Therapy Update & Food Chaining

This morning, we had our first therapy session in about a month. We canceled several appointments because Tyler wasn't even eating accepted foods for while. I'm pretty sure it is related to teething. He is cutting his last four molars, and he's had a rough time eating.

Tyler was starving before we were called out of the waiting room, so Stephanie suggested I just go straight to a food he would eat so we could talk about his progress (or lack thereof). Here is the update:

Tyler has taken one bite of watermelon this month, but he was running around the yard with it on the fork, which doesn't seem safe to me, so we haven't tried this on a regular basis. He asked for some of his daddy's Cheetos at Subway a week or so ago. He liked the taste and texture but objected to the orange stuff on his fingers. He put crushed ice in his mouth once. (He liked it and ate several pieces that time but none since.) He tasted banana pudding at my grandparents' house. But he was watching "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and his daddy kept sneaking tastes onto his lips. When he got too big a taste, he gagged. (It was by no means a large or even medium-sized bite. Stephanie and I think the gagging is related to a learned aversion to bananas because he used to gag on the texture of bananas when I first started transitioning him to solids. I feel so guilty.) Last night, he touched a popsicle to his mouth a couple of times. We were playing with the popsicle in the bathtub. The water was orange when he got out so I rinsed him off again to make sure he wouldn't attract ants in the middle of the night!

After I ran through all of these items so she would see that we really are trying(!!), Stephanie asked me if I'd heard of "food chaining." I had not. She explained that these therapists have just published a book that shows how you can help a child go from a currently accepted food through a series of similar foods.

Here is an example of a food chain from the Food Chaining blog.

We did this with Tyler, going from potato chips to fries to sweet potato fries. And I introduced a certain kind of cracker so I could later introduce the same cracker with peanut butter because I knew the pre-made sandwich crackers are pretty dry and I thought Tyler would be more willing to accept that. But I've been so focused on getting him to eat totally different textures, like watermelon. I like the idea of seeing a larger spectrum of foods rather than trying to introduce a wide variety with no baby steps.

I also appreciate the focus that the blog seems to have on language. When Tyler learns the word for a food (he recognizes a word, not pronounces it), it seems to help him remember it the next time we offer it.

And I think Stephanie may have encouraged this in a way that didn't sink in until I read the "Food Chaining" blog.

Anyway, I'm off to buy the book as soon as naptime is over. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, would you like to know what my 21-month-old son will eat?

• fresh fruits: Granny Smith apples
• dried fruits: blueberries, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, banana, mango, apple
• cooked veggies: fries (must be fried, not baked), Chick-fil-A waffle fries, sweet potato fries, chips, veggie chips. (Can these be counted as veggies or should they be sweets?!)
  
• dried veggies: corn, peas
• meats: bacon, pepperoni (if cooked until crunchy). he ate chicken nuggets until this latest bout of teething; hopefully he'll start eating them again soon.
• bread/cereals: muffins, Cheerios, cereal bars (Special K are his favorite), one brand of pre-made garlic bread, all kinds of crackers (the Kashi Mediterranean Bruschetta cracker are high in calories, so I'm excited he's started eating those!), and peanut butter crackers
  
• sweets: smarties, skittles, sometimes he will eat a taste of brownie, there are several cookies he's eaten at one time or another, but he gets them so rarely that he may refuse it the next time it is offered.
• drinks: all kinds of juices, milk, milkshakes, we add blueberry and strawberry yogurt squeezers to his milk, and he begs for a straw to share our sweet tea sometimes

Actually, now that I've typed the list out, I'm feeling pretty good about things.

And Tyler liked all kinds of baby foods, even the ones with spinach, so I'm hopeful that as we work on his sensory integration/texture issues, taste issues won't be a problem.

Six-Thirty Rule

I used to have a rule: nobody gets up before daylight.

That was before I saw the beginnings of daybreak at 5:30 this morning.

Did you catch that? I was up at 5:30. The first 5:30 of the day. As in a.m.

I was woken up by the sweetest "bmabma." (That is how Tyler says "mama.") I tried to get him to lay down again and he asked for a "dddddd" (drink).

After the drink, I tried to get him to lay down with me. He did, but no sleep... for either of us.

I have a new rule. Nobody gets up before 6:30. But unfortunately, Tyler thinks all numbers are "zzzzz" (zero).

Mysterious Accessory to Kitchen Aid Mixer

Do you know what this is? It came with my Kitchen Aid mixer that I got for Christmas. When I first opened the mixer box in January, I spent a couple of hours going through the manual and even looking online to see if I could figure out what it is. I googled things like "mesh square Kitchen Aid."

I even called my mom who has a Kitchen Aid mixer and who gave me this one as a Christmas gift. I thought I remembered her having one of these when she first got her mixer, although I hadn't seen it in a while. She didn't remember what I was talking about.

I hesitantly decided it was meant to keep the beaters from scraping up the bowl when they are stored in it. I dutifully stored the mysterious square in my mixing bowl, under the beaters just in case. Plus, I figured I'd have it in the future if I came up with a better explanation.

I have a better explanation. Are you ready for this?

Today, I found another square exactly like this one in Tyler's game designed to help kids with sensory issues. My sister gave to Tyler at Christmas, but he tried to eat all the pieces so I put it up for a while.

I wish I had a video...

Tyler just fell asleep on the sofa. While this would not normally be an entertaining process, the child was sitting upright on this particular occasion and it was hilarious.

His head would bob forward as his eyes closed. He started falling forward so he leaned backward. His head touched the sofa and he sat upright. You'd have thought his eyelids weighed 5 lbs each. He tried to lay down, but that just made him mad as he realized he was giving in, and he started crying. So he crawled into my lap and fell instantly asleep.

Weight Check

We got to Tyler's therapy appointment this morning and found out that his therapist had just called in and would not be able to make it. But the lady at the front desk took us to a scale so we could check Ty's weight. He weighs 25.2 lbs! I was so worried because he doesn't seem to be eating much. He's gained about a pound in the last 2.5 months. So now I can stop worrying about how much he's eating and focus on getting him to try new foods.

He really likes watermelon juice. He was licking it off his fingers yesterday even though he refused to put watermelon in his mouth. And today, he drank the watermelon juice from a straw but he still wouldn't put the fruit in his mouth. Please pray that he gets over this fear and starts enjoying new foods!

Lil' Gardener

Brian and I finished planting our garden this evening.
Tomatoes, basil, rosemary, squash, zucchini and pepper.
We had a great little helper. Can you see how dirty he is?

"My own shovel!"

"Let's plant something here!"

"Uh-oh!"

"Hear that airplane?"

Baby Birds

Tyler and I discovered a bird's nest about 5 days ago. The Mama Bluejay was sitting in it, yelling at us. Three days ago, we went to check on it and saw three baby birds. At least I did. I'm pretty sure Tyler was looking above where I pointed!

We finally remembered to take pictures today:


This afternoon, while we were planting azaleas, one of the baby birds was hopping across the yard. We checked the nest and only one baby was in the nest — and it was perched on the edge like it was ready to leave.