OT update

If you've been paying attention, those who read faithfully, Matthew has been in OT now for several weeks. I think we're on week 7 actually. He has been doing well, our therapist, Ms. Jennifer is awesome. I mean AWESOME. And I've agreed to do whatever she says, whatever she tells me to do with him. The hardest part is being firm. (Imagine that?) and not giving in to him... We have a chart with rules on it written by J each week. I like that I'm supposed to be enforcing HER rules. It's easier to enforce someone else's rules, don't you think? Her rules are simple. No whining, no fussing, no crying or no sticker. Each day has a box next to the day of the week and if he completes that day's "assignment" he earns a sticker in that box. The objective there is that if he brings HER back the chart, she gives him a prize. Last week, he had too many Xs and not enough stickers to earn a prize. BIG SAD DEAL. Last week was bad. Very very bad. Lots of attitude. We were recovering from a long weekend of late nights and were a very tired household. Sadly this resulted in lots of fussing which meant no stickers. It's a sad day if he doesn't get that sticker. Oh he hits the floor in a crying humpled mess and it's just bad. Very important to earn those stickers so he can get his prize from J. Anyhow, I sort of derailed.

Anyhow, I wanted to update with what he's done so far...
Reminder: PRE OT: he only ate bacon, peanut butter by the spoonfuls, yogurt, cereal, cereal bars, apples, grapes, banana, any kind of chips/crouton/cracker, and crispy (not squishy) french fries, and when given, cookies and ice cream. Again, Seriously. no pasta, no meat (aside bacon), no bread, no veggies....

I say that to say...
In the first two weeks, we were able to add fresh pears to his list. I was pleased with this, it happened fairly quickly, it was a struggle but not awful and added an additional option to the fruit list. Fruit hasn't been our problem, but we needed to start somewhere.

In the next three weeks, we added raw baby carrots! (A veggie!!!!) Now, the first week of that we were hiding a sliver of carrot in a goldfish cracker for him to eat a "sandwich" (I can't make this stuff up, people). That week was torture. Pure torture. After a week of that, we moved to a small tiny bite without the cracker and after a week of that, we moved to a length-wise cut half of carrot. Each lunch and dinner last week he got a half a raw baby carrot. So by the end of the day he had a whole one. Some days were great, some days were horrible... This week we're on to a whole one per lunch and dinner. The day I can throw 3 or 4 on his lunch plate without him crying will be a happy happy day! My kid is eating a vegetable!

Also in the past three weeks, she's been working with Matthew to be able to TOUCH a chicken nugget without crying. Oh mercy. The horror! Can you imagine it? Being forced to TOUCH chicken!? Well last week she succeeded, and we broke through! During session on Wed, he ate a WHOLE (over the course of 25 minutes) chicken nugget, bite by bite, dipped in peanut butter. (Say what?!) Yes, you heard me ... dipped in peanut butter. But you know what? I. don't. care. If he wants to dip the whole fridge in peanut butter to eat it, he can. Shoot, as a kid I COVERED everything with ketchup. Everything... mac and cheese, eggs, sandwiches, you name it and I dunked it in ketchup. Peanut butter is Matthew's ketchup.

In addition to the nugget, which I thought was substantial enough on her own... we also tried nuts on Wed. And in the session he ate about ten peanuts and ten cashews, all dipped in peanut butter.

When J came out to tell me this, I about fell out the chair. She had to be joking! WHAT?! What did my kid do!? I really couldn't believe it!

So we have a chart this week for three things:
1 every day to eat his carrot.
2 three days to eat nuts and
3 three days to eat a chicken nugget dipped in peanut butter.

Thursday and Friday at lunch both, he ate the nuts, dipped in peanut butter. I was shocked and amazed. And he was very willing to do this. He apparently likes nuts! And last night, we did a chicken nugget. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. But he did it. I told him I'd make him his bacon if he ate his chicken. He seemed pleased with this agreement! It took about 15 minutes with four bites to eat the one small nugget and each bite was heaped with peanut butter but I was doing the happy dance! I could not believe it!

That's in addition to trying my new homemade bars yesterday!

Sooooo I got brave this morning...

I gave him his cereal like normal (cereal every single day for breakfast) and he was happily eating that while I started making Jamie, Mark and I pancakes... I made a small silver dollar size pancake and put it on a kiddo plate... and spread peanut butter on half of it... and put it on the table... AND the fussing started... but I talked to him, told him how proud I was that he'd eaten my new bars yesterday and how he was doing such a great job with his nuts and chicken and carrots and I wanted to just see if he could take ONE bite of this pancake. He challenged me immediately that THIS was NOT on Ms. Jennifer's chart! I had to think quickly and come up with a response. It took some encouraging and bribery. But he did it. He ate one bite of pancake this morning. My child just ate bread! Now, could I convince him to eat the rest of it? No. We made a deal for one bite-- smart little cookie, huh? But he did it...

This week he has added nuts and has tried chicken and a new bar and a bite of pancake. This is looking to be a very good week.

(proof)