Day 14: Morning at the Park

We started our Sunday off with a small breakfast in our room here at camp CHOC. Whitney ate a little bit of the bagel and sausage sandwich and some of her milk. Then we headed over to the Ronald McDonald house for a nice breakfast. It was just as good as going out to eat but free! Whitney started off with a few bites of celery. Then I got her a plate of bacon, strawberries, and a muffin (all preferred foods), but she didn't want any of it. So I just got her to drink about 3 ounces of her milk again. We were there from about 9 to 10 AM. Then we all left to go to Irvine Regional Park. It only took about 20 minutes to get there and it was already packed! 

I didn't realize you had to buy tickets to do everything and it was expensive at five dollars per ticket and everything cost at least one or two tickets. But they had a cute little zoo that only cost two dollars each so we did that first. The kids really enjoyed it and it was covered in Halloween decorations! 

Then around noon we found a picnic bench for lunch. Whitney started off with an apple slice and then took a few little bites of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich we packed along (mostly licking a little pb and small bites of the bread).  Then she drank an ounce of her milk but when I tried to get her to drink one more ounce she started to whine and cry and refused to do it. So it took a good 15 -25 mins or so of me trying to get her to do it. I tried to give her choices, start at the bottom of the steps to eating, I went from four drinks to three to two to one to make it more reasonable. The meal needed to end on my terms and not her crying and getting what she wants. I told her about the fun things we can do like finding a pumpkin and playing with Gramma. She really wanted to do those things but she still did not want to take one drink of milk. Eventually she said that she wanted to take a bite of her sandwich and then a drink. So I was like, okay let's do that then! So she finally got to be done and have more fun. That was so tough holding my ground and thinking of everything I learned to help her eat. Honestly I think she was the one testing me, trying to see what I would do; like would I go back to my "nice self" and just let her do what she wants or is this new eating thing for real!? And I expected her to eat. I know it was a new place but she was doing great at first, just like during our meals at CHOC. I think I was even clenching my teeth because I was stressed and was clenching them the whole time at the park, thinking about the meal all day long and by the time we got back I had a headache that lasted the rest of the afternoon and night.

I'm glad we got some fun pictures on pumpkins and in the (free) hay maze! 

The lines were long and the rides were expensive for us but we still had fun doing the free stuff! The weather was perfect! So nice to be outside and with family! It was time to leave around 2pm and get back to camp CHOC for the rest of the meals. Cameron was tired! As we left, the line of cars was so much longer to get in! Maybe it's just super popular/crowed on the holidays and weekends!?

Getting back to the routine was nice. Whitney threw a few more fits about random little things like needing help to go to the bathroom. Because of that I thought the 3:15pm snack was going to be terrible. Well she really didn't eat much of anything but she did drink 5 ounces of juice. We had ended early and do a bit of quiet time. I actually fell asleep ha ha! 

Whitney was also unhappy to eat dinner but started off with her pizza. She licked the sauce a couple times and then she took a bite and we did that for a while. She ate two pieces of corn and about a tablespoon of Spanish rice, and she actually drink 7 ounces of her BKE! Some volunteers came by with some crafts and we picked a rock to paint! So we did that while she was eating and it was fun.

After snack we watch Tangled the movie. A little bit into it we took our package of popcorn over to the nurses station and asked them to pop it for us. Then we put it in a bowl and continued to watch our movie. Whitney ate about four pieces and it was cute watching her nibble on the popcorn while she was watching a movie. She kept saying this is yummy! 

She eventually fell asleep around 8:45 PM. I don't know how she can have energy when she hardly eats anything and has a busy day!  I'm excited for tomorrow to get my family involved in her feeding sessions and learn more! 

Photos of the day: family photos from last November! 

Weight: 15.1kg