Here it is

We've told many of you that there exists some video of Lucas playing and "talking", but are only now posting it. I am thankful for the technology; I just hardly use it. :)

The back story is this:

Lucas has begun to make some talking sounds again, for the first time in over a year. We are super thrilled about this and eager to share our joy (though apparently not eager enough to get online and post about it for over a month now; I am a true blog slacker). He isn't saying words, not in English anyway, but he is definitely making sounds he hasn't and forming some kind of language-ish vocalization. This began within the first ten days after we stopped the Depakote. Not sure how related the two are as Lucas also seems to be growing (eating a ton!) more and he is cutting his two year molars (super slobber!).He is tolerating the new medicine, Felbatol, quite well. It is a liquid that he only has to take twice a day.

Having the freedom to not put medicine into his food is an almost incommunicable relief. I don't think I realized the stress I experienced fretting over the consistency of his food, how much he ate, whether or not food would fall, etcetera. We have been able to get back to challenging him in texture, consistency and size of his food. It is good for him to grow in this. It isn't typical to think about the struggle a child might face eating a chicken nugget, but until recently, Lucas wouldn't eat it unless it was mashed and mixed with potatoes or overcooked pasta or something else you can smash. Little things bring great joy to my life. :) He also, just in the past few days, has begun to realize how to use his fingers to get food unstuck in his mouth. I was feeding his peanut butter and jelly and was unsure at first what he was doing. We had never seen him suck his thumb, but he was. A few bites later, he was sucking his fingers. Then we realized he was wiggling his phalanges around his mouth to loosen the food stuck to the roof of his mouth. Our brilliant son. :)

As far as the seizures, they are still present. We just increased his dose again two nights ago. I feel it is still too early to say how it's working, but there seem to be some certain improvements. Nothing consistent yet, but the numbers seem to be dropping. We also got the results on his first round of blood work since beginning the Felbatol and his liver and bone marrow functions seem fine. Praise God!

He also seems to be more stable physically. He is getting stronger in his arms and legs and is holding up his head/trunk much more steadily. You can see in the video him using his right hand also. (He's a lefty, but we encourage him to use his right hand too.)

I hope you enjoy. I am off to fix dinner.

Love and blessings to you all!