Surprises.

I got a really early wakeup call from Cody this morning around 5:55 AM, so forgive me if this post is extra short.  

It's more good news today.  Cody passed the probe yesterday, so his 8 foods are now in constant rotation.  There's no exact pattern.  The foods are served randomly.  I talked to Dr. Criado at breakfast and learned that if he continued doing well with the 8 foods at snack and lunch, they would probably be ready to move up to the next size of bite at dinner. I didn't attend all of snack and lunch, but it went well and they determined Cody was ready for the next step. To begin with each bite is the size of a grain of rice.  Cody has now doubled the size of his bites to 1/8 size bites.  It's possible that he could move up to 1/4 size bites tomorrow, but Dr. Criado is not sure she wants him to move quite that quickly.  They are letting the protocols, checklista, and all their scientific data guide this process.  And so far Cody is showing that he's ready to move quickly.  From my non-expert stand-point, this gives me a lot of hope that Cody will advance to table texture.  I asked Dr. Criado about that today.  It's definitely what we're working toward and the team will be able to speak more definitely about that at his goal meeting next week.  They will also work with Cody on drinking from an open cup.  I requested that they work with him on drinking water, but that won't be a priority, since it's not as nutritional as milk or milk substitutes. 

Today the Marcus Center had a Valentine making station set up in the resource room from 9-11. I saw it posted on a flier earlier in the week that it would be with someone named Flip.  Well, to our surprise, Flip is a therapy dog!  Cody had his picture made with Flip then turned that photo into a Valentine for a special someone.  I hope that special person REALLY likes Paw Patrol stickers, by the way.  Cody also spent one of his breaks today on the playground.  It was cold and windy, but sunny.  It was good for Cody to get out and just run around.  

Over the last few days I have been a part of more conversations with other moms at the center about their children and their progress at Marcus.  As I said yesterday, Cody is miles ahead of many of them.  Today that was made even more clear when I heard the other moms talking about their children learning to close their mouth on the spoon to get the food off.  And while I'm so thankful Cody is beyond that, it hasn't made me lose sight of my hopes for Cody.  The closer to "normal" we can get, the better.  

We're making plans with Boss, CC, John, and Cole for the weekend and getting excited to see everybody soon!