Catherine Update

Thursday Catherine seemed to pick up again on her eating. She still has a rash on her arms sometimes, but no fever and her mood is better. I think she had Fifth Disease. It's not as ominous as it sounds. It's usually just a rash, but fever, cold symptoms, and achy joints can accompany it.

She's back to eating her crunchy foods, with popcorn being her absolute favorite still, then corn puffs (hulless popcorn), veggie straws, and bunny grahams. I am able to get her to taste creamy foods by either putting some on a fork and letting her hold the fork to taste it (she prefers a fork rather than a spoon) or putting some on her fingers and she will taste it that way. She hasn't let me give her a taste off my finger or a spoon since we were in Seattle. She's had applesauce, yogurt, gravy, hummus, nutella, and strawberry preserves. Nothing in big quantities, but at least she tastes it and one day she might decide she likes those. She licked some nutella and preserves off a Ritz cracker today.

I also got her to eat some fruit! I gave some bite size pieces of freeze-dried apples with cinnamon and she had about 3 or 4 pieces. I wonder if they make freeze dried vegetables? She had several pieces of biscuit this morning which is a texture that she typically doesn't like. She likes bacon, but doesn't really like to eat small, bite size pieces. She prefers to hold a whole piece, lick it and then shove the whole piece in her mouth, which can be dangerous, so we watch her pretty closely with bacon. One thing I notice is that she likes to hold things and lick them, but she doesn't like to take bites off things like bacon or the veggie straws or cookies. If it starts to break up in her mouth, she's done and throws it. It's better if the food is in bite size pieces. It's all about the control that she has I think. She is not in control if I bring my finger or a spoon to her mouth and I think that is why she typically rejects that.

The last time I weighed her she still hadn't lost any weight, still holding steady at around 23# 6 oz. I am trying just to weigh her once a week now, because it will probably go up and down in small amounts during the week and there is no sense getting worried several times a week for no reason. I think once a week will give me a good idea of what she's doing overall. I will be pleased if she can just maintain her weight at this point, with weight gain a goal that will be weeks, if not months away.

So, things look pretty good right now. I am working on increasing the variety in her diet as well as exposing her to different textures as she allows and also getting her familiar with cups and straws. I know she's getting thirsty eating all that popcorn! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for us, we continue to pray for all of you.