Back in the Saddle Again

When Little Bug was 10 months old, he could not pick up a cheerio and put it in his mouth. The only way he learned this was for Appa and I to sit right in front of him and force his fingers to pinch a cheerio, force his hand to his mouth, force him to put it in his mouth, and repeat. Over and over and over again. For WEEKS.

As you can imagine, Little Bug did not enjoy this, and after 20 or 30 minutes a night of this, neither did Appa or Mama. But wouldn't you know, Little Bug caught on and is now a cheerio eating pro.

When Little Bug was 15 months old, we were directed to start modifying what was a very worrisome preference for his left hand. To stop him from using his left hand to pick up cheerios and force him to move his right, we had to put a sock on the left hand during meals (his right was too weak to yank it off).

As you can imagine, Little Bug did not enjoy this, and after 20 or 30 minutes of forcing an angry child to use his right hand (sit right in front of him and force his fingers to pinch a cherrio, force his hand to his mouth, force him to put it in his mouth, and repeat), neither did Appa and Mama. For WEEKS. But wouldn't you know, Little Bug is now showing a strong tendency toward being right handed.

At 2 year old, Little Bug needs to start learning how to use a fork and spoon. He sorta gets it, and tries, but it's more like a game to him. If left to his own devices, he would hold the flatware in one hand and eat with his other. This is one of the biggest things holding him back from joining his age peers in the Discovery Preschool 2 room. We've had all of our therapists weigh in, his teachers weigh in, and even his pediatrician. All the little tips and tricks have been helping, but only marginally.

So, two nights ago Appa and I realized there was nothing else to do but go OLD SCHOOL.

Drats for all three of us.

Each night one of us sits next to Little Bug and "models" how to eat. The other one stands directly behind Little Bug and forces his hands to use the spoon or fork. We do not let him take a single bit during dinner with his hands.

Yes, it sucks as bad as you would imagine it does. About 8-10 times a meal Little Bug has to be pulled away from the table while we count to 10, just to reset his emotions and give us all a break. Meal times have gone from 20 minutes to 45+ minutes.

Bottom line, no one is loving meal time right now in our house.

But Appa and I keep reminding each other that this worked before and it will work again. Little Bug's therapies have often been "unfun" and "inconvenient" for all three of us, but if it works, which it will--eventually--it will all be worth it.

Oh, and I tried, just to see, if we could still use the sock trick. It took my little bug all of one nanosecond to rip that thing off and fling it across the room, so there's another reminder of how far we have come.