Braxton's Improvement

This weekend Braxton came over for a visit. It was a full house with my brother, his wife, and two kids, and my sister, her husband, her daughter, and Braxton. It seems like everytime Braxton comes over, it's amazing how much he has improved since the last time I saw him. He talks a lot more and is interested in what people have to say. A year ago, we would never expect anything like this from him. A year ago Braxton would hardly even make eye contact with anyone and the only time he spoke was to get someone's attention. It truly is amazing how fast he is improving with all the medicine and the diet he's on. Now that he's improving as much as he is, I think it is likely that Braxton may end up just like every other "normal" kid his age.

"Warning: Braxton's Butter"

Every family meal we have together my mom has to be careful about what she fixes because Braxton has a broad list of thing he can't have. My sister has him on a gluton free diet. This means that Braxton can't have diary, breads, sugar, or anything that has gluton in it. Diets like these are supposed to lower the Mercury level in the brain which is associated with Autism. It's a pain in my mom's neck everytime she has to fix dinner for everyone, but it has made such an aprovement for Braxton.

We even have a drawer in our refridgerator for Braxton with things like dairy-free butter (yeah, there's such a thing) that's labled "Warning: Do Not Eat!! Braxton's Butter." I tried it on accident once... it's quite disgusting.

To be Care-Free

"Autism is about having a pure heart and being very sensitive… It is about finding a way to survive in an overwhelming, confusing world… It is about developing differently, in a different pace and with different leaps."



I can't imagine living in a world where everything seems overwhelming and confusing. A world where everyone is constantly judging me because I'm different and it's obvious. It's sad to me to think that this is the world that Braxton must live in every day. Mustn't he notice that he's different? Mustn't he care? I'm not so sure he even notices and I know for a fact that he wouldn't care if he did. I think this goes for all Autistic people. They all seem so independent. It must be inside them. Sure, they're dependent on others, like we all are. But there's something so different in them that makes them so care-free. Autism doesn't have to be defined with all negative details and explanations; there's some good in there too.