alternately titled: Holy Crap! My Kid Ate Salsa!
also alternately titled: I really needed to watch this tonight
Food issues? Yeah, we have a few.
Howie’s difficulties with eating go WAY back – starting when he was nine months old and wouldn’t eat anything with chunks in it. Stage 3 baby food? Not happening. Gagging and vomiting led to complete refusal of many foods. Add in his intolerance to anything made with corn, and his diet was extremely limited almost from the start.
And he has a long institutional memory for all things that made him vomit. He knows exactly when he gagged on a strawberry for the last time, and can tell me in great detail why a cracker made him puke (it was wet).
But we have a few go-to foods. Pizza. Crackers. Granola bars. Cocoa Krispies.
Don’t judge.
A few weeks ago, Tim was sitting at the table, eating some chips and salsa.
And then words I never thought I’d hear.
“Can I have some salsa?”
Tim and I exchanged glances, figuring this would never fly. The chunky tomatoes and peppers. The spices. The dipping of the chip into the salsa.
We gave him a bowl of corn-free veggie chips and some salsa.
Yup. Miracles can happen. Three bowls of salsa and 40 chips later I’m a believer.
Because holy crap, my kid ate salsa.
“Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we’re in the mood —
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys –
In-di-gestion!” – Food Glorious Food from Oliver
May 6, 2012 at 9:19 pm
That is all kinds of awesome! Salsa is a great addition to his repertoire of foods.
By the way, I had your song choice in my head from the second I saw your title!
May 6, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Yeah! That is wonderful and timely with Cinco de Mayo. Wonders never cease. So happy for his taste buds.
May 6, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Hooray for salsa!!! Matthew is 10, and for years he would eat a Subway sub with only meat and cheese. Now he is up to at least 10 items, but still no condiments. It has taken years, but it is gradually widening on most things. Little victories. Hooray!
May 6, 2012 at 10:59 pm
this is fan-TASTIC!!! doing the happy dance for you
May 6, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Yes!!
May 7, 2012 at 1:05 am
Oh my goodness! How exciting!!! It gives me hope that someday my kids will eat salsa and other such foods!
May 7, 2012 at 7:55 am
Wow! As someone who travels a similar path in the land of self-limiting diets, I can really understand the significance of this accomplishment… HAPPY DAY!!
May 7, 2012 at 8:26 am
My son wouldn’t eat salad until he went away to a statewide Leadership conference for high school students with varying disabilities (not just autism). There he was cajoled/joked into trying salad, and he found that he liked it. When he was a baby, he would only eat bland baby foods (potatoes, meat dishes, rice). Nothing that was tart (like fruit). Sometimes it is amazing what suddenly happens. Congratulations.
May 8, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Thank you for the look forward. I appreciate that more than you know.
May 7, 2012 at 10:41 am
You have got to be kidding me!!!! That is awesome stuff right there! I’d be going out and buying that salsa by the caseload. But keep in mind it would have to be the exact same brand and lot number…..
I remember once when Alex was first trying solids and my MIL kept trying to feed him and “teach” me how it was done. After trying to tell her numerous times to knock it off, he’d puke, I got fed up. We went out to dinner at this uber fancy restaurant and she force fed him mashed potatoes. I sat back and waited. That stuff shot out of him like a spigot all over her. While it upset me to see him sick up, it gave me greater pleasure it was all over her.
May 8, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Oh this made me laugh. Is that bad that I laughed?
May 7, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Oh my gosh, I SO get this. I cried the first time my kid ate a meatball (shut up, I’m a sap). It’s so amazing when they actually add something new to their repertoire. Yay for you, what an great story!
May 8, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Oh I get the crying. No judgment here at all. Here’s to hoping our kids eat more meatballs and salsa and maybe even meatballs and salsa together (okay that may be pushing it)
May 7, 2012 at 2:15 pm
A Cinco de Mayo miracle is what it is! I’m so thrilled for you, may this just be the start of his culinary journey.
May 8, 2012 at 9:00 pm
i sooooooooo get this.
HOORAY!!!!!!
(it’s been a few days. has he tried the salsa again???)
May 8, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Yup. And tuna has slide in there now too. Major miracles! I bought some guacamole today. Think I’m pushing it?
May 9, 2012 at 2:49 pm
I LOVE his play-by-play on dipping and eating the chip. AND the thoroughly chewing and swallowing before he answered how it was, adorable! What a sweet little man you have there. (And YAY for new foods!)