Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted but in the midst of moving houses, working more hours and David going back to school, there has been limited free time. We are finally settled in and starting to figure out our new schedules.
Stella is doing great sleeping in her new room and we have eliminated her 9 pm tube feeding by dividing the last amount into her 4 other scheduled feedings so she is actually going to bed earlier (and waking up earlier too.) I am working mostly EARLY mornings (think 4 am - 10 am) and when I get home from work David goes to class. Stella is continuing to receive Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Physical Therapy each once a week and we work with her each day on the things that we have learned from her therapies.
While we were in Tucson to see Marsha Dunn Klein she introduced Stella to Mum crackers (similar to Puffs but a long wafer that's easier to hold) and Stella loved tasting the crumbs and even taking little bites. We have continued to let Stella explore with the crackers and she now eats almost a whole cracker in one sitting. Yesterday while she was eating her cracker I actually had to tell her to "finish what was in her mouth before you take another bite." This is such a normal mom of a toddler thing to say but if you told me a couple weeks ago that these words would be coming out of my mouth so soon I would have never believed you!!
STELLA LOVES EATING HER MUM CRACKERS! She went to town on this vegetable flavored crispy cracker and loved being able to hold it herself and take bites. She would get frustrated if I tried to help her. (Mia also loves that Stella is starting to eat things and feed herself; she stayed right by Stella to watch for any scraps she might be able to get.) It was such a great eating experience and it is a big step in the right direction of getting rid of the tube. We know that we still have a long journey from where we are to the point that we can be tube-free. Marsha described Stella as being in the "exploration" stage which means that any time that Stella is open to exploring new tastes, textures, and eating experiences that we need to encourage her to do so. However; Stella is also still a very cautious eater and there are many times when she is not open to new foods entering her mouth - so we have to do a balancing act of helping her to try new things but recognizing when she is not open to exploring so we don't take any steps back.
The next few months will be a lot of small taste sessions like we had yesterday with the cracker, and hopefully by 2013 we'll be writing about Stella eating a complete meal by mouth instead of a complete cracker!
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