Erin Legs

Shoes make her cranky

Our new most favorite thing in the whole wide is shoes. Not just shoes, but putting them and taking them off. After all, what’s the point of shoes if not to put them on and off all day? seriously, what?

At nearly two she still too young to be able to put her shoes on by herself, so she’s constantly bringing me one shoe, lifting up her foot and “eh”ing until I put it on. Of course, she has no problems with taking said shoes off.

Fine Art

Or not…

Erin has always liked to do things in her own order. In the beginning this was a course of concern for us as she was rarely doing the things she should have been for her age. Now though, we just go with the flow.

I originally bought footpath chalk a few months ago, hoping that she’d get the hang of the big chunky chalks faster then she had the pencils and crayons, but no such luck. Her favorite thing to do was to eat them.

Fast forward to this week. I bought the chunky chalk out again and we went outside once the sun had passed over and the afternoon had cooled. Lo and behold we have drawing!

As you can see she’s quite advanced, not only can she stab at the cement with her chalk, but she can also write words!

I’m off today to get her first drawing printed and framed!

An important announcement

Erin would like you all to know that she’s done her very first poopie on her potty!

What a week

What a week it’s been! Another one spent prowling hospital corridors in search of a quite place to rest and wait, only this time there was no procedures and no nasty surprises. With the exception of a little tummy bug, this time we’re walking away from the hospital feeling like we’ve gotten exactly what we wanted. A baby who is eating. You know, actual eating, with food that goes in her mouth, not down a tube.

I was a bit skeptical about the intensive feeding therapy when we finally got to the top of the waiting list. We’d been doing feeding therapy for months with limited improvement, what was going to happen over the course of the week that was going to make a difference? Even now I’m still not sure what we did differently but she’s eating and eating more at each meal than she did in a whole day previously!

We’re both exhausted and though she’s still trying to work out ways of getting out of eating she’s still doing well. Despite a tantrum and trying to climb out of her high chair this morning at breakfast she still ate 150 grams (5oz) of yogurt. Her therapists say this is normal but that she’ll eventually come round and meal times wont be so time consuming. Hell, we may even be able to eat out like normal people!

Little Setbacks

At Erin’s last dietitian appointment her formula recipe was adjusted to add more calories in the hopes that she will grow large enough that her tube can be removed at her next Infant Follow Up appointment. It’s been almost a week since this change and we’ve noticed two things. Firstly, she’s definitely getting bigger, and secondly, her appetite has decreased significantly.

By significantly I mean that in the past two days all she has taken orally is two potato chips and a nibble of some toast. She’s just not hungry, she’s even flat out refusing her bottles.

At first I thought this was a result of her tube being changed–we always see a decrease in her eating habits after a tube change–but now I’m starting to wonder if it’s more likely to be due to her new recipe which has significantly more calories. It’s common for kids with adjusted diets to experience this so I think we need to talk to the dietitian and adjust her feeds again.