Ohhhhhh!

My boy – sometimes all I can do is shake my head.

So the other day, Jen, Mateo’s Shadow (ParaProfessional/Aide/ParaPro), comes home one evening with a burger she got from a street vendor. She describes it as the place you go after-partying- you know what I’m talking about.

Street Food

Well, Teo spots the food container and immediately goes to investigate. Since puberty hit, I swear he barely stops eating! Right away, Jen tries to defend her food and tells Teo that she can’t share this time because it has pepper. You see, this burger comes loaded, bacon, hot dog onions, and LOTS of hot sauce. 

Food is NOT safe around Teo

Of course, he doesn’t listen and he keeps begging. Now, Jen isn’t new to this rodeo. She knows NO food is safe in the house. Teo has no respect for boundaries. This is why we hide food and chain the fridge. Like literally. There is a metal chain and lock around my fridge. Yet, she still tries to negotiate with him. *Cue Eyeroll here *

She makes a bigger mistake, though. She doesn’t eat her burger right away. She starts chatting and laughing and playing on her phone. Honestly, I would think that by now she would know better. Seriously. 

Anyways, softie that she is, she keeps warning him about the pepper but she still cuts a little piece off the burger for him to try. He inhales that piece, barely chewing. Then Jen makes the biggest mistake of all. She leaves the room and leaves the burger unattended. You know what comes next right??? 

Yup- I’m evil

Soon, I hear a noise. Mateo, with his man voice breathing out hard, “OHHHHH!” like a freaking dragon breathing fire. Already, he’s eaten more than half the burger. The pepper isn’t stopping my boy! With another roar, he continues to munch away.

At this point, all I can do is laugh. I mean. He was warned. Jen, really upset that she didn’t even get to eat her precious burger, should have known better. Meanwhile- and I will probably go straight to hell for finding this all so funny, I just could not stop laughing. 

Picky Eater vs Problem Feeder

Honestly, though, what makes this situation just wonderful, is that for so long we had battles with Mateo and feeding. For years, I had to cook food just for him and puree it. Then every meal time was a battle to get him to eat. Many days he would vomit if there was a chunk in the pureed food. 

Getting him to transition from pureed food to solids was not easy. And we supplemented his diet with Pediasure and Ensure because at this point, he actually had more words than foods he would eat. No exaggeration. He would honestly only eat like 6 different things and only certain brands or if it was super fresh. 

There is a difference

Many autistic children are thought to be picky eaters, but in truth, if a child has only about 10 or less items that they will eat, then it’s not picky eating. It’s actually an issue that needs to be worked on. Many think, if you are hungry, you eat. Well, let me tell you there is WAY more to feeding than that. And we had YEARS of battles dealing with feeding and Teo.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we STILL have issues. He still won’t eat with a knife and fork (Doesn’t want objects in his mouth if he can’t eat it). He still deconstructs food. This means he eats, mainly, one texture at a time – this helps him process better and we have less of a chance of choking. He still goes through major food jags. This means that he will eat mostly the same food item for months at a time -morning, noon and night. And don’t get me started on the mess he makes as he eats. Oh God the MESS!!!!

Progress

But even with those issues, I can laugh and smile. Because he does eat now. He eats a much larger variety of stuff. He willingly tries new food. He even enjoys eating – it’s no longer a war to get him to eat. So much so, that as I mentioned earlier, the fridge MUST remain chained. 

So yeah, I’m gonna laugh at him stealing food and struggling through the hot sauce. It’s not just funny after all; it’s progress.