Week 3, Day 2

Our day started off a little scary, but everything was fine.  I awoke to a loud thud and cryingL  Gavin had managed to fall out of bed.  He had rolled to the end of the bed and found the corner that was not fully barricaded.  He cried for about a minute, but then started laughing and bouncing all over the bed!  I was glad that he appeared to be doing okay, but then he stopped and looked at me really seriously.  He said “You’re not Ms. Anna…you’re mommy!”  I guess he is dreaming about his therapy sessions now!  Better than mean alligators.  He was fine, but has a little bruise on his back.  It doesn’t seem to slow him down at all!

Our day went really well.  Gavin actually said that he liked the chicken that was mixed in potato soup!!!  He is very vocal when he does not like something, so I trust that he did like it.  We have graduated from the squeeze bottle we were using for the PediaSure to a toddler cup with a lid and straw!!  Gavin likes his independence, and has really embraced the idea of drinking on his own…most of the time!  We are still using a one-way valve that keeps the liquid in the straw to decrease the amount of air Gavin swallows.  He tends to get a bit burpy…He is definitely getting better at burping and moving on without a big production.  Towards the end of the meal when his little tummy is full is when we tend to slow down if he’s having too many issues. 

In each session, we do exercises and have Gavin practice moving his tongue and chewing.  When introducing new foods and textures for chewing, we tightly wrap the food in mesh fabric in order to keep the bite together and allow only a few food particles free in the mouth.  The mesh is held by the feeder in the back of the mouth on each side where we chew, and then Gavin bites down repeatedly like he would if he were eating the piece of food.  We start with a fine mesh like you see in a wedding veil and then move up to a wider mesh with bigger openings before finally introducing the food alone into the mouth.  This has been a long process that we started with Tiffany back in Houston.  When we got here, Gavin was accepting a strawberry Nutri-Grain bar in the fine mesh…most of the time.  Today, he bit off pieces himself from the Nutri-Grain bar and ate it like a normal three year old!  Well, sort of…he kept pointing to the side of his mouth to assure Ms. Anna that he was chewing on the side! J

Gavin will not be getting any PediaSure tonight, so we are back on track with a full day without tubing!!  It is tough trying to judge how much food/drink Gavin needs.  I am so used to our dietitian giving us a set volume of PediaSure that he needs in 24 hours, and just making that happen.  I spoke with Dr. Clawson and the dietitian here a little bit last week about how we should track Gavin’s food intake for the day.  Dr. Clawson reminded me that in the real world we do not weigh our kid’s food before each meal and calculate the exact number of calories they consume exactly.  That just happens in this perfect world of feeding clinics.  She suggested that for now we track his intake based on the total ounces of food/drink that he consumes in the day and have a target number to hit each day as opposed to calculating the number of calories in each food to hit an exact calorie goal.  The goal is to have him eating a balanced healthy diet like any other kid…minus the processed foods J I look forward to that little bit of normalcy, even if the foods are still pureed!

We are going to keep pushing new foods.  I have a few low sodium cookbooks, and I am eager to try some of the recipes for us to puree.  It is hard to keep thinking that we are only at purees, but a year ago, Gavin wasn’t eating a thing by mouth!!  We are just following the natural progression of food from six months on up…just a little late, but that’s okay, we are eating!!!!  One of the ladies that works in the office at the clinic said that she was a climber when she was a kid.  She told Gavin that he needs to eat all of his food so he will be strong and she can teach him to climb.  Apparently her favorite climbing mountain was the refrigerator!  Thankfully Gavin has not been a climber, and we do everything we can to discourage it.  I think I’d be okay bringing him back to Indiana to have him learn to climb that refrigerator after he eats his first big hamburger if it would give him a little incentive!!

Gavin ate a little bit of cake tonight that one of the volunteers made!!!  I don’t know why, but the idea of him eating cake for his birthday is such a milestone that I want him to reach.  I’ve even considered pureeing it for him for his 3^rd birthday, but I think that’s going a little too farJ  After tonight’s progress with this cake, I am fairly confident he will at least consume a crumb of his cake this year!

I know so many of you are asking for our address.  That is so sweet of all of you.  We appreciate your thoughts and prayers alone, please do not feel obligated to send anything.  Our address is:

Gavin Matthews #205

The Ronald McDonald House

3540 Washington Ave.

Evansville, IN 47714