Psychologist, Take 3

Today was Ian's 3rd appointment with the psychologist who is the head of the feeding clinic in Hershey. Thankfully he comes up to a city that is less than 30 minutes from our house every couple of months. Our day started at Nadia's gymnastics class. We usually go to story time at the library after gymnastics, but all we did today was return our books. On our way to the appointment, we stopped at Walmart to shop the Halloween clearance section. I spent more than I planned on spending, but the kids love dressing up, and I got costumes in a variety of sizes - some won't really fit for a few years. Nadia took her nap in a Dorothy costume (Wizard of Oz). She asked me where the red shoes were, lol! Ian enjoyed wearing different animal hats (they were only $1.49 each!) - pig, tiger, dog, etc. I also went through the drive-thru at McD's in the hopes that eating a happy meal would occupy Nadia during Ian's appointment. I didn't bring her along to the first two appointments. She interrupted us a little, but she did pretty well.

I brought Dr. Williams up to speed on what has transpired over the past four months. Thankfully, Ian didn't cry very much while I fed him, which meant that we could start the process of teaching Ian to chew. He explained the process and said I might need to hold the veggie stick or pretzel stick on his gum for as long as 45 minutes until he'd chew one time. I asked if he'd demonstrate. Ian threw up and screamed during that "demonstration" so the psychologist then changed the instructions to read that I am to try up to 5 minutes, twice a day prior to when I feed him (so he can't throw up that much). He said that once he starts chewing, the progress should go much faster. I have to admit I'm expecting it to take a long time for him to learn to chew. I hope I'm wrong. As for Ian's nap, he suggested that I set a timer for 10 minutes (after he wakes up) and then go in to get him after Ian hears the "ding" so that he'll associate when I come to get him based on when the alarm sounds (rather than him crying). I'm supposed to gradually increase the time I set on the timer. I didn't use that strategy because including the time he played quietly in his crib with his nap, he was in his crib (without any crying) for an hour yesterday and today! WOOHOO! If he regresses back to 20 minute naps, I'll give that idea a whirl. The weirdest part about his good nap yesterday (45 minutes) was that he had taken a nap in someone's arms in the nursery in the morning. I wasn't even going to try putting him down for a nap since he had already had one, but he kept yawning during lunch so I figured it was worth a try. The psychologist thinks that the dietician is going to recommend changes as he doesn't think Ian is getting enough protein, etc.