As of late we are seeing a few behavioral changes in Wil.
One, he has stopped using the three signs he knows - he just looks the other way when we prompt him, as if he doesn't hear us.
He is also throwing all of his food to the floor. We can't put anything in front of him to self feed anymore because he slings it across the room - including his bottle. Additionally, he is spitting out a good bit of what he is eating. Just drops his tongue out and lets the half chewed food fall out.

When corrected he cries and screams.

This is new for him. He is a very congenial guy and was doing great with self eating and using his few signs until now.

Any thoughts appreciated. Now we do have a new baby in the house so I am aware that may be impacting him more than I realize.

I guess I am also unsure how to correct him as the conventional means don't seem to penetrate but only agitate him more.

first, i love your siggy pictures,


then.... elias is around the same age. and he's also spitting the food, he's not eating very well, but i have to say that his behavor just changed, he was as u say first eating byhimself very weell and then throwing everything, and now he's eating again very well, actually he gets mad if i hand him something, he wants to took it by himself without help only if he asks for help.

im guessing is just a new phase, as this is my first child lol.

not much experience here Stacy, but i wanted to ask - is he trying to walk? i've read many times on here about how some skills go by the wayside when our kids are working hard on a new task. as of late, Janna stopped a few signs that she was using but she was concentrating hard on walking. maybe that's what Wil is doing - not sure about meal time. Janna will self-feed if she likes the meal, but if she doesn't, over the side it goes. we are trying to correct this too. i'm sure the new baby could be affecting Wil's behavior, but at the same time, maybe he's working on a new milestone and/or also teething. sometimes Janna doesn't eat well or want her bottle if a toofy is trying to emerge. hope your little man improves soon - he's prob adjusting to his new brother getting a lot of the attention and heading for age two prob has a lot to do with our kid's behaviors too. and i hope that Timothy is doing much better - we have prayed for him, aj

i forgot to say i love the new pics too! especially those big smiles - too cute! all your boys are precious.

Welcome to the terrible 2's... Nolan started this when he was just Turning 2 and now that he is 2 1/2 he does full blown temper tantrums! He lays down screams crys and kicks! Our best solution is to ignore this kind of behavior because the only thing he is looking for is attention. So when Nolan throws himself to the ground. I walk away from him into another room! They usually don't last too long unless I stay and try to figure out what is wrong and try to get him to calm down. It only makes it worse!
Nolan also does the bit with the food and when he does it, I correct him the first time and if he does it again, I take it away from him! i say nothing more!

Sorry, I have no solutions but I hope it doesn't last too long!

Jenna goes through spells also. She will spit her food out some days, but eat great on others. She will feed herself on some days, but sling the food at other times. She hasn't ever stopped using her signs to this point. She wants a sippy cup some days and a bottle on other days. I know this probably doesn't help, but I think it will all come together in due time.

Holy cow, I had to check because I would have sworn you were posting about PJ!!!!! We're going through the same sorts of things.

I think sometimes PJ is frustrated because he doesn't want what I'm feeding him, but he doesn't have words to tell me. I know it's frustrating for him, and it's frustrating for us, too, because we feel helpless. Sometimes I just feel so bad because I don't know what it is that he wants. So, I offer and sign suggestions to him, and when he seems happy again, I try to get him to focus on me while we talk/sign through it. Hopefully that will help him.

Sorry I'm no help, just know you're not alone!

We've been there, still there at times. Comes with the terrible twos and threes, some mums tell me LOL. We just take the bowl off him carry on eating and give it back when he looks interested again. Good luck.

OMG LOVE your new pics!!

Daniel does NOT self feed at all. He will pick the food up and throw it over the tray and watch it fall to the floor.

He has always been a great eater. I could give him ANYTHING and he would eat it. Those days are GONE. I know EXACTLY the little mouth trick you speak of. The food comes right out. He doesn't do it often....but I have seen it.

So I think you have a little toddler on your hands!!!!

Karli has started this same thing. Some days she eats really well, others she spits everything out. And it's all familiar foods. I definitely think it's a toddler thing. And man, when she's through with her sippy cup, watch out! It gets thrown over her shoulder and she doesn't care what's behind her!

Hey Stacy, I love the new pictures too. Your boys are the cutest! Avery went through this too a few mos ago. She was a holy terror! It was really depressing because she was such an awesome little girl. Guess what, she is back! It took a few mos, but she is back. We just were consistent with the typical stuff that we tell our clients. Time-outs, praise good behavior, re-direction. And it finally kicked in. It seems like Avery can be pretty determined so I think that I have to be more consistent and more determined than she. I read and heard that our children can be pretty "stubborn" sometimes. Hang in htere. You also added a new baby to the mix and it is going to be a bit harder trying to redirect and be consistent. Do what you can for now and just know that he will come back to his sweet little self. As fara a signing goes, have you purchased any of the signing time videos? they really help. We have only the first two and three more on the way. It really peaked Avery's interest in signing.

Thanks you guys. To answer aj's question - no not working on walking. Wil only tolerates a little weight on his legs. He is moving from an army crawl to a 4 pt. crawl so maybe that has something to do with it.

I appreciate everyone's input. It is encouraging to hear that this is par for the course. We will stick with what we know and be consistent.

And thanks for your compliments on his pics.

Lisa, Daniels new pics are darling. He looks so big!

in addition to rejecting his food, wil has been screaming - loudly- and crying (which is also new behavior for him) when food is fed to him. He acts as if the food is 'killing' him. This seemed to start within the last two days. just curious if any one else has experienced this. the only thing we could feed him tonight was milk!

stawal's husband.

James/Stacy,
Janna has done this a couple of times recently. we just get her down from the high chair and let her do something else and try it again in a bit. thus far she's been ready to eat after waiting a little while. does Wil have reflux or silent reflux (meds need changing or increased possibly?) or maybe even a sore throat or new teeth coming in??? sure hope he's back to eating better again soon, aj

OMG I love Wil's new pictures!!!!

I have to tell ya, I'm in the same boat as you...Jaemen is our "little monster." He throws fits, tells us "NO" eats only when he wants and throws his food everywhere. What we've been doing with him is a lot of what everyone has said. We only give him a few pieces of food at a time and then if he's really not interested he gets down then we try again in a bit. But he does have to start out with our family at dinner and we usually get him down within 10 min. but then later when I have more dedicated time I help feed him. Maybe some one on one attention for feeding would help...i dunno...if you figure something out let me know!

I think that when they are working on new skills some of the old ones go away for a bit. Jaemen is working on walking really hard and I've noticed that his focus is on that not signing more than about 4-6 words consistantly. I also know that he's getting another tooth and is sooooo fussy I've given him tylenol the past few days and it's seemed to help.

Terrific Two's here we come......

we aslo have now to put down on the floor, bc he doesnt want to eat much. he eats a little of this and that.. but thats it. specially at night. but he doenst seems to be hungry.

I think a couple of things. First, is Wil well....are you sure. Austin had strep this past week...no fever, ate fine...just cranky. We had no idea until we tested him after Kassidy came down with it. I've notice real behavior changes generally indicate that Austin has an ear infection or virus that has gone undetected. HE doesn't always run a fever or have symptoms.

Second, he is a toddler...he's going to have toddler behavior. Austin HATES the word no...and when we tell him no...he starts popping his hand and saying no.

Signs come in and out...depending on what he is learning..so I'd keep up with the videos and communicating with him on both speech and signs...it'll come back.

All children are affected when a baby comes to stay. LOL
Give him time.

Oh, Austin looks away too.....then he'll slide his eyes back around to see if we are still 'there' looking at him. It's very smart behaviour...called stubborness.
amy

Well I am with everyone else. Sounds like toddler behavior to me.

Miss E feeds herself--and when I mean she feed herself, no one had better try to feed her. She will scream in protest and refuse to eat.

She has taken this one step further now and if something is in a package--like a granola bar or something--and we take it out and hand it to her, well it just goes flying across the room like a frisbee.

She will allow us to open a package but not take the item out at all.

She also will not allow us to hand her a drink. We must fill the cup and then place it on the counter or the table and turn the other way, as if we have forgotten it, so that she can go get it independantly.

She is quite the drama queen to. She is all about being two.

It sounds like you are having some of these same experiences--fortunately it gets better as they get older, at least it has in our house.