Day 3

Sam and James made some good progress today.  They were pretty happy this morning and didn't seem to be hungry at breakfast time, but by about 10am they were ready to drink some milk and taste some new things.  Their favorite food of the day was a Hershey's chocolate bar.  I know, it seems bad to start them on candy but at this point it is all about getting them to put things in their mouths on their own will.  They loved licking the chocolate, and they also had some more fruit loops.  James wanted some yogurt but isn't quite skilled enough with a spoon yet so I would help him drink it from the cup and he loved that!

At lunchtime we had sandwiches but there wasn't a lot of tasting going on, mostly just playing with the food.  They did drink a little chocolate milk though.  Then this afternoon we went to ColdStone for some ice cream.  They both chose a color of ice cream that they wanted (Sam chose pink, James chose blue) then we all sat down and ate...well, sort of.  Sam might have had a very small taste of his, and it took awhile for James to taste his but eventually he did.  He was scooping up huge spoonfuls, putting it to his lips and then licking his lips to taste it.  He wouldn't actually open his mouth and take bites, but it made me so happy to see his face covered in blue ice cream and dripping all over his clothes.  It was the best mess I've ever seen!

A couple hours after that, Sam asked for a drink of water which led to them both asking for milk and juice as well.  It is a huge deal for them to be asking for food because that hardly ever happens, but it happened a lot today!  They are improving in their drinking skills and starting to get more volume with less spilling.  I am so  happy with the progress they made today and so was Heidi.  She says they are doing so well and if they keep it up they shouldn't need to use their G-Tubes at all by the end of the ten days!  I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I'm feeling really good about the progress they have made so far.  And besides being a little fussy at times, the boys seem to be having fun.  They love Heidi and get so excited every time she shows up.  I don't think they are going to want her to leave when this is over!

 Reading with Heidi

James eating his blue ice cream