Micah ate dinner!

Tonight, Micah ate a bite of everything we put on his plate.  He had a steamed carrot, 2 steamed snow peas, a piece of steamed broccoli and about two tablespoons of homemade macaroni and cheese.

Why is that significant, you ask?

Because Micah only eats certain foods.  In fact, 3 months ago, he had reduced back down to about 6.  None of which were healthy and none of which were a protein source.

We backed off for a while on increasing his diet and just let him be.  We also added a protein drink for kids that we called his "chocolate milk" just to get him some nutrition and stabilize his blood sugar.  Finally he started branching out again on his own with a little coaxing from us.

When you have a kid with food issues, it consumes a lot of your time and energy.  Every meal, every bite has to be carefully measured.  Sometimes a food simply being at the same table or in the same room would be too much.  Micah approaches our dinner table with trepidation.  He carefully examines each item on the table looking for something he will eat.  And I always have something on the table I know he will eat because otherwise, he won't stay and cries through our dinnertime.

At this point, Micah's food issues are part sensory and part fear.  Taking a bite of a baked nugget you have eaten since toddlerhood only to find yourself gagging and puking on your mom will make you pretty fearful about what you put in your mouth.

But tonight he ate.  He has NEVER eaten 4 cooked vegetables at one sitting.  I might get a nibble or a touch to the tongue of one, but chewing and swallowing...no way.  And mac and cheese that didn't come from the blue box...NEVER.

I didn't really think he would eat anything, actually.  My only request tonight was that he at least try to taste things and then I would get him his food.  I also attempted to bribe him a bit with the promise of a piece of Christmas fudge if he actually ate everything on the plate.

Apparently my bribe worked.  Suddenly he was willing to try and although he did gag a couple of times, he powered through and cleaned his whole plate.

He was so proud of himself.

Go Micah!