The Fork

Learning to use a fork is a slow process for Caitlyn. When we first started, she wasn't quite sure what to do. She would pick up the fork with her left hand, and then pull the food off of the fork with her right hand to eat it. The food made it in her mouth, and the fork became air born. We did some hand over hand until she realized the food stayed on the fork, and then started letting her do it again. Everything went smoothly, except the fork still became air born. Picking up the fork 20 times in one meal was enough to say "forget this." Well, that and the fact that it makes meal time take extra long. I'm all about her forming some sort of Independence, and we are trying hard to always make time for her to do stuff herself. So here is where we are today with the fork. This is a super quick video because I shot it with my cell phone. But as you can see she picks up the loaded fork, brings it to her mouth...and...ready for this...doesn't throw it!!!! Mostly we have her aide Kim from this past year to thank for this! They encouraged us to send in things that needed a fork for lunch just for this purpose. The short video doesn't show it, but she will sometimes put the fork on her lap because the routine with Kim was "eat the food, put down the fork, and put your hand back in your lap." They really stressed the waiting and having her hands in her lap because other wise she couldn't eat at the table with the other kids because she'd steal their food! So here is Caitlyn's Fork Process...Who knows if she'll ever be able to poke the food...but for now we'll take this...(we tried the spoon...We both ended up covered in yogurt, so for now it's all about The Fork)

I forgot to add that she got made there at the end because I was filming and not reloading her fork...I guess she doesn't think I have my priorities in the right order.