Day Thirteen

Today was a good day! We got back to the feeding clinic bright and early and other than a few tantrums when they came to get Daniel to take him back to the feeding room, he did great! He remembered everthing that he was taught previously. He is still having trouble with the tongue control but he is doing better. The gagging is down to a minimum and he is getting better at cleaning the spoon off on the 1st try. They introduced a squeeze bottle filled with juice today along with the food that he is eating. Daniel can drink thru a straw but he doesn't put the straw very far in his mouth. The squeeze bottle is used so the therapist can stick the straw in his cheek on either side of his mouth and ask him to put his lips around it tightly and suck. This gets the child used to having things all the way in the mouth instead of just using the tip of their lips. Once the straw is firmly in his cheek the therapist will squeeze so she can control how much is going into his mouth. This helps them from just taking tiny sips of juice and instead taking a significant amount. I was very pleased and proud of Daniel today in regards to the feeding portion.

At the clinic, Daniel also has 1/2 hour of recreation time. This means that a early childhood specialist will come get him and take him to the recreation room and play with him. Sometimes they play musical instruments, sometimes they do crafts and sometimes they just play with toys. Well, let me tell you, Daniel does not like being taken away from mommy. He threw a major (and I mean major) tantrum today when they came to get him. He got down on the floor and made a huge scene. They made him go anyway and he got over it but I was a little shocked at his behavior. He needs to do this because he is not used to being around anyone but me, Abi and Eric on a regular basis and it's time that he became accustomed to being around other people. I can understand his hesitation because in his short little life it always seems like when someone unknown comes and takes him somewhere that mommy isn't, they do bad things to him (like x-rays, shots, poking and prodding, and all the other bad stuff). It was hard to not let him just stay with me but I made him go. In the end it was okay but boy that screaming was an eye opener showing that his lungs are just fine!

Well, I'm off to bed. Will update more tomorrow.

-Angela-