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 training and currently "enrolled" in my class "Breaking an Egg Correctly into a Bowl 101."
He helped make the dough and press them down:
I think we know what Dominic thought of the finished product!
For years, I have talked about writing a cookbook. Even my husband would ask me, "so how is the cookbook coming along?" He stopped asking me a while back. I would get started and then something would come up and my cookbook project would get "shelved." When I was at the library yesterday, I headed over to the cookbook section. While there are cookbooks that teach kids how to cook and bake, I didn't see one that teaches special needs kids how to cook and bake. Many kids with special needs (especially non-verbal ones) are very visual. A special needs cookbook would have to have a lot of pictures and the tasks broken down for each recipe. It could also be in Braille. I think there is a real need for that kind of cookbook don't you think? I wouldn't have to worry about hiring a kid to model and help make the recipes - I already have Dominic! He likes to be "paid" in kisses and hugs, though you wouldn't think so from his expression :)