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!

Mr. Baked Bean face

Today, my little man turned 16 months old! Except for his eating orally he's doing wonderfully. Not much of a vocabulary, but for the most part he gets his meaning across. Points, grunts, fusses and his favorite, mamamamama. He's getting better with the cats. Today Eric walked up to the chair Monster Kitty was snoozing in and started patting him on the head, a little rough but not too bad. He did go for the paws once, Monster lunged for him. I warned Eric he better back off the paws, so he went back to patting, a little harder. Finally I told him that too much petting by him isn't so good. He smiled and came running to me before Monster could take a chunk out of him. Still have problems with the fur grabbing, especially Kalamazoo long fur.

Since I started adding baby food to his g-tube feedings this past month...reflux has gotten much better (yes!), he's actually asking to taste food (before it was take the opportunity of an open mouth and shove food in and hope he swallows). Doesn't eat much, but we will take that, it's a start. We know it's going to take a while. Eric has tried different things like pickle juice, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, cheese sauce from mac and cheese, yogurt and ice cream. He's even swallowed a small piece of ham, pickle and hot dog, without gagging! His current favorite is baked beans. Here he is on Monday (7/28) with his beany face...


Proof that he actually went for the spoon...

What a cute messy face...

Tonight we went to Maggiano's Little Italy for just some calamari. He ate quite a bit of the marinara sauce, well for him it was quite a bit. He also loves iced tea, so he sipped daddy's tea and mama's water. Later, we had some Chik-fil-a and we were giving him a little bit of ketchup and BBQ sauce. He suddenly reached and dipped his finger in some ketchup and put it in his mouth. We were like yeah, alright. He was tasting it on his own! Woo hoo!

Here's a video of our little boy who's full of beans...

My Baby's Growing Up!

In the two months since we got back from Myrtle Beach Eric made quite a few first, well I think he has. I try to record as many as possible just so I can see his progress, the next kid probably won't be as well documented. Which reminds me, our application for #2 has been approved. So, starts the paperwork, once we find out what all we need to do. Anyway here's the list of Eric's accomplishments since Myrtle Beach...

May 25...pulled to standing using Grandma's coffee table
May 26...found him standing in his crib waiting for me to get him up in the morning
May 27...stood up in his crib like a pro
May 29...started "cruising"
June 1...starting to hold on to just one hand when one "walks"him
June 2...puts his head on the floor, butt in the air and looks between his legs
June 8...took steps on his own between Grandpa's chair and the love seat
June 11...the two of us were hanging out and playing upstairs, I was on the floor reading when he came over and just stood up on his own
June 17... walked about four feet. Fell and got a bruise on his cheek when he hit the birdseed tin can.
June 18...walked about 6'
June 19...walked about 12'. Mamamamama has become our favorite thing to say.
June 20...had his picture taken at JC Penny. He just took off walking and went about 15'
June 21...he "tripped" crawling while Grandma and Grandpa were watching him at their house. Got a slight bloody lip. I couldn't tell anything happened.
June 25...he's very into going "bye-bye", that pretty much means he wants to go outside for any kind of walk, especially in the stroller. My mom was at our house, he picked up her sandal and threw it on her lap. He knows you have to have shoes on to go "bye-bye." Then he gets her to walk him around, holding his hand. They make a lap around the great room. Stop at the gate, waves "bye-bye." Keeps walking, stops and picks up her sandal, walks back to the gate and waves "bye- bye." He ain't no dummy. Too cute!
June 27...really starting to walk. More walking than crawling. Has just taken off!