I hope you get (good) news on your mom soon, Callaluna.

Will's bonus mom is recovering from surgery very well. Still a long road ahead, but she's in great shape. I probably won't see her until she's home from the hospital, as they don't want folks with respiratory symptoms there and I seem to have them constantly.

Today she had full fat, cream top yogurt, small bowl of oatmeal, bowl of sweet potato pudding with vanilla protein powder, hot chocolate, milk, water, mashed cauliflower, fried cakes of mac and cheese, an apple slice and half an avocado.

Dang. I would like to have eaten that for food today!

Hope you hear something soon, Callaluna, and sending ~ma her way.

Good to hear, Kiba.

I learned that kids don't eat when they're hungry while babysitting my 8ish year old nephew. At lunch time, I asked if he was hungry. And he wasn't. So I asked an hour later, and he wasn't. And then a couple hours later (I forgot; we were playing) he said he had a headache, and I said "Oh, my god, I didn't FEED YOU!" And so I did. And my sister confirmed that, yes, you just have to feed them. Though she was not mad that I gave him the agency... just, you know, not really a good plan for him quite yet.

My mom has been transferred to a larger hospital and admitted. She's seen the surgeon, and they've decided to wait 24 hours to see if the blockage can be cleared with the pump. I can't imagine that's pleasant for her, since the tube for the pump goes down her throat. I still haven't been able to speak with her directly. Hopefully tomorrow. I suppose I should get some sleep, so goodnight!

Health~ma to your mom, Callaluna!

Y'all have no idea how reassuring it is to me to see that I'm not the only one whose child is/was slow to outgrow a finicky stage. Annabel at 10 is still picky, though at least she's now more willing to at least take a bite or two of a new thing. And now that she's in massive growth spurt mode, she seems to naturally be choosing more protein. Sure, much of it is still lunch meat, peanut butter, and yogurt, but I'm hoping her new taste for things like orange chicken and chicken-fried steak will be a gateway to somewhat less fried and sugary dishes.

I hope the pump works and quickly, Callaluna.

I bought a foam mattress topper online, and it arrived rolled-up and vacuum-squished into the size of a watermelon. The instructions say to open it on a flat surface and let it air for 24 hours. This presented a problem, since the only flat surface the size of the bed is the bed. I cleared off the table and cut off the plastic. Expanding, it looked unnervingly like something alive. Now it's on my oval table with the foam fingers facing up and a foot or so hanging off the table. It looks like a prehistoric albino giant hedgehog.

So that's how the triffids are spreading.

My parents were from the eat everything on your plate school. I did. Guess who is overweight. My sister( a year younger) would sit for hours and not eat. By the time my youngest sister was around, it was try everything on your plate. I like that idea. because tastes change, and you learn to deal with stuff you don't like on your plate.

best to your mom 'luna

I didn't outgrow a lot of my picky eating until I was in college, and then in my 30s I was willing to try things I had never tried before (Indian food, Thai food, sushi, any Chinese other than sweet and sour chicken all scared me, which is funny to me now since they're all favorites). Part of it is that my tastes changed, and part of it is that I learned ways to prepare food that I previously didn't like in other forms.

I would always try anything and liked almost everything. This was not good for my figure, but I certainly enjoyed food. The current chemo makes everything taste weird. Sweets taste metallic; bitter things taste more bitter; most things are too salty; and things like yogurt and sour cream taste like they've gone off. Whine, whine, whine. On the other hand, I've lost 25 pounds.