Monday, January 4, 2010

TV Free Toddler Time

A fellow blogger (mother of 9 and one on the way) has created a challenge for those of us with toddlers to set aside a minimum of 1/2 hour a day where the TV is off and we are focused on an activity. (I guess this would fall under my "FUN" resolution.) If we do 7 in a row we get on her weekly smiley face list! lol You know, it really is the little things. :)

Today Bekah and I played with her Tag Jr. She has several of the books but today we concentrated on her favorite one (at this time). She seems to love David Smells. It's a book about our senses. I know she's not really reading at this point but she certainly can tell you with almost 100% accuracy what each page says now. It's awfully cute.

After reading the book, over and over and over and over (well, you get the point) we did some of the worksheets that you can download from Leap Frog. Even with those she was able to mostly tell me what each said. It has been so fun to see her vocabulary just blossom  these last few months. There was a period of time where I was concerned but no longer. "They" say the average three year old has an average of 300 words so one night a few days after her third birthday I sat down and made a list. In about an hour I had 301 and when I showed it to DH the next day he came up with a bunch more. Throughout that whole day I kept thinking - "Oh yeah, I forgot that one, I forgot that one...." So - no worries at this point.

One reason for the worry is that Bekah is not a good eater. She is an extreme picky eater and has been since she was about 13 months old. At that time was the first time she had the stomach flu and threw up a bunch of green beans. Since then she has not eaten anything green except for pickles and the occasional green apple. She later got ill again and stopped eating pasta, rice, other veggies like carrots and corn (she had had fried rice with veggies). About a month ago she was down to eating toast w/ peanut butter and jelly, some fruits, some cereal, cheese (only orange though) and of course chips and cookies. She wouldn't eat pudding or jello and had stopped eating applesauce and yogurt and string cheese (if it was white).  The biggest concern was that she had lost two lbs so at 3 she was 2 lbs less then she was at 2.It could get to a point where it could affect her development.

We took her to see an Occupational Therapist and while there is not yet an official diagnosis it sounds like they believe her to have "food anxiety". They are working with her each week on different foods. It's all very interesting. We have had a few sessions so far and it seems pretty positive. She is again eating yogurt and applesauce and took a bite of a fishstick. She did spit it out but at least she tried it! :) 

It is so weird to think of a toddler with an eating disorder but I heard from a friend who's daughter was in a treatment program that there was a whole wing for toddlers with severe eating disorders! It's hard to wrap one's mind around that.

I'm thankful that my doctor is pro-active and that we are getting her help early where habits are a little easier to change. Please continue to pray that all continues to go well and the treatment is a successful.

Have a great Monday!!!

2 comments:

RRigdon said...

Oh man. I will totally pray for Bekah. My Clara is a bad eater, and it is mind-breaking. Finally, at age 6, she's mostly over it. But I spent many a-two hour lunches making her eat (and praying that I wouldn't lose my mind and scar her for life with my twitching, scary Cruella DeVille face).

P.S. We never watch t.v. now (we keep it unplugged), but it was the hardest time to keep it off when mine were toddlers!!

Lori said...

I'm so glad you took this seriously and that Bekah's doctor did too. It is surprising how so many children at very young ages can have different anxiety disorders. It's good that you are working with her now and that you're doing it the right way. I hope she continues to do well.