Sensory play

As you know, Elsie has an issue with food. She doesn't like it, trust it, or enjoy it, for the most part. She especially doesn't care for foods that are wet or squishy, etc. Lots of times when I offer her food, she will give it the "squish test": she grabs the food item and squishes it between her fingers. If it crumbles or squishes or otherwise breaks up, she generally won't eat it. This applies to things like soft fruits, pudding, jello, or other wet foods. It's a sensory thing; she doesn't like the feel of wet and squishy things. And if she doesn't like the feel of it in her fingers, you can guarantee she's not going to put it in her mouth.

In an attempt to help her overcome her dislike of wet foods, we often engage Elsie in sensory food play with wet foods; where the emphasis is not for her to eat the food, but to play with it and be comfortable touching it. Here's what we did the other day:

I took some applesauce and used food coloring to make it several different colors. Then I took Elsie and Evje, took off their clothes, and plopped them in the bath tub with the applesauce, some spoons, forks, measuring cups, and bowls.

Evje thought it was awesome, and dug right in. Elsie was a bit more hesitant. I was hoping that watching Evje play with the applesauce would encourage Elsie to be more interested in playing. We put different colors of applesauce together in bowls, did some finger painting on the walls of the tub, and did some body painting. Evs seriously thought this was the funnest thing ever. Elsie...not so much. After the first few minutes, she cried a lot and wanted nothing to do with the evil applesauce, much less have her sister smear it all over her leg. So I'll be honest, it was a bit of a fail as far as getting Elsie comfortable or willing to touch the wet applesauce, but it was worth a try. Her food aversions aren't going to be changed overnight, so we'll just keep trying. And it kept Evje entertained for a good 20 minutes. Messes are good to make, sometimes.