Akai Hana did not pop out at me

Been ill most of the week, a lingering malaise of various internal organs. Each day I last about a half hour further before a quick fade out that leads into not being able to fall asleep.

At least the taxes are done. After all the financial changes of the past year we had them done professionally and what a relief. Total piece of mind, even if we owed.

It's still autism awareness month, right? Am I still aware? I'll find out more tomorrow afternoon.

It seems Brew Dog have sold a chunk of themselves to a capital firm. Looks like that's how they're going to fund the hotel on the Canal Winchester property. Things are getting weird now that the punk founders are multi-millionaires.

All of this could be a moot point if this administration starts blowing up more than runways.

April is national poetry month too. The less said about my writing, the better.

Instead of continuing, it might be time to get into that strawberry parfait.

Tale of two cities

Did something out of the norm last night and left the car at home. Since we're not in walkable distance of anything, we took the COTA bus downtown for dinner at a newer restaurant It's been a stressful time and this was a good opportunity to relax, have a good meal, a couple of drinks, and not have to worry about parking downtown or getting an OMVI on the way home.

I did not realize Salt and Pine took up most of the length of a city block. It does not go deep into the building, but the layout is very modern. Some tables are intimate and secluded, while others seem to be on public display. We got a window table with a view of High Street.

The service is excellent, though I could not help but notice our female servers had one button extra unbuttoned on their work shirts. The flank steak I had was outstanding, my wife had a pork cheek pasta that was very good. The cocktails were fresh and potent. I had my first taste of Pisco. Our fig pudding dessert was the one minus. It was too dry and needed a soaking in the sauce.

It is odd, paying an electric bill for dinner. What a few years ago would have been a serious luxury was not so this time. We can't afford to go there weekly, or even monthly, but this was a gift for my wife and I. Ten years ago this would have been impossible. Finances have improved. We're alright, not great, but better than ok.

On a day where the city of Columbus deemed that the short north was no longer a place for low income people to live, the ride home was an unsettling reality of the two cities in my city.

This is the route my wife takes, everyday, and she hears stories, sees things and they're not pleasant. At one stop, a good portion of the passengers got off and crossed over at West Mound. These people were all going to the homeless shelter on Harmon. Heaven help this city if there's another shelter for people in the inner core. We have to have them outside of downtown, out of sight, at a spot you can't access easily by foot. Where your journey to a cot for the night begins at an unlit bus stop.

I do not have any real answers, and I'm not going to be guilt tripped after having an expensive dinner. There's a gap though, between me in a warm room tapping this on my Macbook Pro in our underwater mortgaged house. There are changes coming for the better for my family. Others though, I wonder where there is hope.

Eating and reading amidst all the chaos

Today was one of those days when you just want to come home and get under a blanket with a bottle of whiskey. A traumatic first day of school for a soon to be thirteen year old turned into a double murder live on air. It was hard to focus on anything while having a discussion of local politics with a local party high up which turned into laughter when it was revealed a local community that thrives on authenticity is getting a mall pizza shop in their neighborhood. For once I was happy that the west side was neglected. Quite the social media day considering I culled about fifty people my list earlier this week.

Then one of the baby pandas at the National Zoo died.

At least my wife loves me even when I think my kid does not.

At least I am thankful to have Saga and Martin try to solve murders in Sweden and Denmark for a few more hours.

And the Mets keep winning.

Did manage to find a decent low priced Chinese take out in the area recently. There is a great Thai place in the back of an Asian market that we frequent, but sometimes you just want the sweet and sour chicken or pork strips without all the heat. There is one place that recently changed ownership and is now called Asian Wok, but I'm not feeling the need to be a pioneer. So I did some Yelp research and gave Peking Wok on West Broad a chance.

The Wife and I like it. She says the lo mein is quite good. I can vouch for the sweet and sour chicken and roast pork and snow peas. The only minor miss was the fried dumplings. For plenty of food we paid about fifteen bucks. It's in the Franklinton Center and it's a hole in the wall but they're busy making very tasty things in their kitchen.

Been trying to read more and am almost succeeding. Recently finished a very good crime book from the UK. Here's my Amazon review

From the author of the Eoin Miller trilogy comes Ways To Die In Glasgow, a new crime thriller from Jay Stringer. Sam Ireland is a Glasgow private investigator who gets involved in a case that becomes much more complex, and deadlier than she expected. Stringer also gives us the story from the perspectives of Mackie, a violent young man with a missing gangster Uncle and Lambert, a detective who tries to stretch the system as much as possible to his benefit. It's a fast paced dark and witty romp with a high body count. Men are missing, lawyers and policemen are corrupt and steadfast - just like life. Stringer writes about his now home city with great detail and gritty affection. We're shown the dark, violent pubs and the spotless purity of legal firms, with plenty of one liners and wit that rises above the many blood stains. A good read by an author with a promising future, and that cover of Coney is brilliant.

I've also just cracked the spine of Neurotribes a look at autism from a historical and scientific perspectives. Steve Silberman has done some impressive research with this heavily buzzed about book. Hope to finish it sooner than later.

And to finish, here's a cool new song by the great Darlene Love.

A short poem for Friday

Nixon's Lunch

A simple meal
Plate of pineapple slices
topped with a dollop of cottage cheese
A glass of whole milk
served on a silver tray
Before the day was over
resignation from office
What he had for dinner
is not known

A good birthday walk

Been trying to avoid the news, but it's hard to not see the effects of the tragedy in Charleston. I live in a racist, violent country - ruled by guns. If rooms full of dead children and adults will not make us take a hard look at it, nothing will. The nation is not capable of real change, other than security theater.

So I unplugged yesterday while my wife and her sister went out to do sisterly things and wandered around Glasgow for the day. Took the train into an unknown part of town to me and visited the park where Third Lanark used to play.
An interesting, ghostly experience that was only missing morning mist on the pitch. Since I was there, I strolled past Hampden Park and had no idea it was in such a residential neighborhood, not unlike Wrigley Field.

Managed to get on the right trains at the right time and got back to Central Station intact. I keep getting turned around when in downtown Glasgow, my compass does not work, but once I find the Clyde River I can figure things out. Found an old chip/breakfast shop and smiled my way through a language barrier to get some food.

These people had some very, very thick Glaswegian accents but we were all nice to each other. They asked where I was from and so on. The chips were not good, the fish cooked ok, the tea was excellent as was the patter. Heard some outstanding cursing, great breakfast conversation to overhear.

Was lucky enough to remember to visit the Britannia Panoptican, one of the oldest Music Halls left in the world. It was a thrill to stand on the same stage where sixteen year old Stan Laurel made his theatrical debut, in 1906. The hall is being slowly restored and Judith Bowers is doing amazing work in stewarding the process, mostly on her own.

By then I was ready for a proper drink and headed to the Horseshoe since I missed it on my last visit.

After that it was time to once again hit the Pot Still. Fell in love with this place my last visit and that love only increased. Got into a fine conversation with a gentleman from Northern Ireland, had some good advice from Frank the proprietor and the whiskey was excellent. If there is a better selection of whiskey anywhere in the world, I'd like to see it. After a few my wife and sister showed up at the pre-determined time to get me out of there while I could still walk, but not before I had a Mortlach that was distilled in 1984.

Quieter day today. All continues to be well here.

Jumping on bandwagons

Businesses change hands or open and close all the time. Such is life in any day and age. In my twenty five years in this city I've seen a lot of shops come and go - I've also seen a lot sustain themselves and grow. Some of these places I try to frequent as much as possible. There are also some I've never been to. The week I've had the opportunity to go to three establishments I've walked or driven by many times. It's like I've made new friends.

The Short North Tavern has been in its location for at least thirty years. There seems to be a very loyal following of regulars taking part in the cheap drinks. The place has real dartboards, which tells me they have an established and older crowd. The food is cheap and plentiful, but you do not go there for the food. A two dollar happy hour gin and tonic will definitely make me return.

Another place with real dartboards is the Char Bar. How it's kept it's location in the highly developed area right next to the new Hilton astonishes me. It's a rather seedy but charming dive bar with a great window for people watching those on High Street or going to the Convention Center. I'm not sure on drink prices, but I plan on hitting their patio for one of their Long Island Ice Teas when the time is right.

After driving by it on my way home for the past twelve years I finally stopped in Thurn's. They've been in business for aver 130 years. Hours are odd, but that's because they cure their own meats. And what meat it is! The very friendly guy behind the counter gave me a slice of their pastrami that was outstanding. It's aftertaste lingered on the ride home so pleasantly I almost turned around to get more. Next week I'm getting a loaf of good rye bread to go with that pastrami.

There are always new places to go in this city, but sometimes the fun in life is finding what's been here and enjoying what everyone else has for years. These are they places that make Columbus a great place to live.

Always hungry for vigilance

It was great to see local food truck Ray Ray's Hog Pit get some national attention in an Esquire article that called it, "some of the best damn ribs in the country."

Where Josh Ozersky, the author of the article fell short was in the tone of the piece. Ozersky was recently in town for a James Beard presentation and he spent some time with Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. I'd like to know how a line like, "it's a truck in a random parking lot in a city considered dull even by some Ohioans," came to be? Columbus may be dull to idiots from, say, Cleveland. We may be a bit thin skinned when we get dissed for no reason, but dull? Nah.

The praise of Ray Ray's is very much deserved. The food is worth it. Obviously Ozersky did not have much other time to explore the city otherwise the article's closing line of, "a city that barely knows what barbecue is," would not have been typed.

Over four years ago, food writer Michael Rulhman appeared on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. With wide eyes he appeared amazed to be having world class Japanese food in Columbus. After a lot of internet comment, including my own, Ruhlman changed his mind about this "Land of Applebees" as he called it. I'm hoping with some well intentioned reason that Ozersky can reach the correct conclusion.

Hunters and gatherers did not have to deal with corporate shelving resets

Finding food that my son will eat is always a challenge. So when we find something he does eat, and prefers to other foods it's a good thing and we try to use the foods he prefers to get him to try something new.

It can get frustrating to shop in one place when one grocery store stops carrying the food that he does eat over other products in the line. Even worse is when the manufacturer stops making that product.

This is what I fear has happened to Yoplait's Thick and Creamy line. He will always choose the vanilla over any other brand so we always try to keep that in the house. It's not at Kroger any more and when we went to Giant Eagle today, the whole line was gone. He will eat the regular vanilla, thank God, so that is something.

Giant Eagle has also stopped carrying the Hormel Compleates Macaroni and Cheese dinner, which he eats with gusto. They've also stopped carrying turkey, another one in the line he eats rather heartily. Those items are readily available at Kroger.

I did speak with the grocery manager about this. I understand he can't control what the makers of the products do, but the products that are made should be carried if they sell. He took my number and we'll see what he has to say. I'd rather get our groceries in one place, and if I have to give up fuel perks so I can get all the food my son eats in one place so be it.

My black Friday did not cancel Christmas

It is easy to recognize when there is a problem with my car. If it does not feel right when it goes over 65, when you hear a belt making a high pitched scream while turning, and the most recent - the temperature gauge going over the baseline and nearly hitting the red zone that means the car is over heating. The car was, thankfully, not leaking or burning coolant. Had no idea if the thermostat or radiator was messing up, and certainly do not have the tools or knowledge to do the repair myself.

So it was off to the repair shop downtown at an ungodly hour this morning just after they opened to get the car fixed. I waited for a diagnosis and received one. New thermostat, temperature sensor and coolant flush and fill. At least it was not the radiator. They told me they'd have it fixed in a couple of hours so I wandered off to find some breakfast.

On the day after Thanksgiving not much was open in downtown Columbus, which is not how a vibrant city with ever increasing density and street edge construction should be at any time of the year. With the exception of Potbelly, the only other place I could find open was Dempsey's, which had only one customer, me, when I entered.

Dempsey's is just around the corner from the now closed Jury Room. It was announced today that the business was sold and the new owner would be renaming the place Balls. That's right it's going to be a meatball place. I have no problem with that but if the food is not good the name is going to give it nothing more than a silly novelty act.

After breakfast I went to the Statehouse to see if the gift shop I used to work at was open. It was, and I talked to the owner for a few minutes to catch up.

Picked up the car and drove it hard on 71 and 270 to see how fixed it was. The temperature gauge did not move any higher than this.



Also noticed that the heat kicked in much quicker after starting the car. Darn, it had been kicking in slow the whole time I have owned the car. Must have been off all along. Still calling it a win.

Closings and bannings

It is always a little disappointing when a local place you frequent closes down. On Sunday it was announced that The Jury Room was sold and would be reopened in a couple of weeks. My wife and I liked the place a lot, we thought the staff was great. When we brought my severely autistic son who does not eat off the menu due to his eating disorder, they were always accepting and accommodating.

It was weird that the owner, Liz Lessner, was relatively quiet about the closing online in that when one of her other establishments recently closed, she was very open, in painful detail, during the process of the close. With the Jury Room, there was no process, but this happens.

The local newspaper published what I think is a fluff piece about the closing that seemed more like damage control to me.

Why damage control? A former employee was publicly posting about financial difficulties and Columbus Underground, a local message board, was also getting a few posts about the situation. Questions were asked, some I thought legitimate. There were people defending Lessner and others not so much.

I decided to reach out to Liz. We exchanged some respectful emails and I felt comfortable she told me her side of the story.

Meanwhile the Jury Room thread on Columbus Underground attracted various sock puppets, trolls and deflectors, including the site's own food critic. Not a very professional move on her part. One poster was banned from the site and created a blog about Columbus Underground censorship.

I understand that Columbus Underground is Walker Evans' site, and he has rules. But his ways of moderating the site are quite arbitrary. He'll allow trolls, and newly created user names to post all kinds of libel, bullying and misogyny, but when questions are asked of a city business owner, posts begin to get deleted. He deleted my link to the blog post immediately and sent me a private message about the terms of service of the site being violated. We exchanged some messages and I told him he was promoting bullying and misogyny through his site and could have done better in handling the Jury Room thread.

We all like a few laughs, but when internet mob rule runs a website unfettered while important questions go unanswered, it might be time to rethink my interaction with a local message board.

Good toast points

Yes, I still giggle when I hear the words 'artisan toast' used together. But after meeting the Man behind the business maybe it's time for this whiny ass library cataloger blogger to ease up a little.

Last night my Wife scored an invitation to an open house given by Dan the Baker. We got to tour the facility and indulge in many of the breads and products (all local) of the business.

Hearing Dan speak with passion and savvy about what he does it quite inspiring. That he backs up his words with delicious breads is icing on the cake, for lack of a better term. The care he puts into his work, the signs on the freezer that say enter like a ninja where the dough is to keep the temperature constant, show me the conviction of what he does.

As my Wife said, we got to eat the toast flights tonight. My loyalties to other bakeries in this city are now divided. There's room for everyone, and we all win when the product is this good. It's located at 1028 Ridge Street in Columbus, just off of Dublin Road.

Now if he'd get some sleep

My son has been sick with a cold all weekend and did not go to school today. When I picked him up from his mother's he looked tired, and was all red under his nose from where he has been rubbing it. He was not happy when I pulled into my driveway, would not go in the house. Eventually, since there was no reasoning with him, he was carried in. His schedule is out of whack, and I'm the uncool parent. He threw a decent tantrum.

His mother told me he was not eating but he did eat dinner but would not drink any milk. We did not force it. A couple of hours later he had some yogurt and he was in the kitchen when I heard him banging around. Then he came into the living room and looked at me as if he had something to say. Nothing new, this happens a lot. But I asked him what he wanted and he said, "Milk." Went into the kitchen and he already pulled out his cup from the drainer next to the sink. And he chugged it.

A dropped syllable reveals so much

My son is somewhere between 57-58 pounds now. I weigh him on the scales at the pool every couple of weeks. He is slowing gaining weight, definitely not losing. He eats fine for me, we introduced creamed corn into his diet and he has not put up any real fuss. Yes, that creamed corn is also blended, hard to wrap your head around but that's part of the challenge.

Tonight we were doing some drawing and I wrote out his first and last name and asked him to repeat it, which he did. I think that was the first time I heard him say his last name, which is all odd and unsettling to me. It defines a lot of the difficulty and what we have to face. And why didn't I do this years ago? I cannot imagine how difficult it is for him to process everything.

After that I wrote out Columbus, Ohio. I've heard him repeat Ohio before, which he pronounces as "Hi-O."

The school lottery form is being filled out and sent by his mother. She's the residential parent so it's her responsibility. We hope he gets into the place we toured, many of his classmates end up going there so we hope for that familiarity for him. So many changes ahead, including physical, which we are nowhere near prepared for.

An old one who will be missed, and a new one that is more than welcome

One of the major voices of my life died this week. Ralph Kiner was one of the trio, which included Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy, who announced Mets baseball games during my formative years. Kiner was there from the team's inception of 1962 until 2006. Being away from New York television for over thirty years did not diminish Kiner's impact on my love and knowledge of the game. He was an outstanding hitter whose career was cut short by a back injury and a class announcer with a penchant for some whoppers of malapropisms. "It's Father's Day so to all you fathers out there, happy birthday."

Ralph Kiner was 91.

After a long time of waiting, Dirty Franks West finally opened on Monday. I commend the Columbus Food League for taking a chance on the west side and making the commitment. It's a similar menu to the spot on 4th Street, but the space is almost double the size. There's even a small stage.



There is also some more great artwork by Tim Lessner on the walls. The space is divided in two. There's the bar half with some seating, and a dining area with plenty of tables.



Lessner did not, to my knowledge, create this work - which is what guys look at while facing the urinal.



The expansion of Dirty Franks is a fine asset to the west side, a part of town that is very under served. I hope this is the start of more business setting up shop here so we do not have to drive all over town for say, a coffee shop.



After 11 years of living here I may finally have a local. 2836 West Broad.

The day before we do not travel far

My son is not happy when his mother is not there to pick him up off the bus. That means he's staying with me, and stepmom, and he does not like it one bit.

Maybe it's the food, the lack of entertainment options, but he does some good protesting for up to an hour until it's time for dinner and then he's fine.

Until it's time to sleep. Monday he decided to not go to bed until about 12:30AM. He then woke up incredibly listless at 7AM to get ready for school. It was trying. For everyone.

Today there was no school so I was prepared to stay up with him until he conked out, which he did at 10:30PM. I expected him to wake up at some point during the night, but he did not. Ended up waking him up at 7:30. He ate all his breakfast while I showered and has been quite chill today.

He's been watching videos with me, singing along to KT Tunstall. He's also taken notice of my wife's shoes and has been walking around the house with them. He's left them in the back room a couple of times already.

So it's been a good day, and I got a few chores in for the buildup to tomorrow's holiday.

A Listicle: Five foods my son will eat

1) Hormel Compleats Macaroni and Cheese



For years it seemed my son was the only kid on the planet who did not like macaroni and cheese. "Every kid loves macaroni and cheese." We heard this from doctors, therapists and specialists. They did not know my kid. Finally, we started him with ten percent in his food and built it up. He tolerated it or did not notice until we went fifty percent with it and found out that he went to eat it first. It's become a go to food that we use as a base for new foods to introduce to him.

2) Sweet Peas



It really has not been much of a chore to get my son to eat his peas. They seem to be his favorite vegetable. He loves them so much we've been using a fork (in my case, a muddler) to gently crush the peas instead of blending them down. He chows down on them like they were guacamole and there has been little to no resistance of him eating them. Again, like the macaroni and cheese, we're using peas as a base to introduce new foods.

3) Apricots



Finding my son a fruit to enjoy has been difficult. Bananas are right out. He has revolted quite strongly against them. He's ok with pears, but he does not seem to really want them around, same thing with applesauce - he will eat them, but you have to really prompt him to get him to do so. For some reason he seems to like apricots the most. It's tough to blend them. Too much and they turn into soup, too little and you get pieces of them in his dish with he does not like. So apricots it is. This weekend we introduced peaches, in with the apricots and he was cool with it.

4) Yoplait Thick and Creamy Vanilla Yogurt



My son is not concerned with brand names, but he noticed the labels on his yogurt. You can't sneak banana/strawberry past him, he will notice and reject it outright. Once in a while we can sneak a peach past him, but this is rare. He knows the Yoplait label, and can either recognize the vanilla image or perhaps the word vanilla itself. We can get him to eat other brands of vanilla yogurt and have had success with the Trader Joe brand. But they're far away, and Yoplait is easier to find, unless you go to the Brewery District Kroger, who can't keep a lot of items in stock.

5) Pudding



My son digs pudding, and has for some time. We tried sneaking new food in with his pudding, but that was a (banana) disaster. He'll eat a lot of different brands, and has his preferred flavors. He does not like tapioca, probably because of the texture and will not eat lemon, which is ok. But butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate fudge and more - he's all over them. I do not buy Jello anymore after them went from six packs to four packs and jacked up the price so Swiss Miss it is, and he always goes for the chocolate/vanilla swirl.

There's been good progress since he started at the feeding clinic in July. He's put on some weight as well and now weighs more than he ever has. There's still a long way to go, especially in regards to chewing food but to no longer buy baby food when your kid is eleven years old is, I have to say, a relief. Now, about those diapers.

The true north strong and free

We got incredibly lucky with the weather over the past weekend and had an amazing road trip to Western New York with a trip to Toronto as part of the itinerary.

Everyone had their passports this time as we made the border crossing. Last time we went to Buffalo one of our party had to have his passport sent to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa for a trip to Africa. This time, there was a misplaced passport of another member of the party that was found with little stress and no tears.

My friend said that there would be a longish line at the border because of the holiday (Thanksgiving) weekend in Canada but when we crossed the Peace Bridge, there were no cars in the booth, just a border guard who examined our passports and let us in with no problems.

I keep forgetting that there are a few other large cities in Canada. I knew Hamilton was big with over half a million people, but Mississagua with over 700k, that shocked me. I was reminded that 40% of the country's population lives along the southern part of Ontario.

Our first destination was the Hockey Hall of Fame. Just outside the entrance is a display of goalie masks over the years. Here's Jacques Plante's. He was one of the first goaltenders to regularly wear a mask.



I believe that was a type of fiberglass. The HOF has a number of cool interactive exhibits as well, and some nice displays of the great players in the game.



There's a very cool exhibit where you can call a play and have it played back. I did it to one of Rick Nash's great goals when he was with the Blue Jackets. A lot of fun.

Hockey has the best hardware in any sport. All of the trophies (or their replicas, shh!) are kept in a hall that was once a bank.



It's an impressive display of the history of the game, and I'm glad we finally got to go there.

It had been well over twenty years since I've been to Toronto. There's a lot of construction going on, big buildings!



We took the subway, then a streetcar to the whiskey bar I found online. The Caledonian is a great place. It's run by a lovely Scottish woman who uses the words "Sweetie" or "My Love" in every sentence. She and my wife started talking, turns out she's from the same small town where my wife's Grandparents are from. Small world! The food was authentic Scottish.



Yes, they had haggis, and steak pie, a signed picture of Andy Murray on the wall and a very good whiskey selection. In selling the deep fried Mars Bar dessert, the owner said it's, "The best thing out of Scotland." Here, I had to correct her, because that would be my wife.



There's a billboard you can't see in America.

After a rare brief visit to IKEA we headed back to Buffalo.

We arrived the Canadian/U.S. border reentry point. There's not a long line. Guy in the car in front of us is getting questioned a very long time. After a couple of minutes I see the siren light over the booth go off, then the gate go down behind his car. My friend has been over the border hundreds of times and has never seen this happen. Border guy gets out of the booth, is on his radio, points to where he wants the driver to go. Driver goes to an unknown fate.

We pull up, tell him one place we went to was IKEA. Guard asks us if we spent $2,000 there. Four of us in a KIA Soul. These are strange times we live in.

We had a great time. Went to my alma mater for a too brief homecoming visit on Saturday night and headed home on Sunday morning in a bit of rain, but it was not snow or ice. The Subaru was magnificent, averaging about 30mpg the entire trip.

Just do not mention what happened to the Buffalo Bills.

Much left to do

Now that the feeding program is over and I no longer have to go to the hospital three days a week or work ten hour shifts there may be a sense of normalcy returning, at least until Arts Fest begins ramping up again. There will be weekly follow-ups at the hospital for the time being.

My son made progress. There are some new things he would not eat before. He is now eating blended, canned vegetables and fruit. He's also drinking a lot more milk.

What really surprised me is that he is eating Hormel Chicken and Dumplings.



He still has hiccups. Gagged on some apricots that where not blended to his liking and had a fit at school when the chicken and dumplings had a piece of chicken that was not liquified. This coming from a kid who will eat peas that are as thick as guacamole.

School started for him yesterday. Aside from him getting out of his bed and me finding him sleeping at the top of the stairs at 3AM, he seemed to adjust well. Maybe I will.

A Friday without fun

It's hard being traumatized while watching your child being traumatized. An odd circle of behavioral psychology and wanting your son to eat something.

Three very bad sessions today. He went under the table, would not sit down or eat. He threw food, put his hand in it to try and make it go away, screamed, pushed, tried to break spoons, attacked a tray, attempted iPad harm - all because he would not eat this.



Those are blended canned pears. Dip a spoon in and pull it out, that is what he would not put into his mouth.

Part of the treatment relies on him eating food in rotation, and he could not would not get past the rotation of pears mixed with bananas. He has eaten plenty of pears solo with no problem. The bananas he constantly eats pureed form the jar, these were fresh bananas. Session one he would not eat 25% bananas to 75% of pears. That was lowered to 10% bananas in session two. No go. This was the session where my son became extremely agitated and threw things.

There were no bananas in the pears during the third session, but the damage had been done and he would not eat them at all. He was calmer in his resistance during the third session.

He's at him mother's this weekend and she was instructed to let him eat whatever he wants, but no pears! She emailed me, said he asked for oatmeal, which she gave him plenty of along with blended canned peas, pudding and milk. He ate everything.

For last of a better word I'm shellshocked after witnessing these three sessions and drinking all of the gin.

Monday is another day.

Should have stayed in the hangar

My son's doctors had an in-service day yesterday so there were no feeding sessions. It gave me a rare and needed day off this month. The weather was dreary so we went to the movies.



Last year we went to see Wreck it Ralph and my son seemed to have a decent enough time. Yesterday it was Planes. Hard to say if he liked it or not, he did cuddle up next to me for most of the film. Only in the last ten to fifteen minutes was when he got restless. Maybe this was because the movie was not very good, for kids or adults. Too many stereotypes. Too much technical flying jargon, I mean, I learned things but I think all the toys are going to be on the shelves on Family Dollar or Big Lots in a couple of months.

Week four of the feeding clinic went well. Got off to a rough start on Monday and Tuesday. He thought going under the table was better than eating, and he had one major meltdown for reasons unknown. He did better on Wednesday but went under the table with some unfinished milk in the afternoon. He peeked up at me a couple of times, but while I am in the room I cannot do anything or react. After about two minutes he sat back down, looked his doctor right in the eye and broke into a huge smile then finished his milk. He was trying to play us, and it did not work this time.

He's eating mushed up canned pears and peas and has started with apricots. Next week they're going to try him on a Hormel chicken and dumplings entree, blended. We'll see how that goes. Two weeks remain.