moving up the chain...

(boring blog post alert!)

Jackson made a very successful, anxiety free step up in food chaining this week! He is my turkey bacon kid.  He LOVES turkey bacon...hot and extra crispy.  We've tried countless times to get him to try regular bacon.  As recently as when he was in the hospital, it came on his breakfast tray and he refused it in a panic.  This past weekend I bought some center cut, hickory bacon after reading about the terrible nitrates in turkey bacon (don't know that regular is much healthier but that's beside the point!)  So yesterday, without any drama or announcement on my part I just made the new bacon, hot and extra crispy, put it on a plate and gave it to him.  He looked at it...exclaimed, "this looks strange!", then picked it up and ate 3 pieces.  Just like that.  So in hoping that he was indeed accepting of it, I tried it again today and no hesitation, no questions, he ate it!  So nice to have a success after I've thrown out so many tasting foods that he doesn't like.  He tried and didn't like a Nutragrain super fusion strawberry pomegranate bar, and no way on any new yogurts this week.  But we will keep trying! Oh, and a trip to Cane's yesterday yielded a very yummy and successful lunch of their chicken, however ended in doses of Benadryl for itchy rash...oops on the possible egg whites to dip their batter?

And just for fun, a picture of my youngest who has no problem eating pizza and other fun foods!

Jackson eating one of his favorite's

plate not bowl...

For those of you who are new or who are just stopping by, this post is mostly for me but just some background...my oldest is adorable and sweet and kind and also has a sensory processing disorder as well as OCD and most of his symptoms pertain to food and extreme picky eating.  I've occasionally used this blog as a bookmark of sorts to keep up with little victories as well as discouraging mommy times.  In my attempt to change a little something, I dumped his mandarin oranges onto a plate instead of leaving them in their nice little individually portioned little clear bowls.  He always wants 2, extra cold, juice drained and eats them with his fingers (please, no judging, it's a VERY long story).  Anyway, after dropping them out of the fridge and them busting open all over my newly mopped floor, I decided to dump them onto the plate for my benefit...but this is Jackson and this could be a big deal.  There were questions...hesitation...then he scarfed them down like he usually does and that was that.  I love that kid!  He also tasted a new strawberry yogurt, Danibals instead of Dora and survived, but after one bite did say he really didn't like it, and I admit, the texture was very different than he is used to.  He got a sticker on his chart and on his merry way he went.  Baby steps...

update- Jackson was able to sit at the dinner table tonight while me, little brother, grandma, and grandpa ate pancakes, eggs, and bacon.  He ate a banana, bacon, and Tyson chicken fries, all while discussing what we were eating and not being bothered by it at all.  He didn't request to get down from the dinner table or complain about his close proximity to all of our food while he was eating his! :)

List of Jackson's SAFE foods:

-Turkey bacon, extra crispy and hot
-Most chicken nuggets (not mcdonald's) and most chicken tenders, hot and crispy  
-Dora yogurt- strawberry and strawberry vanilla flavors only, must be cold (won't eat it packed in his lunch with cold pack)
-Honey Maid Graham crackers (honey only, either all squares or all rectangles)
-Nutragrain bars (strawberry only) (tried wal mart brand this week but didn't like, good experience though)
-Tortilla chips at our favorite Mexican restaurant with lots of salt (will not eat bagged chips)
-Apples, red delicious are his favorite and has ventured out to gala and honeycrisp. Does not like granny smith and golden delicious. Prefers cut in wedges (esp now with lose front tooth and another one missing)
-purple grapes ( washed with him watching, prefers to eat them dripping wet) has tried green grapes and doesn't like them.
-Bananas
-Peaches in a can in juice (won't eat fruit cocktail), cold
-Mandarin oranges (won't make the jump to fresh oranges), cold
-Raisins- only at grandma's and very rarely (over stuffs his mouth when he does eat them)
-Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream with crushed Butterfinger candy bar on top
-Nestle Kruch ice cream bar
-Coke
-Capri Sun Roaring Waters Strawberry Kiwi (can't get him to transition to any other flavor)
-Apple juice ("green box juice" as he calls it, will only drink Juicy Juice Apple juice)
-Fruit snacks-(over stuffs his mouth when eating this) transitions very well with new snacks based on character likability (batman, spiderman, mario brothers.  He just tried fruit snack gushers with liquid inside and ate the whole package and then commented he didn't like them as much and hasn't asked for them again.  he didn't know they were gushers when he opened them and first ate them)

and that is pretty much it...
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not just picky...

It is one thing to have a picky eater. It is another thing to have a child that is so set in eating and drinking certain things that it becomes a complication with an illness. I had to take jackson to urgent care on saturday. He had a fever, starting thursday, that would not break, started with a terrible cough and sore throat, and just kept getting worse. He layed on the cough and didn't want to do anything. He tested postive for influenza B and strep throat. So home we went with a pile of prescriptions and instructions to rest and stay hydrated. Not remembering that I had taken away his one favorite juice that he would drink,(in attempt to expand his accepted fluids) I offered him apple juice, white grape, fruit punch, etc. but with him only trying one or two sips here and there. He sipped on some coke and continued to cough away.

This morning I woke up to jackson screaming for me and crying. He was 3 steps out of his bedroom, bent over in pain. He screamed, "I can't walk!" I picked him up and tried to figure out what was going on. Mommy diagnosis, severe dehydration and muscle cramps. Insert picky eater. Jackson refused popsickles, refused, water, refused coke, refused ice cream, refused ice chips. I could not get ANYTHING into this child. Doing the math in my head, I figured it had been 26 hours or so since he had peed and knew we had a problem.

Now with any other kid, you can reason with them and explain to them the importance of needing to drink and eat. Not with jackson. I called my husband and had him try to explain to my amazing and adorable but speech impaired 5 year old what a trip to the hospital would entail for IV hydration. With gramma to the rescue to pick up coke and jackson's ONLY juice he will drink (roaring waters capris sun strawberry kiwi)I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Fast forward 4 hours to right now and the drama has subsided. Jackson drank 4oz. water, 4oz. coke, and 2 of his favorite juice pouches over 2 hours and has now gone potty. His leg cramps are improving and he is now comfy on the couch watching a thomas movie. The thought of lunch time is overwhelming to me, but we will take one baby step at a time and be grateful for the wonderful miracle that is jackson.