Patch Work

Socks on hands. Check.


Blues Clues on. (The host Steve is cute. He reminds me of Daddy!) Check.


Toys all around. Check.


Yo Gabba Gabba is on. Interest is waning.


The secret to successful patching is to keep the child awake.

People have asked me if we are still patching. With the New Year I am going to be very serious about it. Vacation time is over and it is back to the salt mines. However, you can see what I am up against. Sometimes I feel like I am no match against Amelia. I got out of the habit of patching her the first thing in the morning at it really is the best time. It is quiet, she is eating and we can relax on the couch together and ease into the day while she watches some pre-school programming. Learning, eating and patching at the same time. Amelia is multi-tasking! And then we can be done by 8:00 in the morning where I can focus on other activities -- like enticing her to eat.

Over the holidays we only tried feeding orally a handful of times. They were very successful though. I have always given Amelia a spoon to hold so she doesn't grab the one I am trying to feed her with. I observed her putting that spoon in her mouth and taking a bite. There was nothing on the spoon, so I put some very thick banana pudding on it. And she fed herself two bites off the spoon. I helped direct her hand toward her mouth, but she opened up and took a bite.

She has also shown interest in drinking out of an open cup. So I have been helping her drink some thinned out pudding with it and she does great with it. I am really hoping in the next month or so we may be able to skip a feed and just have her eat a meal orally. I feel like she is close to it if she keeps moving forward on it.

The pulmonologist has wanted her to be on 1/8 liter over the last month, but she just has not been able to tolerate it. She is fine on 1/4, but satts in the upper 80s, low 90s on 1/8. She is almost there, but not yet.

The first couple weeks of January we have a ton of doctors appointments for her and me. Vacation really is over. It was so nice not to have to constantly be scurrying somewhere. It is very tempting to quit therapy just so we could have a more normal and routine home life, but I know in the long run, this is the best thing for her.