YAY!!!! YAY!!!! YAY!!!!!!

Okay, if you can't tell already I'm a little excited! Talent is a great kid. He's just a little bit picky when it comes to food. He knows what he wants and what he likes and it's hard to get him to try new things. He has NEVER liked mashed potatoes. EVER. Every time you give him a bite of them he wipes him mouth with a napkin and spits them out. It's hilarious and at the same time so frustrating. I mean, is he going to live on fries forever?? UGH! That thought alone has been enough to nearly send me over the edge for a while. I want my kid to eat healthy. I try and feed him grilled chicken, veggies, salad even......he's just picky. It doesn't help that the things he would prefer he's allergic to. Strawberries & grapes are two of his newest allergies and while I thought it wasn't a really big deal, turns out it kind of is. He breaks out in eczema all over when he has one or the other. And while other people might not think that eczema is that big of a deal, it is. He scratches and will sometimes scratch so hard he bleeds. It's uncomfortable for him. His skin doesn't feel good and he knows that something is wrong but he doesn't know how to tell me. He cries and scratches. I hate that. So here we are at a stand still.....with food.

The last few weeks I've been changing up his routine a little at dinner time. He eats when we eat and he eats what we eat (with the exception of fries) most nights. There are some evenings when he is just not having it. He won't try the meat, even though it's chicken and he loves chicken, and he wants a waffle or a piece of bread, or yogurt. Toddlers, they can be so difficult at times!

A few nights ago we had baked potatoes and he kept trying to reach into it with his fork. Now, he's pretty sweet when it comes to food. He likes to feed me and he likes to share. He doesn't do this with just anyone. Mostly just me, probably because I'm the only one that will eat what he has to offer. When he kept trying to stick his fork in my potato I thought he was just wanting to feed me. I waited until I had hardly any potato left and I finally let him have at it. To my surprise, he put the potato in HIS mouth! Granted he spit it right back out. (Apparently he doesn't like sour cream!) I thought it was pretty funny. But he didn't ask for my potato again. He ended up eating the rest of his fries and some of his meat.

Tonight I had steak, mashed potatoes, and corn. Talent wanted something different all together so I made him something else. He ate his dinner and then came to sit beside me while I ate mine. I always cut up a few pieces of meat extra small just in case he wants to try it. I tried to give him a bite and he shook his little head and said "NO!"  So, I waited and tried again...still, no. So the next time he acted like he wanted something I offered him a bite of corn. Yeah, that didn't go over well either. He spit it out faster than anything I've ever seen. Finally, he grabbed my hand (the one with the fork in it) and put it in the potatoes, I scooped up a little bit, thinking he's going to spit them out, and gave him a bite. He actually ate them. He kept asking for more and ended up eating several bites. I have never been more excited about mashed potatoes in my life.

In this crazy world of parenting an allergic kid, food is a BIG deal. It's so hard to find new things for him to eat that I can get my husband to eat. I'm pretty easy to please but my husband isn't. So finding things to cook so I'm not cooking all night and for 2 different meals is sometimes complicated. I am so glad to be making progress with his eating and trying new things.