This Family's Life: Amos' eating habits AND pictures of food for Beth and Dan!!

I know there's been a drop in the food updates, so here's a little post devoted to Amos' food!

While it's still a struggle for him to stay interested and eat sometimes, overall, Nathan and I feel like he's improving and is still managing to stay healthy!
Last week we began therapy again, through First Steps, a program that helps kids under 3 with all sorts of developmental issues. They help you figure out what your needs are and then help you pick a therapist who then comes to your house as much as needed, to work on those issues. So we have a great Occupational Therapist, Molly, who comes each Wednesday morning and is going to help Amos become a better eater, hopefully by his third birthday.
In the past few weeks since she's come, we've figured out a few things about Amos that helps him eat better:

1) Regularity!! Yep, it's been tough to keep this kid regular, but now he's really doing great with eating a variety of foods, including fruits and veggies. He loves broccoli, carrots and green beans and will eat a quesadilla with refried beans and a little bit of cheese. I met with a dietician a few weeks back and she gave me so much great information on what Amos should be eating every day. So that was good to know and now I've been trying to get him to eat a variety everyday.
One thing she did mention (after I told her that Amos gets a yogurt snack each night with applesauce) was that applesauce can sometimes reverse regularity and actually make kids constipated!! Yes, I know, not what you would think. I immediately started laughing when she told me this because the whole reason we give him applesauce is to add fiber and to help him go!! Apparently, applesauce only has the fruit sugar and not much fiber because they don't use the skin, which contains the fiber of an apple. So Amos and I now regularly share an apple if we're out and about, and he does a great job of eating it, right off the core!
Needless to say, the fruits and veggies have helped and Amos has done better with eating!

2)Action!! Our therapist Molly has confirmed this idea and we've thought about it before but for some reason never tried to consistently help Amos be active before mealtime. But it makes sense! On the nights when Nathan comes home and runs laps with him, Amos is usually ready to eat dinner and eats most or all of it. So Molly gave us a sheet of "heavy activity" things to do and encouraged us to help him be especially active and then calm before meal times. In fact, today, during our session with her, she brought lots of fun floor toys and set up an obstacle course that they did for half an hour. Amos had a bit of trouble staying focused, but had fun doing it. The idea was to see how he would eat lunch afterward. Because he was so worn out and teething, he ate half of his lunch, but did ok eating. Then he went straight to bed, for an early nap. So I knew she must have really worn him out!
But this whole concept makes sense, especially for Amos, who is curious, creative, smart and active. When he is really challenged or active or has played for awhile, he does well sitting and eating because he's had a different kind of stimuli working on him to make him hungry and interested! So it's been encouraging to see that and to add that to our list of ways that we can help him!

3) Variety!! Yes, like all of us, Amos does well when there's something new in front of him. But it's tough sometimes, to have a variety of things ready for him to eat that is also fatty and full of calories, so I've started asking him what he wants or if he wants a particular thing to eat and that helps us both right from the start. He's been enjoying many new foods too, as I've been cooking some Indian food at home for our student from India.

*(So here are pictures from my homemade Indian food! On the first night, I made an awesome chicken curry and we added some other Indian dishes that Himanshu got at the Indian grocery store. Add homemade Chai and Naan from Trader Joe's and we had one awesome meal!)

*(Our second dinner was my attempt at our favorite dish, Vegetable Kofta, which is something we used to order everytime we ate at Taste of India in Seattle. It was yummy, but not quite as good as I remember! Nonetheless, Amos loved it and now I know how to make it!)

Amos also enjoyed Thai food on a night out to a new restaurant in town. He loved the tofu, rice noodles and Tom Kha Kai soup, which we were really surprised to see!