Dear son,
I know you’re not a huge fan of eating as it is. I get it. Eating is just not your thing.
But you’ve lost 10% of your body weight once before and Mommy worked her ass off putting those pounds back on.
So now that we’ve got you back to your 7 year old weight it’s time to move up. Your 9 years old now buddy and in the 25th percentile for weight at your age.
But that’s not what this letter is truly about. This letter is to tell you how much easier you’ll make mommy & daddy’s lives if you add 3, ok maybe 4 new foods to your repertoire.
These are 4 foods that are part of your family culture. If you want to be part of our Italian family these are 4 foods that you need to
start liking ASAP!
1) PIZZA
You know how much easier our lives would be if you liked pizza? Pizza is served at EVERY kids birthday party and you see most of the other kids happily munching on it. Why not give it a try?
Also pizza is part of the fabric of your extended family. Saturday night pizza nights after church are a long standing tradition on daddy’s side of the family (even though daddy stopped going to church a LONG time ago).
And you know on mommys side of the family that your Uncle Joe makes delicious homemade pizza and they have pizza nights at their house about 5-6x a year. Mommy and daddy are tired of carrying popcorn & hot dogs to the pizza nights!
2) BUNS & ROLLS
I know your receptive language isn’t great but you must be able to pick up how much your “Peepa” (mommy’s daddy) LOVES having buns and rolls at his house on 5-6 Sunday mornings a year! Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, etc he gets so excited about having his whole family over for jelly donuts, fresh bakery rolls, danishes, etc and he’s always asking “Buns & rolls, Sunday at 10am. What does Kyle like?” I would LOVE to one day say “get Kyle a jelly donut and a crumb bun. He loves those”. It would make Peepa (and mom & dad) SO happy to see you dive in and eat a jelly donut with gusto.
3) PASTA / MACARONI
You’re getting a lot better about this. You’ve been ok with the Mac & cheese once in awhile but it’s hit or miss. But your mommy and your “Meema” and your grandma are all great Italian cooks and they all make awesome marinara sauce and gravy and they would LOVE to see you elbow deep in a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce all
over your face.
4) CHINESE FOOD
Ok, this one is for to make daddy happy. Mommy doesn’t like Chinese food all that much, but it is part of the fabric of daddy’s side of the family. It is somewhat of a family tradition… Daddy grew up with Sunday afternoon dinners at a Chinese restaraunt about twice a month. And your grandma is always inviting us to go and we usually say no.
Remember we went a few weeks back? You were pretty good buddy and you ate those crispy soup noodles with gusto, but Mommy & daddy still had to bring cheerios & popcorn to supplement your meal.
It would mean so much to daddy and grandma to see you eat some sesame chicken and fried rice!
That’s it buddy! If you could add those 4 new foods to your repertoire you’d make mommy and daddy SO happy and make our lives SO much easier!
So what do you say? We wouldnt even care if you used utensils or sat at the table. Just wander around the house or bd party or restaraunt eating one of these new foods is all we ask.
So, whataya think?
Love always,
Daddy
Prologue by Autism Daddy: Howdy folks! Long time no blog! I hope y'all are well! …
Howdy folks! As many of you know I work at Sesame Street, and was proud…
Intro: Jim lives in Pittsburgh where he works as a Project Manager by day…
GUEST POST Almost 10 years ago, my then 2 -year old son, Devin, was…
GUEST POST -Ellie Whetzel is a Wife, Mom, and blogger who writes about the ups,…
I've taken my son to Sesame Place many times! He's 14 years old, but he'll…
View Comments
Food has always been an issue for my son, however, he will eat all of the 4 foods listed above. Pizza (just the bread and possibly a smearing of the red stuff) pasta (did you know that there is a difference between pasta, noodles and macaroni?) Will eat Monkey bread (caramel drizzled pull bread) he also love the inner parts of Italian bread. Chinese food (orange chicken!!!!) What he will not eat is a vegetable other than french fries and onion rings. He is in the 98% for weight and BMI although his tegretol likely has something to do with that. Good luck on this one!!
I am right there with you. Riley won't eat anything. He used to eat mac-n-cheese and pizza but no more. Now it's pretty much oatmeal, cheerios, baby food in a pouch, and pediasure. I would be thrilled if this kid would eat a pb&j or really anything. It is a constant battle to keep weight on him.
Awwww, I hope he adds those things too. we're very fortunate, that eating isn't an issue for my little guy..it's hard enough as it is!
Good luck.
Oh, and I LOVE all those foods, so set an extra place at the table for me!!! Hahaha
Kate Wells
The only Chinese food my son will eat is beef teriyaki. If he likes chicken nuggets you might try sweet and sour chicken but hold the sweet and sour. My daughter enjoys the plain chicken. Good luck! Nancy
Sounds like a day at our house! I completely understand. My little girl only eats yogurt and snack crackers.
Have you tried just the noodles? Just plain cooked pasta? Our daughter will only eat plain noodles with a sprinkle of salt on them. No sauce, no butter, no oil. And she likes to slurp them, so I get linquini because it is a more sturdy noodle for slurping.
Its nice to know that we're not the only ones w/ food issues or a desire for our children to eat more normal or typical foods. My son will only eat 2 of your 4 food desires. I would give just about anything for mine to eat ANY kind of fruit or vegetable!! Not a single one...not even french fries...not that I would really call those vegetables, but you get what I mean. My purse always has supplemental foods in it and we get the looks from the wait staff when we don't order anything for him to eat. Needless to say we actually don't eat out much. My son doesn't sit still or quiet enough to enjoy to many meals out. Good luck w/ your new foods endeavor!! We've just started a new feeding program w/ our ABA and I'm hoping to get some items checked off of my food wish list :)
Lol my 3 to has a similar issue. He survived for about 3 months on pediasure and nothing else. Skinny as can be bc he won't eat hardly anything. Our 5 yo is a self made vegetarian. Only eats fruits, veggies, and bread. Very picky eaters. Lol we'll keep our fingers crossed for you though!!!!
Wish mine would eat too! Sadly she won't touch pedisure do she has chocolate milk a few times a day instead of meals,
I do hope you read my comment here yesterday.Appetite has been a serious issue with me all of my life.I know all too well what it's like not to want to eat.The great thing about being an adult,is you can go days without eating if you want.Even a week or two,and not feel hungry,or crave food.Sorry dad,but you don't always outgrow this.I have been anexoric my whole life.Not a good thing,when you have celiac,get lots of severe infections,and have problems with homocysteine.
I know there are the usual reasons people talk about,like sensory problems with some foods.That is definitely a part of it,but not the main part.The main part for me,is just that you never have have a desire to eat.It may have something to do with the fact that a lot of people with autism,have a smaller hypothalamus than normal.This is the part of your brain that controls appetite.I always wonder about all those fat people you see with Asperger's,or mild autism.There is definitely a wasting syndrome in autism,even when there are no medical problems,it's just that doctors don't recognize it.It's definitely brain related.
I have never tried marijuana.In the past,when my doctors have talked about how dangerously underweight I am,I have begged them to give me Marinol,or some other prescription appetite stimulant used in AIDS or cancer,they said they could not do it,because I don't have AIDS or cancer.It sucks royally.I wish there was something you could buy,legally,without a prescription.