Food, Glorious Food

Now that I am caught up with my blog articles I can relax a little bit. Trying to write three articles in a day in a half was a little taxing.

I must say that sometimes I forget that Parker has this disease. I mean it was easy to be reminded when we were at Sick Kid's. Having to gown up and where all of that sterile protective gear, how could you forget? But now that we are at home and Parker is doing so well, you have to remind yourself what is going on. Parker is such a happy little boy that you would never suspect that anything was wrong with him. Just this morning, before I left for work and after my wife had just finished feeding him, I took a peek in his room to see him sleeping. To my surprise, he spotted me behind him. The little monkey titled his head back, so he could get a better glimpse of his old man, and let out a big smile, followed by his trademark laugh. Would you expect an immunocompromised five month old to do that?

I know that it has a lot to do with the care we got from Sick Kid's as well as all the effort we have put into ensuring that he is developing at age. But to be honest, a lot comes from all of the love he has gotten from us and everyone around us. I mentioned it at the benefit concert that many people comment on how strong my wife and I are while this is all going on. As I said then, it truly is easy to be strong when your five month old shows you how every single moment you spend with him.

Parker had his first taste of real food on Saturday. We started him on Heinz Rice Cereal. One tablespoon of cereal to three tablespoons of formula. We figured it was about time as he does drink quite a bit of formula, and he is used to taking medication. Giving your five month old food for the first time is not the easiest of tasks. He spits out half of what he takes in, but by the end of it he was starting to open his mouth when the spoon got there. Most of the time he was just opening his mouth to smile, but we took that opportunity to put the food in. Feeding Parker rice cereal is definitely a two person job at the moment. I cannot see what he would like about it, but apparently his grand-dad and nonno enjoyed the taste of Pablum when they had children. Maybe I should give it a try. It may make it easier to feed him. Of course, I will have my own bowl and spoon!

We are still working on getting the little guy to roll over by himself. If we hold one foot he has no problem flipping himself over. Once he gets to his tummy he is quite happy to be able to look around. He has actually started to play with the toys around him when he is on his tummy.