E is for EATING

I've been hesitant to blog about this, because you know, as soon as you put it down, it goes away. So that sound you hear while reading this post, it is me knock, knock, knocking on wood.

Right before Christmas Scott got the bright idea to try M&M's with Evan. We've tried bribing him to eat with them before, but he wasn't interested (clearly not my child).
For some reason, it worked this time. He started swallowing them. Granted they had liqufied into chocolate spit by the time he swallowed, but he swallowed.

Since that day, Evan has been swallowing small, miniscule, sized bites of food. Even while he was sick and coughing, over the holidays, he continued to try to swallow bits. We were able to get him to swallow by offering M&M's if he did so.

While we were building our trains for Santa, Evan put a fist full of M&M's in his mouth and swallowed them all. All the while we were away, Evan had a great cheering section for his swallowing successes, which bolstered his ego, and made him excited to keep trying to get cheers.

This week Evan has really done some fantastic stuff. He ate one whole piece of penne. In 6 or 7 small bites, but that also means he has swallowed seven times in one sitting. At OT one day, he licked his plate clean. He's eaten bites of quesadillas, salad, cuban flank steak, raisins, cheerios, cookies, goldfish, and more.

He is certainly no where near sustaining himself on real food yet, but he is making progress. Two long hard years, weekly, and bi-weekly OT sessions, three times a day encouraging, and cajoling, begging and pleading. Cleaning up vomit as much as six meals a day, and we are finally making progress.

What is it? He finally wants to eat? He isn't as afraid anymore? He's outgrowing his memories? Or the healing powers of M&M's? I tend to think its those delightful chocolate candies that melt in your mouth, not your hands.