Day Two

Well, today started out bad. Daniel has never been fed by anyone other than me and my mom. He did well yesterday with the 1 feeding the therapist did but today he wasn't as happy. He threw a big fit when she came to get him and cried during most of the 1st feeding (note, they call it a feeding but he didn't get any food -- I'll explain later in this post). He kept pointing to me as we were walking back to let me know that he wanted me to feed him. I'm not allowed and have to just walk him back, put him in the chair and leave the room. I then watch from the viewing room. They didn't get much done and when the timer went off they brought him back to me. I am lucky that Daniel is old enough that I can talk with him and in a way scold him. I took him aside to a quiet place and explained that he needs to let Cynthia (the therapist) work with him. I told him that she is a nice person and wants to play with him and feed him. I also told him that he can't cry for her. He sniffled a little during our "talk" but seemed to understand. The 2nd feeding, he started to cry when we walked back to the room and I said "Daniel, remember what we talked about, be nice to Cynthia and show her how you can open your mouth and eat". Well, by the time I got back to the viewing room, he had stopped crying and was fine with her. Now I'll explain the feeding. They call every session a feeding whether he gets food or not. Today and probaby tomorrow, he won't actually get any food on the spoon. They work with him for 10 minutes on facial excercises to increase the muscles in his face and then they work with him for 10 minutes putting a "dry" spoon (meaning no food on it) in his mouth. He let her do all the excercises where she massaged his face and also let her put a finger in his mouth. When the "dry" spoon came he did as well as expected. They presented the spoon 10x in the 2nd feeding and put the whole spoon in his mouth. His tongue doesn't know what to do so it tends to try to push the spoon out which causes him to gag. He gagged about 6x the 2nd feeding. By the 3rd feeding he didn't cry at all and gagged about 4x. By the 4th feeding he actually pushed me out of the room and only gagged 2x. They were very happy with his progress. The funniest thing was watching him be presented with a "dry" spoon. The therapist says "open wide and take a big bite" and then she puts the spoon in his mouth. Well, he looked at her like "are you crazy lady, there isn't any food on that spoon"! It was hilarious to watch his facial expressions. I'm not sure what tomorrow holds but I'll update again tomorrow.

Mommy is doing fine. The day is exhausting by the end and there is lots to learn but they all say that he is doing well. I'll just hold onto that! They told me there will be bad days and I know there will but I'm loving the good ones. I can't wait for them to start introducing food on a full spoon in his mouth.

-Angela-