If you read my blog, you know Kepler. You may know that he has a limited diet. I console myself with the knowledge that it could be worse, but I often remind myself that it could be better.

I packed his lunch today and put about 4 grapes, halved, into his lunch. (He does not eat grapes. I just thought I’d experiment with trying something new.) When he got home, they were still there, untouched. He asked for a snack of goldfish and I told him he’d have to eat one half of one grape before he could have goldfish.

He burst into tears, broken-hearted, deeply saddened by this terrible development. He countered with the suggestion that he eat a sandwich, which is one of his healthier choices, so I was happy, but I knew the grape was still going to be in play before any goldfish swam out of the cabinet into his tummy.

By now, I had cut the grape half into six small, nay, tiny pieces. Super Girl and I offered to eat a piece at the same time. He picked it up (major victory #1), and brought it close to his mouth (major victory #2), but couldn’t bring himself to commit to actually inserting the morsel into his mouth. We let it be, but still no goldfish.

Later, when Super Girl got home, I suggested we all eat our tiny grape bits. We captured it on video.

You can see that it nearly “choked” him to death, but we were able to “revive” him with some water. We made a huge fuss over him, and he was clearly proud of actually swallowing these atoms of grape.

Now we have a foundation upon which to build. And a strategy. It may not work next time to insist he eat a non-preferred food before I give him a preferred food. Many times I have to try multiple times to get a repeat success. Most of the time I give up too soon. This time I shall endeavor to persevere for his sake and mine as well.

Forgive the extremely long 41-second video! It’s just so exciting that he experienced this success today. I choose to believe this is the beginning of great things! Maybe he’ll eat an entire eighth of a grape next time!