Let Her Eat Cake!

Madison ate CAKE! I repeat, CAKE! Today Madison surprised us all and rocked her first real attempt at eating table food! She has been so moody and temperamental lately from teething, I never know how her therapy sessions are going to go. This afternoon at speech she started off pretty cranky, but once she got a taste of that sweet Entenmann’s funfetti cake, her mood perked right up!

Since Madison’s success with using the light aide in speech (read more on that here), we’ve attempted to move her lessons into the CVI room. This room is painted black and we keep the lights off, or on low, so she can keep her vision focused on the light box. She began the session by playing with the switch toy again. She has definitely made the connection on how to use that because this time instead of starting out with a more fisted hand, she immediately used her pointer finger to press the switch each time! Yay!

Once she began to focus on the lights, her therapist brought out some Entenmanns Little Bites cakes. I was actually surprised and thought, cake? I don’t know if she can eat cake. Will she know how to chew it? How to move it around in her mouth and swallow without choking? Although she does great with purees, advancing to table food is something I’ve been hesitant about. Then again, that’s what speech therapy is for! When her therapist broke off a piece of the cake and placed it in her mouth, I was shocked when Madison went to town! She chewed and swallowed as if she’s been eating it for years.

We quickly began breaking off larger pieces and each time Madison did exactly what any child would do as they begin chewing for the first time! She moved her tongue around, moved the actual piece around, and swallowed with ease. She even bit a piece straight from the cake! We also tried crackers and saw the same success! For the first time I watched my baby girl eat table food! And I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible that is!

Madison has been eating oatmeal or yogurt with a side of puréed fruit for breakfast for months now, and to think that I can now give her pancakes and waffles is such an incredible move in the right direction. She may not be close to feeding herself just yet, but moving away from puréed solids and onto table foods is a huge success for her! Feeding her the food that we eat is not only easier on me, but man how exciting for her!

Madison’s alertness issues will definitely still be a challenge for us with eating, but as long as she’s up, I can’t wait to begin pushing more table foods. She certainly proved to us today that she’s ready and capable of expanding her meal options. Of course we’ll still start slow, but how incredible to have hit this milestone in only January! I can only imagine what she might be eating by the end of the year!

I had planned to take today to update you all on our medical marijuana journey, as we’ve made some great strides, but I simply cannot contain my excitement about today’s success! You can bet this mama will be heading back to the grocery store this week to stock up on some new food items for miss Maddie! Suggestions for table food that’s great for beginners? Let me know in the comments! Wish us luck as we kick off our journey with table food and stay tuned for an update on our progress with medicinal marijuana! Have a great week everyone!

Xo,

Kelly