We went on a little picnic this evening since it was a lovely day. I was eating a pear and Lee was eating an apple. Jackson started grumbling and I asked him what was wrong. He opened his mouth like he wanted some fruit. I asked him if he wanted to taste some pear and he said he did. So I bit off a little piece for him to taste. He opened his mouth so big for it and not only tasted it, but he also wanted to chew on it. He really liked it, although it made him drool like crazy. He had about 6-7 tastes of both apple and pear. He did manage to bite off a couple little pieces which we grabbed out of his mouth. I told him that we were all done tasting and we could do some more tastes tomorrow and he gave this noise that clearly indicated that he was NOT done tasting. It was so amazing and funny!
Some of you who may be less familiar with Jackson might be saying "what's the big deal?" so I will give a little history. When Jackson first got sick we did give him some purees by mouth and we did feeding therapy with him in hopes that he would eventually take more by mouth and less by tube. But as time went on, each time he would take food orally he would gag and vomit nearly every time. It was kind of like torture for him so we just gave it up. He has been 100% tube fed for years. We would sometimes give him smells of some foods if he said he was willing which would often cause him to gag. For him to request a taste of food is huge and for him to taste it, smile, and ask for more just blows my mind.
