Honey Bear

Anytime the word Honey Bear is mentioned in this house, my mom cringes. She hates to even think about it. The Honey Bear at times has run her patience to the ends. For those of you who are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, here ya go. A Honey Bear is not anything sweet, cuddly or something that tastes good. A Honey Bear is something I use in therapy provided by Ms. Brandy, my speech language pathologist. It is a bottle with a straw in it to help me learn how to suck. The Honey Bear allows you to control the flow of liquid into my mouth and encourages me to learn how to drink from a straw.

The Honey Bear was introduced to me about 3 years ago. I struggled with it from the get-go and never got the hang of it. I never really wanted to put my lips around it or even attempt to suck from the straw. When someone would squeeze the liquid into my mouth, I would drink and swallow but never figured out how to get the liquid from the straw myself. I think that ended up only lasting about 6 months and then mom threw that out the window. This is when we started practicing drinking from a regular cup. I ended up accomplishing that and I am currently drinking from a cup with the help of someone holding and tipping the cup for me.

So when Ms. Brandy brought the idea of bringing the Honey Bear back, my mom just curled her lip and said okay ~ with a heavy sigh. We started this a week ago and I have pretty much accomplished it ALREADY. My mom and Ms. Brandy are sooo impressed and can't believe it. I don't even have to have someone squeeze the bottle to remind or encourage me that I need to suck to get the liquid out. As soon as the straw comes to my mouth I immediately put my lips around the straw and begin to drink. Now if only I would hold the bottle myself. I guess that is just another thing I have to work on. Here's a video of me showing off my new skill to Ms. Brandy.