So many new things!

Finally, at 31 months... Garrett draws with crayons (instead of eating them).



He also eats spanish rice and plays peek-a-boo.

Applesauce!

Garrett has been eating applesauce since Tuesday. I tried to feed it to him with a spoon and he wouldn't go for it. I was ready to give up, but decided to put some applesauce right on his tray. He tried to move it and didn't like that it stuck to his hand so he wiped it on the edge of the tray. When it still didn't come off, he licked his fingers. His face lit up, so I knew that he liked it. I set the whole bowl of applesauce in front of him and let him go at it. He shoveled into his mouth with his hand.

He's had it four times since then and he really likes it.

Another big step for Garrett.

Occupational Therapy - Session 2 with Michelle

Michelle gave us a new sensory brush and taught me to combine the brushing protocol with joint compression. We did 10 reps at the beginning of the session and Garrett calmed down almost immediately. He sat down and played with us for about 40 minutes. I'm supposed to do it every two hours, but Michelle said that we can just try to do it 2 to 4 times a day and work it into our routine.

Michelle is really trying to work with me on Garrett's feeding issues, since most of his problems are sensory related. We made a list of foods that he will always eat, foods that he eats in cycles, and foods that he always refuses. She also made note of his new preference for straight-from-the-freezer frozen waffles and the fact that he takes bites of bagels, spits them out and then goes back to them to eat.

We are going to combine textures to see what he does. It's going to be a lot of trial and error.

He signs drink!

Garrett has been signing drink at ABA for a few weeks now, but he would never do it for me. I've still been doing hand over hand and making him sign before I give him a cup and he would just grunt and get mad at me. Today, we did the same thing. I made him sign hand over hand the first time. He took a drink and handed the cup back to me and then made the sign with him hand and I pushed it to his face and said "drink". The next time around, he did it by himself!

THIS IS HUGE!

I was sitting on the couch tonight watching a movie with Bronson. Garrett was playing with some toys in front of us. Suddenly, he walked up and climbed on my lap. He does this every once and a while, so I didn't think anything of it.

But then he grabbed my hands and put them on my face.

He initiated a game of peek-a-boo!

This is BIG!

Update to head banging

We met with a physician's assistant at the base clinic on Friday. She said that Garrett has a hemotoma and that if the behavior doesn't stop, he will eventually develop a bone callus.

No bueno.

She did recommend a helmet. I picked him up a martial arts sparring helmet at a second hand store. It doesn't fit him correctly and he hates it. I sent an email to his OT, since we won't see her again until Friday. I'm also thinking about sending an email to his developmental pediatrician and see if he can get Tricare to cover a real "special needs" helmet. Those are pretty expensive since most of them are custom fit.

The PA said that the next step is anti-anxiety meds. She said that's the last resort, but unfortunately, it would be next step if we can't get him to stop with behavioral therapy and the helmet doesn't deter him. I would HATE to put him on meds already. He's still so little.

Head Banging

The head banging stopped for two or three weeks. He's doing again and now he's hitting his head even harder. I made him an appointment with a doctor in the military clinic. It's not his regular doctor, so we'll see what happens.

I'm pretty sure that our only options are medication, a helmet or just continuing with ABA and trying to find a different behavior that fills the need.

I really don't want to put him on medication. He's so little.