He asked for seconds!!!!!

   I am sure that many, if not all of you special needs parents can relate to this. Our children are so hard to feed. Liam only eats about 10 things, and just like his obsessions with certain toys or movies, his food list will change like that. He will be on a cheerios kick one week, so I see a good sale and stock up. All of sudden he will change and be on a peanut butter kick. It drives me batty!!!!!

  I want Liam's list of foods to grow. It's hard to go anywhere (like cook outs or birthday parties) because we will be lucky if he eats one thing there. Yes, I take him food, but it would be nice if the list of things he will eat were a bit bigger. We all want our child to try new things, yet we don't want to risk life and limb in the process. It's a catch 22. "Do I pester him to try that? I know he will like it, but is it worth a meltdown of epic proportions just to get him to try something new???"

  And so this is how it goes. At least in my house. I beg. I barter. I bribe. Admit it, you've done it too at some point. I start out telling him how good it is and the reasons I think he'll like it. When that doesn't work (because 9 times out of 10 he doesn't care,) I move on to the bartering. The, "if you eat this you can skip your veggies." Or, "if you try this I will give you an extra scoop of ice cream later." So when this doesn't work I move on to bribing with money. I pay him to try things. Yes, I said that. Well, I wrote that, but yes, I am admitting I do this.
 
 Now, before you get all willy nilly and get your panties in a wad over this..... keep reading and let me explain....  I call it positive reinforcement. (I wrote another post on this, you can read it HERE.) Whether it be having him  try a new food,  asking someone in a store for help, or even trying a new game with the neighbor kids, I often have to "bribe" him with something he wants to do these things. You see,  9 times out of 10 this works for him. My kid LOVES money!!!! He is always asking me if he can do something around the house for money. So I figure, what the hell. If I can get him to do something social, or try to overcome a sensory issue and eat something new, then he deserves to be rewarded. He likes money, so what better reward is there?

  So yesterday morning I put a pork roast in the crock pot with honey bbq sauce and brown sugar. It smelled divine! I knew Liam would love this, BUT there was a problem. You see, my son does NOT like 2 foods touching! AT ALL!!!! Now, oddly enough, he will take a food, and dip it into a sauce, but DO NOT offer him a food already in sauce. (I have washed many foods because of marinades/sauces, just to get him to try it.) Also, his current meat kick is burgers or chicken, NOTHING else! So, first off, I lied. Yes, I admitted that too. I told Liam it was chicken I was cooking. Hey, it's white meat! Don't judge! I DESPISE lying to my child, however, if it's something like this, I feel it's ok. I know if I told him it was chicken, he would probably fight me less to try it. So what's the harm? I told him why I thought he would love the "chicken." That didn't work. I offered him more ice cream for dessert. He didn't care.  It came down to me offering him a dollar to try the "new chicken." He loves that k2 sauce, so I told him the bbq was a lot like that. He thought for a minute. Then asked if I would give him a popsicle and a dollar if he tried it. HELL YEAH!!!!!

   I got a small piece out of the crock, and an orange pop, (his fave) and I waited. He eyed the piece of "chicken" cautiously. (for him, foods have to look good too. he is visually picky as well!) When he decided it was a go, he popped it in his mouth. He chewed. He swallowed........wait for it................. He. LOVED. It!!!!! So I gave him some on a plate, and he sat down to eat. He ate it ALL......Then he asked, "More pwwweassssseeeee?!"   He asked for SECONDS!!!!!!!

  It worked. My plan worked! No tears. No screaming. No meltdown. Liam tried a new food, and he loved it! I can now say he will eat pulled bbq "chicken". That means another night I don't have to give him something separate. He will eat what we eat. This is huge for us. I can't always just eat what he eats, yuck! So, many times I make dinner and he will eat the meat or veggie and that's it. Mostly he will eat cereal. I hate seeing him live off of chocolate milk and cereal! So yes, I am proud of him for trying a new food. And NO, I am not disappointed that I white lied and bribed him to do it. It's still a win for us, and I am stoked for him. More importantly, he was proud of himself for trying it. And that my friends, is AUSOME!!!!

Trust me, he loved it. He was mid bite when I took this pic :)

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