Chewing

I know I have written about Chewing before but this is a topic that resurfaces on a regular basis so I cant help but put another post up on it-

Chewing-- Man O Man Dakota has been a chewer from the time he was small the T-shirts had gnarly bottoms every time you turned around he had a shirt in his mouth -- another thing he was notorious for was to pull or chew the labels on the knack of the shirts too! Since those early days we have graduated to more "appropriate" chewing items An Occupational Therapist suggested some dog toys for numerous reasons including durability and texture but there comes a time when you don't want your child identified with "dog" toys. We even had so surgical tubing put on a long shoe string so as not to loose it and eventually I have started buying bar towels and I keep a special place. When Dakota starts to put something in his mouth I try to direct him to the cupboard where the towels are and just say "why don't you go get a towel to chew on?" Well lets face it walking around with a towel in your mouth isn't exactly appealing and perhaps provokes some people to judge~~~~~So now my latest "thing" is tooth brushes!
Every time I go to the store I always pick up a couple of inexpensive toothbrushes. I try to pick the ones that are "flexible" because he has snapped a few really cheap ones in his mouth from sheer gritting force but for the most part he chews like a mad man and it seems to be a "better fit" as far as appropriate. At least when he goes out in public having a toothbrush in his mouth is like a tooth pick or a straw.
The only problem I have run into is that he will grab his Crest Spin Brush and he will gnarl up the bristles-- those damn things cost about 5 bucks a piece so now I remove the top part of the brush and put it in the drawer--OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND --works like a charm