Why Didn't I Think Of That?...

Pretty much every day I have a "Why didn't I think of that?!?" moment...and today was no exception. Miss Maggie, Gavin's speech/feeding therapist, was here and did something so easy and so smart (which is not unusual for her, mind you, but today was EXTRA cool). She announced when she arrived that today was going to be messy. We spread out applesauce on Gavin's tray and dropped little cheerios, Kix cereal and some bits of cookie in there. The hope was that Gavin would not only get the sensory benefit of smooshing his hands around in that mess...but that he would instinctively put his fingers in his mouth, teaching him that he can feed himself that way.

But first - the brilliant idea she started off with. She brought a tiny lollipop with her. The kind that are like teeny tiny balls and are sometimes called "Dum Dums". Gavin's never had one (neither has Brian for that matter!) The flavor was something like "sour apple" - something that would definitely wake up Gavin's mouth! She made sure to rub it along the inside of his cheek and down his tongue...

...and then he took over.

He lifted it up holding that little tiny stick and got it right into his mouth - and then back out - and then onto the tray - and then picked it back up - and you get the idea. It's more motivating than a spoon filled with food that falls off before it gets to his mouth usually...so, why didn't I think of it before???

As for the messy play, I'll let the photos tell the story, but it mostly went like this...

...with a few moments of intentional contact. But never for too long.

Needless to say, the next stop was the washing machine and the bathtub!

Brian also had therapy today. Miss Jen was here for his Speech therapy. I don't have any photos - mostly because I was trying to hide...pretending I was in the wrong house...that Brian wasn't actually my child. He was completely bonkers. Tantrums. Screaming. Not cooperating. We were all pretty dumbfounded by his out of character behavior. Jen was sweet and assured me that this is typical for "two" - and she sees this a lot. But it didn't comfort me that much - I was shocked at Brian! They were able to salvage some of the session when he calmed down and started acting like a normal child again, but WHEW! What a stressful hour! I chose NOT to document that craziness.

The craziest news of all? Gavin pooped on the potty.

(Something else there is NO footage of)

Now before you get all excited, let me explain. And if "poopy talk" is not your thing, stop reading here and come back tomorrow when I will be discussing my fertility injections and what they've been doing to my hormones. Just kidding. Or maybe I'm not. It's best not to cross me either way, understand? UNDERSTAND??

Crap, what was I talking about? Oh yeah....

So anyway, because Gavin has been a rock star eater lately (last night he had cheese raviolis for dinner, thank you!) his poops are more...how shall I say..."big boy". Picture a big boy poop going into a diaper and...how shall I say...running out of room? Not to mention, these big boy poops are very difficult for my little boy with low tone to get out. It can be heartbreaking sometimes. But he's doing it - and when he's through he has this look of pride that, well, only a guy can make. Thanks to one small drink each day of "Lifeway Bio Kefir", Gavin is rarely needing his MiraLax anymore to make him go. But there's the straining issue - and the 'running out of room' issue. So I had this brilliant (or not?) idea to try to catch Gavin when I sense he's about to go...and sit him on the potty. So far it's only been once. He had no idea what was going on. He wasn't upset, but he did fight me to sit there and just wanted to try to squirm off the seat. It was challenging...but when he did finally poop, he looked surprised and proud. And so was I.

I have no idea where I'm going with this plan - but it just seems like it can't hurt to try! I'm so proud of his strides lately in the eating and the bowel movement department. It's a big, big deal around here.

And that's no B.S.