Boy vs. food

As much as I try to let it go, food is a huge stressor with B. His diet is atrocious. I try not to worry too much since he is healthy and growing and since we have so many other things to focus on but it still weighs on me. I have a (likely irrational) fear that he will someday only eat one or two foods. We do seem to be headed that direction. We've been on a downward slope lately. His list of 5 or so preferred (i.e. only) meals have dwindled to 2. Cheese pizza and cheese quesadillas. Take your pic. That's it. That's all he'll eat for lunch and dinner. He also has a fairly long snack repertoire of processed carbs and we all know what a wealth of nutrition those offer. And it's not just that he won't try NEW foods or healthy foods. He is rejecting LOTS of things that he used to love - pancakes, hot dogs, nuggets, certain cheese sticks, mac n cheese, apple cinnamon muffins! And things that he used to at least tolerate are totally off the table. It's beyond frustrating. It may be a phase and he may get back to where he was on his own but I'm thinking that's unlikely. We worked so hard and made such progress that it kills me to see him going backwards.

And since this has been one of my top sticking points for the last 3 years and since he is totally rocking his therapy programs, we're going to embark on a challenge. One that frankly seems insurmountable... FOOD. Eating will be a huge focus around here soon. In order to get any of what he wants to eat, he's going to have to take a bite of something else. We'll start small and work our way up. Not my idea of fun. I think I'd prefer to check myself into a hotel while they get it all figured out. And then come home and enjoy the rewards. Where do I find that kind of therapy program? Any takers?

Today was the first test. I pulled out the big guns. We started with a trip to the store where I let him get a giant donut. Then, I gave him his choice for lunch and he chose pizza. I made one chicken nugget (something he used to eat) and cut it into tiny pieces (about the size of an M&M). I put one teeny bite on a plate in front of him and a giant plate with his entire favorite pizza AND a bakery bag with his donut behind that. "first eat the nugget and then you get ALL of this.". We were expecting a day full of crying and tantruming. And well, that was his initial reaction. But it was much shorter lived than expected. We were counting on 30+ minutes and it was under 5. His next move was to clear the plate with the nugget. Nice try. Then he picked up the nugget and tried to feed it to the therapist. Smart kid. Within the first 5 minutes, he actually picked it up and put it to his mouth. SO. CLOSE. But no go. He put it IN his mouth later but spit it out before we could reward him. We kept this up every half hour for the rest of the afternoon and then threw away the pizza, gave big brother the donut (while B was out of the room) and made grilled cheese for dinner. Oh wait - there are THREE foods he eats - 3 variations of cheese & bread, mind you, but 3 is better than 2.  My parents arrive tomorrow for a visit so we'll hold off on the torture... ahem food program... for a week. And after that we go again. Round 1: B wins. This is one strong-willed kid. I personally would have eaten pretty much anything you put in front of me if it meant I could eat pizza and a donut. But that's just me.