The Boy is Back in Town!

Jenn invited me to make a special guest appearance today - it's been quite a while, here goes.

This was a big week for us. I joined Jenn & LJ in Paterson for the last couple of days of feeding camp and the trip home on Friday. We're in the middle of our first "normal" weekend for the last 6 weeks. Tango, Nate and I are very happy to have Mom and LJ back home. LJ is really enjoying sleeping in his own crib and Jenn seems to like our house somewhat better than her pied a terre in Paterson.

Overall, feeding camp was a success. It is very difficult to manage expectations going into a program like this. Even the experts have a hard time estimating exactly where things will end up. LJ didn't quite make as much progress as we'd hoped, but he's made significant progress. The goal going in was to have him eating 1 oz at each "meal", 3 to 4 times a day. We did reach that level a few times last week, but it is still a struggle. LJ has a hard time coordinating all the necessary movements to open, close and swallow while keeping all the food puree in his mouth. Away from the volume goals, there was significant progress in the more intangible parts of his "dining experience". LJ is much happier during meals than ever before, when he does get upset, he recovers very quickly.

Like any new challenge, practice makes perfect. We will continue to work on all the skills we've learned, with the help of a local feeding expert at Children's and video conferences with the team from St. Joe's. We'll also go up for visits from time to time to evaluate LJ's progress.

It helps me to put all this in the context. Not long ago, LJ would gag at the sight of a spoon. Any attempts at feeding usually broke down into inconsolable tears within a few minutes. Today, he has tried and will continue to work with 9 different purees that were introduced at camp, including a number of vegetables, fruits and soy yogurt. His meals are generally happy (if not too nutritionally productive, yet) affairs, including lots of smiles and playing.

We're moving in the right direction and we're happy to have the family together, at home. Thanks so much for everyone's support, we really appreciate it. Have a good week.