Making and Baking!

One of Paprika's favorite things to do is bake. And when she's "making" (as she calls it), you'd better get out of the kitchen!

I have no idea how she learned to bake. She throws a lot of things in a bowl, and mixes them together, and voila. It's sometimes edible, and always interesting! I stay out of her way because Lord knows, I am no help in the kitchen!

Flour, eggs, oil, milk, sugar, butter, baking powder...somehow she finds things to throw together. This cake was one of her more edible creations. Her oil, butter, and strawberry salad she made the other day was NOT!

I usually try to steer her towards the expiring/expired things in the pantry, or at least the things that are easily replaceable. When she reaches for the vanilla extract, real maple syrup, or cumin, I quickly redirect! Haha!



Now if only we could get her to eat those creations we'd be getting somewhere! Paprika is still having a lot of trouble with eating, and with all her sensory stuff in general. We took her to a pediatric clinic a few months ago for a thorough evaluation with a pediatric occupational therapist (OT). Long story short, the therapist was not a good match for Paprika. He was a young guy with no kids and they just didn't connect.

We followed our instincts and instead hired a private (out of network) occupational pediatric sensory and feeding specialist to come to our house to work with Paprika on a weekly basis. She is amazing - I can't say enough good things about her and the miracles of what the right Occupational Therapist can do for a child!



One thing she noticed right away is that Paprika does not move her tongue at all when she eats. She does not move it from side to side. She does not push the food around. It makes it extremely difficult for her to eat, and so she has learned to only eat a few "safe" foods that she can control easily in her mouth and eat with very little effort. This probably goes back to when Paprika was an infant and had silent reflux, so eating was painful for her, and she learned to associate food with pain.

I know the occupational therapy process is long, very long...but I am hopeful that we will see some real results before too long.

Paprika has some very real sensory issues that we need to address before she can start school. Right now being in a classroom of 20 kids would be way too much for her. She has a really hard time with crowds, lights, and noise, for starters.



We have a really quiet home, and it is a calm little oasis for her here. But when she gets into an environment with distractions, she literally shuts down. I really started to notice this with her school assessments. At home, she can whiz through the Brain Quest books for Kindergarten and do all the problems in her head. But at school, she cannot even identify basic body parts she's known since she was two.

Paprika's pediatrician, occupational therapists, pre-k teachers, and even her piano teacher have pointed out to me how hard a time Paprika has in group environments and with sensory stuff. So, it's not just me being a worried mom...which is actually what I thought for the longest time! ;-)



The good news is that she is happy and healthy, sweet and loving to her baby sister and everyone else she meets. Can you really hope for more?

Speaking of that "baby sister" - she is turning 23 months tomorrow. I have no idea what we're doing for her birthday! Tick tock! I think she'll be happy with anything. Even though she asks for a dog every single day (as does Paprika), I just don't think we're ready to go there yet. Anyone have a dog we can rent for a few hours? Haha!