Gater's first bites

 

Okay, that title is deceiving.  Here's the scoop.  Last night Nate took his tube out.  It was bound to happen - we were just glad he kept it in as long as he did.  As you will see from the video below, he's chunked out a bit {beautiful chub} from when he first got the tube.

The first day with the new tube

We had an awesome session with the speech therapist last week.  She was able to get Gater to open his mouth for a spoon {by taping it to a vibrating toy}.  It was incredible.  It was the first good sign we've seen in over three months.  They had to bring me a box of Kleenex.  I was a total basket case.  I didn't even know how pent up I was about it until my emotions overflowed out my eyeballs.

We immediately bought one of those vibrating toothbrushes and have been trying to keep up the momentum, but it hasn't really worked.  Then, yesterday, Ella was sitting with him, eating a cup of dry cheerios, and offered him one. 

And he ate it! 

WHAT????

SERIOUSLY!???

He ate ten or so before he was done.  It felt surreal.  It felt like I was levitating.  You can't know how hard it has been to try to get this child to even touch something to his mouth, so to have him willingly desiring to eat cheerios was a delicious shock.

After he took out his tube, we decided to see if he could make it without putting in a third tube, at least until his little cheeks heal from the tape burn.  This morning I tried banana cut into tiny chunks, and he ate three of them.  It was a good first try.  Then I started in on the cheerios again and he ate probably five.  On occasion he'll just open his mouth for them, but more often, here's what it's like:

My thoughts:

How awesome is it that he isn't getting upset as I keep trying to feed him?  I'm making sure to stop before that point, because it is very important that he not view eating as stressful. 

Please pray that I can keep up a positive attitude.  It's very easy for me to get impatient or aggravated, wanting him to just get it.  Even these steps, that are huge for a little guy like Nate, seem very small if I set my sights too far ahead to what I think he should be doing.

Does this video make my hand look fat?  I mean, seriously, I've been examining my hands ever since.  I don't think they look fat, but maybe I'm wrong.  Or maybe the camera adds ten pounds to your hands.  I guess I will never be a hand model.  Cross that one off the bucket list.