raising ladybug

We visited Dr. Seashore late last week and got some good news — Adela doesn’t need to be on the formula anymore.  Since she’s eating both regular meals and getting formula at night, her weight is increasing at a faster rate than normal, so the plan is to stop the formula at night.  She was only getting about a quarter of her nutrition through the formula anyway, so this isn’t a big move nutritionally, but it’s a big move symbolically.

So, we’ve had her off the formula through the weekend and all seems to be going well.

Dr. Seashore wants to leave the feeding tube in through February.  His reasoning is that if she gets sick (like catches the flu) and her appetite drops for a few days, we’ll be able to get some formula in her to help her recover.  Hopefully, by February, most of the flu season will be over and she’ll be healthy enough that if she does catch the flu, the risk of her having a nutritional issue will be small.  We’re OK with that, but we’ll be looking forward to getting it out in February.

We just had to share Adela playing with her new kitchen.  Grumpa and Gramma (Caruso) made it for her birthday and were just here to give it to her last Wednesday.  She loves cooking at it and will be releasing a cookbook soon I’m sure!

Just a general report – Adela is doing great.  She is getting back to walking around briskly by herself.  Her appetite is great and she is eating like a typical toddler according to her feeding therapist.  Who also said with her variety we might be able to stop feeding therapy!   Yeah! What an accomplishment.  She is talking up a storm as well….She is totally a three year old – including temperment

Well, Adela is officially underway again!  She had been strongly resisting standing or walking until last week and then it was as if someone flipped a switch and she just started again.  She was walking completely unaided this past weekend, but has decided to be wobbly again this week.  Hopefully she will be back to her old self in no time.

We would also like to report that Adela is doing really well with her eating and speech.  She is beginning to resemble a toddler in her eating habits.  She is trying meat regularly and is eating pasta and cereal in rice milk.  Steven and I continue to be surprised at the changes in her behavior.  She is also talking up a storm.  She likes to mimic what we say now and has added quite a number of words to her vocabulary, though it still has to run through the mommy/daddy translator for strangers.

Adela sends an “I love you” (newest and cutest phrase) to all her family and friends.