An Unexpected Breakthrough

This little device.  This interesting, odd, little device.  My husband was being rather secretive as he worked in the shop on Saturday.  I was out working in the backyard and would pop in and out of the garage to grab a shovel or switch the laundry… I didn’t want to look at the work table because I knew he sorta wanted to surprise me.  But if I had looked over, I wouldn’t have had any idea what he was up to.

A few minutes later he called me inside and said, Are you ready?  Ta-da!  

And there Lamp was scooping up dry cheerios from a bowl straight into her mouth like it was no big deal.   She was just doing it, like this was a common everyday occurrence.  My mouth hit the floor.  She was feeding herself with her hand and a spoon.  Tears started to well in my eyes.  I was in shock.  It was such a sudden overwhelming surprise… like being sucker punched in the gut, except the complete opposite because it was something good.  Sucker kissed?

One part of being Lamps mom is sitting down to breakfast every morning with both my girls and spoon feeding Lamp every bite of her beloved Cheerios.  I don’t mind it.  It is just a part of being Lamp’s mom.  She has become very independent in so many ways, but of course there are things that I know I would have to do for her for a while…feeding her was one of them.  Where possible we chop up her food and she can eat it off the tray, but anything requiring a spoon we fed her ourselves.   Having just come back from our bi-annual appointment at Scottish Rite hospital we just discussed goals and milestones to work on, standing and walking on the forefront.  We discussed the future of prosthetics in her life and possible surgeries down the road.  Those were the things on my mind.  The possibility of Lamp eating with a spoon by herself wasn’t even on my radar.

She didn’t use her spoon much Saturday or Sunday, but yesterday morning I got her a bowl of Cheerios and gave her the new spoon.  I wasn’t sure what to expect…was it just a novelty?  Would it fall off and be too clumsy?

She ate every. last. bite.  ALL BY HERSELF.
The whole bowl.  And then a second.

When B and I talked about it later, he said that he just kept thinking that while she doesn’t have an elbow or even a typical wrist there is still a joint there and we needed to make use of the joint she does have.  So smart that one.  He really excels at problem solving and thinking outside of the box.  Of course the current spoon is just a prototype.  We’re not sure wood is the best material, and we want something that will allow us to change out spoons and forks.  Wood, plastic, fabric…we’ll figure it out.  Either way it’s exciting.

The one idea that keeps blowing my mind is this:  The ability was there all along, she just needed the right tool.