Barb,[ speaking from experience here], you will find yourself walking a fine line between encouraging and nagging. Keeping Marvin swallowing, even if it's just liquids is a good thing- keeping his calorie intake up to par, even if it's through the peg is of utmost importance. Has his Rad Doc ever had radiation? Let Marvin think of things that he might want to tackle by mouth, fix them and throw out what doesn't work without a backwark glance. It sounds like he's trying and it's a slow process to find the food consistancy and taste that works for him. Ask him what temp. the food should be, whether he wants to try sweet, salty, spicey, etc. Is getting food to the back of his mouth to swallow an issue? In our situation, John lost all but 5 front upper teeth and 1\2 of his tongue, so manuverability of the food in his mouth was an issue. Talk to Marvin about the issues he can identify and then try to select foods that will not be too dificult. Best luck getting through this. Amy in the Ozarks