Dec. 21

It's been a few weeks since our last post and I figured everyone could use a dose of Elsie cuteness before Christmas, so here ya go:

Just a little glimpse of what our little cutie is up to these days! (Don't mind the Mickey Mouse cartoon playing in the background) She's rolling, scooting backwards, and wiggling all around. She has been getting up on her hands and knees for a few days now and is as pleased as punch with herself whenever she does it; I do believe that we'll have a crawler here before long! She's just a happy little baby, and it's so exciting to watch her learn and grow.

On the eating front, here's a few random things that Elsie has enjoyed tasting lately: mashed potatoes and gravy, cream of chicken & herb soup, yogurt, spaghetti sauce, mild enchilada sauce, and a bunch more. She doesn't like spoons being shoved in her mouth, so I dip her spoon in the food, then put the spoon on her tray or hand the spoon to her, and most of the time, she eagerly picks it up and puts it in her mouth. Of course, Elsie's coordination is not perfect, and just like any other baby learning to self-feed, she ends up with most of the food on her face, in her hair, all over the high chair, or thrown overboard to feed the doggies. She gets some good tastes in here and there, and has been doing a little better at not spitting everything out. She's still not actually consuming an amount that a typical baby would eat, it's very very small amounts, but we're taking baby steps, and she's making great progress.

We found two things lately that Elsie has actually really enjoyed tasting, and they are cream cheese frosting and a pretzel stick dipped in pickle juice. She had about three spoonfuls of the frosting and seemed to really like it. No spitting out or gagging at all! And, I know the pickle juice is random, but I've heard that babies/kids with eating disorders can do really well with pickles and other strongly flavored foods, because they can tell exactly where the food is in their mouth, which is important. So I took one of her big pretzel sticks and dipped it into the pickle juice and handed it to her. She made a funny face at first, but then sucked on the pretzel pretty eagerly. I dipped it in the juice again and she accepted it a second time, and on the third time, she OPENED HER MOUTH for more!! She has never voluntarily opened her mouth for food like that, completely on her own with no prodding. It was so cool! The funny thing is that if I hand her a pickle, she isn't very impressed and usually throws it on the floor. Don't know if it's because the pickle just came out of the fridge and is cold, or the texture, or what, but oh well. She sure does love her pretzels & pickle juice. Funny girl.

Can't believe she's going to be ONE in just two weeks!

She was sitting in her high chair while getting her food via her tube
and got so sleepy. She sat like this for the last five minutes of tubing.
Poor little lamb!

Merry Christmas!