They don't have to worry about my sisters in the same way. My sisters will eat, or ask for food, when they are hungry. I can't do that.
People with cerebral palsy often have trouble putting on weight. That's why Mum celebrates when I get a little muffin top! That's why they worry when I have to go to hospital, and I lose weight and my muscle tone.
That's me. Mum and Dad have to give me high-calorie foods. They have to, if they want me to continue to grow.
Also, I burn more calories than many people. While I can't walk and run around, I am moving and exercising all day! My cerebral palsy means my muscles are always working and I'm burning lots of calories. And so, I need a high-calorie diet.
Some examples of high-calorie foods people with cerebral palsy can eat are: peanut butter, pasta, rice and cereals, corn oil, canola oil or margarine, cheese, ice-cream and thick shakes, eggs, custards and puddings, raisins and wheat germ.
For lunches, I often have puddings! For people who don't know about my high-calorie diet, they might think I'm being unhealthy!
They should see what I have to eat for dinner!
I eat muesli bars mixed in with fruit, cream biscuits mixed with bananas and chocolate. I need these mixed together, because I can't eat a muesli bar like most kids my age. I need them crushed up, or I need patience while I try to bite and chew the soft ones.
Mum is very, very careful with my diet... because she has to be!
I need the calories.
I need the healthy food.
I need food to help me poo!
I need food I can chew and swallow, because my cerebral palsy makes that very difficult.
I need patience and support, to eat my food.
If it's new... I might spit the first spoonful of food out. It takes me a while to decide whether I like it... and it might take even longer, if the texture is not what I expected. Sometimes, I need to be reminded to chew, and swallow my food. Sometimes, dinner time is difficult for me, because of my cerebral palsy.
Sometimes, when I feed myself (with help), meal times take so much longer! But, it is important that I be allowed have this extra time and care. Meal times can be very stressful for Mum and Dad and exhausting for me!
I'm lucky that they are so good at supporting my eating and drinking at preschool! They make sure they feed me everything Mum packs for me, or they let Mum know what I didn't eat. Usually, I eat everything! And, often... I feed myself!
At the moment, I'm mostly drinking fruit juices that are a little thicker. I have a thickener added to the drink, to make the juice even thicker. I need it thick, because I choke on water. My cerebral palsy makes it too tricky for me to drink plain water.
When my teeth have been cleaned, my mouth is cleaned out with a washer.
I can't gargle, or wash my mouth out the usual way, because of my cerebral palsy. I like to chew and suck on a wet washer, and that cleans the frothy paste from my mouth.
At the moment, the dentist is happy with my teeth. Unfortunately, as my teeth were developing, I was having chemotherapy treatments, and my teeth have been damaged from that. Because of my cerebral palsy, I often grate my teeth... very badly. I have worn the molars pretty much away, from grinding them. Apart from that, the dentist is happy, and has said Mum is doing a great job.
Eventually, I may even need to have dentures, but for now, we are looking after my teeth as much as we can.
This cerebral palsy business is so tricky!
But, it's a good excuse to eat cheesecake for lunch!