The Best Cookies I’ve Had in AGES!!
January 25, 2009 at 1:13 pm | In PDD-NOS, cooking, food, housework, motherhood, parenthood, sensory processing dysfunction | 2 CommentsPart of my weekend alone project was to bake something. Even though everyone is home now, I still am working through my list. I did get my house cleaned, really clean. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. 
So it was time to bake!
I had a bag of butterscotch chips, so I surfed the web looking for an oatmeal butterscotch chip recipe. I found one, but altered it so much that I am now calling it mine. However, I like you, so I will share.
Banana Oatmeal Scotchies
[this makes 4 dozen cookies]
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I actually use a flour mixture, see below)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 bananas
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 cups (11 oz. package) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Butterscotch Flavored Morsels
1/4 pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and banans extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats,pecans, and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
They are wonderful! Even my picky sensory child liked them!
Flour mixture (from The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine)
1 Cup White Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Wheat Germ
Mix it up and use it any time the recipe calls for flour. I use it all the time. My kids don’t even notice it anymore. Even texture sensitive boy!
My cat enjoyed my day as well.
OK I just stuck that in, because I thought Stitch was cute.
Yummy recipe–OK kids aren’t into it, but…
November 13, 2008 at 7:17 pm | In Autism, PDD-NOS, cooking, family, food, kids, motherhood, parenthood, sensory processing dysfunction | 1 CommentI made an acorn squash tonight with applesauce, brown sugar, and raisins. It was really good.
I left out the nuts as I knew my texture boy would hate that. We can’t mix textures too much and nuts are a no-no. Todd and I like the squash. The boys made an instant judgement call and had to be forced to try it.
They didn’t die from it, but they were very dramatic in their interpretations. I won’t share those as my BOYS have gotten into gross bathroom humor lately.
To be honest, I think they will eventually eat it. It is just one of those things they will have to see again and again. They will have to get used to the smell, sight, and eventually they will eat it. It takes E a lot longer than his older brother, but sometimes we get there.
At least E tried it. I couldn’t get him to try a beet.
Someone Asked Me, “When Did You Know?”
November 2, 2008 at 8:27 pm | In ADHD, Autism, PDD-NOS, family, kids, motherhood, parenthood, school, sensory processing dysfunction | 1 CommentYesterday someone asked me, “When did you know?” They were referring to my son being on the autism spectrum. It was a very difficult question, because sometimes I’m still not sure.
I didn’t know for a very long time. I knew I had a baby that often didn’t make eye contact, but lots of times he did. I knew I had to work really hard to make him smile and laugh. Yet when my baby laughed it was always a deep belly laugh.
I knew I had a toddler that HATED water. Not disliked–HATED! He tried to expose me at swimming lessons to all of our town. I knew that he disliked loud noises, loved to wrap his blanket around him. He had this strange habit of sleeping between his bed and the wall. I knew he quit eating most foods when he was a toddler.
When he went to school the first year the teacher didn’t believe he could speak. I assured her that he could. He was just shy. A few years later the teacher told me how he wouldn’t sit in the group, sometimes sat on his head, and wouldn’t look at people. I figured he might have some social issues. They suggested ADHD. I thought that wasn’t quite right.
At an ADHD seminar I found the book the Out-of-Sync Child. I thought I had figured my baby out. Yet that wasn’t quite it either. It wasn’t until between 2nd and 3rd grade that we finally had an evaluation done. That was when they brought up PDD. I wasn’t sure that I agreed.
Here we are three years later. Finally in therapy. Finally getting the alphasmart at school (I asked for it clear in 2nd grade.) I finally am coming to terms with it. It is such a long process for me.
“When did I know?” I’m just not sure.
Feeling confused!
October 7, 2008 at 8:41 pm | In ADHD, Autism, PDD-NOS, family, kids, motherhood, parenthood, sensory processing dysfunction | 3 CommentsThis week our doctor shared the re-evaluations of our son. Apparently E no longer falls on the autism spectrum. He is close, but not officially “on”. The doctor isn’t officially taking away his diagnosis. They are going to re-evaluate again later this year.
It took me three years to say he was and now he is not? I have always said that E is a confusing case. I remember a group of doctors all looking confused at a meeting in Iowa City. He isn’t typical. I have also seen a lot of growth in my baby over his lifetime.
He is much more tolerant of sensory issues now that previously would have driven him into a melt down. He looks at people when he speaks to them. He has some absolutely wonderful relationships! He is improving in his physical therapy and now only goes once a month. He hyper-focuses on things less often. (Meaning: Before he would start talking about Pokemon and continue it for HOURS! Now he is able to change the topic sooner.)
I’m still confused though with how you suddenly aren’t on the autism spectrum any more. To me he still has many of the same challenges that he had, and although I see improvement… I don’t know…
Teaching Idea to Help Children Choose Partners
October 1, 2008 at 8:02 am | In ADHD, Autism, PDD-NOS, kids, motherhood, parenthood, school, sensory processing dysfunction, teaching | Leave a CommentAn email that I sent out to the staff at my school, but thought I might post here as well:
Last night I went to my sons’ conferences. For those of you that don’t know one of my children is on the autism spectrum and has auditory brain processing issues. In other words, it takes him longer to figure out what we are actually saying to him or asking him to do. Anyway, his teacher brought up that whenever she asks the kids to find partners he ends up wandering around the room without a partner and unsure what to do.
Well she and I talked about this for a few minutes and between us we came up with a good strategy for him. She is going to tell him early that they will be choosing partners later and to choose two people he can ask to be his partner. Then instead of letting everyone choose their partner at once, she will release them by rows.
I thought this was great and is something many of us could use as we all have these kids occasionally. You may not have one on the autism spectrum, but you might have one that ends up looking like a deer in headlights when asked to do this. My son needs the social practice of asking someone to be his partner, but he also needs time to figure out who he is going to ask, how he is going to ask, and what to do if that person is already taken. My son has the added challenge of becoming easily over sensitized by the activity and volume that ensues from everyone looking for a partner at once. My instinct tells me that there are others out there that have similar issues.
Hope this is helpful,
E says try these “delecioso” pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!
September 30, 2008 at 8:04 pm | In Autism, PDD-NOS, family, food, kids, motherhood | Leave a CommentWe know a recipe is a winner when Mr. Picky will eat it. E loved these muffins tonight. I loved that Amy at Angry Chicken had done all the hard work of making it pretty healthy for me! (Thanks Amy!)
The only thing that I modified at all was I put the flour mix from The Sneaky Chef instead of the other flour. That mix is here. I also added walnuts and extra chocolate chips (OK I had to make certain E would try them. )
It was such a crisp cool day and with pumpkin muffins baking in my oven—mmmmmm!!!!! I love fall!
This really got to me
September 21, 2008 at 7:41 am | In Autism, Christian, PDD-NOS, Prayer, family, motherhood, parenthood, teaching | 6 CommentsYesterday I was at a meeting. There was a person attending that I did not know. He was new to our congregation, but someone that our pastor has known for many years. He is young, unmarried, and has no children (I think this is important later.) I instantly liked him. He fit in very well with our group and I thought what an asset to our church.
I found out that he had worked as a teacher’s assistant with autistic children. Of course my immediate thought was, “WONDERFUL!” Our pastor asked what is autism. (Remember I lead a parent support group at my church for parents of children on the autism spectrum and ADHD. I had no idea he didn’t know specifics.) I was going to go into my explanation, but my new friend did it for me.
His answer, “They are socially retarded.”
My mouth dropped open. My day changed. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around this at all. Maybe I am just politically correct or naive.
My friend Beth quickly spoke up that my son has autism and that maybe that isn’t the best way to explain it. I believe he apologized. I know he said that was how a teacher explained it to him (remember I said he is young, very young.) I believe at this point the feel of the meeting changed, but maybe just for me.
I have to be honest I don’t know what I said. I know my brain seemed to go fuzzy for the rest of the meeting. Then I find myself apologizing to him for getting worked up about this after the meeting.
It took me three years to be able to say that my son has autism. I can’t accept that definition. It is way more complex than that. I hate those words.
My son is brilliant, sweet, kind, loving, and hilarious. I also know that he is not a text book case of autism. He has baffled all the doctors both in Iowa City and Des Moines. They say over and over that he is a contradiction.
I can’t process this. It’s haunting me. I am going to have to do some serious praying about this.
Really got a glimpse into what my son feels everyday
September 17, 2008 at 5:16 pm | In ADHD, Autism, PDD-NOS, family, kids, motherhood, parenthood, school, sensory processing dysfunction, teaching | 1 CommentMy youngest has PDD or on the autism spectrum, however you want to say it. He also has sensory issues. Today I was sitting at a teacher’s meeting with 9 other people at a very small table. I was thrown 18 (literally) pages of graphs that all basically look the same and was told to sort them into two piles. The table was covered with stuff, everyone’s notebooks, sodas, boxes of pens, etc…
There was a tremendous amount of noise. At our table everyone was talking. We were supposed to be analyzing data about reading comprehension and fluency. This instantly starts everyone in defense mode. “So and so didn’t pass, because of this…” and that kind of thing.
Between the noise, stuff, people, and mental demands I lost it. I snapped at the people around me and sort of threw (more like quickly put) the graphs in the middle and said someone else could figure it out. My brain shut down. I couldn’t concentrate again.
Part of the problem is that they grouped first and second together. I was ready to see where are kids are and start looking at where I want them to be, but the first grade teachers are feeling like they need to defend their scores. Personally, I thought their scores were fine. They aren’t great, but they were right in line with our district as a whole. They were also better than ours last year.
For me though it made me think about how I expect E to recover quickly when he has a sensory meltdown, yet here I was unable to recover. Everyone has some sensory issues, but most of us develop coping skills. It was odd for me to feel so violated today. I was just overwhelmed.
The next time he melts, I hope I remember and am compassionate with him.
The Idea of Keeping an Art Journal
September 8, 2008 at 8:10 pm | In ADHD, Autism, Crafts, PDD-NOS, Working mom, motherhood, school, teaching | 4 CommentsI really like the idea of keeping an art journal. I have been hearing whispers of such journals all summer and then Jennifer over at CraftSanity interviewed Dawn DeVries Sokol the author of 1000 Artist Journal Pages. As I listened to the pod cast all I wanted to do was pick up some thin line markers and go to town in a journal. I love the concept of an art journal. Just doodling thoughts, ideas, lists, feelings into a picture.
I think I am a fairly creative person, but truth be told I don’t have a passion that I funnel all that into. My husband plays his music and you can feel his creativity vibrate through your chest. But me??? I try this and I try that. Obviously I have the theatre. However most of that is truly day to day running the business. I am not usually (except for Jack and the Beanstalk) in the creative process of putting on the play. I have things I try. So far this summer I have drawn, sewn, baked (gained 10 pounds), knitted, rug punched, and I think there may be some things I am forgetting. (Consequently I don’t do any of these things real well.)
So here I sit with these visions of creating an art journal. I’m not foolish enough to think I would ever do this kind of thing every day, but I am thinking maybe I will try just a few pages a month. I would like to incorporate some pictures of my family into these.
Another reason this is appealing to me is the post last week about stress. Morroco’s comment about coloring relieving stress came about the same time I listened to the pod cast. Both idea’s have just been sticking with me.
So now I have laid it out here. I think I will give it a try. Sometime later this week I will post whatever I end up with on my blog. Maybe you are interested in keeping an art journal. Maybe not, but the pod cast and Dawn’s website are both very interesting. I can’t wait to see the book.
*On a separate note I would love to do this with kids during Writer’s Workshop for a few weeks.
Back to School Lunches for My Picky Eater
September 6, 2008 at 4:37 pm | In ADHD, Autism, PDD-NOS, Working mom, cooking, family, kids, motherhood, parenthood, school, sensory processing dysfunction | 2 CommentsI have been searching far and wide for recipes for my son’s lunch. His food choices are more limited than the average kid’s. I typically have to send lunch with him 3-4 times a week. My friend Suzanne started me thinking about this. After I read her blog entry about lunches this summer, I realized I send Uncrustables almost every day he takes a cold lunch. I say ALMOST. I did send a few other things, but not many.
So I have been doing some research of some lunches my boys would eat. Here is what I have come up with.
- pizza bread cut to fit in a thermos
- chicken nuggets
- ravioli
- grilled cheese cut to fit in a thermos
- pinwheel tortilla sandwiches (I haven’t tried this yet. It could go both ways. I will start with pbj).
- dip (I didn’t think of sending dip with his veggies–again peanut butter or catalina dressing.)
- bugs on a log (E won’t eat raisins, but he will eat choc chips on it.)
- Meatball sandwich (put meatballs in thermos, so bread isn’t soggy)
- macaroni and cheese
- yogurt with vanilla wafers or animal crackers to dip in it
- Anything resembling pizza–pizza quesadilla or pizza pita
- ramen noodles (older son only)-put leftover chicken in and veggies
- cold meat sandwich
- hot dog
- banana dog-pb on a hot dog bun take a banana and put it inside (shocked me that he would eat this)
- spaghetti
There were a lot of ideas that basically were about presentation. Cutting the sandwiches with cookie cutters or into puzzle pieces. Getting fun napkins on clearance from Target or the party store. Using stickers on their bags. I have used this book, Lunch Box Letters, since kindergarten to send little notes in the lunch. My kids love it because it comes with a joke. We have went through two of these books.
As I write this I feel as if I am possibly opening up myself to some criticism. I am a little granola crunchy, and have long given up the complete healthy and organic menu for my kids. The reason? E wouldn’t eat. I mean truly wouldn’t eat even though he was hungry. He has sensory issues. Lots of people write his response to things as him being a spoiled brat. Sensory issues are very real and often physically painful to the children that have them. His motor development also changes his diet. His chewing muscles aren’t quite as developed as most. He tends to choose softer things. Not always, but he will never choose a chewy piece of meat. I have to insist.
My kids seem to like their new menu this year. I will add new things when I find them. If you find something yummy, let me know!
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