Recently, Little Man engaged in some “messy” therapy with his OT. Basically, the OT mixed some cheap shaving cream and some washable finger paint in a tray and then had Little Man mix it all up (GASP!) with his bare (eek!) hands (oy!). He kept insisting that he needed to wash his hands, but he made it through the exercise. Then the OT challenged Little Man to a couple of rounds of thumb-wrestling and asked him to make some letters in the mess with his finger.
There was a lot of eeewwww-ing, and gross-ing and I-need-to-wash-my-hands-right-now-ing, but he did it. And dare I say, he even (are you ready?) enjoyed it?! I know!!
Our homework that week was to buy some of our own cheap shaving cream and pratice at home. So we did. And Little Man was, as usual, bare-assed nekkid!! Oh, in civilized-speak? Naked. Surprise, surprise… 
I really need to find a way to get this boy to keep his clothes on…
Good luck finding things to keep his clothes on!! The only thing that helped my boys was the onesies but as they get older, they stop making them so I don’t know what I am going to do with Sneaky Monkey!!! Angel Eyes has not stripped much lately (you wait and see, just for posting this, tonight will be a stripper show at my house, especially since hubby will be at school! Agh!!)
By: Krystal on September 10, 2008
at 2:37 pm
If you figure it out, please pass on the word to me. I am at my wits’ end with Charlotte. She never likes clothes on. Whenever we are home, she is naked. It wouldn’t be so bad if she were actually POTTY TRAINED, but no. I usually let her just hang out in her diaper, but she still freaks out when I dress her to leave the house. One day, I just gave up and let her play in the yard naked and some old woman who was driving by practically stopped the car in front of my house and STARED. I am still waiting to hear from DCFS on that one, but my social worker sister has assured me that they can’t get me on letting my kids play naked. That’s a relief.
By: Patty on September 10, 2008
at 2:42 pm
Oh and BTW, my kids regularly play in shaving cream and they both strip down for it. They not only play with their hands, but the roll around in it. They get so covered in shaving cream that they actually look like they have a wet suit on the color of the cream. It is a total riot. I’ll have to post some of the PG-rated pictures I have sometime.
By: Patty on September 10, 2008
at 2:44 pm
Shaving cream is the BEST!! I’m so glad that he ended up enjoying it!! It sounds like he needed some good fun.
By: abunslife on September 10, 2008
at 3:44 pm
We’ve done lots of shaving cream play here. It’s a big hit. In fact, maybe since they’re being ornery today I’ll get it out and we’ll go outside and let them have at it. And, what the hell, they can go naked too. LOL
By: Good Fountain on September 10, 2008
at 3:53 pm
That looks like it would be a lot of fun!!!
Glad Little Man enjoyed himself and as for the clothes? I say all the more power to him. Clothes are a pain:)
By: snowflake37 on September 10, 2008
at 3:54 pm
What a FANTASTIC, fun, SENSORY thing to do! I love it!
Here’s a little tidbit: If you have a gabillion dollars to spare and you walk through the baby’s soap aisle, you will find coloured foam soap…fun in the tub AND it gets them clean!
He’s adorable by the way…love, love, LOVE pudgy bellies!
By: Dawn on September 10, 2008
at 5:07 pm
Too Cute!
By: MM on September 10, 2008
at 6:22 pm
So cool! I think I’ll do that with Steve & LM when he comes back from traveling. Such a cool idea. But we’ll leave the nudity out of it!
How did he take it? Did he want to wash his hands more and more?! Or did he succumb to the cool feeling
By: Gin on September 10, 2008
at 7:22 pm
krystal, yes! we loved the onesies while they lasted.
patty, thankfully little man was the easiest kid EVER to toilet train. he basically trained himself when he was two. i’m guessing it’s because once he had a taste of diaper freedom, he realized how much he hated the feel of the dipes and never looked back. i was so lucky in that regard!
gf, ooooohhhh! shaving cream OUTSIDE! me likey! thanks for the tip!
snowflake, how true! no worrying about size or colour with naked, huh?
dawn, dayum! i’m a few bucks short of a gabillion. so close and yet so far!
gin, he actually did ok. he played for about 2 minutes before he couldn’t take it any more and had to wash his hands. and his belly. but hey! 2 minutes are better than zero minutes. progress is progress!
By: goodmum on September 10, 2008
at 7:52 pm
I can spot you ten bucks if you need it. That’ll get you a tad closer…oh…and I think I have a coupon for 10 cents off…there ya go…no excuses now!
By: Dawn on September 10, 2008
at 8:35 pm
Yeah! That’s what we did in OT last week, too! We are supposed to “slide” in it on plastic tarp outside, too. Of course Edward doesn’t mind the mess at all–he revels in it. So glad I read this! I’ve got to get shaving creme!
By: Elizabeth Channel on September 10, 2008
at 11:29 pm
here’s another squishy idea… a few years back i took really good ziploc bag and put a bunch of dollar store hair gell in it, coloured preferably, then take alll the air out of the bag. then duct tape the end closed for leakage purposes. then stick it in another ziplock bag, just in case that first bag isn’t strong enough you know. duct tape that end closed and voila… you’ve got a little squishy bag. if you don’t put too much in it you can draw pictures in the gell when it’s layed flat.
That kid is too cute! and that tongue. little boy’s and their roaming tongues. i’ve always thought they had little minds of their own, the tongues I mean.
By: LauraJ on September 11, 2008
at 8:08 am
Kia -
I’m SO sorry it’s taken me this long to get back to you and thank you for the Ladybird book and all of the goodies you sent for me and the kids. We didn’t get to the post office for quite a while because of Gustav! When we finally went at the end of last week, I had all of the kids with me and they were thrilled to get their packages. That was so nice of you. The girls love their journals and John M. is addicted to the Ladybird book. He’s actually been ‘reading’ most of the pages himself, although most of it is just memorized! I plan on getting some more of the series for his birthday in 2 weeks. He points out the ones on the inside back cover that he wants. It meant so much to me and I just wanted to let you know that you made 4 Louisianians very happy right in the middle of a hurricane.
Renee
By: Renee on September 11, 2008
at 10:16 am
I wasn’t able to get Conner ot keep his clothes on until this past spring – just before turning 5. Even stilll, it’s a huge accomplishment to have him wear just pajama bottoms to bed.
Our OT had Conner use cooked oatmeal with food coloring – messy! But think of it this way, what a great excuse ot make a mess and have some fun
Even if it’s hard for LM, he gets ot do something most Moms would ban :p
By: Crystal on September 11, 2008
at 11:24 am
elizabeth, that’s AWESOME!!! the visual i’m getting from your description is hilarious!!!
laura, i LOVE the gel idea! i will definitely get some on my next trip to the dollar store! thanks!
renee, yippee! I’m glad the package made its way to you and that you’re all safe. stay that way, ok?
crystal, the oatmeal does sound messy. and sticky. and gross. but possibly fun.
By: goodmum on September 11, 2008
at 12:48 pm
How fun is that! And, clothes, smothes! Who needs them when you are a little one! He’ll wear them soon enough!
He is a cutie pie, that boy of yours!
By: She on September 11, 2008
at 2:59 pm
thanks, she. i think he’s gorgeous, but i’m slightly biased. slightly.
By: goodmum on September 11, 2008
at 3:05 pm
We need to play with shaving cream around here not for OT (well, maybe) but to learn our damn alphabet.
By: gorillabuns on September 12, 2008
at 9:37 am