Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Selena and I woke up very early this morning (5am) because we could hear Joy tossing and turning in her crib.  Joy usually wakes up before us but she never cries (for hunger or thirst). She just plays in her crib and waits for us to get her when we're ready. I'm sure a lot of parents wish their kids would do that!  But today, we felt like this was a bit early for Joy so we brought her downstairs and I prepared some formula.  While waiting, she started to whine and cry a bit.  So I rushed back and offered her the sippy cup.  To our surprise, she gulped down 3oz within 2 min.  Once she was done, she was done.  She was much happier and was able to fall back asleep.

The mid morning snack session wasn't as productive.  Heidi (speech therapist) came and tried for over an hour.  Joy just wasn't ready to eat.  So we gave her some water and we put her to sleep. We also took this opportunity to get some rest too.

Resting (aka Facebooking)

After a short 30 min nap, I took Joy downstairs (new setting) to play.  Once I thought she was ready, I offered the sippy cup and she drank about 1oz.  She played some more and then Selena went to go pick up Marcus Wilken for the real feeding session.  Then something weird happened.  Joy started to mouth her toys, whine, and cry.  I quickly started prepping the food.  I picked Joy up and brought her to the kitchen. As I was warming her jars of sweet peas and chicken and sweet potatoes, I saw her licking her tongue as if to say, "I'm ready to eat daddy."  I sat her on the floor and then she proceeded to eat some sweet peas and more than half a jar of chicken and sweet potatoes.  By the time Selena returned with Marcus, Joy was almost done eating.  Joy returned to her happy little self again.

Eating her toys

Given that Joy was already done, I offered Marcus to stay for lunch. Courtesy of Erica Barnes, we had meat lasagne, bread, salad and corn.  It was a great conversation with Selena pushing hard for Joy to drink a certain amount of formula while Marcus was arguing that Joy may end up wanting more purees and less milk and that we shouldn't put a set number.  He also challenged us to stop counting how much Joy eats but rather let her tell us how much she really wants to eat.  And at the end of the day, Joy will eat enough because she can now communicate in different ways when she wants something and when she's done.  

While we were eating, Joy started to whine a bit so I picked her up.  I was busy eating my salad and everyone noticed that everytime I brought food to my mouth, Joy would open her mouth and try to eat my food.  So on the fly I decided to let her gnaw on the red peppers and corn.  She kept licking and gnawing at it and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. So while Joy was not interested in her formula, she really enjoyed the pureed foods and fresh vegetables.  Overall I felt this was a great feeding session.

Joy took a very long nap (2 hours) which gave me time to clean up the house a bit.  The plan was for us to take Joy out and feed her in public on our own.  But since she slept for so long, I decided to head back to Maryland to pick up Joy's meds.  I also needed to drop off a few things at home and bring some more baby food too.  It was supposed to be a quick trip but it turned out to be a long adventure!

ZZZZZZZ

I was on my way back to VA when I started to notice a loud thumping sound under the hood.  It also occurred to me that the AC in the car stopped working.  I took a look at the dashboard to discover the engine temp was off the charts!  I quickly pulled over and looked under the hood.  The coolant fluid was BOILING over and spewing out of the container.  I panicked because I had Joy's meds that needed to stay cold. Luckily I also brought with me all the frozen purees which acted like ice cubes.  After calling my insurance rep, a few tow truck companies, and talking to Johnson Hsu for advice, I decided to drive back to Maryland and drop the car off at my mechanic.  I would drive a few miles and then pull over and let the car cool down.  I finally made it and my friend, Danny Chang, gave me a ride to the metro.  The metro ride gave me time to wind down and a short cab ride later, I was finally back at Gabe and Erica's place.  Whew!

Overheating in rush hour traffic

While I was away, Jennifer and Heidi came for the dinner feeding session.  Unfortunately Joy was really cranky and tired, and did not eat anything.  They also noticed that Joy has a runny nose so she may be getting sick. Two steps forward and one step back, right?

Joy took a short nap and then woke up again.  While Selena was preparing her food in the kitchen, Joy took her thumb out of her mouth and start to get excited for her food.  She ate 2oz of formula and 1oz of solids (chicken and stars puree and carrots).   Encouraging!

Small Steps Forward

For today, she drank 7.5oz of formula and 5oz of solids.  Progress!!