A Tale of Two Spoons

…okay, a lot more than two, but you get the picture.

Piper has been capable of using a spoon since around her first birthday. 

However.  She didn’t want us to KNOW that she could.  She’d take a couple bites and then STOP.  It was the “I’ll do it because you’re making me, NOT because I want to, so two bites is all you’re gonna get” routine. 

Lovely.

So, in the meantime, I’ve NOT been pushing it (I really didn’t want to discourage her from eating- we still live in the land of every calorie counts, and if finger feeding is how it works, then so be it), but expanding my culinary skills making everything finger-feeding-friendly.  And trying 18 million different kinds of spoons and forks.

Low and behold, I found them.  For a few weeks now, Piper actually ASKS for her spoon and fork, uses them for the whole meal, and does it cleanly.  Holy smokes.

The magic utensils?  These by OXO Tots.

It appears that her hesitation, at least partly, a sensory thing.  These weigh about twice what most of hers do- not so much as to be inhibitory, but enough that she can really feel where the spoon is in space.  Who knew?

So we took it one step further, and tried a heavy open-topped glass.

Guess what?

It worked.  Well. 

I had tried all kinds of sizes of glasses in the “kiddie” lines.  We even have the recessed lid, handled cup from Talk Tools:and the nosey cup:because those are the “typical” tools for teaching.  She could do them, but it didn’t relate to a real glass very well. 

So during therapy, I was looking to see what kinds of options I had in the cupboard- trying out different widths, etc, and pulled out one of our regular juice glasses.  I put some Keifer in because it’s thick, and she could totally do it by herself.  With NO issues. 

Our glasses weigh a TON- they’re about 3” across and have a 1/2” solid glass bottom.  Apparently the extra weight is what makes Piper able to use them.

Then, when we added the thick Keifer that pours slowly, she was really able to control it well.  So  now we’re watering it down with milk, little by little, until we get to regular consistencies. 

The only problem we’ve had was once she got really excited for her “yogurt milk” and put her mouth on the top of the glass instead of on the bottom.  And proceeded to tip.  NOT so good, lol.

Anyway, I wanted to share what worked for Piper- I wouldn’t have thought about making everything HEAVIER, that’s for sure!