Helping!!

Maryam saw Daddy shoveling rocks and putting them in the wheel barrel and decided she needed to help!

So, she and I got her shovel and wheel barrel and brought them out to where Daddy was working.

Mommy took pictures instead of helping! But Maryam sure was a good little helper!

So, Maryam's OT Melina at CHOC decided that Maryam is doing much better at swallowing purees than she is at chewing and swallowing solids. She probably got this idea from the crazy tremendous amounts of Cool Whip the girl can eat. While she was at the feeding session on Tuesday Maryam ate about 1/2 jar of Gerber 3 sweet potatoes and at her session on Wednesday ate about 1/3 jar of Gerber 3 fruit medley! Last night when we got home I gave her the rest of the sweet potatoes and in about a 45 minute dinner session with Mommy she only spit her food out 3 times! THAT'S HUGE!!!!!!
This morning I tried giving her some Cinnamon apple oatmeal and she was back to the gagging, purple turning, choking, not breathing baby I'm more used to. That is a typical reaction Maryam has to eating purees. I actually knew how to handle that! Seeing her put a spoon in her mouth and swallow food is shocking! Yeah, we do things backward in our family. The more I looked a the consistency of the oatmeal, the more it made sense. It was just way too chunky for her. I think the chunks is what set off the gag reflex which lead to the turning purple, choking and not breathing I was talking about. So at lunch I tried a food that was less chunky, a broccoli, carrot and cheese combo. She seemed to REALLY like this one! UNTIL she hit a carrot....then it was back to the gagging, well you know the rest. So, I pushed all the carrots aside and she managed to eat about 1/3 of the jar. CRAZY! At dinner time I decided to take a break and let Brett try. He fed her some chicken puree that she seemed to gobble right up! He gave her a bowl full and she ate it all! He said she only spit it out once. Talk about progress, right?
The super crazy part, aside from actually seeing Maryam put food into her mouth and swallow it, is that less than 6 months ago, there was NO WAY that we could get any baby food stuff in her mouth. Just the sight of it made her gag. I feel like I'm seeing real progress! Not that we haven't seen progress in the past, because we have. There was a time when Maryam wouldn't drink water, or put any food into her mouth....NOTHING. Now she's drinking about 8 ounces of water a day, eating baby food, chewing on burgers, fries and nuggets and asking for "a bite" of almost anything Mommy and Daddy are eating. She's come a very long way.

Tonight I tried getting Maryam down another 15 minutes earlier than last night's 9:50pm. I thought I was moderately successful. I laid her in bed at exactly 9:42. I was pleased with my efforts because that's 8 minutes earlier than last night! THEN the little bugger got out of bed and 10:07 and I had to start all over again. I finally put her back in bed at 10:35....definitely NOT a success story. So, now I have a plan. Tomorrow morning I'm just going to wake her up when I get up. No more letting her sleep in until 9:30 like she did this morning. Maybe if she wakes up earlier, she'll go to bed earlier. I guess I'll just have to wait to see. I only have 10 more days to get her on the CHOC schedule! That schedule is up and at 'em at 7:00 for vitals and in feeding therapy by 8:00am. Then after that, its go, go, go until bed time. Wish us luck!