Santino sustained social greet with me upon initial sight and we had a nice exchange of engaged and prolonged eye contact. Today, Santino had alphabet pasta for lunch - much like Spaghetti-O's. I expected more resistance to eating it, but Santino consumed about one fourth of the portion. However, it should be noted here that this was largely dependent on my verbal prompts to "take a bite." With his other smoother pureed foods, Santino readily eats the entire contents of his thermos independently. However, I am very satisfied that he ate some of his lunch, as it was of a much different consistency than his usual fare, and I am seeing better acceptance of alternative food options this year with less resistance to trying new foods. I am also continuing to reinforce this progress with a lot of verbal praise, along with specifying the reason why I am acknowledging and rewarding his performance.