Doing It Again

Kennedy has once again set out to prove people wrong.  They warned us before starting solids that Kennedy would likely have a hard time with it, because babies with Down syndrome don't usually "get" the whole eating thing.  They don't understand the opening their mouths, what to do with their tongue, and how to swallow.  So I went into it pretty optimistic, but didn't have high hopes that it would work out well.  Well, Kennedy has once again proved them wrong.  She's rocking the solids!  We have now worked through carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and are on to apples.  So far everything I have made has been a success, except the apples.  They came out terrible, so we're relying on Gerber for the time being. 

She LOVES to eat.  She clearly takes after her mommy and daddy.  She opens her mouth for more, she has a pretty good handle on what to do with the spoon, and can get the food off the spoon, and swallowed.  Every now and then she's not sure what to do with her tongue and it pokes out, along with a little food.  But she doesn't even get very messy.  Any residual food usually comes from blowing raspberries with a mouth full of food!  And ladies and gentleman.  Last night, for the very first time, Kennedy actually banged on her hand on the high chair try because I wasn't heating up the next round of food fast enough.  Yes, I said the next round.  She ate an entire 2.5 ounces of sweet potatoes last night, in just one sitting.  I was standing in the kitchen warming them up and talking to Marlon.  Clearly I wasn't moving fast enough for her and she was going to let me know! By the way, she's now eating about 2 ounces of fruit for breakfast and 2 ounces of vegetables for dinner!!!  And still maintaining the 30 ounces of breast milk a day!  Way to go Kennedy! 

The following pictures were from her first taste of apples! 

Oooohhh....what did you make now mom?

Bring it on!!  I'm hungry!

YUM!  I'm going to lick this off my lips!

We're also working on things like sitting up - since we can't do tummy time.  Of course, we have a long way to go, and since Kennedy has short arms, even the tripod sit is hard.  So we use pillows.  And we practice on the bed.  Where we can't get hurt when we topple over.  Here's some photos of how we're doing.

Sometimes we eat our hands while we sit....

Sometimes we sit really well and smile for mommy!

And sometimes we fall face first.  Exhibit A of why this is done on the bed.