our little lady

as i've mentioned on at least a few occassions, miss emma is quite the avid eater. she likes just about every flavor profile, with the exception (ironically) of sweet. 

given emma's love of food, we've been able to integrate various skill-building opportunities into meal time. this means that we ensure her food has a variety of textures (so she masters those chewing and swallowing skills that are challenging for kiddos with low muscle tone), she is always self-feeding (with spoons, toddler-appropriate "forks," and her hands of course), she drinks out of cups to reinforce the lip closure so necessary for speech, and she learns table manners (when practical). 

we've had varied success with self-feeding, largely because emma is still working on grasping the spoon and flexing her wrist in the way necessary to eat off of the spoon. we've purchased a variety of different spoons to practice on and recently became enamored with a curved one that her occupational therapist brought to a recent session. once i figure out the brand, i'll be sure to share!

in the meantime, here's a short(ish) video of our little apple cheeks eating her pasta with tomatoes and olives. her technique is slowly improving. and, as you'll see, she's a rockstar at wiping her mouth!

love,
apple cheeks' mama