Little miracles

Little miracles happen every day. They may not seem like much, but each one of us has them and they mean something different to each person that experiences them. This week I had a couple of them that really made me happy. For those of you that don't know, my youngest son Joshua, is non-verbal and is currently learning sign language (he is 3 1/2 years old). He has been watching "Signing Time" for a really long time, and has learned a lot of his signs from it. A couple of days ago, he came up to me and started signing a TON of new signs. Not that they were new to our family, just "new" for him to do! He also started using the "squeeze machine" that we bought for him a couple of months ago. He had never used it before, but he started when a friend was babysitting him while I was at Girl Scouts on Wednesday. Now he uses it all the time! I think it is really helping him. Yesterday, he did something else brand new, he came up to me and put both of his hands on my stomach and twisted them really fast while making his excited face. (His excited face is when he opens his eyes really wide, blinks a lot and usually opens his mouth in a funny looking smile.) At first I wasn't sure what he was doing, but then he stepped back, then stepped forward and did it again. The light bulb came on! He was tickling me! I laughed (and cried) and then tickled him. He repeated this game for about 30 minutes! Tonight, we got daddy involved and Joshua played the tickling game with him too! Which is another little miracle. Joshua doesn't follow directions. For the longest time his therapists thought he was deaf, because it's like he doesn't even hear us. Tonight I told him "go tickle daddy!" and he did! We were able to do this multiple times:) Tonight he even showed me another new sign. "Bear". He did it while we were reading a bedtime story. Now, these little miracles might not seem like much to anyone else, but these mean the WORLD to me. These are HUGE steps in the right direction, and they re-affirm everything that we've been doing with him. Thank God for little miracles....

Chew Stixx and Chewy Tubes

All three of my children have oral sensory issues. My six year old daughter likes to bite all of her nails, eat toilet paper, tissues, tissue paper and string, she chews on her clothes and she sucks on her fingers. My four year old son sucks his thumb or chews on toys and my three year old son puts just about anything in his mouth, including his arm. When my two boys were in First Steps of Missouri, their Occupational Therapist recommended Chew Stixx and Chewy Tubes. These are chew toys made by The Sensory University. They come in many different shapes, colors and even flavors! I highly recommend them all! First you need to take a close look at your child's oral sensory needs. After you have assessed the situation, take a look at the different chew toys on the website to find which one would work best for you. My youngest really likes the "T" shaped Chewy Tubes and they really hold up. He keeps his with him 24/7 and it is almost always in his mouth, so when I say "they really hold up", I mean it! My daughter loves the flavored Chew Stixx (which help keep the cost of toilet paper down in my house...) and my middle son is happy with any of them! These products are great because they provide a safe alternative to chewing on themselves, clothes, toys, their homework.... pretty much anything else they can fit in their mouths! Each toy is  textured in different ways, which helps get them used to different textured foods and they make great hand fidgets! These are also FDA approved which makes me, as a mother, feel good and safe about giving them to my children. I have included a link to their website so please make sure to check them out!

http://www.sensoryuniversity.com/