A Transition From Mandarins to Clementines

So, you all know that autism and food issues just go hand in hand, right?

My boys are no exception!  

With the exception of Alex, they have a hard time accepting a new foods, and most of the time refuse completely.  

All three of them like canned mandarin oranges and I like to keep them

on hand for when we run out of fresh fruit before the weekly grocery

trip.   But they are pricey and we try to use them only when we've run

out of other things.   This week, it seemed silly to me that we had a big bowl of clementines

 that we were enjoying while I was opening up a can of mandarins

 for the boys.  So...I thought I'd try them out.

The first day, I only gave each boy 3 or 4 little segments.

making sure there weren't any little strings or pithy bits

that would make them gag or reject the fruit completely.

And to my surprise, their plates were clean at the end

 of the meal! Yay!

Then I found some chewed up pieces

floating in the toilet.  I immediately knew it was Harry.

That's how he gets rid of unwanted food. haha.

The next night I told Harry he couldn't throw them away.

He had to eat them.  When he was done, he had left the skin of

each segment.  They had been chewed to death until the

 juice had been all sucked from each piece!

Had to laugh...that's what he does with his grapes!

♥