. He'd stay out of the sprinkler, stay on the perimeter of it and watch his friends play in the water. The cold water - even whilst wearing his thermal suit - hurt him.

I have mentioned this to Asher's doctors, who look at me as if I'm green and say, "everyone has different levels of sensitivity to things." I heard, "so what?" "It's no big deal." I always thought this temperature sensitivity thing was a piece of the "what's wrong with Asher puzzle" that was being overlooked.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: the boys were playing in a sprinkler. The temperature was about 105 degrees that day (really! that really and truly was the actual thermometer reading!). I didn't realize that Asher's thermal suit no longer fits him, and that it's also old, torn, and ratty. I found boys swim trunks that fit him and away he went to play with Simi and Leila in the water.

Water from the garden hose is COLD - A LOT colder than that lovely heated swimming pool. And here's my boy standing in the spray and getting SOAKED - with no thermal suit and looking as happy as I've ever seen him. Can it be that Asher is no longer super ultra sensitive to water temperature? Now...doesn't that seem bizarre?

The Great Energy Continues!

Asher's still feeling great. I wish I knew its cause so that we know what to continue doing! He's been feeling great for the past two weeks, which is far longer than any good wave he's ridden in at least a year and a half. I'm on cloud 9!

Both boys had an absolutely wonderful experience at gymnastics camp. Asher did things I never thought possible - for him. On Tuesday, my jaw hit the floor when I saw him playing tug-of-war. He (age 4) and two 5 year-olds tugged against three 6 year-olds. After several minutes, one of the 5 year-olds on Asher's side let go of the rope and sat down. To my surprise, Asher and the other boy managed to keep the tug going for MINUTES after that. I couldn't believe it.

On Thursday, Asher walked on the balance beam by himself - which is only the second time that's happened to my knowledge - and even got up on one of the higher beams and walked sideways on it by himself. I couldn't believe that one! On Friday, Asher was thrilled to show me how well he could dribble a beach ball and he LOVED playing volleyball(!). He jumped up and down in sheer excitement and hustled to get the ball so he could hit it. I couldn't believe the energy level in my kid! I began to wonder if my child was replaced by a totally different kid who just LOOKED like Asher!

In comparison, prior to these past two weeks, if Asher exerted himself for an hour, he would be wiped out for the next week. So in addition to all these new skills he learned, I'm completely surprised (and thrilled!) at his energy level.

Back in early January (January 7th, I believe), Asher was trying to walk down the stairs by himself in our house. He couldn't do it. He was so weak and clumsy and uncoordinated that he nearly fell and stumbled down the stairs. When first realizing that her child would tumble down the stairs, a good mom would have run up the stairs to catch him. I didn't do that. Instead, I grabbed the nearby video camera and filmed it so that I can take the video clip to the doctor and get an understanding of why he was suddenly having trouble going down the stairs. The doctor was also concerned and said it looked like a muscular dystrophy sort of thing. Yeah, I know, like that's comforting.

I'm thrilled to report that this past week, Asher trotted up and down the stairs - by himself - like it was nothing! Woo hoo!

Another huge improvement is that his hands haven't been shaking. Until recently, Asher has suffered from "Parkinson-like shakes" in his hands. Really. It was hard for him to hold a cup of his elemental formula because his hands would shake so much that he'd drop it. I'm proud to report that this past week, his hands haven't shaken like that at all! That's HUGE!

Again, I wish I knew what is making Asher feel so great. We'll just enjoy riding this great energy wave for as long as it continues...and hope for a nice long ride.

Amaranth - Day Six

We're one day past the dreaded Day Five of the amaranth trial and....so far so good. Phew! Of course it's just a tentative food trial pass until the definitive biopsy results.

Asher now has three tentative additional foods: banana, cauliflower, and amaranth. He's just about doubled the amount of foods he can eat. Gotta love that!

We chose amaranth because it's a low allergen grain which makes a great substitute flour to use in baking. Now, if only we could find amaranth flour. I can't find it anywhere! Who knew it would be so hard to find?

Asher and Simi are enrolled in gymnastics camp this week. Asher is attending in the morning; Simi attends all day. Both boys are doing GREAT at gymnastics camp. Simi is winning all sorts of ribbons for being the best in certain events. The counselors are coming up to me and saying how talented he is. Who knew?!

I was a bit concerned about Asher being in camp. Asher gets wiped out for a full week after a mere one hour of strenuous activity. You can imagine my concern about him being able to last for three hours a day for five days. So imagine my surprise at how great he's doing! Just today I watched Asher walk the balance beam all by himself. That's only the second time - ever - that I've seen him do that. AND, he got himself up on one of the high balance beams and walked sideways on it - all by himself. He's always been too scared to even venture on the high balance beam before - and to do it all by himself is absolutely amazing. I still can't believe he did that! He was also VERY proud to show me just how well he dribbled a ball. I think that's a milestone too. He was even more excited about that than anything else.

So, Asher's riding a great wave right now. It's a GREAT wave and a super-enjoyable ride. We'll just enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Amaranth

We've declared cauliflower a tentative, preliminary success (until confirmed by endoscopy) and have now moved on to a new food trial: amaranth. Amaranth is a low allergen grain which makes a great substitute when baking. Raj has used millet previously, which is another low allergen grain with high protein. The downside of millet is that it's very crumbly. Hence the amaranth.

Saturday was day one of the amaranth trials. I cooked it according to the directions and served it to Asher. Simi, who was seated across the table from Asher, asked Asher what it tasted like. "Like cooked plastic", was Asher's reply. "HUH?", was my reaction. I tasted it and learned that Asher was right - it did, indeed, taste like cooked plastic. Poor kid. He's supposed to get some savory enjoyment from eating. It should be yummy, not disgusting. Why isn't it written anywhere that amaranth tastes like cooked plastic?

Asher's still eating it, though. Perhaps something new is better than nothing. I've started to add things like sugar and salt into it (so that it tastes like sweet/salty cooked plastic). Raj suggested to Asher that, since Asher is the Little Chef, that he do some testing with the amaranth to get it to his liking. We all loved that idea and now the Little Chef gets to do some cooking!

The First Grader

Simi is - officially - no longer a kindergartner. Today was his last day in the kindergarten class. He officially joins the first grade class when he returns to school.

Simi ended the year reading at a level 30. I think that's a third grade level. The expectation is that children finish kindergarten reading at a level 4. Shucks, he STARTED the year reading at a level 14!

He has been doing first grade math all year. Simi's teacher tells us that during math time, Simi will always create math equations where he has to subtract. I think he's already mastered addition and likes the challenge that something new, like subtraction, brings.

To celebrate, Simi and Asher got to go play at Monkey Joe's. They had an absolute blast.

My baby is growing up WAY too fast. Pretty soon, he'll be moving off to college. Sob....

Excellent Story About a Boy With EE

Here is an well-written news story done about a six year-old boy in Connecticut who has the same disease as Asher.

Thank you, Timmy and family, for sharing your story with the world.

Back to Square 1 Again

Last night was Simi's gymnastics "Last Class Blast". All three children were really looking forward to it. Similar to Asher's day, Simi's class did a small display of skills, received their award, had an opportunity to eat food, then got an hour of open play in the gym.

This time, Simi chose to play with his kindergarten friends rather than hang with us. So, off he went.

Leila watched the other girls and started to imitate their moves. It was amazing how quickly she picked up the moves! She and Asher took turns on the tumble track and she did a GREAT job jumping on the track then jumping into the pit. She had an absolutely wonderful night.

The clumsy uncoordinated Asher returned. Unlike Tuesday, Asher couldn't balance on the beam by himself, couldn't maneuver through the pit, and couldn't pick up his knees while bouncing on the trampoline. Why the change?

I started wondering if perhaps I imagined that coordinated Asher showed himself on Tuesday. Was it a dream? I'm sure it happened. The question is, why was Asher so different from one day to the next? Why the change?

On a different yet possibly related note, we had to discontinue the DMG supplement (beginning yesterday). Asher had explosive watery stool for the past week. Yesterday, his asthma kicked in. Asher's asthma is an allergic reaction. Obviously, when it becomes a choice between breathing or continuing a supplement, the breathing always wins.

So now gymnastics is over for the summer. We all said our good-byes to our gym friends and made plans on day/time schedules so that we can see them again in the fall.

Gymnastics Finale

Last night was "Last Class Blast" for Asher's gymnastics class. Simi's is yet to come. Each class performed a short skills show for the parents, then they were treated to a cook-out (except Asher), then they were given a full hour of open play on any of the supervised equipment.

Asher did GREAT in the skills show. He did a backwards somersault by himself - something he has never been able to do before. He also did a cartwheel by himself. During open gym, he walked on the balance beam - even walked quickly on the balance beam - by himself. He's never done that before. He jumped on the trampoline and brought his knees into his chest - 10 times in a row. And then he did it again and again. My jaw stayed on the floor in utter amazement.

Asher and Simi really enjoyed themselves during open gym. They sprinted about 50 feet before launching themselves into the foam pit. They climbed up 4 feet and took a running jump into the pit. While Simi's never been afraid, until yesterday Asher never just launched himself into the pit. He always jogged slowly up to it, stopped, then climbed in. Yesterday's display, on Asher's part, was completely out of character. And it completely surprised me coming from a kid who couldn't balance on his own two feet just days ago. What changed?

Simi was a sight of speed, strength, and grace last night. During his games of cat and mouse (the cat chases the mouse into the foam pit), he was never caught while he was the mouse and always caught the other child (even the much older ones) while he was the cat. I'd come to expect seeing this during his gymnastics class, but it surprised me to see him running faster than children much older than he. And when jumping into the pit, he flings himself MUCH farther than any of the children - even the ones much older than he. There were times when I had to climb into the pit to rescue Leila and I never realised the strength needed to climb out. Yet Simi makes it look effortless. I had visions of him exceling at long jump, pole vault, distance and sprints during high school track. Luckily for him, that's more than a decade away and I'll have likely forgotten that vision by then. I'm so incredibly grateful to Dr. Pigula and Children's Hospital Boston for fixing Simi's heart. I just can't believe how great he's doing.

Leila was a toddler full of frustration last night. She wanted to follow her brothers in their activities and let everyone know her disappointment when she was stopped. She would have run the 50 feet and flung herself into the foam pit if I let her. In fact, towards the end of the night after most of the children left, I did help her do that. She also would have independently flung herself into the foam pit from a four foot height. Kristin, Asher's teacher, helped her do that. The girl is fearless. If her brothers can do it, she insists on doing it too and won't take no for an answer. That's my girl.

Asher was so proud of the ribbon he earned in gymnastics yesterday (the one that EVERY child receives). He brought it into school today for show and tell.

All three children poured themselves into bed in sheer exhaustion last night. They woke up tired. And they can't wait until Simi's last class blast so that they can do it again.

A Visit to the DAN! Doctor

Last Monday, we took Asher to a DAN! doctor. A DAN! doctor is a doctor who specializes in biomedical treatments for autistic children. Asher does NOT have autism, but there are a lot of similarities between Asher's symptoms and symptoms of autistic children. For example, autistic children have a lot of allergies - food and environmental - very similar to Asher. DAN! doctors call it "Leaky Gut" and have methods to "heal the gut" which are very different from the methods doctors use who specialize in Eosinophilic Disorders. Autistic children also have poor balance and coordination. It seems to this untrained, uneducated mind that autistic children have a lot of the same symptoms as Asher, but that they have MORE. They also have the extreme neurological issues which Asher, thankfully, does not have.

Because there are A LOT more children with Autism than there are with EE, there is more research. Over the past few decades, families with autistic children, physicians with autistic children, and interested researchers have been coming together in conferences to confer about ways to heal children with autism and they've come up with some great protocols to test for different things and treat those issues. Children with autism are being helped now. But they're not being helped in the traditional pediatrician's office because pediatricians get their direction from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the AAP needs decades of stringent research (except for, interestingly, vaccine protocol) before they provide recommendations for treatment. Our goal in bringing Asher to a DAN! doctor was to do the analysis and subsequent treatments in the hopes of helping him heal.

We had already started Asher on some of the biomedical treatments. We introduced probiotics into his diet and "yeast killer" to bring his intestinal track into balance. I personally believe we have seen some positive benefit from the yeast killer. We also introduced vitamin supplements (multi-vitamin, zinc, co-enzyme Q10, carnitine and creatine), which has made tremendous difference in Asher's health.

On Monday, the DAN! doctor mentioned that the learning disability identified in January by the Early Intervention Program is usually a "connection issue" and usually an indication of a lack of essential fatty acids in the diet. Upon examining Asher's diet, it's absolutely true that Asher has NO essential fatty acids (EFA) in his diet. Your body can't make EFAs on its own; they must come from the diet. Thing is, EFAs come from fish, soy, and other things we can't possibly give him. What a conundrum.

The DAN! doctor also says that lack of balance and coordination are generally a sign of excess heavy metals in the body and suggests supplements to help the body expel the heavy metals naturally. This past Thursday, we introduced one of those supplements into Asher's diet. We chose the oral supplement DMG with Folinic Acid and B12.

Interestingly, shortly after Asher's futbol game on Saturday, he suffered an incredibly watery bout of diarrhea. Please pardon me if that's too much information. Us parents, especially us parents who have children with gastro-intestinal issues, are unusually preoccupied with our children's stools.

The questions are:

• Does the watery stool have any connection with the lack of balance/coordination?
• Does it have any connection with the DMG supplement?
• Has the new supplement caused Asher to be super-clumsy?
• If so, does that mean that it's helping or hurting?
• How long do we give him the supplement?
• Is it heavy metals or is it something else?
• Are we looking in the wrong direction?
• Can the supplementation help?
• Is this the right supplementation?
• Is there something else we should be doing for Asher?

So, if you have the answers to these questions, please let me know. If not, join the club and stay tuned while we figure it out.

Soccer Finale

The Spring Soccer Season has come to an end. Yesterday, Simi and Asher played in their final game. They each received a really cool medal, which has a flame coming from a soccer ball. Too cool.

Simi did absolutely fantastic in his game yesterday. It was sheer beauty watching him navigate his way up and down the field with the ball, passing the ball to his teammates, and scoring goals. I know I'm biased, but it certainly seems like he has a lot of talent on the soccer field.

Asher was the complete opposite. In Thursday's soccer practice, he did FANTASTIC - better than he has all season. He raced up and down the field and kicked the ball and even passed to his teammates. Yesterday was different. Before the game even began yesterday, he said to me that he wanted to play goalie. Asher couldn't play goalie because the four year-old division doesn't play with goalies - they have four or five children on the field - with small fields - and they don't keep score. Truthfully, at that age, if a child kicks the ball into ANY goal, all the parents cheer. It doesn't have to be the right goal. I told Asher to play like he played on Thursday and marched him off onto the field.

Asher tried to play hard. He played as hard as he could. Something got in his way. He was completely unbalanced and uncoordinated in a way I hadn't seen him in several months. He could barely run in a straight line and any light tap from a teammate sent him sprawling onto the ground. In fact, the playing field became downright dangerous for him because other children fell on top of him or kicked his head accidentally when he fell down. He has a great big lump on one side of his head from one of these occasions. Asher knew before he started that he was feeling uncoordinated.

He wasn't just off-balance at soccer. While playing catch with him in the afternoon, his throws were super-wild and he couldn't catch the ball - the same ball he caught with ease just last week. He also couldn't hit the wiffle ball while playing baseball in the backyard yesterday afternoon - something he could also do with relative ease over the past few months. Not to mention, it's just not "normal" for a four year-old who exercises as hard as Asher does five times a week to be as uncoordinated as a two year-old. Something got in his way yesterday.

My question is, what caused him to be so incredibly amazingly off balance yesterday?

I have asked this question to both his pediatrician and the Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist at different times over the past six months and they said, "he lacks the muscle tone". But that doesn't add up. He had plenty of muscle tone when he walloped the ball at age 2 on Simi's t-ball team. He had plenty of coordination just last week - and the week before - while playing soccer and playing catch. What happened yesterday?

I'm going to continue this post tomorrow, since it's already very long. To be continued...

La Leilita and Her Food

It's no secret that Leila loves her food. After her tonsilectomy, she gained six pounds in a mere two months. I honestly have never seen a child eat as much as she did in the two-three months after her tonsilectomy.

Before her tonsilectomy, I felt like those huge marbles were getting in the way of her eating; that concern was confirmed by her post-surgery gorging. Leila hadn't gained a pound, between ages 1 and 2, but she gained six pounds in the two months post tonsilectomy. WOW!!!

Leila also loves to cook in her pretend kitchen. She cooks up all sorts of things and delivers it to each one of us. She "cooks" eggies and pasta for Simi because that's his favorite dish. She "cooks" pork for Asher. She "cooks" all sorts of things for me. And she always brings me "tea" with my meal. She's very busy in her kitchen.

Now that Leila has recovered from her tonsilectomy, we've stopped giving her Flovent and have been preparing to submit her for an endoscopy with the thought that she might have the same disease as Asher. Now, that thought isn't so certain. She's been doing great ever since her tonsils have been removed.

Now we've been adding in all sorts of allergenic "Asher poisons", like wheat, eggs, and fish, into Leila's diet. Leila isn't certain what to make of the new foods - she just looks at it like, "what is this?".

While Leila is a bit perplexed on her new change of diet, Asher is - most definitely - very unhappy about it. I think he felt like, with Leila sharing his diet, he wasn't singled out. Now, he very much is singled out. It is difficult to upset my easy-going Asher, but this change in Leila's diet certainly has him upset. We add insult to injury by making Asher drink some nasty-tasting vitamin supplements twice a day. This kid just can't get a break.

Leila, when she gets mad, makes a "mean" face. Good golly, this girl gets MAD! Naturally, we all laugh at her when she gets all huffy. We point to her face -- all scrunched up -- and say, "Leila has her angry eyes on."

The other day, Leila and Asher were quibbling and Leila said to Asher, "Asher, I have my angry eyes on." All of us just fell over with laughter.

That's my girl.

Cauliflower

Asher has begun a new food trial: cauliflower. We chose it because it's one of his formerly favorite foods and was one of the foods in the previous failed food trial. In that food trial, I felt that cauliflower was truly a safe food but caught up in a trial with a "bad" food.

I personally believe that Asher's just thrilled to be eating something new. He's loving the cauliflower.

Regarding the banana food trial, we're considering it - as least preliminarily - successful and keeping it in Asher's diet. Since he's been eating bananas, he has a VERY difficult time getting out of bed in the mornings. But once he's up, he has great energy and spirit. We'll find out in July - during the next scope - if the morning tiredness is indicative of a food trial failure.

Ode to Murray

The World lost a great man yesterday. Murray Benson passed peacefully last night.

I found this poem and would like to share it. But before I share the poem, please go to this YouTube video. I think Murray would have liked it.

Doris, Karen, and Craig, our thoughts and prayers are with you.


ODE TO A LOVING FATHER
He wasn’t famous, he wasn’t rich
He just looked after his wife and kids
He made sure there was always food
And clothing that made us look good
He brought us up though strict but right
So we wouldn’t stray into the night
He made sure we learned our game
And be proud of our family name
The world won’t know that he is gone
But lot’s of people (I am one)
Know that the world has lost a man
Who was good and kind and better than
A kid could wish for in a dad
So losing him makes me real sad
I’d like to tribute this to him
I’m sure so would his next of kin
I love you dad, before and now
You rest in peace and this I vow
You’ll always be a part of me
I’ll remember you as it should be
A kind and loving father who
Loved his family through and through
And with this I’d like to end
Goodbye my father, chum and friend.