Fake Snow

It snowed A LOT up here. It has been frankly a nightmare to get anywhere; five minute walks lasted over 25 minutes getting repeatedly stuck in the snow and ice and I became thoroughly disenchanted with the white stuff. Being in a block of flats, we are without back garden to make exciting amounts of mess and I have felt too tired  and grumpy  all week to make wildly creative things inside. I read Mummypinkwellies posts about snow painting and bringing snow indoors and Edspire's snow play-dough and felt really I should make some effort. Not wanting to see any real snow again until the tail end of the year, we went with a decidedly fake option. I dragged Wriggles to the playground yesterday and she understandably got fed up pretty quickly. I don't blame her, it was cold, wet and there was no one else around (possibly because they had the sense to acknowledge the former two reasons). So today I some things in the messy play table and let the small child loose. 

Not fun anymore

We used value cheap-as-chips plain flour (that was slightly out of date anyway and needed using up before I mistakenly poisoned myself via baking) and some icing sugar which smells nicer and is slightly whiter to give it a good snowy appearance! Then, the poor Playmobil figures got very messy. 

I helped it "snow" with the aid of a sieve...

And that was some peace for all of fifteen minutes or so!

Toddler activities do sometimes put me off because the time spent preparing and cleaning up normally is vastly more than the time spent doing. Wriggles has a very low attention span unless it is something familiar or that she can get obsessed with. This one we spent about fifteen minutes playing with and then came back later intermittently through the day. And when it comes to cleaning up, it can go in the bin and the remains get attacked by the Hoover. Hooray! 

Water Play

This week I have found really hard, what with colds, an unwanted trip to hospital, mention again of fundoplication surgery which I am really not keen on, an increase in physio as Wriggles' muscle tone is playing up and her legs are getting more exaggerated which is not a good thing for inducing mobility and lashings of torrential rain. This afternoon, our friends came round which was a very welcome bit of socialisation with no medical strings attached and really helped to clear the metaphorical clouds looming above my head! Trying to keep on the good track this afternoon, I decided it was high time we tried out Wriggles' birthday present: a water table.

I found choosing presents quite hard for her second birthday; things that would fit in my small flat, things she would enjoy, things that would push her, things that wouldn't drive me off a cliff...things I could afford! She loves messy play and is a complete water baby, and in the absence of swimming while her stoma site heals, playing at the sink is the next best thing. Or better, a table on the floor with less scope to slip over. Also it challenged her legs as it was a perfect incentive to stay standing and bearing (some) weight.

We chucked in all the bath toys, some stacking cups with holes in, a stray ball from a ball pit, a nice pouring cup and filled up the sides. I tried to have one side with strongly scented bubbles and the other plain water with a bit of glitter ("DAAAAARRRRS!") which of course got mixed up in about five seconds flat.

 And then let her loose!

It was really therapeutic playing with the water, but mostly seeing how much fun she was having. My floor got an impromptu thorough wash, which to be honest is probably no bad thing. We poured, splashed, shouted, sang and had a whale of a time. Just what the doctor ordered.

Muuuum, I am NOT doing your washing up for you!

The Op

Today, Tuesday 28th August, we are going into hospital again. The PEG insertion: take 3. Third time, lucky right? It may well be put back again, but if all goes to plan then on Wednesday morning the surgery will take place and after that we will be kept in a minimum of 48 hours to check that the tube is working, Wriggles is as comfortable as can be and that the stoma site is healing well.

Thank you all so much for your ongoing support, incredibly kind comments and keeping us in your thoughts. Compared to so many, our experience is but a drop in the ocean though to us it feels huge. Knowing people, many of whom we will never meet to thank, are rooting for my beautiful girl really is such an amazing thing. I leave you with some pictures from our messy afternoon and hope to be back by the weekend on the next part of our little journey!

Much love, x

Sink

 When having a slightly troublesome afternoon...

Fill the sink with warm water and add colouring of your choice and bubbles...

...let small child loose with cup and rubber duck....

...join in shouting "SPLASH!" at appropriate moments. Be as loud as your neighbours permit you.

Let the sun do the mopping up.

17:53

Ways to keep your sanity and temper and keep your child amused and cheerful at teatimes*

17:53

Both offered favourite yoghurt and also selection of finger foods were declined and lobbed over the side in manner of drunk vandal. Milk was fussed about and frustration was rising as time dragged on. Poor Toby-dog on Abney and Teale was getting very ignored.

Cue impromptu messy play.

Add some mixed spice for a nice smell and some pink sugar for texture

Chuck in some mini marshmallows and macaroni for good luck. Hell, why not add an owl shaped stale biscuit. It's not going to get eaten!

Thank goodness. Is that...can it be....just maybe....a...smile?

*not foolproof in the slightest

Highchair

A year ago we got our highchair. Like much else about Wriggles, prematurely! She was being weaned (if you can call it that, not actually eating any solid food) but even with the insert, was very small and her chin was practically resting on the table. She also couldn't sit up by herself and wouldn't for around 6 months more. The only reason I bought it then was that it was reduced at the time and my parents were up visiting to help carry it back from the shop. We duly placed Wriggles in it for a photo opportunity and after that, it stayed rather unused taking up a corner of the kitchen for months to come. She wasn't very impressed at all and it seldom got used as anything further than somewhere for dumping things organising post.

Wriggles was still being (attempted) fed in the bouncy chair and Bumbo, which I cannot praise enough. We were kindly loaned it by the physiotherapy team to help Wriggles' core muscles, but it really came into it's own for so much more. She seemed frightened of the highchair for a very long time, but trusted the Bumbo which she was always more than happy to sit in. I think it made her feel more independent and like she could achieve more. It also freed up her hands rather than trying to balance on the floor trying to support her weight sitting. I did try to use the highchair briefly, not for food but to play in. Partly it was useful if I needed to have both hands free for a short period, and partly I wanted her to relax in it and learn to trust it. She was so swamped in it, there were often about three separate rolled up towels supporting her as well as a booster insert. Slowly, she began to hate it a bit less and discovered the fantastic game of "chuck it over the sides/Mummy pick it up". She was definitely at least one before it got used even semi-regularly for meal times, as other times she was far happier sat in the Bumbo or on my lap. Given that meal times were not her favourite bit of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was make her more fraught by the choice of seat.  


Although progress isn't fast, Wriggles really is making strides with feeding and also accepting more textures and touch. The highchair has now come into it's own, especially as the Bumbo is no longer safe now she is mobile, and the tray is ideal for presenting a buffet of leftovers and finger foods, and if she wants to really get involved and explore the food, then it is wipe-clean (as is she!). Now, we have lunch and dinner in the highchair and she happily will pick through a selection of things like cheese biscuits and Cheerios as well as being spoon-fed. It also makes a good hiding place, standing aide and toy basket when not in use. She still is rather swamped by it...

Happy birthday, highchair.

Frustration

Generally, I have made my peace with oral aversion and it's place in our lives. I have accepted that we are in for the long haul and that one day some years down the line, I will look back with relief and wonder how myself and Wriggles kept our sanity in tact. I understand that there is no magic cure or divine intervention, no magical point where suddenly it is gone. And then, there are the increasingly rare days like today where I want to wail and stamp my feet and scream that it's not fair and got and hide in a huff. I hate feeling cross with something I have no control over and something I don't want to show Wriggles that it affects me, lest I make it worse. I save my frustration for nap times and bed times and cross walks home, where I can breathe and seethe. I'm not annoyed at my daughter, I'm annoyed at the universe and that some people will have to struggle while others don't. I hate that I get annoyed and snappy with people I care about who try and make helpful suggestions, that have long been tried. Very few people understand that it's not that we haven't hit on the perfect way of eating or the perfect food, but that the problem is the entire process itself. It is part behavioural, part sensory and part psychological; and all in an essentially very young child who is not equipped to deal with reason.

10/52 Wriggles 1-Oral Aversion 0