Picky Licker

Last night Ammon came into the kitchen while I was making dinner. He said, "What can I eat?" (Music to my ears.) I gave him a half sleeve of saltine crackers and a few potato chips because he loves to lick the salt off them. He will lick them until they get soggy and fold over. He continued to work through a stack of crackers while we ate dinner. I gave him a cup of water and he drank all of that. It seemed the most normal thing in the world, but it was the first time he's ever drunk water along with licking something or eating Hershey bars. I was silently cheering him along. He said, "My tower's about complete!" He was placing each cracker on top of the other after he was finished licking the salt off.

After I finished, I went into the other room for a minute. Jim was still eating and Ammon had just finished the last cracker. When I went back into the kitchen, Ammon and Jim were having a little spat. Ammon was going to throw the crackers away and Jim was explaining to him that we shouldn't throw food away and that Ammon should at least try to eat some of the crackers. Ammon got really mad and began to cry. I tried to calm him down because Jim hadn't raised his voice or anything. Ammon just didn't understand why Jim had suggested that he actually eat the crackers.

Ammon went into his bedroom in tears, madder than a wet hen. I felt badly because I thought we had made some progress at dinner tonight. I followed him into his bedroom and explained again why Jim had said what he did and told Ammon that it was siilly for him to cry over something like this. Then Ammon let loose and said, "I am NOT going to eat - ever. I AM a picky eater but I'm NOT a picky licker!"