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Saturday, December 29, 2012

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!


28 comments:

  1. Well, at least he accepted them enough to chew them! Maybe he can keep progressing!

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    1. I hope so...but he still leaves his grape skins after 3 years now. hahaha.

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  2. ha. hey he is trying them....and he got the good part right?

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    1. haha...yeah, all the juice and none of the fiber. He'll come along, hopefully!

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  3. Well you know what they say...chew each bite 20 times....I guess that's what Harry is doing.

    I also love canned mandarin oranges, especially in a salad or yogurt.

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    1. haha...oh, he sure is! Now if he would only swallow. haha.

      Mandarins were one of the first real foods we gave Taylor as a baby. He swallowed them whole...not a single chew. Used to crack me up....they just slide down his throat. lol...

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    2. Oh that's funny...about Taylor and the mandarins. You know..they kinda do the same thing when I'm eating them...they sure slide down easy...

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  4. oh dear ! I rhink is funny ahhh the mandarin in the toilette make me laugh! I can see.
    Harry is cute ha!, when Ditto was a kid I had a lot of porblems to make he eats fruits, only love pears, finally I begin to send him orange and mandarin to school and the teachers told me he mda the same of Harry!He sucked the mandarines or oranges, sigh!
    Anyway still he only eat some fruits: pears, bananas sometimes peaches (dont like apricots) and really worry mr!

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    1. Oh, that is funny. I wonder what Harry would do with the fuzzy skin of a peach! I'm sure he would hate it. lol.... Cute story about Ditto! :)

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    2. Yes dear but still he is special with the fruits, he loves watermelon and I dont remember what he makes with the seeds LOL

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    3. Watermelon is Harry's favorite! He is so excited when summer comes and we start buying it again!

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  5. Harry and I eat oranges the very same way, I have to admit it. I thought I was the only one!

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    1. You and Harry were just meant for each other! :)

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  6. truly never a dull moment in your house!

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  7. I've never known my brother to have food issues. He is just the opposite and will gulp down anything in site. Like I've said, he once ate a whole basket of sweet cherries and promptly puked them up as soon as my parents took him back to his residence. He'd probably wolf down clementines too, the whole boxful.

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    1. He sounds a lot like our Alex. We have to hide food from him. He thinks he has to keep eating until something is all gone...even if it's a whole pan of something....or a whole pitcher of juice. Crazy. CRAZY! ha. It's an obsession and can be very irritating at times. ha. At least they like their fruits and veggies! :)

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  8. I love clementines, but they aren't that cheap around here either though. A box typically goes for around 5 or 6 dollars this time of year, but back in the summer they were 8 or 9 dollars for the same box. I can't blame them for liking Mandarins though, that's the only fruit I would eat when I was a kid, drove my mother crazy, so, in a way, I get it. I'm like that still sort of, if I find something on a menu that I like that winds up as the only thing I'll ever get. Example. at PF Changs, I've been there, oh, probably about 20 times or so in different places over the years but the first time I was there I ordered kung po scallops and loved it….it's the only thing I've ever ordered there to this day.

    The grape reference is interesting too, as the skins on the clementines, while not the exact consistency as a grape, I can actually understand the thought process a bit, as they aren't a million worlds apart.

    Really enjoyed the post Betsy. They'll all come around to Clementines, they're just too good not to.

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    1. I tend to do the same thing with restaurants! When I find something a really love, I don't want to take the risk of ordering something that will be disappointing! Although, you're making kung po scallops sound really yummy!

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  9. Too cute!

    My daughter has a few food issues too. There are some textures that will make her gag or actually throw up. Soup for instance, she's never been able to eat it.

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    1. That's actually too bad about the soup. I think everybody has their little issues...too bad I don't have more of them....I'll eat just about anything. lol....

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    2. yeah me too! lol

      My sister had food issues but outgrew them so I'm hoping Serena does too. Our oldest son was like that with potatoes. He still almost never eats them. I'm guessing this is one thing I was able to pass on down to my kids. ha

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  10. hahaha well I can relate
    With much food stuff at my gate
    And I threw the stuff I didn't want in the toilet too
    Except I flushed so there was nothing to view
    But good that they are trying as well
    Maybe they'll find other foods they find swell

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    1. Yes, flushing would have been smart
      if you consider tricking mom and art.
      Maybe soon he'll forget and swallow
      and in his issues not wallow.
      lol....

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  11. Hi Betsy,

    We cannot keep the Clementine's in the house for more than a few days because the Grandbabies will eat them as fast as we will peel them and then run and get more. We too seem to keep cans of Mandarins for when we run out of fresh fruit. Another fruit they eat like crazy is bananas. I am not sure how they can eat so much food and be so little. Hope you are not too cold, we have finally used the fireplace.

    God bless.

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    1. Well, it's great that they are gobbling up the fruit...it's so good for them. And hey...nice that it's cool enough for you to enjoy a fire! We got more snow overnight. It's the lovely thick, wet kind that sticks to all the branches of the trees. So beautiful!

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  12. "They had been chewed to death until the
    juice had been all sucked from each piece!" Oh, that's too funny!

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  13. Well that Harry has quite a talent.
    I bet that is pretty hard to do.

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