Barret's Eating!

We finally found a technique that works with Barret.  He's added 11 foods to his diet in 3 days.  We're so proud and relieved!  He's doing awesome in therapy and is almost done with all of their programs.  

We could see that he was terrified to try new food, so we thought that it was because he injured his teeth twice in a row when he was two.  That's when he quit eating.  We've been trying a technique that gets him used to different textures and also helps him not to be scared of everything.  He had to put different foods on his tongue for certain lengths of time, then learn to close his mouth and chew it up, etc.  It was a long process.  Been going on for about 3 months.  But all he learned was that he's allowed to spit out the thing that he does NOT want to eat!  So, we were kind of at our wits end.

He hasn't eaten any meat since Christmas, so he's been down to bananas, granola bars, chips, crackers and chocolate milk.  Very scary.  He got lots of vitamins and instant breakfast to keep him alive.  He was eating more, but if we ever witheld something or didn't have it in the house for a week, he would never eat it again.  So, slowly he cut out almost everything before we realized what he was doing.

His favorite thing was Cheez-Its, but when I bought the ones with letters printed on them, he refused them for 3 weeks.  That put up a red flag for us.  He's not refusing textures, tastes or new foods, just food that is not his idea.  Which brought us to a new conclusion.  He's stubborn.  :)

Really, it's an OCD behavior.  If he's obsessed with controlling what he eats to the point of starvation or extremely limited diet, then it isn't fun for him.  It's an obsessive behavior that can' be cured by simply taking away what he likes.  Kids like that put themselves in the hospital and the stress causes the behavior to get worse.  

So, we treated the behavior like OCD instead of an eating disorder.  Which instantly cured him after 3 years of fighting and worrying about it.  When a kid starts getting an OCD behavior, you do NOT let them make it a routine or habit.  

For example, Barret used to turn lights on and off all over the downstairs before he would go pee.  Even if he had to pee really bad and was crying while doing the lights.  If it's not fun, it's an obsessive behavior.  So, I unscrewed the lightbulbs for a day so that he didn't get the reinforcement of the light going on and off.  He never did it again. 

So, here's what we did about food.  First they have to understand rewards, like you'll get ____ if you _____.  Sit them down and tell them, "You can have this chocolate milk if you eat this bite of chicken."  They will kick, scream, spit, snot, punch hit, throw themselves around etc.  You turn your body away from them and keep very still looking the other direction until they stop.  Then you repeat yourself, turn away from the badness, try again, etc. for hours until you break their little spirits.  :)

We only did it for an hour, then brought in Ted to demonstrate.  Ted ate the bite, then got a drink of BARRET's CHOCOLATE MILK that he had been screaming for for and hour.  God forbid!  So he quickly ate the bite and grabbed the chocolate milk. 

The next day took 45 minutes, then 30, now he'll just eat what we tell him to on command.  He's a little nervous about it and makes faces, but he's not resisting much at all.  It's a miracle. 

We want him to have a lot of successes, so we're working in things that we think will taste really good, or things that we know he used to eat.  So far he's added:

Cheez-Its with letters (ha!)

Apple Jacks

Wheat Thins

Graham Cracker Bees

Popcorn Chicken

Burger King fries (this is a bigger deal than you might think)

McDonald's Chicken Nuggets

Cherries

Cashews

Tater Tots

String Cheese

He even used a fork for the first time! This week we'll start on different sandwiches, fruits and vegetables.  Yay! 

Ted's Diarrhea

diarrhea.  there's not much funnier to a 7 year old boy.  The more he laughed, the more he diarrheaed, which made him laugh harder, therefore, he had more diarrhea, etc. etc. etc.  

Sad News

Ted and Barret's Granny had a heart attack and died yesterday.  Barret really doesn't understand anything yet, but we told Ted and he was a little sad, but too young to have a real breakdown.  He was so sweet!  He said, "Well, at least we have the rest of our family."  And he said that the last time he saw Granny, she played Legos with him.  "Those were the days." he said, which I thought was very cute and as funny as it could be, given the circumstances.  He did say that Grandad would be the saddest since Granny was his husband, which gave us a much needed moment of comic relief.  Barret said, "Granny Penguins Christmas" which surpirsed me a little.  Granny gave him the penguins computer game for Christmas, which he is obsessed with.  So, he may understand a little.  I took him to her room and told him that she was gone and that we would miss her.  The boys (including Dave) are getting real suits with ties for the funeral, so I can't wait to see them looking like little men!  She'll have a viewing at Laughlin Funeral Home on Sunday in the same room that my brother Scott was in for his.  This is just really hard for us because we were so close to Dave's mom.  I know this is a sad post, but I wanted to remember and share how the boys are doing.  

Never teach your 7 yr old advance I.T. messaging techniques

Neil set up IM Messenging on Sydney's computer, you know, so he doesn't have to come upstairs to tell them to get ready for bed, brush their teeth, etc. while I'm gone. Well, here's an example of how the system works:

Message from TINKERBELL (Sydney) to Main (Neil) on 1/13/09 6:18:26 PM
"we are going to have hotpockets and that is that."

Knuckle Bumpin' Everyone

I gave Ted a "real" haircut for the first time and it's soooooooo cute that I had to share, and brag on my haircutting skillz.  He really needed a haircut because he looked like one of the Beatles.  So, I asked him if he wanted it shaved like Barret, cut like Jakes (that's what he calls a normal haircut, slightly longer on top) or if he wanted to leave the top really long like Carter.  

He said that he wanted it short in the front with no bangs, but leave the back long.  I tried really hard not to laugh, just in case he seriously wanted a mullet, I didn't want to make it taboo so that he would always want a mullet.  But I absolutely DID NOT want to give him a mullet, so I said "Okay.  I'll just cut it to match the wig that Becky and Dad wore for Halloween.  You want a mullet, right?" This image entered his head:

 Of course he was like, "no no no! wait a minute. wait a minute.  I want a mohawk but not all the way back.  So, then I was happy because the faux hawk is SO cute and he's always been too embarrassed to spike his hair up.  So, now he has one and it's really cool.  He says that he looks like "a spikey faux hawk dude that goes around knuckle bumpin' everyone that he passes".  (That's like a high five with fists, for you old folks)  

I cannot look at these pictures without laughing!  It's too cute with no teeth.  When it turned out cute I told ted that I wished I had given Barret a faux hawk too.  I just shaved his really short for the EEG tomorrow.  But Ted thought that Barret was pleeeezed with his "no hawk" haircut.

I thought I had KIDS not ADULTS!!!

SO... we're driving down I-65, me (Shana) and Sydney and Ally.
Then out of the clear blue sky drops this conversation:

Sydney to Mommy: "So, did John McCain just go back to his regular life?"
Mommy to Sydney (slightly amazed at this question): "Yes, he is still a senator in Washington DC." (Background: They had a mock election at their school)

Ally to Sydney (Mommy now excluded, Ally very serious and matter of fact): "Didn't you vote for Rock Obama?"
Sydney to Ally: "No, I voted for John McCain. Daddy voted for Barak Obama."
Ally to Sydney (now getting the name right): "Oh, I thought you voted for Barak Obama."
Sydney to Ally (equally serious and perfectly comfortable with this conversation): "Me and mommy voted for John McCain, and Daddy voted for Barak Obama."
Ally: "Oh, ok... Daddy won!"

And ya'll got new toys!

I was telling Sydney about how chicken feet have liters (sp?) inside which they pull to make their toes curl. I showed her in my wrist how when I make a fist my tendons in my wrist stick out, and that's what curls my fingers into a fist. Then the conversation went a little like this:

Shana: So you see this right here? Your muscles pull those and your fingers curl. That's how a chicken's feet do it, by pulling those "strings".
Sydney: (Checking her wrist) Mine hardly sticks out at all.
Shana: When WE were little, Paw Paw used to kill a chicken for us to eat you know...
Sydney: (interrupting without hesitation) AND YA'LL GOT NEW TOYS!