Less worry

We are starting to feel better about Maren's eating. She has been on the appetite stimulant at the lowest dose for about ten days, and so far it seems to really be working. She is still a toddler, and therefore her behavior is at times completely unpredictable and inexplicable, but overall she is eating much more. She is regularly asking for food, which she really never did before, and having three regular meals and at least two snacks every day. It is a huge relief. After about five days, Jeff and I both noticed that her cheeks seemed a bit chubbier already. We met with the dietitian last Monday, and she looked over our three day food log (started the day that we had started the appetite stimulant), and said that Maren was eating all the right things. We don't go back to the pediatrician until December 16, so we won't get her weight again until then, but I am certain that she will have gained weight by then.

Yesterday I took several videos of Maren, just because. Here is one that I took without her knowing, showing her improved walking skills:

She is a pretty cautious baby. The other day she noticed that the gate at the top of the stairs was open, so she said "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh," and tried to close the gate. She is not a big risk taker, so she might be slower than some to start running around, but that makes life easier for us :-)

Meanwhile, her language is exploding. Many of her words don't sound much like the words she is trying to say, but some of them are close to perfect. Today she started saying "tur-tle," and it is really funny to hear a very intelligible word when most words are only understandable based on context. One of these days we are going to have to make a list of all the things she says, and how she says them. Right now she is a lot of fun :-)