The Asparagus Experiment

Remembering February 20th, 2010

Most pictures we have of Max are of him eating. The boy likes to eat. For that, I am so thankful! I know a lot of kids with autism struggle with food. Some are very picky and while, Max definitely has quirks regarding his eating habits, he is pretty easy going. From the very beginning, I have given him a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and because of that, he will eat most of them. Things like casseroles or anything that is a combined food (pot pie, pizza with soy cheese, etc) he doesn't really like- even if he likes everything that is in it. Most days, he rejects anything new. But there are days every once in a while when I can tell his mood is right, and we try something new. On this day, it was asparagus... A risk, I know. But it wasn't messy and he normally likes vegetables...

 And after some investigation...

He tried it! And just getting him to try it is my main goal. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it. But I really want him to try everything on his plate. With Max, I have learned not to push him. If I just present it, not make a big deal, and ask him to try it once, we usually have success. Pestering and badgering just leads to instant rejection. On this night, not only did he try the asparagus, but he liked it! And went on to eat several spears!

 Don't worry, Dave didn't really give Ellie any asparagus. As you can see by the next picture, she wasn't too impressed. Maybe this is why she was in no way interested in anything green when we started baby food.

Ellie was definitely not going to be as good as eater as Maxer. If she even saw something green in her bowl, she started gagging. I tried everything. I mixed in cereal. I made her green beans from the garden- and for baby food- they were good! I added banana to try and cover the taste. None of it worked- she was on to me. She preferred fruit and puffs. I wonder if we would still be having the veggie issue now...

 Max went through a tortilla phase. He requested them at every meal. For a while I carried around a tortilla in a plastic bag in the diaper bag. He called them "lore-LEE-las."

As a reward for trying the asparagus, we let me him have another coveted first. The Oreo. He's no dummy. He knew the creamy-chocolatey goodness that awaited him and didn't waste a minute digging in. (I will say it's a little startling that Oreo's have no milk in them. Considering the "cream" filling and all. Oh well, it's easy, I don't have to make it special for him, and he loves them!)

Little Peanut all tuckered out and sleeping in the swing, despite Max running through the house, hollering.

An Angel indeed.