A Bewitchingly Ordinary Life!

  It is no secret that children with autism quite often struggle with food.  Look, smells, texture, taste, all play a part.  Their scope of what they will eat can be small and concentrated in one group.  Pastas, sweets, salty, etc. Food is an area where I started noticing that David had struggles from an early age.  With purees, I offered a wide variety of foods and often, since it takes an average of 15 times for an infant to acquire a taste of something. No matter how many times over the course of about 10 months in the puree stage, he never would get used to vegetables most fruits, and meats. Mainly he loved oatmeal, applesauce, peaches, and macaroni and cheese purees.  It was incredibly frustrating.  When I tried introducing more textured food as he matured, he HATED them.  He gagged on most things that infants and toddlers love.  Those puffs?  Not so much!  Little crackers.  No way!  He did love the cheese puff...

Some meals cry out for hot, buttery bread.  Pot roast, spaghetti, cottage pie.... I love making fresh bread.  And you want to know a secret?  It's not so much because I like to eat it. [Well I DO like to eat it], but I LOVE the smell of fresh yeast rising dough!  It seems to fill the whole house and screams out fresh home cooking! This time I made yeast rolls, using a basic recipe.  And of course there is room from tweaking based on preference. What you need: 1 cup warm water 1.5 tablespoons yeast 1 teaspoon honey  1/2 cup melted butter 1/4 cup honey 3 eggs 1 teaspoon salt 4-6 cups of flour Directions: * add one cup warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon honey to a bowl.  Let sit for 10 minutes until the mixture foams up. * add in eggs, melted butter, and honey to yeast mixture.  Mix until blended. * using a mixture with dough hook, by hand, or in a bread machine, add 1 cup of flour at a time.  Keep adding flour until dough pu...

I love to bake and try new concoctions.  Sometimes it works, other times I can only shake my head. Today I found something that works! I was in the mood to make some kind of coffee cake style muffins of loaf.  Plus I had quite a bit of yogurt that's going to go bad because I won't be able to eat it all before the expiration date. Using sugar, flour, baking soda and powder, yogurt, eggs, oil, and milk I made a better that Ive found can be quite versatile. The Basic Recipe 1 cup of all purpose flour 5-6 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt Combined dry ingredients in a bowl, give a quick whisk 1 egg 2 tablespoons of milk 1/2 plus 2 tablespoons yogurt 3 tablespoons oil Whisk together wet ingredients in a bowl, pour onto dry ingredients and whisk until blended.  Don't over mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Now the tweaking. I used strawberry yogurt, and added...

I've stepped inside a time machine and headed back.  Back in time to the 'overly' romanticized era of stay at home housewives and mothers.  To a time where Donna Reed was busy baking something up, June Cleaver was running the vacuum, and Samantha Stevens was twitching her nose.  I have to admit, there is a part of me that has always been drawn to that era, to being able to stay home, nurture my family, care for hearth and home, wear aprons, put on make up, greet my husband with a kiss and a cocktail! In the beginning, when we had our first child, I did stay home.  And along came our second child just 19 months later.  I stayed home for about 3.5 years then.  Yet that time was such a blur.  Those days were the infancy of discovering that our oldest, David, had special needs.  With the day to day grind of being at a loss, of being in tears many days, of barely getting my teeth brushed, I missed out. I missed out on just enjoying the moment, of look...

You are not alone. That is the first thing I want you to know.  It is not meant in the cliche "I understand what you're going through" thought.  Rather it truly is myself telling you, you are not alone through this journey.  I know it may feel like it now, in the beginning.    But I am here.  I'm more than your child's teacher.  For the 8 hours a day that they are in my care, I want you to know that I protect them, I love them, I guide & direct them, I laugh with them, I even want to shed tears with them when they face difficulties. I am here, with them, and you [in spirit], as they accomplish a milestone [not matter how large or small].  Myself, my assistants, the therapists in my class, we all smile, clap, cheer when your child makes a leap in their growth, grasping a new concept, skill, or thought! I saw the uncertainty the first time you met me, came into my room, brought your child.  Full of questions, wondering if maybe this w...

There are things that my children have faced that have made me sad.  Then, there are things that pierce straight through my heart.  I don't think I will ever forget the evening that David walked out of his room wearing a paper bag [pictured below], and said "Look mom!" He pointed to the bag and said the words that he had written.  "No fun for me."  Then he took off the bag and read the other part.  "Need a normal life mom." I asked what he meant. Immediately tears began to run down his face, and he said.  "I'm tired of people making fun of me at school.  Telling me I'm weird and gross."  And then he broke down and really cried. And I cried too.  It was incredibly hard to hold back tears, so I didn't.  I hated, HATED that my child had to, and has to face this.  I hate that because of his special needs, he has to face the cruelty of being made fun of, and the ignorance of those who don't educated their children, or care to ed...

The one thing about company is that I know the house will cleaned whether I feel like it or not.  I'll sweep the kitchen floor, and among the pile of dirt you'll find legos, toy cars, and other miscellaneous  junk that are proclaimed treasures with outcries of "MOM, don't throw that away I NEED that!"  And so it goes back to the their bedrooms, into another junk pile that will eventually and miraculously find it's way back out to the kitchen floor for the next sweeping session. The furniture will be dusted, wiping away small finger prints that form child drawn pictures.  My "fresh scent" warmer will be turned on to give you the illusion that you smell fresh laundry!  The bathrooms will sparkle. And I have high hopes that the boy's rooms will be cleaned since I've sent them there all afternoon to prepare for your arrival. I go to their rooms after doing all my other work... Oh those bedrooms, well...the doors will be closed.  If you happen t...