The Brookston Family Blog
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By the time I finished my phone interview, Porter had moved on to his sit-down work and the door was shut. So alice and I ambled around the office until he was finished. Alice tried her best to get into trouble but was unable to get into any mischief.

Alice trying to decide whether or not to take the plunge.

Although I was out in the car with Alice conducting a phone interview for an upcoming article I had due, Porter’s O.T. therapist Theresa reported that Porter is showing vast improvement in his transitions. This is, of course, great news and we’ve been seeing some improvement, too. There’s still the occasional problem when he doesn’t want to do something or is fixated on doing something we don’t want him to do, but overall it seems like he’s understanding and processing more and more complex information. And that seems to be the key. If he understands what’s going on and can create an expectation then he’s less likely to feel out of control and thus melt down.

When Sarah got home from work yesterday she made the mistake of putting her purse down on the table next to a chair where Alice could get to it. Of course, there aren’t too may remaining places where Alice can’t get into things. She’s getting very wily at getting at things she wants to and her climbing skills and unparalleled for a gal her age.

Within minutes of the purse being placed on the table, Alice had made the mark and was up on the chair.

Taking a look and eyeing her prey before reaching in.

The umbrella was on top and had to be removed to get inside.

“Now let’s see what else is in here.”

“Hey! What’s this?”

“Paydirt!”

Busted. “Hey, give me that back! I stole it fair and square!“

For dinner last night Sarah made Spaghetti while I snuggled with the kids because Porter was beginning to melt down over not being allowed to have ice cream until after dinner. She made garlic bread for us and we offered some to Porter, as we always do, but he of course declined. “No thank you.” He said, so at least he was polite about it. But then something amazing happened. Part way through the meal he reached out and took a piece of garlic bread from the bowl in the center of the table. We marveled as he looked it over, then took a bite. Not only did he appear to like it, he finished the whole piece and then ate another! Now to put that in perspective, we’d been trying to get him to eat new foods by imposing a three-bite rule in the hopes that once he tried a new food, he’d discover it wasn’t that bad. This has been met by mixed result and most commonly with anger, tantrums and clenched teeth. But very recently something has happened. He has on several occasions voluntarily tried a new food or flavor without our even asking him. He’s tried chocolate and even peanut butter ice cream on his own. He’s given food on our plates a chance by picking it off of them and just trying it. And while this hasn’t altered his diet yet, the real victory is just his willingness to try them. After the horrible tantrums of trying to get him to eat three bites of food we felt certain he’d actually like if he gave them a chance, this is a very welcome trend and one which I’m planning on encouraging as much as possible.

Porter after his first ever taste of garlic bread. “Hey, this is pretty good.”