He got a spoon!!!

When you have a child with developmental delays, you learn to look for the small things. The small changes that other people who don't know your child well might not notice. Things like getting a spoon when your child is 8 years old.
Gabriel turned 8 in November. He has poor fine motor skills. We recently bought a weighted spoon and fork for him.

I know, these are weird things that most parents don't have to even think about. The product is genius. Kids have smaller, less effective hands so it makes sense to make them more useable for a child.
He could not use a fork and spoon effectively and chooses to use his hands. I think the weight helped him feel where the utensils are in his hands because he could effectively use them. Still, he preferred his hands.
When we are at home, it isn't a problem if he uses his hands. Even if it's annoying to a guest, well, it's who he is and we accept it. At least he's eating on his own. I know children who have to be fed still at this age so I'm happy he will self-feed.
Tonight we had grits with vegetables for dinner. As we sat around the table, Gabriel began eating his food with his hands as usual. He quietly got up, walked to the other side of the kitchen, and pulled out a regular spoon. He sat down and started eating with his spoon.
Andrew and I stared at each other in amazement, our eyes darting to Gabriel and back to each other. We grinned and didn't say a word. I almost cried with delight! This was a huge moment for us. Not only did he use a regular spoon but he got it by himself!
Hooray for these incredible moments!