Love at first bite

Another significant milestone for Zachary: one of his sensory sensitivities has been biting food -- as in, he wouldn't. Most everything had to be bite sized, or else it would confound him and he'd either reject it or try to shove it in whole (and get upset if that didn't work). We've modelled taking bites of food, and he understood the concept, but just wasn't ready for it himself apparently. But today, we took things all the way back to the source, and had surprising success!

Mima's birthday was last week, so we took mima, papa, and the boys out for brunch this morning at one of our favorite places that we haven't been in ages. Everything was excellent as always, though I'd forgotten about the extensive waits. Still, both boys were extremely patient, and Owen even tried some of the berry coulis that came with our tasty beignets.

After breakfast, we piled back into the car and headed north into Skagit Valley, where Meh had discovered what we believe to be the closest U-Pick farm currently offering apples -- and a huge variety at that. (While we're well into the harvest season in a state well known for its apples, Washington's primary growing spots are apparently many hours away, in the eastern half of the state.) The boys snoozed most of the 90 minute ride, and we arrived in decent time at the farm, greeted by the friendly owner and her friendlier two dogs -- the pooches later assaulted Zachary with multiple kisses, which he giggled through. The family also has a bunch of toys laid out, Zachary had great fun for a while on a big red jeep. We then grabbed a cart and headed into the first row of the apple orchard.

The rules there are simple: eat as many apples as you want, try one before you pick a bunch of a particular type, and have fun. Zachary did all of the above - wandering through the rows, laughing at the tall grass, and talking about all of the apples. I pulled one down and offered it to him, and at first he just smiled at it. Then I cut him a piece, which he liked, and moments later he started chomping on the apple. I found another tasty one, took a first bite, handed it to him, and he devoured that one as well! By the end of the outing, I think he'd eaten like four, including one that he nibbled most of the drive home. We got a good haul as well - a wide variety of apples and some pears too. Despite the occasional threat of rain, it was a great day out!