Zach's eating evaluation

Zach had an eating evaluation yesterday. The therapist watched him eat things he normally eats, and how he reacts to several things which he always refuses. He obviously has an aversion to crunchy things...cheerios, puffs, goldfish, etc. My favorite moment was when the therapist asked Zach if he could kiss the cheerio. She held hers to her lips and kissed it. I was sitting right in front of Zach and he leaned over and gave ME a kiss! AAAWWWWW, such a sweet little guy!! He later put the cheerio to his lips but that was as far as that cheerio was going to go. She said that he had some good skills, but he needs to work on his lateral chewing, so we will be going once a week until I decide if it is helping or not. She sees toddlers with aversions far worse than Zach's...some children gag at just having the food put on their tray or having their face washed. Thank goodness Zach's is not that severe. He's been doing really well lately. He's now eating the #3 Gerber's food with the soft chunks. He'll eat small pieces of french fries and even tried a small piece of onion ring, although he didn't like it. He eats Kraft Mac and Cheese and LOVES LOVES LOVES the refried beans from Taco Bueno (he's my cub after all)! He'll eat mashed potato and very small pieces of shaved ham. So although it is slow progress, at least it is progress!