Omaha.....somewhere in middle America....where they force feed children who won't eat food....: Commencement

We have become accustom to the defining moments of our childhood being immortalized in baby books with pages pre-labeled for parents to keep a captain's log of life's firsts. First words.....first smile.......a tiny envelope for the first lock of hair.....a page to record the first time your three year old daughter self feeds 150ml of repeated bites every fifteen seconds using the large therapy spoon. Siiiigggghhhh....they grow up so fast.

We are on our last week here in the Omaha force-feed and yesterday was our last day in "clinic". No more mind-numbing walks for tepid coffee in the hospital cafeteria. No more naps on stiff mesh cots in the children's clinics. No more dressing up as superheroes and fighting bad manners in the hallways filled with severe behavior management therapists. No more researching my child from behind mirrored glass. Cant say we're going to miss it.


Saying goodbye to "Pablo" the extremely	loud		children's guitar.

Cot nap with Nico.....

She did have an epic graduation though where the entire staff and other patients came out as she high-fived her way down the hallway in a graduation cap. They presented her with a new bowl and spoon, a Frozen mirror, and a video of her progress....which we have watched as a family now about twenty seven times.
Here is a link. My favorite moment comes 40 seconds in where she clearly articulates what she thought about eating on the first day here.
Click below for your enjoyment and for the clearest understanding of what went on here at feeding camp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DTWY2Xh8e8

Today we started the outpatient phase of Mabel's treatment. We are homebound for the next six days as the two primary therapists we have been working with come to our residence here in Omaha and work with us in a home setting. Here we are in an environment with a real bed, a real kitchen...... and with a real brother who distracts her from her feeding sessions with epic Lego firefighting in the next room.

We will be spending our last days here learning how to prepare foods for Mabel, freezing said foods, and feeding these foods to her in our home environment (and by home I mean our Omaha home....). The recipe list is incredibly complex (1 can potatoes {yes...they come canned}, puree, 5oz Vanilla Pediasure formula; 3 frozen pre-made PB&J sandwiches, puree, 6oz Vanilla Pediasure). We joke that graduates of this program will carry vanilla extract in a vial around their neck for the rest of their lives and add it to all foods to replicate the tastes of their youth.

The outpatient therapy has potential to be pretty rough but we are hopeful and readying ourselves for an intense couple of years ahead. We have been easing our way into it the past week by doing a drinking session each night here at home and Mabel has rocked them. We were so confident that we decided to try to try seven drinking sessions this weekend. We were six in when things when south. Mabel stopped in the middle of the session and said "I'm not going to take my drink" and moved her head away. Our protocol has us not reacting in any way and just continuously presenting the drink right in front of her face....and then trying to "deposit" the drink if she opens her mouth at all. This led to thrashing, backhanding the cup, spitting milk all over me and herself and a full on puking episode. A shower and a deep breath later and we were back at it. Here's to hoping the freak outs and back steps are minimal.

Oh...below are some pics of last weekend at the "cabin". The woman who is letting us stay in her house has a family with a compound on their own private lake that they let us use all last weekend when our friends Sarah and Ray came down with their two boys. Ridiculously awesome hookup.
We spent our days lounging on the floating barge and our nights listening to thunderstorms roll in and rain hit the trees from our roll-aways on the screen porch. It really felt like "food camp". For realzzzzz........a fitting last hurrah before we head back to the West coast this coming weekend.