On to happier news …

Okay, so yesterday’s post was a bit of a downer — I was pretty wiped out. And it is getting a little old, this lack of sleep thing. But last night went a little better, for Veronica at least. (John and Colin aren’t up yet, so I don’t know how their night went.) 

Veronica still spent the bulk of the night in bed with me and woke up every couple of hours, but I was able to get her to settle herself down to sleep in her crib twice with just a little back rub. (I probably could have gotten her to do it more often, but I was too tired to try. It’s just easier to bring her into bed. Bad habit … I know. But sometimes the downhill route is the only one you have energy to take. I’ll climb that mountain later.)

Veronica has picked up a new trick — she is now clapping. And she can actually make noise when she claps. It’s funny to watch her practice (pretty much all the time) because she still gets so excited when she does it. 

She is also trying hard to move toward feeding herself. She does very well with bigger finger foods, but she still can’t manage the spoon without help and certainly would not be able to scoop up food with it. But we’re trying to be creative in finding ways for her to do it alone. Putting food on a cracker or rice cake is one way that seems to provide a good (albeit messy) solution.

Veronica eating a piece of broccoli.

Colin, too, is finally doing better with eating solids — although he is several months behind Roni in eating. Whenever I try to give him finger foods, he just looks at me as if I have grown another head. But he has finally moved beyond the “just a few spoonfulls” stage with his purees, and is doing well with the thicker foods. 

Of course, it’s still harder for him because he isn’t sitting on his own yet. And being nonstop sick makes eating more challenging too. It’s hard to focus on new skills when you’re having a hard time breathing. So for Colin, I think catching up to Roni in eating habits is going to be a long road. I also fear that we’ll have another setback with his surgery next week. It’s unfortunate, because he could use the extra calories. But what can we do? He’ll get there eventually.

Colin enjoying his favorite Chicken and Sweet Potato Dinner.