A children's story about patience and exploration

Stephen only likes five foods.
At a time.
Sometimes one food stops being likable and another one joins the party.
But Stephen only likes five foods.
At a time.
Today the five foods Stephen likes are:
Mashed Potatoes (but absolutely NO black speckly bits)
Eggs (but only the white part)
French Fries (with ketchup)
Peanut Butter Sandwiches (with sprinkles)
Bananas
Stephen’s mom says his favorite color must be white as all his favorite foods are white.
Nope.
Stephen’s favorite color is yellow.
But she’s right about the white food.
Right now white food is good food.
But only the white food that Stephen likes.
Stephen only likes five foods.
At a time.
It’s lunchtime and Stephen’s mom calls out
“Stephen! It’s lunchtime! Come inside! There’s a surprise!”
Stephen likes surprises a lot.
But he is pretty sure he knows what this surprise is.
His mom has put a new food on his plate.
It’s not one of the five foods Stephen likes.
His mom should know better.
Stephen only likes five foods.
At a time.
Stephen was right.
His mom has added a new food to his plate.
It is white.
Right there next to his peanut butter sandwich (with sprinkles), almost but not quite touching his French fries (with ketchup), just to the left of his banana, already out of its yellow coat, is a wibbly wobbly nibbly nobbly ball of something white.
“Mom. What’s the white stuff?” Stephen asked, pointing to the wibbly wobbly nibbly nobbly ball of something white.
“That’s called cauliflower. It’s a new white food.” His mom said holding up her own wibbly wobbly nibbly nobbly ball of something white. Mom took a big, giant, crunchy bite of the new food and smiled her extra big smile.
“I don’t like it.” Stephen said.
Stephen only liked five foods
At a time.
Coolflower, or whatever it was called, was not on today’s list of the five foods Stephen likes today.
“I didn’t figure you would. You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.” His mom said.
“I’m not going to eat it.” Stephen said back.
“That’s okay. Just leave it on your plate and when you’re finished we can add it to the compost bin.” His mom said.
“So I don’t have to eat the coolflower?” Stephen’s mom took another big, giant, crunchy bite and shook her head no.
“Nope. You don’t have to eat the coolflower. Just let it hang out with your other favorite foods while you finish eating.”
So Stephen didn’t eat the coolflower.
He ate his peanut butter sandwich (with sprinkles), his French fries (with ketchup), and his banana.
The whole time Stephen ate his lunch, he stared at the coolflower.
It stared right back with all its lumpy, crunchy, white bits.
Stephen’s mom kept eating her bowl of coolflower. She really seemed to like it. And it did sound extra crunchy. Stephen realized none of his five foods were crunchy.
That made Stephen sad.
Stephen only liked five foods.
At a time.
And none of them were crunchy right now.
Stephen picked up the wibbly wobbly nibbly nobbly ball of coolflower.
His mom didn’t say anything.
She just kept eating her extra-crunchy white coolflower.
Crunch crunch munch munch crunch.
The bottom stick like part of the coolflower was smooth like the white of a hard boiled egg.
The top part was bumpy and rough like the sprinkles on his peanut butter sandwich.
(Stephen liked all sorts of sprinkles but his favorite were the teeny tiny itty bitty rainbow ball sprinkles.)
Stephen’s mom held up a piece of her coolflower and broke it in half.
Stephen did the same with his piece of coolflower.
It wasn’t easy to break.
But Stephen’s muscles were really strong.
So it was easy for him to break.
Stephen liked breaking the coolflower.
His mom handed him another piece of coolflower.
He broke that too.
Then he decided to do something he’d never done before.
At least not without his mom asking him to do it.
Stephen held up the smallest piece of coolflower and kissed it.
Sometimes his mom would ask him to kiss a food.
And then he could lick his lips and see if he could taste the kiss.
Sometimes his mom would ask him to lick a food.
And then he could see if he could like the taste.
Sometimes his mom would ask him to put a food in his mouth.
And then, if it felt weird or tasted bad, he could spit it back out.
Stephen only likes five foods.
At a time.
But a long, long time ago, Stephen only liked four foods.
But he kissed a banana.
And he licked a banana.
And he put a piece of banana in his mouth.
And decided not to spit it out.
So then, Stephen liked five foods.
Stephen licked his lips and couldn’t taste the coolflower.
“Mom?” Stephen asked. “Do I have to lick the coolflower?”
“You don’t have to, no. But I’m glad you decided to kiss it all by yourself.” His mom said back.
“I’m not going to lick the coolflower today.”
“That’s okay, honey. We can put the coolflower in the compost bin.”
“Because I only like five foods.” Stephen said, nodding.
“At a time.” His mom said back.
“Mom?” Stephen asked. “Can you put some coolflower on my plate tomorrow? In case I want to lick it tomorrow.”
“I think I might be able to do that.” And she popped another piece of coolflower in her mouth and smiled her extra big smile.
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I absolutely loved this!! And your story about coolflower was amazingly written!! I want to hear more about Stephen's white foods and if he decided to lick the coolflower or not!!
My kid is going through feeding therapy-- and this is EXACTLY what they taught us to try. He looks. He touches. He smells. He kisses. He licks. He puts it in his mouth... Eventually, we try to chew and swallow. This struck so close to home. I hope my kiddo gets to the point he asks me to put it on his plate again tomorrow. 💜