He ate GREEN BEANS!!

Ok, so it's not the best picture in the world of Ashton. It was getting close to bedtime and he HAD already eaten HIS dinner of S'better Chicken Fingers *gfcf* and Ian's Alphatots *gfcf* and his "milk" (dari-free powdered milk substitute). But when I made my husband and I's dinner (bacon-wrapped filet mignon steaks and green beans and dinner rolls) I thought of trying a trick and seeing if it worked. My trick was: telling Ashton that the green beans were green FRENCH FRIES!! (he ADORES french fries of any kind that are safe for him to eat) He quizically looked at me and said "Those aren't green french fries, those are green beans!". Oh his speech therapist would be proud; negation used, complete sentences, eye contact; you name it, he did it correctly! Anyways, to get to the point, I asked him if he wanted to try some and he looked at me said "No, I don't want to try green beans" and turned away from me. I told him if he didn't try ONE bite (it was a miniscule bite) that I would turn the TV off (this punishment, or rather, the THREAT of this punishment almost ALWAYS works!). He looked at me and said "No, turn the TV off, I want green beans!" hahaha .... so he gingerly took a bite (plain) and proclaimed it yummy whilst he had an awful look on his face. I asked him if he wanted to try them with kethcup (hey, Ronald Reagan said it WAS a vegetable after all, right???) and he perked up and said "YES PLEASE!" So I drug out the ketchup and he dipped his green beans in and ate probably 15 or so green beans before he decided he'd had enough. (he had already eaten HIS dinner if you remember). But the amazing thing is .... he hasn't eaten green beans in probably 8, or possibly even 9 YEARS!!! Anything squishy (liked cooked veggies tend to get) wouldn't last 2 seconds even NEAR his mouth, let alone in his mouth, chewed up and swallowed (at which point they would of normally been gagged on and thrown up). But he said he liked them and it even enticed his younger, 6yo, brother to try them and he proclaimed them YUMMY! Maybe we'll actually get them both to try a bigger variety of veggies but hey, this was a great and HUGE step forward. So YAY for Ashton!!!! He's getting past his texture issues and is actually trying (and liking!) new foods. Better yet, the foods he's trying are usually much healthier for him than he's ever eaten. Whew! Celebrate the small steps; they add up to BIG GIANT LEAPS!