Tornado

Not outside...inside. The house looks like a tornado hit it...a 30 incher. Now a little bit is my fault, I have laundry that needs to be folded and put away upstairs. I've already picked up the toys in the "great room" (aren't there living rooms anymore? anyway...). The plastic containers in the kitchen are put away, as well as the muffin pans and the Hopester artwork is back the fridge. The newspaper that he dumped out of the plastic bag still remains strewn on the what-will-eventually-become-the-dining room floor. My den has been rearranged, but that isn't too bad. I think every toy was removed from the shelves in the loft. Clothes have been removed from the laundry basket in the nursery, mainly the socks. I wonder why just the socks? I found one sock in the bathtub. Haven't checked the litter box yet. Other toys rarely touched were out of their usual places. And I found one cat shut in our bathroom. Who knows how long he was in there, no accidents though.

Uncle David said Sunday that I shouldn't bother washing Eric's mouth out with soap (do people do that any more?) when he gets older, it won't work. He kept putting the bubble wand in his mouth. Well, that's different than the real stuff. He bit off a piece of soap during his bath last night...oh the face! Not a happy camper! He spent the rest of the time fussing and wiping at his mouth. He got a rare treat from me, a few sips of diet cola. Then he took a few licks of my popsicle and was off on his merry way.

Tooth number ten popped in yesterday, lower right bicuspid. He's a drooling fool lately.

Eric has been eating well lately. I pretty much have to eat while he is napping or eat after he's been fed. Because if I don't, he won't touch his food if you have anything, he wants what you have. Which is fine, but he can only handle so much of the table food, unless it's a sauce, because he doesn't have the oral skills. Cheese puffs are great because he works them around and they melt in his mouth. He's done fine with a few grains of rice, mashed potatoes, tiny bits of ham and french fries. Loves zucchini bread, ate about a third of a muffin tonight for dessert. But, my father gave him some pretty big pieces of onion ring breading the other night. That does not melt in the mouth, he doesn't chew yet, so he ends up swallowing it whole and sometimes choking on it. Dad, much smaller pieces next time, please!

It's amazing what he'll eat at times. Loves Italian dressing, creamy too. We had dinner at a German restaurant last week. When I had my leftovers he ate some of the red cabbage and artichoke from the sauce on my chicken schnitzel. He's not too fond of pears, he'll eat a little. Not too keen on broccoli either. Ate four bites tonight before deciding he didn't want anymore. Humm, maybe I should put those in his breakfast tube feeding. Supposedly, kids who get pureed food actually develop an oral taste for the foods they have been tube fed. It gets the system or something to that effect. OK, broccoli for breakfast doesn't sound great but he won't taste it and he will get it for dinner around here.

Still working on the drinking, oye! Today's the best he's done with his milk.

And finally here are a few pictures...

He's chasing my brother's dog, Pip, around with her leash.

"I know this thing goes on here some how!"


Just sitting and playing yesterday.

A video of Eric playing. Don't you just love the cammie onsie and shorts, that are too big? He has socks to go with them...

MMMMM...corn good

Last night Eric decided our dinner looked better than his. Well, yeah, I guess he's right. Corn on the cob does look better than his pureed creamed corn. Yes, I said pureed cream corn. I've gotta get stuff fairly fine in texture for him. He's working on it though. Anyway, getting away from the subject, he had to sit on our laps and sink his teeth into some corn.

Now, of course, more ended up on the floor than in his mouth and even less got swallowed. We take what we can get. Until you've been through it, you don't appreciate the little milestones.

Speaking of milestones, Eric, for the last three nights and today's lunch, ate, by mouth, all of his meal. That's 10 tablespoons of real food. 4 TBS of dinner (chicken cacciatore or pork chop w/stuffing and apples - that we've had for dinner and I've pureed), 2 TBS of veggies and 4TBS of fruit. So, we didn't have to tube feed him, yeah! Really trying to work on him to drink milk. That's my next goal. Then I'll work on breakfast. But, hey...Snoopy happy dance! Oh and he ate 90% of a cheese doodle also after lunch.

Something cute...

Eric has become an ice cream fiend. Last night, while we were having dessert at Grandma and Grandpa's, apple pie and ice cream, he stood next to Uncle Mike and got a little bit from him. Guess he wasn't fast enough or getting enough so he went to Aunt Kate, she put him on her lap. "Now this lady, who I just met is cool, she's sharin' her ice cream! As one of my loyal subjects, you may live another day," says his royal highness, the Emperor. When she was done he came to me and was able to mooch some more.

Tonight, mom and I ate our dessert in the dining room, Uncle David and Grandpa were in the family room. He'd get some from me then walk out to U.D. and then we'd hear the small footsteps of him coming back. He went back and forth between the two of us for about 5 minutes. When I had just melted ice cream I went to the family room. He now had a shorter distance to share himself, can't let us eat too much.

Finally! Eric cut one of the teeth he's been working on for the last couple of months, yeah!

Another first...he had his first taste of Skyline Chili last night. Liked it! Good boy! I ordered a large three way to have leftovers for myself and/or puree up some for Eric if he liked it.

For those of you who don't know, Skyline is a Cincinnati Greek style chili. Not really spicy, you can add hot sauce if you want a kick, and it has a slight sweetness to it. The most popular ways it's served is as a coney or over spaghetti. Now, a regular coney is a hot dog, bun, mustard, diced onions and chili. A cheese coney is a coney plus a big pile of cheddar cheese. You may order these without the mustard and/or onions if you like. For some reason I do not like coneys. I like hot dogs and love the chili, but not together, go figure. So, sometimes I order the chili cheese sandwich, same as a cheese coney but no hot dog (no mustard or onions for me). I say sometimes because I usually have a three way. Here's where things can get a bit more complicated, not much though. There's the chili spaghetti...spaghetti topped with chili, you may add onions and/or red beans. My favorite is a three way...chili spaghetti plus a heaping mound of cheddar cheese. A four way is a three way plus onions or red beans. And, you may be able to guess, a five way is a three way with red beans and onions. There have been debates on how to properly order some of these items in my family.

If you wish to read a brief history on Skyline Chili and see the menu, they do have other stuff, here's a link...

http://skylinechili.com/menu.pdf

A litte history

Yesterday we decided because it was such a nice day, not 90+ degrees and humid, that we needed to get out and do something. So, the three of us ended up taking a nice drive and visited the birthplace of our 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant. He was born in this one room, 16x20, cabin (now 3 rooms) in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822.



His birth name was actually Hiram Ulysses Grant. But, a congressman accidentally misnamed him Ulysses S. Grant (his mother's maiden name was Simpson) when he nominated Grant to the US Military Academy at West Point. He was not allowed to make the correction since that was the name he was nominated under, so he continued to use the name Ulysses S. Grant. This house once toured the country on a railway flatcar and was temporarily displayed on the Ohio State fairgrounds. Just a small bit of history for ya!

Eric next to a reproduction cradle, that I believe I once stood next to many moons ago. There should be a picture of me next to it somewhere at my parents house. I need to find it and post it with Eric's and the one of the two of us...

The clothes on the wall are authentic period clothing, except for the bonnet. The leather trunk in the casing, at the foot of the bed, was made by Grant's father.

This cabinet was owned by Grant's parent's...

This is a cool piece of furniture. You can see, on the left side facing, the rail on the front of the rocker, this is where a mother would place her baby while she sat, on the right side facing, and rocked the baby while she tended to her sewing, knitting or whatever. If there was company and extra seating was needed, the rail could be taken off.

My boys and the cannon out front. I was the champion cannon climber/sitter when I was little. I sat on just about every cannon in every historical place we visited. So, the tradition goes on with Eric. Too bad at most places you can't climb on cannons anymore.

And finally, Eric taking a break checking out the straps on the stroller, making sure they are in proper working order...

Oh, and a picture of the Ohio River, at the mouth of the Big Indian Creek, just down the street from Grant's birthplace.

Super Baby

One of Eric's speech therapists said we should do a picture book for him of the people and things he likes. We should be, notice "should be", sitting with him and pointing things out to help in his speech. Mamamama, is still about the only thing he says. Oh yes, grunts and points, typical man! It has his picture first so we/he can see that cute smiling face on the cover. And then there are pictures of mama, daddy, grandma, grandpa, Kalamazoo, Lucifer and Monster. Still need to add others of course. Then there are some of his favorite things like keys, shoes, balls and his favorite, Winnie the Pooh cuddle blanket. Can't go to sleep without it, unless he chooses to toss it out of the crib. Anyway, here is "Super Baby," notice the bib turned around like a cape, as he is checking out his picture book.


Just a little video of my busy body as he ignores the "Handy Manny" show I put on for him. Too bad I didn't get a video of when he fell into the basket reaching for his toy.

So Proud

Eric is far from eating orally exclusively, but he has made such strides in the last month. From taking little tastes off our fingers while we ate in restaurants in May, to coming up to and getting tastes, to pointing and wanting actual bites of food. The past couple of days he has actually taken quite a bit, for him. I still say it's because I took the initiative and started putting baby/pureed food in his g-tube. Thursday, for lunch he ate close to 3 oz, barely anything for dinner, but that's the most he's taken at one sitting. Yesterday, he did great. I'm guessing between lunch and dinner he had 6 oz.

I'm becoming the puree queen. Eric isn't into texture too much. That's OK. I'd rather puree up real food and have him eat it than turn away food because it has lumps in it or rely totally on the g-tube. Besides the peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini, peaches and pears that I've pureed for his tube feedings, I'm taking meals that I've made and doing the same, so he can eat what we have had. So, I have blended up pepper steak w/macaroni, topsy turvy pie (minus the pie) w/macaroni, macaroni and cheese (he likes it much better than that nasty Gerber stuff!), macaroni and Uncle David's spaghetti sauce and last night I did chicken caccatori w/macaroni, which he'll have for dinner tonight.

He does seem like tomato based foods best. It's just so cool to see him finally wanting to eat, albeit not a whole lot, but he's doing it. Shoot, he ate close to half of what he should be doing orally yesterday for lunch and dinner. I should try a little harder at breakfast. He will eat yogurt while I fix the syringes and while I feed him. It's, maybe, about an ounce, ounce and a half. I liked it when he went to his high chair at lunch yesterday wanting to get in. I had just pureed up the mac and cheese, which he was taking spoonfuls of as he wondered about the kitchen. Guess he figured he was hungry and needed to do some serious eating and needed to sit down. That was cute. Hopefully he continues this trend so we can get rid of the g-tube in the next year. That would be awesome!