Building Skills for Life

Another photo of Bertrand holding his own bottle. It never gets old!And, yes, he is man enough to borrow his sister's bedsheets when his are in the wash. ;)

This is an entry for our bloggy friend, Barbara's, blog carnival based on the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) 2012 theme, Building Skills for Life.

The first 3 years of Bertrand's life, we were so desperate to do everything and anything to help our son that we didn't take time to prioritize our activities with him. The birth of our daughter, Victoria, harkened a paradigm shift. We could no longer waste time doing therapy for therapy's sake. Therapy had to provide a measurable benefit for Bertrand.

We shifted our focus to building skills for life. We had to evaluate, cut back, and in very few cases add therapy. To everyone's astonishment, Bertrand is flourishing! It's obvious in hindsight, but we learned that doing a few things intensively and consistently yields better results than doing many things sporadically.

The October and December intensive therapy sessions at Now I Can, while valuable in and of themselves, forced us to consider what and how we provided for Bertrand at home. (He has me wrapped around his little finger, so Mrs-Tough-Mommy-Therapist, I am not.) We hired two WONDERFUL therapeutic aides for Bertrand--Miss A and Miss V--to implement the significant at-home exercise programs which was prescribed. Together we established a few goals.

Goal number one: sitting safely. Bertrand could sit upright when placed on the floor, but because of his movement disorder, he would fall over and hurt himself. Now, he keeps one arm down, braced on the floor, or reaches down to brace himself. He rarely falls! This was a continuation of his work with Now I Can.

Goal number two: self-feeding. Bertrand was still being fed soft foods and a baby bottle for most meals. So for every meal, even though it would be faster or easier to do it for him, we helped Bertrand hold his own bottle. And now? He can hold his own bottle for most of the meal!

In this same vein, he is made to hold his spoon to feed himself his applesauce snack in the afternoons and we've varied the textures in his dinner--expanding his palate. None of this goes smoothly. It is messy. At the start, he is unhappy, BUT he does it. And he is getting better! Every. Single. Day. You can see his growing pride and initiative reflected in his beautiful smiles!

Other broad, lofty goals include: mobility (walking, power wheelchair), potty training, and communication (speaking, reading). WHY NOT? Hopefully, we've got some time with him. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Yes, these are skills for Bertrand's life, but they are also skills for our family life. The more interactive and happier Bertrand becomes, the happier we ALL are. :)

Lunch Time

Both kids are "feeding" themselves. :)

Food Sensitivity

At Bertrand's follow-up with the naturopathic doctor today, we received the results for his IgG food sensitivity panel. According to this test he is highly reactive to most dairy... AND soy. (Oops! So much for soy milk.) We'll seek a consultation with an allergist. In the meantime, we'll continue to experiment with a non-dairy/non-soy regimen for Bertrand. Good thing he loves coconut milk.

Occupational Therapy: Session 3/31/09

Today Bertrand met with Annie Miller, Occupational Therapist, and Maggie Chaney, Nutrition Consultant. Meeting with Annie, on top of being fun, always generates lots of great concepts to try with Bertrand.

1. Bertrand was issued a cut-out-cup for cup drinking. (Didn't go so well tonight, but we'll try again tomorrow with yogurt smoothie.)
2. We will continue Bertrand's body brushing program with added muscle compressions.
3. Bertrand will be encouraged to touch himself with a particular emphasis on his mouth/face area.
4. We'll provide mouthing opportunities with soaked cloths and wrist rattles.
5. Because the thin consistency of juice may be turning him off, we'll try thicker fruit nectar.
6. If we can accomplish it, V8 Splash would also be a good source of for vegetables.
7. Generic cheerios soften more quickly so, if soaked, they may succeed where brand name Cheerios have failed. :)
8. Because of Bertrand's largely milk/formula diet, he does not get as much sodium or potassium as he should. We should speak to Dr. Samson-Fang about adding "Lite Salt" to his baby food.

Of all the recommendations, Matthew's favorite is hydrotherapy. Since I am a firm shower person, I can't fathom putting Bertrand through his paces in a bath tub much less a hot tub. But, if Matt is willing to both shell-out for the hot tub (tax deductible prescribed medical expense) and work with Bertrand in it, I will support them. And, I'll videotape it! ;)

Eating at Chez Bertrand

Bertrand has become an increasingly picky eater the past few months. He is a far cry from the little 3 month old who would eat anything you put in front of him. In an effort to whet his appetite, I've been trying a variety of foods on Bertrand. While yogurt is still king, we had moderate success with the two items below.

This frittata was remarkably successful with Bertrand. I've been on a frittata kick thanks to the amazing frittata pan I got for x-mas. I made it from left over veggies in my fridge: squash, new potatoes, cucumber, green onions, parsley, swiss cheese, and, of course, egg. I thought that this would be my first flop, due to the hodgepodge nature of the ingredients--it wasn't. Bertrand loved in particular the egg, cucumber chunks and squash. Go figure.

Bertrand hated this "chili" the first day, but loved it the next. While I was making adult chili, I set aside a handful of kidney beans, and once our chili was done, I added a tablespoon full of our chili to the beans and threw it all in the food processor. It's worth mentioning that the adult chili base wasn't your traditional chili. There was lean ground beef (seasoned with adobo), roma tomatoes, green bell pepper, red & yellow onion, red pepper flakes, garlic, fresh cilantro, ground black pepper and sea salt. The result was a nuanced and flavorful, but mild, chili. Matt agreed with Bertrand that it was even better the next day. :)

Happy Little Trees... Yummy Little Food

Bertrand likes to play with his pictures.

In our ongoing efforts to expand Bertrand's palate, we've delved into the past to find techniques that work. When I was little, my mother would draw pictures to get me to eat. Turns out, it works for Bertrand too! Shapes, colors, funny faces... Bertrand enjoys the distraction from the peas. Therefore, he eats! I hope it keeps working. :)

Bertrand, Le Gourmand

The conversion of minestrone into full, happy baby.

Today we found the trick to getting around Bertrand's picky eating: feed him cuisine. Turns out little Bertrand is a gourmand. Zwieback toast: no, no! Pyrenes Onetik Poivre Vert (a French/Basque cheese with green peppercorns): oui, oui! Homemade zuppa di minestrone Milanese: sì, sì!

Maybe baby food is too bland? He seems to love spices. And, no, he has not shown allergy symptoms to anything so far! The only symptom he is showing is increased appetite for solid food. :)

Thanks to Titi Mimi (pictured above) for the great cooking and inspiration!

Big Boy Food!

"Mmm... That tastes interesting."

Today, Bertrand munched happily on a graham cracker that I held for him, and ate 'tender chicken and stars' for dinner without too much drama. :) Our boy is growing up!