Little Faker

See this chickadee?

She's been foolin' us.

All this time.  That girl has been all, "but I can't eat with a spoon!  They're the spawn of the devil himself, and you're NOT.  PUTTIN'.  THAT.  IN.  MY.  MOUTH.  I don't even know what to do with that nastiness that comes off of that thing." 

I mean, she may have some mental delays (whatever), but that sneaky little smile up there says it all.  I can hear it in her head even now.  "Nanny, nanny, boo boo!"  She's loved every bit of it, I'm sure, but . . . GAME OVER!  Do you HEAR ME?!  For the past four days, missy Maya has been downin' some spoon feedin'.

Four days ago, Craig said, "I don't know what's happening, but she's just gettin' it"!  So, yesterday Craig was gone and I decided to test the waters myself.  You see, kiddo and I hadn't been meshin' real well at feeding time.  We decided it was probably best that Craiggers take over for a while.  But yesterday . . . I mean, it had NO.THING. to do with jealousy of seeing the baby whisperer take control of the food reins and knock it outta the park . . . I don't think.  I just wanted to see what *might* would happen if I sat down at the high chair.  I envisioned an old western film where the two dudes are gettin' ready to do one of those gunslingin' duels.  You know, the 'let's see who moves first' kinda deal? I stared at her, and she stared at me.  She knew it was comin', and she darn well knew what she had up her sleeve. 

I brought out my guns (i.e. baby food) and she brought out hers (i.e. tongue).  From that point on, the battle raged.  Fast forward, people, and I WIN.  I WIN.  I stuck with it . . .

Ok, ok . . . enough.  Seriously.  The real story?  Maya wins.  She's three-years-old, and she's gettin' the hang of finally learning what its like to eat like a three-year-old.  We sat down tonight after last night's jar-and-a-half success and tried again.  A jar-and-a-half.  It wasn't pretty, and her bib looked like a rejected Picasso canvas, but she got at least half of it in her belly.  Tonight?  Even better.  Tonight we got even braver.  We managed to empty TWO JARS and a little bit of oatmeal cereal when things got a bit too soupy.  And we managed to do it with about half of the mess we made last night.

Things got exciting around here for a while.  We were all yellin' and hollerin', and she was gettin' down with it, too, with her little grins and all. 

I've tried to hold all of this optimism back thinking it may have just been a fluke.  But I think we may have it!  I emailed her therapist yesterday, and she replied back saying at some point, it just has to click.  I think Maya's brain may have been hearin' a morse code machine or something, because that's exactly what it did.  It just clicked.  PRAISE.  THE.  LORD.

This is honestly a ginormous answer to many, many prayers.  There were times my mind was seriously wondering stuff about feeding tubes, and there was even a tiny bit of discussion about it with the therapist last week.  Nothing like we were about to 'go there', but we all just talked about it.  God heard us, though, and as usual, he came through . . . shinin' like a Porter Wagoner outfit, I tell ya.

In other news . . .

We had our final checkup with the cardiologist today.  He said that every time he examines her, he learns something new.  This time he did a lot of imaging with her pulmonary valve.  This is what Dr. Chambers said may have to eventually be replaced.  He explained that sometimes with the kind of surgery Maya had, they surgeon will cut completely through the valve to do whatever it is he needs to do.  That pretty much makes the valve useless, and it has to be repaired immediately.  He didn't say this, but I imagine that they probably take care of this while they're doing the surgery for the original problem.  I mean, I'm not a doctor, but . . . well, you know. 

Anyway, They didn't cut through her entire valve, but they did cut through part of it, which kinda made it a one way street.  Go 'all or nothin' with me here, ok?  Basically, her valve works some, but not exactly like it should.  Its all good for now, sorta like her patch covering up that hole, but eventually that valve will probably have to be repaired, too.  So now we're looking at two eventual problems.  Nothing in the near future, but when she really gets growing they'll have to be addressed.  I guess when I said 'final checkup', I just meant that we don't have to go every month anymore.  He still wants to see us every 6-8 months to keep checking on those other pesky little issues.

But for now, well, we're just gonna eat.  And I'm ok with that.

And since you're so happy for us, too, go make yourself a sundae.  It's Friday, people.

Love,

Paige