Week 6, Day 4

We truly had four great sessions today!!!!  We have been given the go ahead to continue with texture gradingJ.  One gritty food is introduced into the circle at each meal so it won’t shock his system too much.  The gritty purees are prepared by pulsing the food in a blender until you reach a relatively consistent consistency.  Less liquid is needed compared to a smooth puree.  This pureeing process isn’t perfect as some larger chunks of food often remain in the effort to keep the puree gritty.  We have to do our best to pick around them during the meal to prevent the dreaded gag or vomit episodes.  Gavin successfully accepted some gritty peaches and gritty turkey lasagna!!  He made a few funny faces after each bite, but they seemed to get less frequent and awkward as the meal progressed.  We did have one unfortunate experience with the gritty lasagna at the end of one session.  As I was feeding Gavin the lasagna, I noticed one of those larger pieces on the spoon just as Gavin was closing his mouth.  It all happened in slow motion to me!  You first saw that look of panic when Gavin found that unfortunate oversized piece of noodle, then the gagging started and that paralyzed look of fear took over.  We lost a few of those hard earned bites to that large noodle, but it wasn’t too much in the end.  The other psychologist, Dr. Jen was in the room when this happened, and she had me feed Gavin a small taste of that gritty lasagna before we moved on so he knew that food was still “safe”.  (I don’t know that I will ever get over continuing a meal after I watch Gavin vomit, but I do understand that it is an important message to send to him.  For some reason so many of these feeding kids, Gavin included, learn that if vomiting gets them out of the chair then they will force an eruption…so smart, yet so ridiculous at the same time)  Gavin put up a bit of a fight, as you would expect, but he accepted another bite of the lasagna.  We continued one more circle successfully and let the last minute of the timer run out while Gavin was happy and ended on a positive eating experience.  Bottom line, double check gritty foods BEFORE shoving the spoon in your little one’s mouth!!!

We have continued to allow for self-feeding at the beginning of each meal.  Like any toddler, it just depends on the mood Gavin is in!  Once it looks like he is going to try to flex a muscle of independence and derail the feeding session, we immediately take the plate away, redirect, and finish the meal feeding him.  We have seen a lot more of Mischievous Gavin now who is just trying to outsmart us in the feeding process.  He will tell long dramatic stories and rub his eyes like he has a horrible itch to stall the meal.  We will work on ways to keep him focused in the next two weeks.  I’m just happy we did not see Monster Gavin todayJ.

Eric was able to feed Gavin in the last session today!  Gavin was of course very excited to take his bites for Daddy.  They did a great jobJ.

After four good sessions, Gavin was given the choice of going to the playground or back to Chuck-E-Cheese’s, and you can see what his decision wasJ.  He loves that place!  When we got back to the Clown House, there was a third grade class that was there to make dinner.  Of course Gavin loved having all the older kids there to play with…or more like hop around as they played!  They were such nice kids and really liked talking to Gavin.  It was a good end to a good day!!