January 29, 2012

We've had a fun week with lots of playing. Charlotte has discovered how fun dress up can be (above) and Patrick discovered that he can fit inside of her tent AKA peapod (below).

AND, the absolute mostest bestest thing in the world - she eats! Generally when daycare calls it means she's sick and we have to pick her up. Not so this week. Twice we got wonderful news that she had eaten most (half of a ham and cheese wrap) or all (spanish rice and ground beef) of her lunch and they were uncertain about starting her mid-day feed. We decided to give her half of her feed immediately after such a full lunch and then we finish it up in the evening so that she still gets a full 3 cans a day.

Her favorite foods include: pudding, goldfish crackers, breakfast sausage links, and hummus (by the spoonful). She has eaten other things as well, but these are the ones she really scarfed down. Here's some photographic evidence:

Chocolate pudding is good. Need we say more?

Forget nutrition, Charlotte even got her first taste of a McDonalds cheeseburger this weekend.

A can of formula equates to 250 calories, so our goal each day was for Charlotte to take in at least 250 calories. We thought she had done this, so were surprised and disappointed when she weighed in at 23 lbs 10 oz yesterday (down from 24 lbs 1 oz the week prior). Then, we decided it must be water weight because she's not getting the fluid from her formula. We added extra water to her feeds today and tonight she weighed in at 24 lbs 2 oz! I'll take it.

We plan to e-mail her pediatrician tonight and find out how much water we should be giving her now that she's getting 3 cans per day. The Human Nutrition class I took for a liberal education requirement did not prepare me for this situation! :)

We're hopeful that this is one giant leap toward a tube free Charlotte. By her third birthday perhaps?

In other exciting news, Patrick and I got to go on a date Saturday night. Grandpa and Grandma Russell baby sat Charlotte and she loved it. She got to stay up late, show how high she can jump, read her new book (Tickler Monster), and in general be adored. We also loved the opportunity to try a new-to-us restaurant in Uptown (and feel cool that we were going out to eat in Uptown).

January 22, 2012

Charlotte has been grazing on food all day. We didn't track calories, but here is a list of foods that passed her previously impenetrable lips: goldfish crackers, greek yogurt, chocolate pudding, bread, twinkie, shredded turkey, broccoli, water, and pineapple juice.

The quantity varied for each food but we're more that pleased with her Day 1 performance. She loved the turkey we had for dinner and after eating a fair amount got a bit excited, put too much in her mouth, gagged, and vomited most of her dinner. This resulted in a new first for mom: cleaning vomit with chunks of food in it. I thought I'd be more grossed out than I was...I guess when it's your own kid it's just not that bad. In fact, I sort of enjoyed it - seeing real food in her vomit, that is.

January 21, 2012

Charlotte's foolish parents are embarking on a test of her eating skills. Starting tonight we're reducing her overnight feed from 2 cans to 1 to see if she eats more as a result. Tonight she weighed 24 lbs 1 oz, so we'll compare again in a week.

This past Monday we took her in for her monthly appointment with the speech (feeding) therapist and she did pretty well. We're focusing on teaching her to chew with her back teeth and to use her tongue to move food around in her mouth. The latest strategy is a game: she chews on her straw and then we cheer for the bite marks she makes. We're most likely jumping the gun with our test but she's been a relatively good eater this week. She ate 4 slices of mandarin orange at daycare, this morning she ate about a quarter of a hamburger bun, and at dinner tonight she chewed on a french fry and ate a fork-full of mustard (num!).

We've had a fun couple of weeks! We celebrated Christmas with our extended families the first weekend in January, saw Elmo Makes Music with Aunt Kelly last weekend, and spent this afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Distad at Sea Life.

Here's Charlotte getting excited to see Elmo Makes Music - Live! This was a great Christmas gift from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Tim. She was enthralled, only breaking her concentration to clap after each song (and occasionally during). Thanks Kelly and Tim!

Here's a shot of Charlotte and Kelly pre-show. I had the pleasure of attending with them and it was a ton of fun. There was a lot going on, so it was hard (read impossible) to get Charlotte to look at the camera.

January 5, 2012

Happy New Year! We celebrated Noon Years Eve at Como Zoo and here are a few photos from the event.

Patrick made Charlotte her New Year's Eve hat. Version 1 (above) was quickly improved.

Version 2 was an original for the event. Good job Daddy!

After a countdown to Noon these beach balls fell on the crowd. Very fun! This is as close as I ever want to get to New Years Eve in Time Square; it was packed.

Charlotte was excited to get a lion beach ball even though it was purchased at the gift shop. Patrick caught a beach ball right after they were dropped but I thought it was more fun to throw the balls in the air...and it was until they had all been grabbed for keeps.

Since the New Year Charlotte has been battling illness - a fever, lots of coughing and vomiting, wheezing, and exhaustion have disqualified her from daycare for a bit. Conveniently we had already scheduled an appointment for yesterday with her pediatrician to have her g-tube site looked at because she continues to complain of pain. For the tube we have another medication that will help the stomach lining heal - we're hoping it's just irritation. If we don't see improvement by next week the next step will be an ultrasound.

For her other symptoms she was diagnosed with probably having RSV. She received monthly shots to prevent RSV for the last two winters, but now she's too old for the shots (at least to have insurance cover the very costly shots). Hopefully nebulizer and rest will help her get back on her feet - literally as she wants to lay around almost all day - very soon.

The worst of yesterday's appointment was her chest x-ray. If you haven't had the privilege of watching a toddler receive a chest x-ray here's a blog with a picture of what happens: http://matthewrachelstarch.blogspot.com/2011/03/pigg-o-stat.html - not only was Charlotte immobilized in a similar torture device, she also had a piece of black velcro wrapped around the plastic walls which just happened to be at her eye level, preventing her from seeing anything thereby increasing her fear. I've never heard her scream quite like that and was relieved when it only lasted a minute. There has got to be a better way...

Here's to hoping our family soon returns to our normal school/daycare and work routines!