Tube Wean, Day 7

Wow, I really can't believe that it is Day 7 of our tube wean.

Today went well, Elsie is showing slow but steady progress. Some of the foods she successfully swallowed today were Cream of Wheat cereal, yogurt, ice cream, Nutella, cream cheese and crackers, and Cheeto Puffs. Don't worry, I'm not just feeding her junk food, but we are limited as to what she is able to swallow right now. But every day, she swallows something new, so her abilities are improving, and as they improve, she will be able to swallow more and more foods and different textures.

Heidi is leaving us on Wednesday, so in preparation for her departure, she took the afternoon off and didn't come over for dinner. We were a normal family of four for dinner tonight. Ha ha ... normal. I made sure that Elsie had solid foods to practice chewing, as well as a soft and/or liquidy food for her to successfully swallow. And she did great. I'll be talking to Heidi daily on the phone after she leaves, so we won't be totally on our own, but it's still a tiny bit nerve-wracking to think of her leaving us. But we'll be fine. Heidi always reminds me of how far Elsie has come, even in just the 7 days since Heidi arrived here. Before the wean, Elsie could only take one small sip of liquid at a time. She always seemed to flinch away a bit when the liquid from a cup hit her mouth, almost as if she were scared or worried about what was going to happen if she tried to swallow it. Now, she drank almost an ounce of milk with dinner tonight in one continuous motion. She carried around a sippy cup yesterday while we played outside, and I had to refill it three times. That's never happened!  Each day her swallowing improves, along with her confidence,
and each day she will get better and better.

Oooh, and Elsie pooped on her own today, without the help of a suppository! Yay for poop!

"Ooooh that ice cream is cold! But tasty! See how clean my
shirt is --- I didn't spit out any of this yummy ice cream!"