Brain Exercises

I have been feeling a lot lately that we need to start doing the brain excercises that we did with Brain Balance.  Maybe that could help kick start something amazing or something small but to us small is big, so no matter what it's going to bring amazing changes right? Ha ha.

Anyway, we had a busy night yesterday and then tonight was the same.  We finally got around to it just before bedtime but did not go as planned.  Lets just say right before bed time is NOT the time to do these.  I don't remember him putting up this big of a fight when we did them last year, but boy did he tonight!  We started off with the Smells, which are 6 different containers that have smells to stimulate his brain on the side they say he is delayed(i think right but need to go back and check in my notes).  The second he got a whiff of the first smell, the struggle began!  It was almost as if the smells brought on PTSD or something, which.  Like I said he never put up this kind of fight before, so I don't know why it was so bad now.

We got through the smells and attempted a few other excercises but it was not easy.  He was screaming and tightening up and turning and trying to get away.  I ran upstairs to grab the folder with the exercises in it because we couldn't remember what we should be doing.  Brandon stayed with him and started a few more exercises where he has to kind of help Dylan do.  One of them being situps!  I walked back in as they were doing these.  The look on Dylan's face and the expression in Dylan's eyes was something I have not seen in a while.  He was gone, checked out, not there, whatever you want to call it, but I was done at that point.  Lately, he always looks "here" and has not had that "gone" look.  Apparently until I saw it tonight, I hadn't noticed but I am thankful he hasn't looked that way in a while.  By the way, Brandon worked up a sweat trying to get Dylan to do 10 situps, that is how bad of a struggle it was!

I grabbed Dyl and cuddled with him and he cuddled up to me!  I told him we are just trying to help him and we want to help these connections along that his brain needs.  I told him we are not trying to hurt him and that we love him and will do anything for him.  I told him we are going to continue these exercises tomorrow and keep trying until hopefully it gets easier and hopefully brings on more progress!  We called it quits for the night, but I couldn't go put him in bed so we watched a show together for a bit and then I made him mad and took him to bed.  He settled down pretty quick and went to bed.

The look in his eyes tonight took me back though and although we are not anywhere close to the finish line, I realized that we have definitley made progress.  Another girl that I speak with on Facebook that has taken her son once for treatment, talked about the "sparkle" in her sons eyes before his regression.  That is also something we talk about with Dylan.  We miss that!  I hope it returns one day!