Success!

Today was a big day for us.  A huge day!

Wesley's feeding therapist has been working with him for months to get him to eat "big people food".  In December he started eating Spaghetti-O's with meatballs and mini ravioli with meatballs for her, but he refused to eat them for us at home.  He also started drinking juice or rice milk from an open cup for her, but again was refusing to drink from an open cup for us.

We talked with Wesley's therapist and concluded that this was yet another case of Wesley's motor planning issues.  He always insists on everything being done the same way by the same person in the same place.  So, we figured that he had associated eating non-baby food with his therapist and the therapy center.  He wasn't able to make the motor plan transition to permitting us to feed him at home in his high chair.  Yesterday at his feeding therapy session, his therapist worked on helping me to feed him and encouraging him to eat for me.  She even gave me an extra cup she had for assisting him with open cup drinking.  It was a spectacular success!  But we still had to transition his feeding home, and after so many failures, my expectations were quite low.

Surprise of all surprises, Wesley gobbled up his Spaghetti-O's and meatballs and drank 2 ounces of milk from his cup for lunch today!  Of course, I had to adhere to the strict structure of the meal to make it as similar to his therapy sessions as possible.  First we practiced chewing by taking bites of veggie straws on each side of his mouth.  Then he watched me pour the Spaghetti-O's into a bowl, which I put on his tray.  (I normally NEVER put bowls of food on his tray and in reach of his swiping hand!)  I gave him several bites with a spoon to acclimate him to the taste, texture and temperature.  Then we went in with the fork!  We went back and forth, putting bites of meatballs on each side and practicing chewing.  Wesley tolerated it amazingly!

After Wesley was full, we started practicing with open cup drinking.  He let me put one of my hands under his chin for support while I held his cup up to help him take sips.  He signed more between sips to let me know that he wanted to keep going.  He even laughed as I would bring his cup up to his mouth for more!  I couldn't believe it!

Thank you Lord for helping my son to start eating.  We have been praying for so long for a breakthrough, and it seems that today is the day You have chosen to answer our prayers!