Not the Battle I Expected!

In case anyone has forgotten, we have an entire graveyard of sippy cups/straw cups/open cups...I think last count there are 15 different varieties packed away in the basement. 

Here are a few...

Hailey was getting to the point where she would scream and cry if a cup of any sort came near her.  She's used a straw a couple of times successfully for her developmental therapist and her speech therapist, however, never at home.  It was almost as if she just physically couldn't do it.  I felt bad to keep pushing it, but I was done with the bottles.  I know some won't understand, what's the big deal, it's just a bottle.  Brayden's bottles disappeared at 10 months...Ian never had them.  Sippy cups, straw cups...it wasn't a battle.  They weren't work.  I handed them a cup and they started drinking.  They just did it.  I didn't have to ask professionals for help, I didn't need to go on message boards and ask other mothers for tips and tricks (and try every single one of them and have them fail), I didn't google and read every article that I could about how to transition from the bottle to a straw.  Yes, that is what I have done with Hailey.  We have been working on transitioning since she was 9 months old.  Yes, 18 months ago. 

With only two speech therapy sessions left, I grabbed Hailey's straw cup and a juice pouch as I headed out the door on Thursday.  The boys only have a couple of weeks left of school and I was set to take away Hailey's bottles once school was out for the summer.  I was going to start by taking away her bottle after lunch and dig out the dreaded honey bear cup and start again.  Something had to give.  Something had to work.

With Ian and Hailey in tow, we headed downtown for speech therapy.  Hailey loves the waiting room almost as much therapy itself.  Lots of people to socialize with and they have nowhere to go :-)  She makes her way up and down the lines of chairs saying Hi and checking out what everyone is doing (working on laptops, paperwork, using electronics)...she's quite the character!

Playing peek-a-boo with one of the employees.

She found a mirror and started chatting away.

We headed into therapy with Jen.  In case I haven't said it in the last month, we love our therapist!  Jen is the best.  Hailey loves her.  She tolerates Ian hanging out in therapy (he has afternoon kindergarten and sometimes has to tag along).  She works great with Hailey and switches gears as frequently as needed to keep Hailey engaged.

Working on animals and puzzles.

Doing our zips and zooms.

Can't forget our alphabet sounds.

About midway through our session, Jen filled Hailey's straw cup and gave it a few squeezes.  Hailey then drank a few sips on her own.  We moved onto other things.  Several times through out the session, Hailey wanted more to drink and successfully used a straw.  At the end of therapy, we were given our homework until our next session.  This weeks:  continue working on two word sentences, point to items and say "this is ___".   (Hailey's favorite words are "what's this".  We are working on getting her to label items.  Our third task was "continue working on straw".  I decided on the way home to remove Hailey's noon bottle and replace it with the straw and then slowly phase out the other two. 

After lunch, I gave Hailey her straw cup again...no tears, no yelling....

Either I've been conned or it just clicked!

 That experience with the cup went so well, I thought I might try it again after nap time.  This is what I got...a few tears, but she drank almost 3 ounces of milk.

Apparently that wasn't as much of a fight has I expected so, I decided to try again when she would generally have an evening bottle.  This is the look she gave me.....

Well, that look isn't enough to get her mother to give up.  We'd done so well so far, might as well push the envelope.  She drank another 3 ounces at bedtime with a little bribery of a small, not so good for you snack of potato chips.  On Friday, I decided we made it through most of Thursday, why stop then.  I did get a few of her over dramatic "no's" during the day (see photo below), but there were no tantrums.

Day 2 - was AWESOME!

I did let Hailey see me pack up all of the bottles and parts on Friday.  She watched me closely.  I didn't throw them in the trash but she thinks they are gone.  Throughout the weekend, we have let Hailey sample a few other drinks from a straw while we have been out and about.  She really liked the boys' icee , obsessed with my water glass and yes, I even let her try Pepsi.  (To all the people who stared at me at Sam's Club while my daughter tried Pepsi...keep on staring, don't judge...you will never understand this milestone.)

I know most of my Facebook friends are probably annoyed with all the chattering I have had over drinking out of a straw and getting rid of Hailey's bottles.  I almost place this milestone up with walking (and it makes me dread potty training!).  We have worked so hard on this, there have been tears and frustration from both Hailey and me.  It was something Hailey just couldn't get or understand and I couldn't make her.  I couldn't will her to do it.  She had to do it on her own.  I hated that even giving her all the tools to accomplish it didn't help.

Hailey's last bottle was Thursday at 9 a.m.  I haven't given in and honestly, she hasn't given me that much of a fight.  I hope we can call this one a success!  And yes, I shed a few tears when I realized that my little girl mastered it...even if it wasn't when her mom wanted her to!  I also might have shed a couple of tears when Hailey told her daddy "straw" when we were telling him that the bottles were "all gone".

My little girl is growing up and I'm positive she might drive me crazy in the process, but check out those dimples...who can resist that face?!?!?

Will She Go to Kindergarten with her Bottle?

I've asked myself this question before.  We took Brayden's bottle away from him when he was 10 months old.  He decided that it was fun to bite on the nipple and spray milk all over everyone.  We automatically gave him a sippy cup.  Ian was breastfed until 13 months and went straight to a sippy cup...never gave it another thought.

Then came along Hailey.  The poor little girl fought so hard to learn to coordinate eating and breathing while in the NICU.  She struggled to eat while her heart was slowly giving out prior to her open heart surgery.  After her heart surgery, the tiny thing was so excited about being able to eat that the bottle slowly became a comfort item for her.  We started introducing sippy cups and straw cups.  Most speech therapists do not recommend using a sippy cup of any sort because it causes the tongue to thrust and can cause speech issues.  Our speech therapist recognizes that each child is different and while the straw will help with speech, we need to be realistic and let Hailey take the lead.

Well that is challenging when dealing with Hailey....she has her own opinion in the matter.  We started introducing cups when she was only 9 months old.  We have tried so, so many cups.  She does not like any of them.  She is quite vocal in her disapproval of them all.  The straw was exhausting.  Hailey uses it well with her developmental therapist, but screams and throws a fit for mom.  She is very, very close to mastering it, but you have to catch her in the right mood to work with it. 

Honestly, some days we do not have time nor do I have the energy to fight her to work with it.  Not to mention, should it really be a fight?  As soon as a new sippy cup is on the market, I've purchased it.  Nope...didn't work.  I've tried several different "open cup" concepts, too.  Hailey loves opening the cabinets and pulling out cups.  Every big cup she grabs goes straight to her mouth as if she is drinking out of it.

Here is a sampling of our sippy cup/straw cup graveyard....yes, there are more!

So, I am trying what I think is the last cup to try.  I purchased a Reflo cup for Hailey.  It came in the mail yesterday.  I figured today would be as good a time as ever to try it.  Hailey ate her lunch and I filled her cup.  I placed it on her tray and her eyes lit up.  Almost as if I could read her mind, "Oooohhhhhh, a big girl cup".  She picked it up and started drinking.  She drank about 4 oz. from the cup the very first time!

I don't think I'm going to make her give up her bottle cold turkey.  She puts up with her brothers' schedules every day and we push her on so many other things.  I think I can give her a little time to give it up.  I figure if she hasn't given it up by the beginning of summer, we will push her and maybe go cold turkey then.  We always have more time to tackle those big plans over the summer!

So, it looks like Miss Stubborn might not start preschool and kindergarten with her bottle ;-)

Therapy...Gains and Support

Anyone who doesn't know Hailey would think she is a ten or eleven month old child, not almost 19 months.  Gross motor-wise, that is where she is.  Maybe a little closer to twelve months.  She is the size the boys were at a year.  She isn't walking.  She is on the verge, but I'll leave it at that because I have become superstitious since having Hailey.  I don't like to make any announcements on any milestone until she has mastered it because she has been known to stop making progress the second I say she has accomplished something!  What a stinker!  Hailey had an early intervention evaluation this week and we had to update her IFSP.  She had mastered everything on her last IFSP, but some we kept on there for the next 6 months because they are evolving and on-going.  Other than gross motor, she is on target and not delayed in the eyes of the state.  No, a stranger may not recognize some of her words when she speaks them, but they are there.  She can also sign them and more.  She's learning them faster than I am. 

One of the boys forgot to shut the door...she emptied the entire roll later in the day.

What?  I didn't do it.

Ready to empty the cabinet

If I smile big enough, maybe I won't get into trouble!

Looking sweet and innocent.

Apparently she didn't want Cheerios this morning.

As I watch Hailey play with her toys or empty my cabinets or climb on the couch (yes, we have figured that one out this week!), she's a toddler...just as mischievous and frustrating as the boys were.  Guess what....I love it!!!!  I love watching her figure out toys, stealing her brothers stuff (especially their snacks), or sneaking into the cabinets looking for anything and everything she isn't supposed to have.  She is a handful and a charmer.  The handful part I'm good with.  The charmer, I'm going to have to address as she gets older.  When being told no or when she is begging for something, she will tilt her head and grin.  This tactic works for everyone but mom.  I don't want people to give into her or expect less because she is the baby, because she is a girl or because she has Down syndrome.

Head tilt...generally it is paired with a pouty look or a giant smile.

The only thing that she does sit still for...Signing Times.

Hailey's speech therapist definitely did not read my blog post where I declared I am giving up on straw drinking...they worked on it at therapy this week.  Guess who actually attempted it.  She didn't scream and refuse to even try...she saves that for her mom :-)  She actually even succeeded in taking a few sips...on her own.  So, this mother is now eating her words.  I dug the honey bear cup back out and attempted to use it today at lunch.  I've decided that the easiest bottle to remove from her daily routine will be her lunch bottle.  It took us a little while, but sip by sip her and I worked on the entire bottle amount out of a straw.  Hopefully, she will eventually get the hang of this straw and we can remove her bottles one by one.  If she ever gets the hang of it (she won't go to kindergarten with a bottle!), her bedtime bottle will be the last one to remove. 

I am going to have to share a little brag.  Hailey's speech therapist made an ABC book.  While Hailey's PT had her balancing on a ball, the speech therapist and Hailey looked through the ABC's.  One by one, she said the word and made the sound...one by one Hailey repeated the sounds.  Hailey made every sound but one (q or x...I can't remember).  I was amazed because Hailey will not do that for me at home.  Her PT looked at me and said, "We have never had a child go through the entire book on the first try.  That is amazing."  I was speechless (which doesn't happen often!).  Who was that child in therapy?  I was very proud of her.

In therapy this week, Hailey was also measured for her Sure Steps.  I was upset at first because I really wanted Hailey to learn to walk without the assistance of them, but it hasn't worked that way and she needs them to succeed so that is what we are going to do.  She will get them in two weeks.  I'm actually excited about them now.  She has made such strides in the last two weeks (right when her momma needed the encouragement) that there will be no stopping her once she has the right support.  Boys beware...there will be nothing safe in our house anymore!