Monday, November 17, 2008

Kid speak and other happenings

I'll start off with what Kalista said right before dinner tonight. . .

Isaac and Kalista were playing around waiting for dinner to be ready when the little man starting talking about what he was going to have for snack. He told Erin, then he told me, and finally he went up to Kalista and said "Hey, Sissy I am going to have ice cream for snack!" And Kalista's big sister response . . . "Isaac! I know, I know I know!!!! It's not like I don't have ears!" Such love!!!

My other news revolves around Kalista as well. The last several weeks have been very stressful, especially around meal time. If you have read any of my post pertaining to Kalista's eating problems you would understand. It all came to a head early last week when we made a visit to the dr. and got a referral to an occupational therapist. Tuesday afternoon Erin and I took off a 1/2 to go with Kalista to her new "eating" dr. for an evaluation of her sensory and eating issues. Kalista was asked lots of questions and observed eating food she liked and foods she had trouble with. We are still waiting the official results of her eval, but the OT was fairly certain she needs some help of her auditory, visual, and tactile senses. Kalista is also what is called a "resistant" eater. This is different than a picky eater in several ways. Three big things being that one) she won't eventually eat when she gets hungry enough (some resistant eaters have starved themselves into hospitalization) and two) she doesn't have a normal sensation of hunger, so she may not know when she needs to eat, and 3) when she seems to get distracted at meal times, it is more than likely she is just overstimulated, and not just trying to stall the eating process. Her brain just has trouble processing all the smells, sights, sounds, and textures that go along with a big meal.

So that is a big paragraph of what is going on!! Our next step is to see the OT once a month for therapy and keep up the new food campaign at home. This week we are working on carrots, and so far she had swallowed several bites. . . Please keep Kalista and us in your prayers and we work through this.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know it must be frustrating dealing with eating issues, but at least now you know it's more than being stubborn! Your in my prayers for patience and for Calista.