Pinocchio, the Velveteen Rabbit, Tobias: they all have something in common now. Toby has become a "real" baby. He can cry and even hiccough audibly. He can turn his head instead of needing to be flipped. He sleeps and wakes in definite cycles. He opens his eyes and looks around. He fusses to be fed and sucks eagerly on his pacifier. He tolerates lights and sounds and being handled, although he does make his objections known when disturbed. His alarms are few and far between. Yesterday, we removed all his monitors and floated him in an actual bath; he enjoyed it immensely. It is a completely different experience to be able to pick him up and hold him whenever we want and as much as we want. A happy, happy experience.

So where are we now and where are we going? Toby weighs three and a half pounds. He is gaining weight well and continues to do well with his feedings. They are still given through a gavage tube until he is able to coordinate the skills he needs to nipple feed and has the energy to devote to it. Right now, that energy is still going towards breathing. He needs to be weaned off the high-flo just as he was off the vent. It has controlled volumes of air and levels of oxygen. The doctors have not started the weaning process yet as his last dose of steroids was just last night and he needs time to adjust. But he does continue to get good gasses. So for the time being, the focus will continue to be on his breathing and lung development and we will look forward to being able to work on his feeding skills.