Eating New Foods

Noah has been experimenting with eating new foods this summer.  He continues to love anything that is creamy and completely devoid of texture {yes to yogurt, no to applesauce} as well as anything that easily crumbles in his mouth {graham crackers, fish crackers, animal crackers}.

In an attempt to expand his very small repertoire of food he chooses to eat, as well as introduce new flavors to his virgin taste buds, Bubs and I have been scouring the grocery store for things to eat.  Noah will typically choose a box based upon the cartoons on the front and then not like the contents inside {perhaps an introductory lesson on marketing will be in his future}.  We have discovered, however, a few new foods that he enjoys.

Behold, America's favorite cookie...the Oreo.  Bubs loves to twist the cookies apart and lick the creamy filling out.

And Bugles...America's stinkiest snack food.  Auntie Nessa taught him how to stick them on his fingers and pretend they are long nails.  Noah, however, pretends they are light sabers.

With every new food that Noah tries, I see a glimmer of hope, in the very, very distant future, that my Little Man might be one day be g-tube free.

Eating Progress

Most days, eating is a struggle for Noah {as well as for us}.  Let's be honest...Bubs just doesn't like it.  He finds little or no pleasure in how things taste and struggles with texture, volume, and an ever-present gag reflux.

During meal time, we encourage Noah to eat graham crackers {in fun shapes that he can tolerate} or yogurt {which he has easily mastered} before we give him his blended food through his g-tube.  Let me tell you...all meals involve bribes with the iPad or iPhone.   Seriously, where would we be without those?!?  Noah LOVES to play games and will typically do just about anything for some "technology time".  That's not to say, however, that there still isn't usually a struggle to eat.

On occasion, Noah happily eats his food...and dare I say enjoys it.  Other times, however, meals look like this...

I just keep repeating to myself, "One step at a time..."

Drinking

Noah has been working with his OT for the past several months to drink from a straw. Do you know how hard it is to teach someone to suck? Let me tell you, it's very hard!  Noah never really learned how to suck as a baby. 

Today, I filled Mr. Man's cup with juice and he promptly started to cry. He wanted the "rectangle cup". After quite a bit of time trying to figure out which cup Noah wanted, Kc suggested that he might want a juice box. I handed my stubborn, crying child the juice box and waited for the frustration to swell as he tried to drink the juice. I rolled my eyes and gave Kc a knowing glance.  I just knew this was going to end in disaster.   

Well...to my utter astonishment, Bubs put the straw in his mouth and took a big swallow. 

What?!? When did he learn how to do that???

Noah proceeded to drink TWO juice boxes today. 

This boy continues to surprise me on a daily basis.

Eating

Recently, Bubs has started eating...I mean really eating!

That's right, people, eating!

You know...the simple act of putting food into the mouth, chewing, and swallowing for nourishment.  That thing we do multiple times a day with ease and pleasure.  

Eating!

Well, now Bubs is doing it too!

If you know anything about Mr. Man, you know that he has been g-tube fed since he was six months old.  He has been working with an occupational therapist since that time in order to learn how to control his tongue, eliminate his gag reflux, and tolerate objects in his mouth.  While this road has been long and winding, I can happily report that Bubs is willingly putting {selected} food into his mouth.

It all started with frozen yogurt. 

Let me tell you, Mr. Man loves him some fro-yo.  It is smooth, creamy, and sweet! 

He has moved from frozen yogurt to yogurt to pudding.  He enjoys when I dye the vanilla pudding fun colors {green for St. Patrick's Day or purple for Silly Saturday}.

He even enjoys making his own pudding...banana is his favorite.

Bubs is also quite in love with Angry Birds and Star Wars!

Bubs' therapist is super impressed as are his parents.  The fact that Mr. Man is putting anything at all in his mouth is MONUMENTAL!  We are currently working on adding texture to his foods.  He tried apple sauce the other day and was NOT A FAN!  There were definite tears on both our parts.  One day at a time...one step at a time...this boy is going to be eating with the best of them!

Christmas Baking

A few years ago, I discussed the fact that I don't bake.  Cooking...yes...do it most nights...love it!  Baking...no...don't do it...don't like it.  That all changed the day Noah received a Gingerbread Man at school and proceeded to lick, munch, and chew his way through most of it.  

What?!?  My son actually put a soft cookie in his mouth and enjoyed it?!?

Mr. Man has been working on biting foods for several months now and has made very slow progress.  He seems to prefer taking the smallest bites of crunchy cookies that will disintegrate in his mouth without the need to chew.  The fact that he took bites of the soft gingerbread cookie...well...it was AMAZING!

Kc found a recipe for soft gingerbread cookies this morning and I decided that I could get over my no baking rule for the sake of my son {I know...such a sacrifice from this Mama}.

Bubs had so much fun measuring all the ingredients.  

 

Why, yes, that is an Angry Birds hat that Mr. Man is wearing.  Some bakers wear aprons, but the real professionals wear Angry Birds hats.

Please don't tell Nana that I am not using Penzey's Spices.  When you don't bake all that often {ok...never} you don't fill your pantry with the best cinnamon.

 

We sifted all the dry ingredients and only made a small mess.

Mixing the dough together requires quite a bit of concentration.

How good a cookie tastes is in direct proportion to how messy you get while baking them.

After allowing the dough to rest and rehydrate for an hour {the longest hour in Bub's life} it was time to roll it out.

We started, of course, with the classic Gingerbread Man cookie cutter.

You have to push down really hard on the cookie cutter.

Come on, push down even harder.

Bubs is showing me how hard you have to push down...he's grunting super hard.

Oh, we get to do it again?

And again?

And again?

After we used the Gingerbread Man, it was time to mix things up a bit.  Miss Willow gave Noah some fantastic whale, shark, seahorse, and dolphin cookie cutters, and who says that gingerbread cookies have to be human. 

 Bubs loved the sea creature cookies.

After a few short minutes in the oven and a bit of time to cool, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

"I bite the head off," Noah told me as he attempted to put the entire thing in his mouth.  Bubs bit down, but was unable to break it off.

He moved on to the arms and tried to take a big bite.

Success!  Noah managed to take a bite and actually kept it in his mouth for a moment.  After attempting to chew this HUGE bite, Bubs wiped it off his tongue and went in for a much smaller bite. 

Mr. Man went back for several more small bites and even chewed and swallowed most of them. 

If Noah responds this well to homemade cookies, I just might have to change my no baking rule into an only baking with my son rule.

We've Got a Biter

Stop the presses!

We've got a biter!

A biter and chewer!!

A biter and chewer and swallower!!!

Of Graham Crackers!

Can you believe it?

At Noah's last OT session, he learned to take {miniscule} bites of crackers and chew and swallow them.  In the past, Bubs would FREAK OUT whenever he had anything with texture in his mouth.  He would immediately wipe the offending food out with his fingers or use his shirt sleeve to scrape it off his tongue.  Yesterday, however, he willingly took bites of graham crackers and allowed the crumbs to stay in his mouth long enough for him to swallow them. 

Oh, my, goodness!!!

Kc took plenty of videos at the OT session and Bubs just loves to watch them.  Here he is watching the videos and doing his "homework" with Daddy.

Checking to make sure he's doing this "eating thing" correctly.

We are so proud of our Little Man and so thankful for his amazing Occupational Therapist.  We've still got a long way to go but are so encouraged by these little steps forward.

Water and Pishhhh

I know what you're thinking...not another post about Bubs and his love of fish {or pishhh, as he calls them}.

Are you kidding me?  
We get it, ok.  
Mr. Man loves him some sea creatures.
Can you please find something else to write about.

Well...you are correct.  Bubs just loves anything that has to do with the ocean.  Ever since our trip to the aquarium, Mr. Man has been infatuated with fish...and whales...and dolphins...and stingrays...and sharks...and starfish...and jellyfish...

But, we're not talking about those fish today.  No, today we're talking about goldfish {the yummy little crackers}.  Noah has been working with an occupational therapist for almost a year.  The progress he has made has been monumental {if not slow}.  Bubs is now taking small sips of water and swallowing it.  He is also licking almost all food we put in front of him and will "dance" his teeth on most food.

Last night, at dinner, Bubs would first lick the goldfish and then put it into his bowl of water.

He got such a kick out of scooping the floating fish up in his spoon.

He would then sip spoonfuls of salty, fishy water.  Yum!

Fish soup!  It's the best!

Excuse Me Waiter...There's Food In My Bowl!

Several months ago, September to be exact, Noah started seeing an occupational therapists for his sensory and feeding issues.  We are lucky that the appointments are on Mondays and Kc is able to take Bubs.  Our therapist is so enthusiastic and methodical with Mr. Man.  She knows exactly how much to push him and does a great job teaching us how to gently push him as well.  

Two weeks ago, Noah's therapist put water in a bowl and "taught" Noah how to put a spoon in the water and then touch it to his tongue.  Noah gets a turn with his own spoon and then we get a turn with our spoon.  It's great that Bubs gets some control and can feel safe with his own spoon and then we can make sure he gets the practice he needs. 

Last week, the therapist added just a bit of pureed peas to the water.  Not only is Bubs getting a touch of liquid on his tongue, but that liquid has some taste to it.  So far, we've been able to practice a few times each day and our Little Stinkpot is doing better and better.

Noah's turn to put the spoons in his mouth.

Mama's turn to put the spoon in his mouth.

 

Nobody's turn to put the spoons in his mouth.

 

We've got a long way to go, but the fact that Bubs is putting wet, pea water spoons in his mouth is just HUGE!!!!

There's No Place Like Home...There's No Place Like Home...

We made it home last night...finally. There was a bit of a back-up of patients being discharged from the hospital yesterday and we had to wait {forever} for discharge orders to be written up. Once the orders were {finally} given, we were able to make the three hour drive home.

We have discovered, after giving our Little Stinkpot every single type of food to taste, that he does enjoy salty things. For a while, goldfish crackers were his food of choice. Now...let me clarify. Bubs did not actually eat the crackers. Oh, no! This is Stinkpot we're talking about. Eating is OUT OF THE QUESTION! He did, however, lick all the salty goodness off the goldfish. And let's face it, that is the best part of the cracker anyway.

Mr. Man has recently expanded his repertoire of salty foods that he enjoys licking, but he definitely gravitates towards foods that are abnormally orange.

He has learned how to say most of his colors and quite enjoys the color orange.

Anyway...to keep him occupied on the drive home, I gave him some Cheetos and boy did he ever love them.Yummy, Salty Goodness!The famous bright, orange fingers.If there is food all over your face, it must be good!We finally made it home and Mr. Man was SO happy! Bubs ran into the house and insisted on taking ALL his toys out and playing with each and every single one of them. Too cute!

We all enjoyed a GREAT night of sleep, uninterrupted by nurses, beeps, doctors, medications, and the hum of florescent lights. We are now ready to start our Christmas Vacation! Yeah!

Play with Your Food

Noah met with a new Occupational Therapist on Wednesday. She did a two hour evaluation on his oral and fine motor skills. She gave us several exercises to do with Noah's face to help build strength in his muscles as well as told us that Noah needs to, "play with his food every day". Well, OK. Here we go...Noah's not sure what he thinks about chicken and rice.Notice how Mama strategically coordinated Noah's shirt color with the color of his food.This whole food thing might not be all that bad.

Rice Cereal

Now that Noah is six months old, we have been given the go-ahead to try some rice cereal. Normally, Noah feeds a little less than an ounce of milk by mouth and the rest is fed through his G-Tube. Because he has long since refused to suck from a bottle as well as from a pacifier (Wubba is gone but not forgotten) we squirt small amounts of the milk into his mouth from a syringe. It is a painful process for me because Mr. Man HATES to swallow and whines and cries the entire time it takes to feed by mouth (about five minutes).

I suppose a small part of me was holding out hope that once Noah tastes "real" food, he will all of a sudden look at me with joy in his eye and want to swallow more. Alas, this was not the case. Here Noah is quite interested in what Mama is so excited about.
We were both cautiously optimistic that what was on the spoon would go in quickly and easily.Once the food hit his mouth, however, Noah sang a different tune. The wincing, crying, gagging and whining continued for three spoonfuls. At this point, Mama could not take it anymore and the feeding stopped.Well...we'll keep on trying, perhaps with some pureed fruit, but I'm less optimistic that Noah Man will be eating by mouth any time soon.