This & That!

This week we have spent a lot of time going to the pediatrician's office. Paprika has had a lot of problems eating over the past few years, and we kept thinking it would get better on its own, or that she'd grow out of her very picky/restrictive eating...but no such luck (so far).

So, this week we took her to a new pediatrician, and then to another pediatrician to get a second opinion. Both pediatricians recommended Occupational Therapy (OT), in addition to some other things...so this week we also had a full (two hour) evaluation with an OT who specializes in pediatric feeding/eating disorders.

We are starting OT two times/week, and although I can't say I am totally excited about it, I am excited about Paprika getting some help. Especially before she starts kindergarten. I want her to be able to enjoy eating, or at least have a wider palate of foods she is able to eat.

She has a really good grasp on when she's hungry and full, and that is something I did not want to mess with...which is why we took a "relaxed" approach up until now. But, it's gotten to the point that it's really hard for her to be in any social situation involving food, and the foods she will eat are down to about 9 different foods total. One specific food item/brand is one kind of food...meaning, she will only have one kind of juice box (the green one with the mermaid on it from Trader Joe's, in case anyone is wondering!) Here are the nine things she will eat:

-corn chips from Trader Joe's
-S'mores Luna Bars
-Green Juice Box from Trader Joe's
-carrot sticks
-cinnamon graham crackers (again, trader joe's brand)
-cat cookies from trader joe's
-onion bagel (plain)
-chocolate
-chocolate chip cookie
-water

She is in the 95% for height and 75% for weight, so physically it's not so much of a concern (yet). It's more that she is really imprisoned by her food issues, and it impacts her life, and all of our lives, on a daily basis.

Mealtimes are very anxious and she has a really hard time even being in the presence of other food items (the smell and sight overwhelm her). I am really hopeful that the OT will help! I have done a lot of reading on the subject and know that we have a pretty long road ahead of us to some type of recovery, but obviously it's a journey worth taking!



Ginger has been adding a few words to her vocabulary. I know she can talk more than she lets on because I will ask her to say a word (like "please") in order to get a reward, and she will totally say the word perfectly!

But, she is not nearly as verbal as Paprika was at this age. We were looking back through the archives of the blog last night and reading about Paprika at 17 months, and she could have full conversations at this age and sing songs with real words. And I thought that was very average back then, but now I am finding out that most 17 month old kids aren't able to hold full conversations with adults, reason analytically, and sing multi-verse songs from memory. Go figure!

I think if I brought up my concerns about Ginger's speech to our pediatrician, she would just laugh because Ginger can say many words, probably more words than the average 17 month old. And I know she can understand everything we say. It's just different raising these two kiddos, I'm finding out! I thought they would be very similar, and although they are in a lot of ways, they are also very different in others. Ginger, for example, eats whatever I put in front of her!

It's not better or worse, of course- just different!