Spittle Spit Spat

Hi Everyone!

We've been slacking quite a bit on the blog, sorry. It seems we have no extra time now that we're feeding Ethan. (Dang, it was sooooo much easier when we got to watch from the observation room!)

We have a new food today, pureed peanut butter and jelly! We thought Ethan would love this, but we were wrong.

The spitfest started at breakfast and continued through the day. Ethan is served 3 pretzels, 3 goldfish crackers, an 8oz. glass of strawberry milk, and 4 food items. He breezes through the snacks, milk and preferred food items. This means he eats the applesauce, pears, yogurt and sweet potatoes with no problem. The thing is, he is served one least preferred food with every meal. The least preferred foods are spinach souffle, chicken nuggets, pork and beans, and now, apparently, peanut butter and jelly. Foods are rotated at meals. Ethan uses spinach souffle to trick us, sometimes it goes down smoothly, sometimes it's a spitfest.

Today was a spitfest.

Spinach souffle was served at breakfast. Every single spoonful was spit--directly at me. Well, in case your imagination is on overdrive, yes, pureed Spinach souffle looks like bright green goo. Think Nickelodeon slime, just a shade darker! As the feeder, I have to keep a straight face and not react to ANYTHING Ethan does during feeding. This is way, way, way easier said than done! I was chugging along, spooning in the green goo. Ethan was chugging along, spitting out green goo. I had green goo spots all over my clothes, hair, glasses, it was on the table, the floor, you name it. Then I got a case of the giggles. Dang those giggles! I was fine until Mark said 'It's a good thing you wore white today!' And I lost it. I had to turn away to keep from laughing in Ethan's face. When I later 'fessed up to laughing, the feeder said she wondered what I was doing. They couldn't tell from the observation room, whether I was upset or laughing when I turned away.

Mark took lunch. We tried peanut butter and jelly puree for the first time. Ditto on the spitfest.

I did the dinner feeding. Peanut butter and jelly again. Spitfest again.

Mark just finished the snack, which is basically the same as a meal except it has no drink. For once today, Ethan did not spit....and it was spinach souffle!

Hopefully, he's rounded a corner on the spitting! He has been spitting at meals for about a week and a half now. He's smart so he knows each time he spits, we lose some of the food and he has less to eat. Little booger.

This past weekend we went to Philly again to stay with Mark's sister. This time Emma and Evan were there. It was gorgeous! We relaxed around the pool while the kids swam. Ethan even warmed up enough to go into the pool by himself. And he didn't scream - too much-- when Mark tried to get him to float. (The Woodfield pool crowd will get the significance of that as they've listened to Ethan scream at the pool for the past two summers!)

The weekend was great, but we are very anxious to get home. Next weekend we'll stay in Baltimore. We want to go to the Science Center, to an Orioles game, and down to DC on Sunday. A friend of mine from high school is also slated to stop by with his family. They're on vacation and are going to drive through town on Saturday.

After that, Ethan will have one more day in the program next Monday and we'll drive home on Tuesday. That's a total of 5 more program days. I hope they go fast!

Have a great night!
Mark, Molly & Ethan