Day One

The day finally arrived. After six months of anticipation from when we applied, Olive started the Encouragement Feeding Program at UVA today. It kind of felt like the first day of school for all of us. Lots of nerves. Olive was fine until we walked inside the building and then she got very nervous. To the point where she threw up in the lobby. Pretty typical. Luckily we are used to making a scene. After that incident she was ok. We weren't exactly sure on the time to be there so we ended up getting there about an hour before we needed to, but it worked out great because Olive was able to warm up to the new environment and say hello to our main therapist in a no pressure setting.

There is a great "play zone" in the waiting area. It even has its own teacher there all day, Ms. Patty. As soon as we sat down Ms. Patty gave Olive a book to keep which made her feel pretty special. Then she helped Olive with an art project. Olive alternated between trying to glue sequins on a piece of construction paper and coloring with scented markers. She was thrilled.

When she tired of that, she moved on to the other play areas. They have another table with books and puzzles. Then there is an alcove with a play kitchen and baby dolls along with a table with Fisher Price little people sets. There is also a car mat and trucks to drive around on it. The pièce de résistance for Olive however was the train table and Brio train set. Absolutely loved it. So much so that she never even ventured down to the lego table. Maybe tomorrow. We were very impressed with the activities. We even walked away with some solid art to decorate the hotel room.

Following our play session, we had our first snack with Ms. Polly, the woman who coordinates the program.  She is a speech pathologist, and we have communicated with her for the past few months in anticipation of the program. We've talked about her a lot so Olive knew that we would be meeting her. And it went amazingly well. O is quite often shy around new people, but she took to Ms. Polly right away. And she blew our minds with her eating. She sucked on a lollipop for Polly, which is a big step from the tiny licks she will take at home. She also drank juice from a juice box. And she did a great job with licking yogurt off a spoon and keeping it on her tongue instead of wiping it off. She also sucked on cheese puffs. It was a fabulous start for us. 

The snack took place in the kitchen, which looked a lot like a regular kitchen. Olive happily sat in a high chair at the table. She especially liked the play kitchen and other toys in the room after she was done with her eating. After snack, we met with a dietician who basically just went over Olive's history and current diet. She was happy that Olive is on a blenderized diet but a little concerned with the amount of calories she gets. This wasn't a surprise to us as it is hard to get calories in O with her volume intolerance. But the dietician was happy that Olive follows her own curve for weight and height. The dietician will work with Polly throughout our stay to tweak Olive's diet so that she is able to feel hunger without losing too much weight.

Following that we had a short break so we went to grab some lunch for Dain and myself that we could eat back in the kitchen with Olive for her lunch with Polly. It was a gorgeous day so it was nice to get out. We ended up grabbing burritos before heading back in for our lunch appointment. Lunch also went amazingly well. Olive started to bite into pieces of cheese puffs and spit them out with her tongue. This is a big step for Olive because she typically uses her hands to pull food out. As Polly explained, it's important for Olive to know that she can get food out before she puts it in so she is more comfortable with it. She also took some sizable licks of goat cheese and kept it in her mouth and swallowed it. One of the great tools Polly used was a small velcro board with little numbers (1-5) on it. She would tell Olive to take five more licks or bites or chews and then as Olive did one she could take the number off herself. It was a great motivating tool because Olive loved the activity. By the next session she looked at Polly and said "Obbie take the numbers off." "Obbie" is what she calls herself. She can say "olive oil" clear as day, but Obbie it is for her name.

After lunch we had a visit with the developmental pediatrician. Olive was not a fan of this visit as she really doesn't like doctor's offices or doctors in general. It's hard to blame her since she has had so many negative interactions with doctors and nurses throughout her life. Plus it was smack dab in the middle of her normal nap time. So an exhausted toddler that wouldn't want to be there under the best circumstances made for a challenging hour and a half. Thankfully we coaxed her into participating in the doctor's activities, which included things like puzzles and playing with different toys. The doctor was happy to see that Olive is a typical two and a half year old developmentally.  The only concern she mentioned is Olive's anxiety.

O clearly does have anxiety. She gets nervous to the point where she throws up, in very innocuous settings sometimes. For example, she has thrown up at her Tumbletots class three out of four times even though she loves it. She literally throws up right when we get somewhere and then moves on to having a blast. It's kind of odd. She has thrown up at the bank, at the Home Depot, at her grandparents' house...the list could go on. Polly mentioned it too after Olive threw a fit having her weight and height taken first thing this morning. She asked us if we would be open to anxiety medication for her. That kind of threw us for a loop as we try to avoid medication unless it's absolutely necessary. 

Dr. Olive

As the day went on Polly told us that she wasn't even sure Olive needed it and that we could talk about it in a few days. So that is something that is on the back burner for now. Hopefully Olive can convince them she doesn't need it. Following the doctor's appointment, we had a little time to kill so we went for a short walk and hung out in front of the building where there is a nicely landscaped area to relax in.

Our final appointment of today was another snack with Polly. Olive continued to blow our minds. I'm not sure if she was trying to impress Polly or what it was, but she did the best job eating she has ever done in her whole life. She bit pieces of cheese puffs on her back molars, which is something she has never done. She has only ever taken bites with her front teeth. She also bit into a few pieces of puff popcorn, CHEWED it, and swallowed it. My jaw may have hit the table. It wasn't easy for her. Polly definitely pushed her to do it, but she did it. To be clear, Olive has never chewed a solid food before today. It was so awesome to see. 

We don't want to get overly excited, but Olive really surprised us today. It's a great start to our two weeks because we see the potential. And to have a professional like Polly tell us that our daughter is going to be an eater means a lot to us. Because we have encountered medical professionals who have told us things like "well some kids will never eat if they're not eating by the time they are one." A totally baseless statement, but one that freaks you the freak out as a parent. So today it was a relief to see Olive interested in food and thriving in a new environment. 

Today was a little different because it was the first day, but our schedule going forward will look like this:

 8:00 a.m. Breakfast w/ Polly
 9:00 a.m. Preschool
10:00 a.m. Snack w/ Polly
11:00 a.m. Occupational Therapy w/ Jen
12:00 p.m. Lunch w/ Polly
 1:00 p.m. Open
 3:00 p.m. Snack w/ Polly

So essentially Olive will get four sessions a day with an incredible feeding therapist. We think this intensity will really propel her oral skills. We meet the occupational therapist for the first time tomorrow, and she will work on things like getting Olive comfortable with different textures. Hopefully Olive will fall into a good routine knowing the therapists that she will see. Today she didn't nap until we got back in the car to come back to the hotel. We drove around for awhile to let her get in some sleep. She woke up in a fury and had a meltdown, probably just a delayed reaction to the stressful day of new faces and places. There is a day suite available to us so tomorrow we will try to get her to nap at a more reasonable time. 

Hopefully we will have more good news to report tomorrow. Tonight we went for a brief swim and then ordered in pizza as we are all pretty worn out. I think we will all sleep well tonight.

She insisted on rolling her bag all day.