bountifulplate

I try to involve Dominic as much as I can when I am baking. Yesterday morning, we made pumpkin muffins. In the past, when it came time to measure the liquids or crack the eggs, I would do it. I decided that it was time for him to try it.  I showed Dominic where on the measuring cup he needed to fill it to and he did it exactly. Then, since we needed to crack four eggs, I let him do it from beginning to end. He has seen me crack probably enough eggs to circle the Earth, so he applied just the right amount of pressure and dropped all four eggs into a separate bowl,with NO shells!!  I gave him tons of verbal praise and he told me, "I did it the eggs, all by myself!" He was grinning from ear to ear and told me several times throughout the day about his egg cracking.  It may not seem like a gigantic deal to most people, but to me it was another "skill" that Dominic has mastered. Today, we had a "field trip" to the Kroger .  Long gone are the days that I would w...

This morning, before my husband left for work he said, "you like going through your old cookbooks, don't you?" The poor guy, I have my "collection" all over the place right now. They are next to my side of the bed, spilling out of the bookcase in the dining room and next to the computer! He's even tried to tell me I have enough cookbooks. Shame on him, right?!?!?!? He should know that after being together almost 25 years, I will NEVER  have enough cookbooks!!! LOL.  Lately, I've been looking through the ones that belonged to my mother-in-law. She passed away in January of 2011 and we miss her all the time. She worked for a number of years at the May Company in Cleveland, Ohio. One of the cookbooks I acquired from her, " Celebrate Our 1st Cookbook ," I'm guessing was distributed to all of the employees around the holidays. I found some of the names of the recipes in the cookbook to be quite, ahem, different. These three kind of stood ...

Dominic has been to a barber shop exactly twice. The first time, my husband and I took him to the local Meijer barber shop and he gagged and cried so much, we had to leave. The second time, he bolted out of the barber shop and almost ran into the road. I have been cutting his hair ever since. I would have to get myself mentally "geared up" to give him his haircuts, because it would be so upsetting for the both of us. When he was small enough, I could put him in his booster seat, strap him in and cut away. Given that he is now over 120 pounds those days are LONG gone. This past Saturday, Dominic out of the blue started saying, "haircut, barber shop, socks and shoes, car." He probably repeated it at least half a dozen times. Every time he would say it, my response back was, "are you sure?" I tried to explain to him that once the barber started, he would have to finish. He was EXTREMELY persistent about wanting to go. He wore me down until I finally said,...

Lauren moves into her on-campus apartment in a little less than three weeks. We have bought her textbooks, school supplies and the parking permit for her car. This time last year, we were cross referencing lists, buying last minute things for her dorm room and figuring out how to pack everything into our van for the 90-mile drive to her college campus. I remember thinking to myself at the time, how in the world would I get used to not seeing her everyday? How would we all adjust? During Lauren's freshman year of college, I learned the following: It was completely fine if we didn't e-mail, talk, Facebook  or text EVERY day. The world would continue to revolve. Skype is a wonderful thing - we even did three-way conversations with my stepson! It wasn't that big of a deal having Lauren save up all of her dirty laundry for me for two weeks at a time. I learned about muscles I didn't know existed when going up and down the four flights of ...

This past Sunday, the disability ministry that I am blessed to be the program director for had a picnic that started about 11:30 a.m. We had a handful of firemen and a policewoman there who brought two big fire trucks and a police car to look at. We also had face painting, a petting zoo, lots of games and yummy food. About 2 p.m., a van pulled into the parking lot. The doors opened and five disabled residents from a group home got out. I went over to welcome them to our picnic and directed them to one of the tables. I then sat down between two of the women. The lady to the left of me immediately fell asleep in her wheelchair. The gal to the right of me who looked to be in her mid-70's was looking straight ahead with a big scowl on her face. She looked incredibly ticked off and mad, like the last place in the world she wanted to be was at a picnic talking to someone she had never met before (me).  I asked her a bunch of times...

    I know that you felt uncomfortable in the music school waiting room last Wednesday night. I saw you shifting in your seat, like you would rather have been anywhere else in the world, but where you were.  When I started talking to my friend in the wheelchair, I could see you staring at me. When the two young women with special needs starting chatting with each other, I watched you look at them and then turn away. I'm guessing you felt out of place when the three moms of the adult children with special needs started chatting happily amongst themselves at the table next to you. When I was waiting for Dominic's teacher to come and take him back for music therapy, I could tell by your expression that you were trying to guess what his "disability" was. When I saw your son coming down the hallway from his music lesson, I watched you bolt of your chair and rush your son out the door. When Dominic and I were walking to our car and you ...

Back at the beginning of the summer, Lauren decided that she would start a "bucket" list of activities that she wanted to do alone with Dominic. Given that she has her own car and license, I am not required to be a "chauffeur." This was an idea that she thought up on her own - I had no hand in it whatsoever. She told me recently, "it's fun to do "sibling" things with Dominic!!" In all ways, they are "typical" siblings. So far, they have watched a movie in a movie theater:   visited the library, played tennis and went for Slurpee's at the  7-Eleven ! This summer has been a bit of an adjustment for both "kids," because Lauren has a summer job and she is working long and late hours. When Dominic hears her car pull up in the driveway, he will come to the front door as she comes in and say, "surprise, welcome home La-La!" It definitely puts a big smile on her face (and mine). Lauren told me recentl...