Healthy

Celebrating good choices today.

• Rising early.
• Giving (sick) dh an extra hour to sleep.
• Oatmeal and steamed milk.
• Working hard at the gym.
• 3 less pounds.
• Homemade Tuscan vegetable soup.
• Water with lemon.
• A daily vitamin and a fish oil capsule.
• Braving the mammogram. (tmi but think pink)
• Reading in the sunshine.
• Bible study with friends.

All good things.
But tonight the boys shined brightly.

We and our oldest have struggled with food issues for literally a decade.  Simply put, he's our sensory one.  Several years ago we stopped the dinnertime fight and simply said, "If you eat, you eat.  If you don't you deal with hunger."  And for years he's chosen to deal with the hunger.  For years.

Now the other two boys have begun to mimic and as it stands none of them will try dinner anymore.  I am far beyond done.  Last weekend we said, "We will no longer buy crackers.  Snacks will now only be fruit or dairy.  You cannot subsist on eating carbs for breakfast, a meager lunch and a snack of more carbs."  And we implemented it.  I took boxes of crackers out of their hands.  I put them away.   I don't know who is going to eat them.  I will not buy more when they are gone.

We went to the store and bought fruit, veggies and dairy.

Two nights ago we made delicious homemade soup.  Each boy received his 1/2 cup in a mug to try.  There was bread to dip in it.  They all tried it.  For our oldest it was a huge step.  Bread dipped in soup was like stepping out to climb a mountain.

We shared that we'll be trying a 40 day experiment soon: giving up meat for Lent.  It's never been done in this house.  They don't eat meat hardly at all anyway.  They are intrigued.  Interested.   They see that their dad and I are making changes too.

They came to the table tonight to baked chicken, au gratin potatoes. A simple chopped salad. There was no bread.  "Everyone tries a bite of everything (yet again)."

Deep breath.

Everyone did.

They clamored for the salad bowl, picking out carrots and crunchy lettuce and cucumbers.  One tried ranch dressing and declared it good.  One wanted the last of the carrots "if no one else minded."  Brave oldest took a bite of chicken, very small.  And then he took another.  I could see his future-self rising up inside of him; that longing to be a part of the adult world.  It's there.  It just needs courage.  He requested a description of what the final dish would taste like; needed more reassurance, not drama or gushing.  We sat, trying nonchalance, but expecting him to succeed.  He did.

And the other two followed suit.

He wanted it for himself.  The best taste was the bonding; the evening of family closeness that he doesn't remember ever experiencing as the result of a meal.  Because the last time he was willing to try something new just because he wanted to he was two.

Everyone has an opinion on this.  But everyone doesn't know what we've tried, endured, experienced and mourned over.  This is just one page in our story.  And we choose to rejoice.