Goodness!

Where did the time go?! I can't believe I haven't updated since the 8th! Man. I feel like a slacker! Anyway, here's a short update on how we're doing at home!

Jack is doing great! We're letting him doing more self feeding since he's suddenly Mr. Independent but he's still doing great. There are still fights over certain food, broccoli, mashed potatoes and cauliflower come to mind. But more often than not, he fights the first bite and realizes that he's got to eat it regardless and will start eating it himself. We've definitely established a good routine with him here. One thing we need to start doing is introducing new foods but for some reason we can't think of any good ones to try. The only new food he's started since being home is fresh pineapple.

So feeding is going really, really well AND  yesterday he decided he was ready to Potty Train. Can I get a Hallelujah? Yesterday went pretty well. A few instances of not getting on the Potty fast enough but for the most part, he did it without accident from 5 pm (when he first told me he needed to pee on the Potty) until 830 pm when we put on a diaper to send him to bed. Hopefully this is the start of the downfall of diapers! I wouldn't know what to do with myself with only kid in diapers!

This post is a jumbled mess so I apologize for jumping around a ton.

So this weekend we had his third birthday party! I can't believe that he is going to be three tomorrow! Anyway, his Octonaut birthday party went pretty well. Since he's only going to be three I didn't worry so much about games for the kids as we rented a bounce house. My decorations crapped out but I don't think anyone cared. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I know Jack was happy to see all his friends!
I, again, forgot to take any pictures, like I've done at every other birthday party. Oy. But I did remember to take some pictures of the cake! So here it is!

Octonauts Cake! 

Sea Creature Cupcake Tree!

So tomorrow Little Man turns three. Where in the world has time gone?! I can't believe that he's already three! I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said "Salmon" I think. I have no clue where he got that from but I think we'll make him his favorite of either fish sticks or chicken nuggets for dinner.
I probably won't update until next week since we're headed out of town for our first vacation as a family of four! We're going to Williamsburg for two days! I can't wait, I think we all need a little vacation time!

It's Tuesday.

I know, I know. I said I'd update this weekend. Honestly, this weekend was such a nice, relaxing weekend that I just didn't feel like it. So here it is Tuesday morning.

It's been...so so. About the same at the hospital actually. Some meals are going great. Some are really rough. Just depends. We're sticking to the protocol and not budging an inch on the rough meals. But its definitely different at home. Without people watching you, you're more inclined to get frustrated and to show it and there's a million and one distractions happening. Daphne's done eating and trying to climb in your lap. Oscar's trying to steal food off Jack's plate, the washer is running, the dishwasher is making noise, there are kids outside. All of this can make for one hectic feeding session. Luckily, we're all powering through it and no one seems worse for wear after a bad meal.

Since we've been home we've had 100% compliance meals where the movie was never turned off and he did great and we've had meals where I swear that kid saw 30 seconds of that movie and that was it. But we're getting there. I'm gonna see how the rest of today goes and tomorrow before I consider calling and requesting some outpatient. Not necessary because we want to work on anything else but maybe more as a scared straight tactic? Like you stop eating and you're coming back here, kiddo.

In other Jack news, can I just say how much I love love love timers? We've implemented the use of a timer for damn near everything in this kid's life and it makes such a difference. Time to clean up? Set a timer. Elephant noise and he knows what's happening and there's no tantrum. Same with the park and bed time and even playing with Pants! He responds so well to it! I feel kind of stupid for not knowing this before! The only thing the timer hasn't solved is the inevitable Bye Bye Pa meltdown but even those get the timer and they're getting shorter and less extreme.

I have to say, I know we've been home a whopping nearly 4 days now but I've had so many people comment to me about how he seems like a totally different kid. He engages with other kids instead of parallel play, he's social to everyone, he talks all.the.time. He doesn't scream when people come in the house or leave (minus Pa) and he just generally seems happy. This is another reason that I'll forever be thankful for our time there. They just didn't help him with his eating, they helped him with so many aspects. He's such happier kid. Probably because he's not malnourished and hungry all the time!

Anyway, I'll hopefully update Friday but if not, Sunday. I PROMISE! Until then. And as always. Thank you so much for all your continued support.

That's All She Wrote.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we did it. Today was our very last day of as an inpatient of the Kennedy Krieger Feeding Clinic. We're home.

Whew. I feel like I need to repeat that. Whew. What a crazy, amazing, stressful, wonderful, insane, intense 55 days these were. Before I say anything else let me start by saying this:

To everyone who works on the 3rd floor:
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It was our home for 55 days. You became our friends. You became our family. We came to care about you just like you did about us. We learned your names and your faces and a little bit about your lives outside of your work. We came to love you. You made our mornings and evenings and nights there good. You learned how to handle Jack and most importantly, you learned how to handle me!! You all were kind and caring and everyone was always there with smiles or tissues if need be. I'll never be able to say thank you for all the wonderful care Jack received in his time in 309 but I'll remember each and every one of you fondly.

To the 2nd floor:
Oh goodness, where do I even begin?! How do you say thank you for the gift that you've given us? To everyone that worked weekends to do his therapies or dodged spoons during his meals or played with him during playroom or watched him during unstaffed hours so I could shower, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all are truly amazing at your jobs and I feel blessed that my child had the opportunity to meet you. I don't have the words to properly or eloquently express my gratitude so I'll just say thank you again. For the rest of my life I will treasure this experience.

So yes. We're home. Man. It feels GOOD. Jack is THRILLED. THRILLED. Oddly enough the most thrilling thing for him is that we have a cat?! But we had the cat before he left and in fact, we've had that same dumb cat since before he was born but still, he spent the better part of the first hour being home chasing poor Oscar around. "Hello kitty." "Come here kitty." "Don't run kitty." Yea, the cat is a big hit. Even bigger than the Octonaut toys I ordered from England. Sigh.

Once the excitement of our old pet wore off, he ran around looking around the house looking at everything. He and Daphne chased each other and he wanted her to be with him everywhere he was. "Come on, Natknee Kate." He was stinking adorable. Around 430 we fed him his snack using his protocol. It went PERFECTLY. Honestly. It was perfect. No issues whatsoever.

After snack Steve left to go pick up some pizza since neither of us thought ahead enough to think about dinner for he, Daphne and I. Jack's dinner was already planned and measured out but the three of us were left high and dry. He gets back with pizza and my Dad is here and we're all eating and Jack walks up to me and points at my plate and says "Pizza." I said, "Yes, did you want some?" He nodded and grabbed my hand and took and small bite and walked away. A few minutes later he walked back over and took another tiny bite. About five minutes passed before he walked over, grabbed a whole piece off my Dad's plate, said "Mmm pizza" and walked away. Damn if he didn't eat the whole thing too. I adjusted his dinner amounts when I fed him a little while later to account for the pizza but we were all thrilled and shocked!

He 1. ate pizza WILLINGLY! Pizza has been one of those foods where he tolerates one day and then hates it the next and 2. he was taking appropriate sized bites off of a larger piece! There was no shoving the whole piece in his mouth!

Man. What a night. Now, to be honest, we aren't expecting every night to be like this. Dinner was a great meal comparatively. He did throw his spoon once but honestly, one time is not the end of the world, especially not after such a huge transition. If it keeps happening then we'll contact his feeding team and talk about a resolution but we'll give him a few days.

Okay, I feel like this is getting long enough. I'll try to update at the end of the weekend and let everyone know how he does. Thanks if you hung in there through this incredibly long entry.