Bowl of spaghetti and a bath, Part I

Tonight, Henry had a nice bowl of spaghetti and a bath.

In case you didn't catch that, I'll repeat it. Henry had a nice bowl of spaghetti and a bath. This is a normal night for most toddlers. This is slightly short of a miracle for us.

Let's start with food. Mealtimes at our house are typically stressful events that upset everyone and where no one actually eats. This is heartbreak for a family of foodies whose most enjoyable times in life involve food, laughter, and a huge country pine dining table with wine stains on it.

I read the books, people. I know you're supposed to sit together, encourage new tastes and textures, and let the kid get messy while he's learning. Except none of those things are easy for SPD kids.  1. Sitting-nope. 2. New tastes and textures-Ha. 3. Get messy-meltdown.

When all you want is your kid to gain weight, you'll throw a lot of your philosophies out the window pretty quick. But I'm trying. I bought a cute little tray for him at Pottery Barn Kids and am developing routines and convincing him to sit for meals. There are other related issues with SPD like difficulty chewing, digestion problems, and (some folks say) food allergies. We're meeting with a rock star feeding specialist at the STAR Center while we're here to help us figure out how to put some meat on those bones. Stay tuned.

But for today-Give thanks for spaghetti.