Fall Festival

Owen (9 years old) has his first job this summer cutting the grass for a neighbor, and now that he has income, he does his banking at a small bank half a mile from our house so he can be completely independent. He bikes down there regularly to make deposits and pick up a cookie or a mint in the lobby. :)

This past Saturday they had a fall festival in their parking lot with free pumpkins, donuts, and hot cider. Because it was a beautiful day, the kids and I all walked went down with Owen to check it out. (Only four of us actually walked, at all - Owen biked, Krassi was in the wagon, 'Vania in the Mei Tai carrier, Rinnah and Reuben alternately in the wagon with Krassi, and Rinnah even sometimes piggy-backed on Leah.) We were grateful for Krassi's wagon on the trip home with six pumpkins in tow!

It was fun to see employees who know Owen by name, fun to choose a donut (sprinkles and chocolate for Owen and Leah, "sparkles" (cinnamon sugar) for Rinnah, none for Reuben so as to avoid unnecessary dietary-triggered seizures, and none for 'Vania and Krassi because they don't like things you have to chew) and pleasant to drink hot cider on a bright, sunny, not too cold fall day.

But what I'm really getting at (besides a sneaky excuse to share a cute picture of my six-month-old 'Vania-Cookie) is the chance to brag on Krassi and his, as my sister would say, mad skillz, of drinking cider!! Ever since we had his swallow study done a few months after he came home and learned that he aspirates (gets clear liquids down the wrong tube) and often does it silently (meaning it goes down the wrong tube, but for whatever reason, it doesn't trigger the coughing reflex), we have REALLY backed off on what we give him to drink. "Nectar" thick is the thinnest he's supposed to have, but with his speech/feeding therapist he's practicing handling thinner liquids, and she says he's been doing pretty well. So I decided to give it a little try, and found that Krassi really enjoys a good cup of warm cider! We did tiny little sips, and I was careful to keep his head positioned in the best way possible to avoid aspiration, and I'm going to say the experiment was a success.

It has been so neat to see how Krassi's eating abilities have expanded over the last few weeks. What a reminder that you never know what's possible!