Breakthrough for Taylor!

So, I have to tell about our small breakthrough for Taylor this week.

First, for those of you who don't live around me and/or haven't heard our dilemmas with Taylor's eating, you have to understand that Taylor has some serious eating issues - more along the lines of a disorder than picky. It really isn't just a picky little kid. We did an eating class when she was 2-3 to try to hlep, but it didn't at all. So, the whole eating thing has been something we have all fought since she was little and it hasn't improved that much.

Taylor's food during a typical week:

• **about 40 go-gurts (no exaggeration here - today she had EIGHT of them, she prefers blue, but will tolerate purple or pink IF she has one blue with it and/or there are NO blues in the house - but 6 months ago she wouldn't even eat the pink or purple ones at all),
• **about half a big box of crackers (Wheat Thins "yellow crackers" or Cheez-Its "red crackers" - the box is red!)
• **probably close to an entire family size bag of chips (a combination of three chips: Doritos "Red ones", Cool-Ranch Doritos "Blue ones" and Cheetos)
• **6-8 packages of fruit snacks (fruit by the foot or shaped fruit snacks )
• **5 or 6 small bowls of Reese's Cereal with some Cookie Crisp on the side!
• **and of course, her "Cocha" (Chocolate Atkins shake with equal amount of milk mixed in) about 10 shakes a week.

That's the normal for her in a week. Actually, she might eat ONE serving of Mac n Cheese, ONE serving of peas and one or two apples during that week too. If I offer those things too often, she won't have anything to do with them. She is getting much better about apples though. Oh, WAIT ... I forgot her favorites ... the things she gets her calories from ... she also eats "green icecream" (Mint Chocolate Chip - at least she knows what is good!), Otter Pops, grandpa's "white milkshakes" (banana, but don't tell HER that!) and of course about ANY candy you give her but especially "treats" which are Peanut M&Ms, M&Ms (the regular ones) and her ABSOLUTE FAVORITE "can cans" which is Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (but only the miniature ones).

Some might say, force her to eat, don't let her have anything else, but believe me ... it just doesn't work with her. ANYWAY ... her breakthrough, and you are going to laugh at this! She ate the BIG Cheez-Its. Yep, that was our breakthrough. I truly remember a time when she wouldn't even eat BROKEN Cheez-its! If they weren't completely a square, she'd give tehm to her sister or throw them away. At her eating class, we tried different brands and she flipped. We tried all kinds of different crackers - ones that were similar to Wheat thins but different sizes/shapes and she always FLIPPED out. Wouldn't even touch the things. But this week, she didn't even flinch over it. I told her they tasted the same but were bigger for bigger kids and she just ate them!! WAHOO! Maybe, just maybe, she will start expanding. Anyway, I was actually very pleased!

Oh, and she read the box too! She looked at BIG and told me it was BLG because of the way the I looked. I told her that it was an I and she proceeded to sound it out for me (without the box even being in front of her). And this is a child who at the age of 3 qualified for special ed preschool becuase her speech and communication delays! This is a child who during her first year of preschool (age 3-4)did NOT talk (more than one word mumbles) until JANUARY! She was 3 1/2! In January, the kids in her class pointed out to the teacher "Tay can talk, she talks!" They were surprised! Because of her special needs, she also qualified for special ed preschool that year (age 3-4) and attended that the other 2 days a week for 3 hours (we had Monday off). The teacher of that class told me at our final parent teacher meeting in the middle of May that Taylor had FINALLY started saying her NAME during their hello song. Yes, the teacher didn't even know Taylor was talking until MAY! That's how little this kid talked at almost 4 years old! And now, she talks all the time and is actually reading words! I know she isn't advanced for her age but it is the biggest deal to me that she is an AVERAGE kindergarten kid. She still has speech therapy (not as much for pronounciation but the amount she says, her sentence structure or lack of sentences, etc, she's bottom 10-15% for that area), and of course the eating issues, but otherwise, she is a normal little girl!! I am so grateful to be here. There were times when she was 2 and 3 and even a young 4 year old that I wondered if she'd be ready and ok in kindergarten. I knew that eventually, she'd be ok, but I only hoped she'd be this good by this point in her life! Now, we just have to work on the eating issues and the compulsive routines/habits/desires/tendencies but we won't go there in this blog!

Anyway, that's my little breakthrough for Taylor! I'm proud of how far she has come, how much she has grown and I'm proud of the little girl she is becoming! I know it hasn't been easy for her (or for me) but she's really growing a lot!