Onions make me cry

One of my motivations for homeschool was Beniam. He never really attached to me. I do not want to minimize the pain of those dealing with RAD. We were never dealing with RAD. He has always been sweet, easy to love and respectful. There was just always something missing. Our only real issue with him was his picky eating habits. Though we did not cater to them, at times we would scold him for not eating the healthier option during meal time. After a few months of his being our son, we eased up a bit on the pressure for him to eat everything. At that point it became obvious to us that this was not about food, it was about something much deeper. I have to back up and point out that he began sitting in my lap on occasion since we started homeschool. Big progress. Well Sunday we hit another monumental achievement for him. We went to a local buffet after church. One of the other children exclaimed "Look at Beniam's plate!" I looked up expected to see a pile of fried chicken and there it was....a small salad!!! He had a huge smile on his face, just for me I believe and he said "I'm gonna try to eat a little." Yesterday we ended up in our neighbor city with an hour to kill before an appointment so we went out for lunch. He wanted a meatball grinder. I ordered it and it was filled with onion and peppers. Always in the past he would gag, literally, at the sight of onions and peppers. He'd gag, his eyes would water and he'd look like he'd been injured. This time he looked up at me with a big smile and said "I'm going to eat the onions and peppers this time. He took slow bites and then as we all sat in hushed silence he said "I think I like onions and peppers. I think I'll start putting some onions on my food!" I cried, for real. I knew deeper what this meant. Beniam, also being very shy would never sing in front of anyone. We'd catch him singing and dancing in a room alone but the minute we'd walk in he'd stop. Guess what? Yes! He is also singing and dancing. And so am I.