he KNOWS what he wants.

Grayson is still not what I'd call a "great eater". There's so many things he won't try or freaks out because it is a texture he doesn't like. It is sad because he misses out on so many things. His dad is a great cook, ya know?! He has no idea all the good food he's missing out on. But we don't force feed him. We just keep offering him different things. Fortunately, this has been slow but has equaled good payoff for us. Every now and then, he tries something new and decides it's not so bad or that he actually likes it. It is so exciting! A month or so ago, he tried a bite of my banana and took a real liking to it. He has always eaten bananas in the form of baby food but would have nothing at all to do with a real banana. Things have since changed. He likes eating a banana. There are "rules". The most important rule G has is that the banana peel MUST stay on the banana. If it comes out of the peel, he is not interested. :)
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Even though I wish he would eat almost all we offer him, I must say he's improved a lot. I'm proud of him. We just keep truckin on with offering him new things, giving him lots of praise when he eats good, etc. The eating therapist he's seen a few times also told us to offer him food when we distract him with a toy. This might not sound like a good practice, but it really is. It distracts the child from their preconceived notions about a particular food. The funny thing is that it doesn't have to be a fancy toy. It can be anything. For Grayson, we use anything and everything (the coasters that sit on our dining room table, a plastic container, a paper shopping bag, etc). It really does work.
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Yesterday afternoon, Grayson was doing a good job eating his supper. I was sitting at the table with him. His dad was in the kitchen. My mom was sitting on the stairs next to his singing Elmo Christmas stocking. This time, the distraction we used was Elmo. He kept asking my mom to push the button so he could hear Elmo sing. We were getting him to take a bite in exchange for a phrase or song from Elmo. It was working great! When G was chewing up a bite he had just taken, he got choked. I said, "Are you okay, Grayson? Want some water?" He was still coughing. I said, "Want me to get you some water, G?" He stopped coughing, pointed my Mom's way, and yelled, "More Elmo!" :) It was SOOOO funny! :)
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