Our Littlest Dinosaur

There's this book I bought for Nolan last year from Scholastic, called the Littlest Dinosaur (by Michael Foreman). Daniel was having a painful bottle feed in Brian's arm the first time I read it to Nolan last fall and I started silently crying. I picked the book because Nolan loves dinosaurs, but it struck a nerve with D's growing issues. Even though we've come leaps and bounds with his eating, we still struggle with Daniel's weight gain. In the book, the dinosaur is born tiny and no matter what his mommy feeds him, he just won't grow. I have to add that in the book the daddy is kind of mean, which is totally not Brian, but other than that the book seems to mirror Daniel. A sweet little dinosaur, who can't seem to grow, no matter how hard he tries and his momma tries. An adorable little spirit, who ends up doing BIG things, saving lives, changing lives and being an amazing friend.

We are meeting weekly with a wonderful nutritionist, who comes to our house and braves meals with the boys and me, so she can see Daniel in his element. She is giving me tips and secrets so we can sneak calories in for him. The good news is that Daniel loves meal times, feeds himself, and does love to eat most things. He is very stubborn, though, and will not let me feed him off a spoon...a very good thing in the long run. We are adding butter, olive oil and a calorie supplement to his food. We also add heavy cream to his milk and spend time in the aisles of the grocery store picking out the highest fat foods.

The boys eat 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks, with no "grazing" in between. Danny has to be in his chair when eating. Putting one child on a good eating schedule essentially means all my boys are on a pretty regular eating schedule. Some days it feels like I spend all my day in the kitchen, cooking, chopping, mixing, cleaning trays, picking up food the kids throw, dodging their flying sippy cups. A lot of days I'm plum drained by the time Bri walks in the door. But I know this time around, it will go so quickly and they are so cute when they munch happily away, stealing devious grins between the three of them. Anyway, prayers for his weight gain would be a huge help! I believe in my heart, that this too shall pass and that Daniel will overcome this as well!