#22 Thankful

Welcome to Day #22 of the blogging challenge. Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday with family. Someday when we have a bigger house we can host holidays and have all our family together. I can't wait for that!

Tom came home for school with some wonderful Thanksgiving treats on Wednesday. Take a look at his thankful jar. It says...

"My Thankful Jar is full you'll see with lots of buttons made by me. I worked so hard to think and say the things that I am thankful for today. When I get home, I"ll reach inside, I'll pull out buttons and raise them high. That way I can share my true Thanksgiving thoughts with all of you."

Tom is thankful for 'Mommy, Daddy, and Music." That sounds right to me!

How sweet is that? His school does the best activities. It's so important to do hands-on activities to help blind/visually impaired children understand concepts. Holidays are important in our family and I want to make sure Tom is having a great experience every holiday, and that he is beginning to understand the meaning behind each holiday. Of course, this is just one of many cute projects he came home with.

Tommy ate this Thanksgiving! The day before Thanksgiving was his best eating day ever. He ate an entire easy mac and one and a half small pepperoni rolls. I couldn't believe it! He ate like he was hungry. Really hungry! On Thanksgiving he ate some turkey, gnocchi, a bit of sweet potato casserole, and some mushrooms and green beans. He did well.

That g-tube will be history if we can get Tom to eat like that on a regular basis. We have a while to go before we can talk g-tube removal but I can imagine that day isn't that far away now. To see Tom eat with enjoyment is still new and exciting to us.

To see him eat that much food is completely impressive but it can get our hopes up too much. We have to be realistic because not every meal is going to be that successful. It's hard to understand that someone could eat so little and not be bothered by it. In fact, he is only bothered if you try to make him eat when he doesn't want to. That's when it gets ugly! We have to follow his lead and celebrate the slow but steady progress he is making. A year and four months ago he was getting less than 5% of his calories by mouth and we have to measure our success against that. We have come a long way and I am incredibly thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving!