Wednesday, May 28, 2008

More of Him

We have been working on this little development for, oh, a year and a half.


If you squint just so, you will see Brady's little tongue sticking out. Of course we have seen his tongue before, but it has never ventured past his lips. The muscles in his mouth have been especially slow to develop and the least responsive to therapy. Slowly but surely Brady's oral defensiveness has lessened and he has allowed us to touch his cheeks and lips and brush his teeth. On Saturday morning he gave me his best Good Morning smile, stuck out his tongue and hasn't stopped since.

This may sound silly but when you see a part of your child that has never shown itself before it's a really BIG deal. I can't stop thinking about it all day long! I call up Troy from work and ask if Brady is still sticking it out. Later Troy texts me a picture of Brady licking an ice cream cone. This boy who has had feeding therapy weekly for the last 18 months finally licked one of the sugary treats his therapist has patiently put in front of his mouth all this time. I am anticipating a later post that goes something like this... "how do I get him to stop sticking his tongue out at people?" He he.

9 comments:

Lindsay said...

YEAH! This is so exciting! Congratulations!

Nate said...

Go Brady! Sticking out your tongue is a very useful life skill! ;-)

Seriously, though, it took Whitney forever to start sticking out her tongue and she still doesn't do it very often. We'd love to get her licking an ice cream cone. Maybe Brady can come teach her sometime. We'll gladly provide the ice cream!

Angie said...

That's great! I love it! You are so right. It is a very big milestone for our kids. We can get Alayna to stick out the tip of her tongue, but she isn't anywhere close to being able to lick an ice cream cone. That will be so fun someday. It's these little things that brighten my day. Today has been a bit rough, but reading your blog and many others cheers me up. Way to go Brady and we look forward to reading your next update!

jenn said...

Never knew I'd be congratulating another Mom on how FANTASTIC it is that their son is sticking out his tounge, but YAY and CONGRATULATIONS! I love reading about all of Brady's great milestones. I'm so happy for all of you.

{jane} said...

This might be one of my favorite milestones of Brady's...meanwhile, I'm doing my own feeding therapy at our house...trying to keep the mouths closed and tongues inside!

I pretty excited for him to enjoy ice cream cones too!

Julie and Jason said...

Way to go Brady!! This was an awesome post for me to read about feeding therapy. Lily is in speech therapy with a focus on feeding. She will not take anything orally - only thing she will do is drink from a small medicine cup. It is great to hear with a lot of time and patience you can see great results and progress! I would love to hear any tips you have for this therapy and an orally defensive child! Take care!! Julie

Circuit Fam said...

I talked to Julie and she told me that you had a blog, so I googled your name and found it. I have spent 30 minutes looking at all the past blogs and what you guys have been up to. Brady is a doll and once he starts walking you will not catch him. Juls mentioned you may be coming out here. YOU NEED TO!!! Come see us. We miss you guys. I am so happy to be able to keep in touch better now. Take Care! Don't worry I weight 200 lbs right now. And the baby still isn't due for 8 more weeks.

jenn said...

Oh no! I just saw on your seizure counter that it is back to "0" days. Did Brady have a seizure today? I hope he's okay. We're thinking of you!

Jenn

Sara said...

So exciting! What a fun Milestone!