bountifulplate

This past Monday afternoon, as I was putting the ingredients into a large bowl to make some homemade pumpkin muffins, Dominic came over and spontaneously said, "what's next in the mixer?" He helped me finish making the muffins and they were especially delicious :) He and I love to make our favorite waffle recipe out of this cookbook:   He LOVES to read me the recipe and pour the ingredients into the bowl: It has been awesome to watch him blossom and become so confident in both his reading and his cooking and baking skills.  He also thinks it's funny to pretend to eat a tomato:   And then toss it up into the air (well, he does need to practice for baseball season).  He did catch it when it came back down, thank goodness!!   I want him to know that it's okay to have fun in the kitchen, it doesn't have to be serious!  There is one very important thing I am teaching Dominic. It's okay to make mistakes!  He is my "sous chef" in tra...

A few months ago, I bought a box of Quaker Warm & Crunchy Granola (I think because it was on sale and I had a coupon). That's usually the only way I'll try something new - yes, I know, I'm kind of set in my ways :) Anyways, I've had a few of these packages for breakfast and they are pretty tasty. But, I've been thinking of trying my hand at making some homemade granola, especially after I looked at the ingredient list on the side of the Quaker Warm & Crunchy Granola package. Guess how many items were listed? Would you believe 22? Yikes. That is one reason why I like to bake and cook so much. I can control the ingredients!  I found several recipes for something called "overnight" granola, but more than a few used a ton of cinnamon (like at least one tablespoon).  As much as I am a cinnamon "gal," even that sounded a bit extreme!  I came up with my own recipe instead. Granola is pretty versatile. I put some into a bowl Sunday morning...

Earlier in the week, Dominic had a slight cough, but no other symptoms. I figured it might be allergies or our weather changing back and forth. I sent him to school yesterday, because he seemed to be doing okay and not coughing a lot. Well, later in the afternoon, Mr. P sent me an e-mail that said, "I think I might have some unfortunate news, it seems Dominic is coming down with something. In addition to his cough, he has lost his voice and for most of the afternoon he laid with his head down on the table. I let him take a break, because I could tell by his face he wasn't feeling too well. I hope he isn't sick all weekend." When Dominic got off the bus, he wasn't his usual bubbly self, so I knew it wasn't good. He ate all of his dinner and I kept him up until close to his usual bedtime.  About 4:30 a.m. this morning, I heard a voice saying, "hi Mommy!" and then footsteps going downstairs. I waited about 10 minutes to go down and investigate, hoping...

In 25 days, Lauren will graduate from high school.  We ordered graduation announcements and they will be going out this week.  Last weekend, we got an awesome deal on a beautiful dress for the prom. Monday morning, we found two dresses and shoes that she needs for four different graduation events. We recently booked a plane ticket for my stepson and we are so excited he can fly in to watch his one and only sister graduate from high school.  After visiting five colleges and applying to four, she came to a college decision on Monday night and we paid the registration and housing fees!  Eleven days after Lauren graduates, she turns 18.  She will legally be an adult and be responsible for making her own decisions.  This whole senior year, she has driven herself back and forth to school everyday, so she has gotten a "taste" of what it's like to be independent of mom and dad.  Her car needed some repairs and spent the long Easter weekend at the shop. Y...

I had the opportunity to take Dominic to visit my Aunt Penny ("Auntie") earlier in April. I have known my Auntie since I was born.  She was married to my mom's brother until his passing a handful of years back. I admire my Aunt Penny so much, she is an amazing and beautiful woman inside and out. Dominic and I had an awesome visit and the three of us had a wonderful time having lunch and catching up. There were definitely two highlights of the afternoon.  The first was when Dominic hopped on my Auntie's lap and she started tickling him. I love, love, love this picture of them. He just has the look of pure joy and happiness.  They both were laughing really hard.  The second highlight was when I grabbed a book I had brought and Dominic squeezed in next to her and they read it together. My Auntie is one of Dominic's biggest supporters and the two of them definitely have a close and special relationship.  I thought I was the one that had a way with word...

Yesterday morning, Dominic said two sentences spontaneously.  When he came downstairs for breakfast, he told me, "It's snowing!" Then, shortly before he got on the bus, he looked out the back window, saw a bunny hiding behind one of the trees in the backyard and said, "bunny in the snow!"   That might not seem like a huge deal, but to me, I was ready to have a party!  For children with speech delays (like Dominic), getting him to describe what's going on and initiating conversation is a constant challenge.  At his parent/teacher conference in March, I talked briefly to Dominic's current speech therapist. He has been blessed to have had some amazing speech therapists that have worked with him since he started school. The speech therapist filled me in on how he was doing at the conference.  She gave me some great suggestions on how to elicit more spontaneous speech, like cover the words in a story and make him ...

GETTING READY GETTING SET AND GO!!!! I took Dominic to a park recently on a perfect April morning. The sun was shining and more importantly, we were the only ones on the playground which Dominic thought was pretty cool. No waiting and he could play on whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted. A nine-year old boy's dream! His favorite piece of play equipment was definitely this one because he could spin around.   We played for a while and then headed towards the lake.   We ran into a few geese and continued around the lake and over the stone bridge. We ended up back by the playground equipment again and I let him play a bit longer: Then, we took a look at these magnificent daffodils: Our everyday lives are so busy and hectic that I sometimes feel like I'm on a treadmill trying to catch up! It was nice to take a little break to slow down and hang out at the park all morning.  I think my boy might be a little too...

Dominic's teacher (Mr. P) and I have spent this week trying to determine the cause of some of Dominic's recent avoidance behaviors.  I was beginning to feel like Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a big mystery. I was wondering if it had something to do with Ritalin, so I asked Mr. P to track his behavior and see if there was any correlation. There really didn't seem to be. When you have a special needs child, they are constantly a "work in progress."  All children kind of are, aren't they? Do we ever reach a point with our kids when we say, "okay, I'm done!" Not really :) We've certainly had our ups and downs with the potty training, but Dominic seems to be doing awesome in that area recently, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  It's good to push Dominic, but at the same time I was wondering if maybe we were expecting too much from him.  Mr. P and I exchanged e-mails and had some conversations on the phone.  One of my questions was if a...

Before Lauren was born, the only experience I had with babies was with my younger siblings or babysitting.  I worked right up until a few days before she arrived and then the hubby and I decided that I would be a stay-at-home mom.  Economically, it made sense, since almost all of my salary would have gone to daycare. Those first couple of months were kind of a blur, as it is with newborns.  Once she got a little older, I knew she and I both needed some outside stimulation.  I decided to take a parenting class close by hoping to meet new moms like myself.  Luckily, I did. I met a handful of moms and we all had babies pretty close in age to each other.  We started a playgroup that met at least once a week until the kids starting going to preschool. I lost touch briefly with those moms, but Facebook brought us back together again.  Now, instead of talking about diapers, we talk about what colleges our "babies" will be going to! I can remember back to wh...