Second full day

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006
Bens second full day was a long day. On Fridays there are no therapies. He usually would go to recreational therapy and to preschool. I did a lot of chasing in the halls while he played. He is really starting to interact with the other little boys, and one of their favorite things to do is to scoot around in the Little Tikes cars that are there. I also took him out to the playground to run out some of his abundant energy, but he was limited there as he has an extreme fear of the fall leaves that have fallen to the ground.
As for the feeding, he was fed yogurt today. It is the one food he consistently enjoys. He is being fed vanilla. He had been given a tube feeding right before the first feeding session for the day so he was not that hungry, and I think he only ate 1/2 oz. That would include both the yogurt consumed and the water he drank. He did the same thing at the second feeding. But the third feeding he was much more willing to eat. He actually opened his mouth wide once without prompting. He gagged once, which is usually the kiss of death for a meal at home, but the therapist insisted he continue so he gave up the fight and ate a few more bites. He is prompted to open wide, then the spoon is put into his mouth. He is rewarded for a good bite with a toy and praise. The therapist will remove the toy for the next bite and state that it is her turn to work with him. If he fights the bite, she blocks his hands and works to get him to open his mouth and to accept the bite. When he does, he is rewarded again. At the last 2 feedings, he ate 2.3 oz. That is a big deal for Ben.
Next week, the feeding therapists plan to change the flavor of his food and to work into a new food. It will be interesting to see what new food we end up with next week.
Today 2 of the kids graduated. One of the moms was thrilled with the progress her child had made, the other was less happy. The less happy mom was happy with the variety of food her child was eating, but not as happy with the chewing and swallowing skills. The other mom was thrilled because she now has to worry about feeding her child too much. Her little one would not eat before she came to the clinic, and now has a good variety of foods and is very willing to eat. That is a dream of mine for Ben. I would love to have to worry about him getting too many calories!
Ben also got a new button today. He had an AMT mini, which was broken from the get-go. It always leaked everything in his tummy back out when the cap was off. By the end of each day, he waws pretty smelly because of what had leaked out. My home health care did not have another AMT in his size so they sent a mic-key to tie me over. I actually like the way it sits on his belly better than the AMT. I will have to see how it goes. I am loving the fact that it doesn't leak.