Take that Cerebral Palsy!

On a whim, I decided to have AJ drink his apple juice out of the juicebox today. Meaning, for the first time EVER we were going to attempt a straw. He's played with regular size straws before, including chewing and them and folding them up, etc, but he's never drank out of one.

I was told that drinking from a straw would be extremely difficult for AJ due to his poor oral motor skills. This thanks to his cerebral palsy. I was also told that drinking from a straw is NOT A NEEDED SKILL. I don't care that its not a needed skill. Kids drink from juice boxes. Its just a fact. My kid will drink from a juicebox that has a straw. He will learn to drink from an open cup-successfully. He will learn to drink from bigger straws. When he's in college maybe he'll share one of those mondo margaritas that come with multiple straws with his roomies. He will learn the skill of drinking from a straw. He just will.

AND TODAY, HE DID. At first I let him figure out that I was sticking the straw into his mouth. Then I squeezed the juicebox a bit so he would learn that 1) liquid comes from this thing in my mouth 2) that liquid is my apple juice. After he gave me the cue for "I like this Mom"-which is a cheesy grin-I let it sit in his mouth and waited for him to do something. He sat for a while, thinking it would magically squirt juice into his mouth again. When it did not, he started using his tongue to roll the straw from side to side in his mouth. Then he figured out how to close his lips around the straw. Then he figured out how to suck out the liquid! It was amazing. I'm shocked and uber proud that he was able to do it so well.

By the time I ran to get the camera, he was pretty much done with it. I did manage to snap the picture above, despite that fact that holding a juicebox, camera, and trying to make one eyeball watch your child while the other focus' the camera is rather difficult. While this picture isn't the greatest, (as he's leaning to the left and looks like he's sipping alcohol rather than juice),it is proof that our little man is once again beating the odds before him.

Now if I could just get him to learn not to squeeze the juice box....