Melts in your Mouth

Seraph is still fed via her gtube....and we're in the process of teaching her how to eat.

Twice a day (it's supposed to be every meal but that never happens), I strap Seraph into her chair and shove three bites of food into her mouth.  Breakfast is apple-cinnamon stars!  They melt in your mouth so I just grind them into her teeth a bit.  The cinnamon is pretty potent for baby food.  Her taste buds are fully in now but she's not used to tasting anything.....so we're working on getting used to tastes.  She HATES it!

I leave a sippy cup in reach.  (Filled with water, but I sometimes add some juice to the water)

The food does NOT go over well. Ever.  But....she often grabs the sippy cup to help get rid of the flavors in her mouth.

When it's over, I have to wait til she's not crying before I can get her down.  I usually hand her the sippy cup or put it down low where she can grab it.  Sometimes I spy her sipping from it later.  Yay!

Today I scooped up Angel and fed her the same way right along-side Seraph.  She was a good helper!  She helped me blow Kix around the table, too.  (Seraph gets a big kick out of blowing the tiny Kix balls across the table...it helps distract her so we can take bites of food more often.)

It's incredibly important to Angel to show everyone that she can do anything her siblings can do -- even her lil sister ;)   So, she LOVES being treated like Seraph....even if it means eating baby food.

When the therapist told us to explore new flavors with Seraph....

I don't think she meant shoes.

Seraph's favorite napping spot.

When our builder said "oh, and we purposely didn't screw in the vents so they'd be easier for you to take off," warning bells rang in my head but I didn't say anything. Seraph loves opening the vent.  She's like a lil ferret--it's her "nest" and everything she loves ends up shoved down that hole.

 Seraph prefers cooler temperatures.  Her heart defects cause her heart to work harder and I think that makes her hotter.  She loves cold. So, this vent is her favorite cuz it blows out cool air AND it's right by the front window so she can see everything outside.
I try to keep the vent covered...but,....
Once I came in to find her standing in it.....
She pushes away strategically placed chairs and bags to get to her favorite hole.

She's also started using sounds to communicate.  When I put her to bed tonight, she came to the edge of the crib and said, "up!"  (no, it didn't work--but I'm happy she tried.)  and she likes to bring me her favorite book and say, "Elmo!" so I'll read it to her.

Slurrrrrrrp

Speech Therapy

Today was our first day with the new speech therapist.  We'll miss our friend, Dee, who'd been with us off and on since Seraph was 5 months old! (It's totally weird not having her over weekly now.)
Angel completely freaked out having someone new in the house.  I had to hold her the whole time.  I thought she'd grown out of this phase.  Nope.
Seraph did well. She played with water and made lots of sounds and successfully played with spoons and cups without food while completely shunning anything that had even a tiny bit of food on it.  She fed me Popsicles...and sorta tolerated it when I snuck her a few tastes.
We're supposed to touch her face more and have her sit at the table during meals and give her stuff to make messes.

The twins on the wheel go 'round and 'round....all day long!

Festival of Trees

Painting with Whipped Cream

Whipped cream painting is like finger painting but the mess isn't as permanent.  We used to do this in preschool.  What better way to trick Seraph into playing with food!!

Finch loved it!!

Seraph was NOT tricked.  Not even for a minute.  It was perfect for Angel, though.

Then I "wised-up" and put Strong Bear's on a plate.  Big mistake.  He barely drew at all!  It went straight in his mouth.

A great holiday (or any day) activity.  Clean up is easy - wipe everything twice with a warm/hot cloth.  Maybe next time we'll try pictionary--naming shapes and letters.