If He Graduates From Harvard, This Weekend Will Still Be A Bigger Deal

We've had some huge moments of progress in the past.  Eating crackers was big.  Eating apple sticks was huge.  Eating peas was like a miracle.  But this weekend, we achieved a whole new level of breakthrough.

He started eating meals.  Real meals with no pureed foods being spoon fed to him.  He's eating an entire meal worth of table food and he's pleased with himself.  Yes, his menu is limited but this is day #4 with no pureed food.  He's two months shy of his 3rd birthday and this is the first time in his life this has happened.

His menus have consisted of various combinations of mac & cheese, applesauce, green beans, peas, apples cut into sticks and carrots.  He's even requesting mac & cheese.  He's never requested anything other than chips or crackers.  EVER.

And the big bonus is, he's self-feeding most of it.  Normally after feeding himself 3 or 4 bites he gets bored and stops.  His fork skills leave a little something to be desired but he'll get it.  He's actually working on it now!

It all started at lunch on Saturday.  We went out to Applebee's.  (Chain restaurants were something I loathed before moving to the 'burbs but now with a child who requires an environment where he can be somewhat loud, a need for relatively fast service and no one judging us for pulling out a smart phone and playing an episode of Sesame Street, I'm learning to embrace them....kinda.)  We usually don't order a child's meal for him.  We count on the fact that he'll pick at a few things like fries and then we'll have to feed him more when we get home.  But, we ordered a kids meal this time.  AND HE ATE! Mac & cheese and applesauce.  He also ate pieces of fried mozzarella sticks.  He actually ate so much that we didn't have to feed him more later.  Amazing.

We've been praising him and telling him how very proud we are all the way through each meal.  He's not a fast eater.  That's fine.  The point is, we're FINALLY sitting down to family meals, a dream we've had since he was born.  My birthday is this week and this is without a doubt the best birthday present I've ever received.

He's really doing well with the idea that even if he doesn't want to eat something, he has to have a bite or two before he can be "all done".  It's working.  So, I plan to repeat exposure to certain things one meal at a time, one bite at a time until hopefully, it's an accepted food.  Carrots are first one the list.  Then, I'd love to find a protein other than bacon that he will accept.  We've had limited success with chicken nuggets in the past so I think it's time we revisit them.

Not to be a Debbie Downer after all the joy I'm trying to spread with this post but one thing about this does worry me.  With the purees, I was able to get a wide variety of foods into him...all kinds of veggies, beans, tofu, lentils...he was getting variety.  Now, by quitting the purees, his nutrition will be more limited.  I'm going to look at like this, it's just more motivation to keep working on new foods.  With the Pediasure he gets every day and as long as he doesn't start losing weight, this is the progress we've been hoping for.