baby steps then, BIG STEPS!

Quick update.

John has been trialing turkey for about two weeks now.

It started off well but then turned south. He wouldn't touch it alone and I started having a rough time getting him to eat it mixed in with the potatoes when I put the whole amount he needed each day into a jar of potatoes. I pulled back to only putting one spoonful of turkey in with a whole jar of sweet potatoes and after some hard work and a few tears I got him eating about half of that. 

I was getting very discouraged. He was only getting about 1/4 of what he needed each day to count as a trial and it was a battle that left us both exhausted emotionally and physically. 

I was about ready to give up and try another food.

I was hating having to force feed my child a food he obviously didn't enjoy one bit just to find out if it was even safe for him to eat it!! 

I decided that we would just stick it out for a few more days, remembering how long it took him to start eating the sweet potatoes willingly (nearly two months!!!). 

Then it happened. It's like we had to get over a hump or something.

Yesterday and today John ate an entire jar of sweet potatoes that each had half a jar of turkey in them during occupational therapy!! I swear his OT, Miss. C, is a miracle worker!

My hope is that over the next few days we will be able to transition him to eating the turkey alone.

If this continues to go well then next week we will add....

GREEN BEANS

We are getting ahead of ourselves and imagining all the holiday meals John will enjoy with this combo of turkey, green beans, and sweet potatoes!

Fruits seem to be problematic. Apples and Bananas have been a no go so far. I suppose we will eventually have to trial another fruit but for now I'm okay with sticking with veggies, especially if we get turkey on board. 

I am still waiting on a call back for an evaluation with a local speech therapist that uses the same feeding therapy methods as the Marcus Autism Center to help us get more foods on board but I think we are doing pretty good with our Miss. C at Ducktails. We love her.

We are making some steady and amazing progress and I feel really hopeful about the future.