Baeten Family: February 2010

Is it a behavior issue...or is he not feeling well...or a combination of both?

About three weeks ago, Logan started getting very upset when he sits down to eat and I put his food in front of him. When I set the food down in front of him, he immediately pushes his plate of the table onto the floor and yells or cries. If I force him to eat a bite (which really seems mean), he will usually resist the first few times, but then will start to eat (most of the time, but not all the time).

At first it was just every now and then, but it now happens at every meal. Last week, Logan came down with croup and a bad cough and I blamed his crabbiness at meals on that. I figured it was hard to eat when you are congested.

Now, he is getting angry everyday, all day. Everytime you want him to do something or even when he is just playing alone, he constantly gets mad and throws whatever is in his hand. Just like he throws his food.

A couple of days ago, I noticed that he is getting two teeth. They broke through his gums, but are just starting to come in. We thought he had all the teeth that he was going to get because his dentist said he was probably missing his upper canines. It has to be painful because there really is no room for them. Could his anger during meals times be because of his teeth, or is it a behavior problem?

Today, I took his to his first day of a class a the YMCA. It is a class for two year olds and I thought that he would do ok because he is typically so easy going. I was very nervous because of his recent behavior, but I was hoping he would be ok and have fun. Boy, was I wrong. His behavior was awful. He cried and threw everything he got his hands on. That is nothing like him!

I do know now that he isn't ready for this class, even without the behavior problems. This was the first time I have put him with typical kids his own age for a class...and it was very eye opening for me to say the least. He isn't ready to sit and listen to books being read or to sit and do art projects. I wanted to give it our best shot, but he's just not ready.

I don't know if I am going to give the class another chance...I'm not sure I could get myself to do it again. I have already contacted the YMCA to see if we can transfer to a different class for younger kids.

My hope is that we can just wait out the behavior stuff...maybe if it is his teeth, then it will pass. Or maybe it's a phase that will also pass. All I can say is that I don't know if my patients will last...I'm already to the end.

On a more positive note....
I have been meaning to post about a speech therapy session that Logan had a couple of weeks ago. His speech therapist recorded the words he said during the session. The stared words are ones he said spontaneously and the rest were imitations.
eyes*
woof*
baa
duck
beep
uhoh
woah
tongue
oink*
roll*
no*
ball*
okay*
hat
ooh ooh ah ah
nice
lights*
chomp
up*

I wish I could get him to talk to me the way he talks to her. He also followed many directions during the session.