Update

I've been feeling down the past few weeks. I've been needing to write an update, but just couldn't bring myself to do it until now.

We had an in-home dietitian referral a couple weeks ago. She was a nice, pleasant lady. She suggested we'd probably need to give Galen 2 Chocolate Boosts again, since I had put him down to 1 a day. So, he's back on 2 a day. Later that week, she called and confirmed that we definitely needed to up him back to 2 a day for calorie intake. She put in a referral to Medicaid to cover the costs of his Boosts since they're rather expensive, especially with 2 a day.

The next day we saw the neurologist, but I already updated about that. The big point on that visit was understanding that Galen probably won't be able to truly speak for a very long time. As such, she suggested that we should not wait until Galen can say he needs to go potty to start potty training him. That I plan to start when Flint's a little older and potty train both of them at once. What fun that'll be.

Last week we saw the dentist and didn't have a great time. I posted this on the dentist's facebook and was asked to elaborate: "We generally have a 'good' experience with the dentist. I quoted good because with a Autistic son who's afraid of brushing his teeth, there's not a great experience possible currently.
Today, however, I left feeling incredibly displeased and insulted by one lady. The rest were good and polite to us. We'll still be going back since our Medicaid has limited options, but the feeling reminds me of why I have always feared dentists."
After my Galen's teeth were brushed, I was calming him down and told him I could lie to the dentist, but I didn't since it's important not to. At which point, the lady who brushed his teeth said something along the lines of "You aren't trying hard enough". It was incredibly insulting and no one can really know what it's like to handle a total melt down every time you try to brush your child's teeth unless they have an Autistic child who's afraid of teeth brushing as well.
The actual dentist and the other assistant who frequently brushes Galen's teeth were incredibly nice and said he did a great job. He's never had cavities. And, considering how long the wait generally is, I was incredibly unhappy with the service. We were taken back, waited around 20 minutes until they finally brushed his teeth, then another 15 minutes or so until the dentist even showed up. They were much faster with Flint and treated her and Mazzu a lot better. She was done in about 15 minutes total.

Since Monday (when we saw the dentist), I've had a "chore chart" up to check off brushing our teeth. We're currently up to 1 total melt down a night when we force brush his teeth.

On Tuesday, we saw the GI again. Galen had lost weight since he'd been last seen. I estimate that's not true, given his fear of scales, and that he won't stand still long enough for it to measure accurately, but I can't be certain either. So now we have a medication to give him at night to try and make him hungrier. We started it last night. Boy was that fun. I gave him the medicine last night, then brushed his teeth, so it ended up being 1 much longer melt down than it's been all week.

We're also giving both kids melatonin every night around bedtime to get them ready for sleep. This was suggested by the neurologist, so we're trying it again. Now we know that it takes 30 minutes-1 hour after giving it to them for it to take effect. The last time we tried it, it didn't seem to work, and seemed to make Galen more energetic, but it would seem that we must've missed the "right now is bedtime" moment and he'd get his 2nd wind. I don't want to jinx it, so I haven't said it out-loud, but it sure seems to be helping Galen get on a more decent schedule.

This entire month has been extremely frustrating with Medicaid issues. We had the speech therapy evaluation, but then had to skip speech therapy the next week until Medicaid re-approved it. Last week the occupational therapy was cancelled until the evaluation can occur (which is tomorrow) and then Medicaid will have to re-approve it too, so probably cancelled this week as well.

This week is Thanksgiving and we'll be going to see my grandma Gran. Hopefully it will go well. Both kids had a blast last time we saw her, so I imagine it will be a blast, but given this month and my mood, can't be certain. The holidays always bring me down as it is.

Galen has his 3 year checkup next month and Flint will have her 15 month check up next month as well. I think we'll be putting in a referral for Galen for physical therapy evaluation again, since they've suggested he might actually need it now, and is much more comfortable so they can really see how he is physically. I also plan to get Flint referred for evaluations, just because I worry.

Galen will be 3 in just under a month

We saw his neurologist today and had some more blood work drawn on him. They're testing for any metabolic issues that could cause his delayed development. We won't need to see her again for a year, unless he develops some issue (ie seizures, really bad aggression).
He's doing pretty well, but she made sure to remind us that Galen won't suddenly be cured of his speech delay. She did explain the few times in the past months that it seemed like he had a major breakthrough, then that he reverted. She expects that he has actually been having episodes of "echolalia" (the meaningless repetition of words) like how he sang "dead or alive" a couple months ago and then didn't repeat them anymore.
I didn't realize that could be what he was doing. He was probably doing it with "bubbles" as well. Since he hasn't been repeating it in awhile. She said it's a normal part of learning to speak, so that's probably what he's been doing. And we should definitely not expect him to talk perfectly overnight some day.
We found out that the MRI shows he has "a perfect brain". She seemed so pleased and excited by how it looked. Apparently the radiologist thought something was slightly wrong, but it isn't.

We've pointed out a few times to different doctors that we understand what Flint says more than what Galen says and she's only 14 months old.
Flint turned 1 September 8th. We celebrated and Galen had a blast at the park. He even played with the sidewalk chalk and balls some others brought.

We're still having eating issues , but that's expected and will probably take a really long time to get Galen to a "proper"ish diet. On the other hand, we now have a referral to a feeding clinic he can see once he's 3. He also has a referral to a company that could cover his daily Chocolate Boost for nutrition.