"Aaaaaaaaaaple"

Our weekly trip to the grocery store can be summed up in one word......."Yaaaaawn". But, this Saturday, I was bound and determined to make it stimulating and educational. SD took Boo and her purse of pennies to get her weekly "Great Job!" treat. She earns pennies (Yes, I said pennies! They still have a purpose in our currency for the age range of 2-4 year olds.) Anyway, she gets a penny for making her bed, using an adult spoon and fork ( she liked using Gabe's smaller silverware) , being "nice " to her brother and other things. She loves to buy about seven gummy worms, various colors. She then gets to weigh them at the U Scan and pay with her pile of pennies. SD and Boo then call us on the cell phone to rendezvous for a gummy worm exchange. We put our carts side by side to ensure eye contact from Gabe, and she graciously hands over one of her delicious worms. It took about 5 of these exchanges for Gabe to actually want to put the worm in his mouth, now he devours it. Then we part and start our shopping adventure.


As I headed down the aisle, I had Gabe point to various body parts, head, eyes, tummy, eyebrow etc. As I picked stuff off the shelf, I have him echo what I am putting in the cart with eye contact, hand it too him, then have him place it in the shopping basket. He seemed more interested in the whole experience of shopping this time. Go figure. Sometimes the most obvious educational opportunities are the hardest to see. So off we went, I was having a good time looking for new foods to try and engaging Gabe. Hallelujah! Up and down the aisles, I think to myself, how interesting and odd I look at times talking to my son.

"Gabe," shifting my head all around to get some eye contact.
"Gabe?" Ahhh.. caught it! He looks at me and smiles.
"Look," I point to the Super Sized box of cereal that is now pressed to my cheek and looming over my head.
"Look!"... "Cereal." I Wait for him to echo.
Nothing. I'm still poised with box up against my head in the middle of the grocery aisle.
"Say Cereal." My lips accentuate the pronunciation.
I hold the box next to my head in order to get Gabe to look at my face and see how my tongue and mouth form the word. I have held so many things to my cheek, I've found myself doing it with my NT daughter. She has responded with a strange, twisted smile that can be interpreted as "Mom has lost it."
"Sear-al! " His eyes light up.
"Et Sear-al!"
"Eat Cereal." I echo back.
I open the box, hand him a few morsels and we walk off to the next item.
Needless to say, it helps that it has never bothered me much to stick out in a crowd.

The further we get into our shopping the faster he echoes and the quicker we move from one item to the next. I keep having to send SD on mini missions throughout the store, because Gabe and I are taking much longer than usual. Towards the end of our trip, we get to the apples. "APPLES!" no prompt needed. Apple is one of Gabe's favorite words, that and BA-NANA. He then trys to lean over and pick an apple up! My first reaction is
Is he trying to touch food ?
Table food is our biggest and most unnerving battle with Gabe. Having it near his plate sends him screaming and pushing away from the table and touching it is practically unheard of.
So, I pick up the small, red apple and place it in his hand.
"Apple," I smile.
Look encouraging I say to myself.
"Apple!" he looks at me.
Then it happens.


Liiiiiiccck.

Lick..
Lick, Lick ,Lick.

Then......
Mouth opens and I can see teeth...


Bite


Oh well. No luck with the little bite. BUT, I will take the lick anyday!
After the moment ended and Gabe started hitting the apple on the cart, I looked around at all the people in the produce section who may have seen and say loudly,
"I guess we're going to have to buy that apple!"


"