NoTube Eating school day 7 (chapter 2)
Today was our day off. I remember how afraid we were to be left alone without help. This time we were more confident and went with the flow.
We were really hoping that Elodie would sleep in, but unfortunately for us, she woke up at 08.30. At least this gave us a longer day to enjoy, normally we have more evening and less daylight.
She didn’t want to eat anything at home, so we finished some chores and went outside. On our way the playground in the Stadtpark we stopped at Martin Auer to buy some bread, and Sachertarte. At the shop Elodie pointed at a red cake which she wanted, so of course we obliged immediately. Only parents of a child with an eating disorder understand this.
When we arrived at the fountain in the Stadtpark we ate our breakfast, and Elodie actually ate a bit from her cake too. I love the Stadtpark, the lanes with trees, the ducks, it is lovely.
Afterwards we went to the playground next to NH Hotel, where I gave her 1 bottle of NutriniDrink. We met a man here from the Netherlands who studies brain functionality in Graz, that was quite interesting. Also, a French family from NoTube was at this playground. Their baby boy was tube fed, and is making progress learning to eat. The parents are also learning how to feed him in a way that the baby enjoys.
We found out while here in Austria that when Elodie is really excited she drinks a little cup of medical nutrition smoothly. At home it took us a long time for her to drink 1 bottle. She would only take 1 or 2 sips at a time. So this is quite efficient. It’s better for all of us. Hopefully we can continue this development at home.
Then we went to Schlossberg. First we did the fairytale express. We were a bit scared to do this because if Elodie doesn’t like it there is no easy way out, the ride through the tunnels takes half an hour. But the psychologist from NoTube said Elodie would like it. Glad we tried. She loved it and wanted to go again. So we are still learning new things and getting over our anxiety. The reason we are scared about stuff like this is because when she starts to cry, within no time she will vomit. During the ride she actually ate a bit of bread. Apparently when she is distracted she eats. Another new thing we discovered.
We had lunch at Aiola upstairs, which is normally fully booked all the time. The view over Graz was amazing. We could see the LKH (Graz hospital), our Airbnb was next to it, so it was fun to see how long we had walked. The food was not that great, but acceptable. Granted we are spoiled foodies. Elodie wasn’t interested in eating, so she walked around Schlossberg and the Uhrtum while one of us was eating.
After her nap we went to the lake at Hilmteich. Unfortunately she didn’t want to eat much at home. There was a Chinese-Austrian family there with their toddler girl, and Elodie fed the fish together with her. They played around for a while. We talked a bit and it was quite nice to meet them.
