We have officially hit our midway point here at Kennedy Krieger. I can't say it's flown by, but at least having great roommates now is helping. Kenzie has made some big strides in OT and ST since they started giving her a more structured setting. Today she even took a rice krispy, put it in her mouth and did not gag or vomit! To watch that was amazing. In her meals, Kenzie is taking about an ounce of pureed food a day. It's not as much as we had hoped for but it's a start. The variety of foods has been increasing and now she has tried lots of different things. In that respect we are very impressed. Kenzie no longer gags and vomits at pears and really doesn't care when we introduce something new. She is having trouble propelling the food from the spoon to the back of her mouth so every time she takes a bite, half of it falls out of mouth. Because of this today they thickened up her food to see if the consistency is just too thin for her to maneuver. Watching Kenzie with the thickened food it seems that less falls out of her mouth but now she has more trouble swallowing. We suspect though that in a few days she'll get stronger at the swallowing and the thicker foods will probably be better.
We have also changed Kenzie's protocol a little. They have taken away her incentive and now are trying to have Kenzie just take bite after bite with some cheering between. They want to speed up her sessions so that we can up her bite count in the same allotted time. Breakfast and Lunch they left a video on during the whole meal but it seemed to turn Kenzie into a "video zombie". Kenzie has never been one to like tv and videos so much so Jordan and I asked that we take the video away and just put on music. Dinner with the music Kenzie seemed much more awake but she really really wanted the clicker and buzzer that they use. She kept pointing to it and using her sign for "give it to me." We have asked that they allow Kenzie to play with a tangible object that is electronic (the only things she seems to really like) while she eats. We are hoping that maybe tomorrow they add that in but understand that if that makes Kenzie not do what she needs to, they'd take it away.
As for food variety... the allergist here eased up on Kenzie's restrictions a bit and will now allow any vegetables, oatmeal, fruits, and rice cereal. The team goes food shopping this week so I am excited to see what they bring back.
I never really got to blog about Kenzies signing but it's really exciting. Jordan and I have shown kenzie baby signs for months because we know she will be delayed in speech. Here at KKI, they are big proponents of it too. About a week and a half ago, signs and kenzie just clicked. She now can really communicate with us. Kenzie does the signs for "give it to me", "more", "all done", "bunny" (her blanket... and we made up the sign for it), "here boy" and we are working on the signs for "book" and "thank you" She also really understands everything we say to her.
Yesterday, Grandma Daryl, and Grandpa H came to visit. They brought presents from Kenzies cousins Skylar which all the kids in the room are loving! Kenzie had so much fun with them as you can see above. Tonight Great Auntie is coming and is staying all weekend. Everyone here comments on all the visitors Kenzie gets and we always think how lucky she is!
Our friends Traci and John sent us some tv shows to watch that we've missed. We can't wait to find the time to watch them and are so excited. THANK YOU!!!
More later on in the weekend...
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