Thursday, February 24, 2011

Overheard...

I heard Bekah playing with her dolls today and listened in on the following conversation....

Baby doll: "Mommy, Mommy, stay home with Daddy and me."

Mommy doll: "No, I have to go to work."

Baby doll: "Please Mommy, stay home and play with me."

Mommy doll: "Do you want to eat?"

Sigh..... the cold, hard facts of life - do they have to learn them so young?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bekah's Eating

Myth = Eating is easy

Truth: Eating is the MOST complex physical task that human beings engage in. It is the ONLY human task which requires every one of your organ systems, and requires that those systems work correctly. In addition, EVERY muscle in the body is involved (one swallow for example, takes 26 muscles and 6 cranial nerves to coordinate). Plus, eating is the only task children do which requires simultaneous coordination of all eight of our sensory systems.

Many of you have heard me talk about Bekah's eating issues. We aren't really sure why she has issues - we are assuming it was because it was the numerous bouts of stomach flu she had as an infant that caused these negative reactions to food. We could be wrong though and it could be something totally different. We may never know. Bekah at this time can't really articulate the whys and by the time she is able to she may not know herself.

We enrolled her in an SOS feeding program (Sequential Oral Sensory) which was developed by Kay A. Toomey. She did very well in this program and while she is not eating a huge amount of new foods she has added some and is growing and developing as she should. When we started she would eat some fruits, orange cheese, chicken ring nuggets (only the ring shaped), some cereal, PB&J sandwiches and a few other things. Certain foods would make her scream, tantrum and/or vomit just by looking at it. There were days where she would just see me take something out of the cupboard to start making it for dinner and would just have a total melt down. Those issues are gone. She will now tolerate most food on her plate-though she remains quite adamant that she is not eating that. Since the therapy she will now eat cheese pizza, yogurt, mozzarella cheese, pickles, raisins, and a few other items. In the last few months she has begun to eat "regular" chicken nuggets. (It was almost silly the emotions I felt the first time we went to McDonalds and was able to order her a regular Happy Meal).

The cheese pizza was a huge process that took almost 8 months. We started with baking just some plain crusts with a little bit of butter on it. I had her help and see what it was. She has always liked garlic so it was not a big step to make it garlic butter on the crust. Adding cheese took a long time. She liked cheese but could not tolerate melted cheese. It took several times of having her put the cheese on and then watching it melt while in the oven for her to feel safe enough to take a bite. After that we began to add a smidgen of sauce and slowly increased it. Today she will eat most any cheese pizza and now will even share a pizza with Lizzie that has veggies and pepperoni or sausage on half.

Through this process I have "met" many people that are going through similar issues. Most of them are via the Internet and we have shared many emails encouraging each other and swapping stories. God has also brought people right here in my hometown with similar issues which has been such a blessing. It allows one to find humor in the journey and knowing that we are not alone or that it is an issue of "bad parenting" is comforting - to say the least.

One of my 'online buddies' sent me this video. I can't believe I missed this but will add this in here so if interested you can see a little of what Bekah deals with. ABC - Extremely Picky Eaters Struggle

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Bekah's Birthday

Rebekah celebrated her 4th birthday in December (yes, I'm late getting the pictures out)!  I can't believe it has been 4 years since she was born...it's been so fun watching her grow. 

We started the day, bright and early, by making cupcakes. Bekah loves to help cook in the kitchen and has gotten quite talented at adding ingredients, cracking eggs and stirring them all together. We did cupcakes as they were quicker to do since time was limited.

 While the cupcakes were baking we blew up balloons and decorated. After all one can't have a party without decorations and balloons! The more balloons the better. I had bought a big bag of balloons at the dollar store - lesson learned! :) lol About 1/3 of them were unusable due to holes or being malformed. However, I do believe it was still cheaper in the long run then buying super expensive balloons and having them all work!

Around 10:30 AM several of her little friends showed up - we had 12 kids in total - 11 of those 4 and under. Praise God three of the moms stayed and helped.  Thanks ladies!!! 
Bekah loves to do arts and crafts so when I asked her what she wanted to do at her birthday party she quickly responded "Paint!"  Oh Boy! So I purchased some frames for $1 each at Michael's and some decorative items to add on there as well as paint and paint brushes. I also picked up some plastic table clothes at the dollar store. 
I wasn't sure what to expect - that many children in my small house with paint. But I must say they all did a great job. There was no paint spilled on the floor and it was all on the plastic table cover. Kid's clothes were relatively clean (Yes, I did warn parents and told them to come in 'get dirty' clothes). I learned a few lessons as well though: First - don't give kids every color of paint - I think most of the kids went home with army green/gray frames as they mixed all the colors together. Later we had extra frames and I gave Lizzie and Bekah just two colors each (two that when mixed, would make another pretty color). :) Oh well - live and learn. My second lesson learned is that kids do crafts in variable amounts of time. Bekah is one who can sit for well over an hour working on something...not so much with other 2, 3 and 4 year olds. However, the ones that were done early did a great job cleaning up and playing nicely while the others finished. 



 After painting we had pizza - and let it be know that three Jack's pizza will feed 4 mom's and 12 kids! :) And of course cupcakes! Bekah wanted green and pink so we got some "spray" frosting in those colors and she sprayed each one after I frosted it with a white base. If I was really nifty like Amanda over at I Am Baker I could have been much more creative with the cake...but alas - it is not my gift!: ) Pink cupcakes with pink and green frosting.


 
I believe a good time was had by all! :)  Bekah loved creating the frames and still talks about it. One thing about winter birthdays is you can't really have them outside. Going to Chuck E Cheese's is just way beyond our price range (do you know they charge about $18 PER KID for a party there and you get a slice of pizza, a pop and a piece of cake with a few tokens for each one!) So I need to put on my creative hat and start thinking up many more ideas for the future. Anyone want to share some???

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Bedtime Stories

Usually we read stories to the girls before bed. Tonight Bekah (age 4 years 1 month) created and told her own:

Once upon a time there was a princess. Her name was Bekah. She lived in a big castle and had a pink egg. Inside the egg was a baby dragon. One day the dragon hatched. Bekah named the dragon Zoey. She (Zoey) roared very loudly. They lived very happy. The end!