Steep Learning Curve

As the mother of seven other children, I figured I was pretty well prepared to teach my youngest son how to eat. Little did I know I had no clue.

My youngest son has low muscle tone, secondary to mild Cerebral Palsy. Because of his low muscle tone, he has issues with reflux, among other things. He also has trouble with eating (who knew you needed such strong muscles around your mouth?). Kids have been tried to be picky and our SPD daughter's food choices are limited by what is overwhelming to her sense of taste, but none of the other seven kids ever had trouble with the technical side of eating.

Thus begins my education.

Because our son was diagnosed early (thanks to great doctors and specialists), we were able to begin services shortly after his first birthday. The speech therapist (who also works with our daughter) has been wonderful, giving me tips and tricks, and educating me about what is wrong with how my little man eats and what I need to do differently.

We've been working on this stuff for almost a year now, and I thought we were doing better. At least until  I gave my young son a hot dog (very carefully cut into strips so he wouldn't choke). He took great bites, and before I knew it, his hot dog was gone. Only it wasn't.  When I changed his clothes, I discovered that he'd done a great job biting the hot dog, but the chewing and swallowing left a little to be desired. And, once he got done with the part he could accomplish, he just spit the rest out on his shirt.

So continues my education.