Kabobs prepared by Ty

At the end of the day, Ty was wanting to cook SOMETHING

He asked me to help him cook chicken, he wanted to make kabobs.

So the only thing I did was stick some chicken tenderloins in a pot of boiling water (this is most certainly the easiest thing to do at this point, it gives me flexibility to reuse this chicken that he plans on making into kabobs)..

He got out frozen bell peppers (he thought this would be easier then cutting fresh one's, and I may have tried to persuade him away from the fresh bell peppers since those are for a meal later this week and we have lately been going through so many veggies, and other foods because Ty is so into cooking right now

So, he 'chose' frozen bell peppers for his kabobs. But he read the directions on the package as to what to do with them, and put them into a bowl and put them into the microwave- and there he has it!

Bell peppers, chicken, and kabob sticks.... so while he was busy preparing 'his meal', I was able to make our meal for dinner.

Which pretty much never happens, if I haven't said it before, I hate cooking, I love baking- end of story!

Luckily I married someone who does like to cook and is good at it- I know we bore him because none of us have very sophisticated palates, well except for the 12 year old, I have to say she has way more sophistication then her mom when it comes to food, flavors, and even trying new things.

I have always said, I have the palate of a child- and the blander, the better.... may be boring, but as I have to remind others, we all have different taste buds and we all taste things differently, what's bland to one person, maybe quite full to another, sometimes too much flavor!

Anyway, Ty made his very colorful kabobs: here is a picture

okay picture is on the camera (yes I still use a real camera, I know old school!), anyway, picture is on the Sd card, but not showing up on the computer.. so this is what I call a glitch, and I have no idea how to fix it at this time- so picture this

White plate, red bell peppers, yellow peppers, chicken, all placed along a kabob stick. It's colorful indeed!

And best of all, it's made by my Ty- that is pretty great!

And even though the day was far from perfect (who am I kidding, no such thing as a perfect day- life isn't that way whether you have a kid with Autism or not... agreed??? lol)

But even with all the little kinks in the day, as he prepared his dish he was so excited about making, and I was able to work beside him in the kitchen cooking my meal for the family,

well it was simply nice.

Now, if you have never cooked with your kids before, or baked bread or cookies, muffins- anything- well I have one piece of unsolicited advice (usually not my thing, trust me the last thing a mom, especially a mom with a kid with special needs wants to hear is "other peoples opinions" which is usually how unsolicited advice comes out- and it's not usually EVER phrased in a way that is well, KIND, it's usually a thing that well, pisses us off!

but here is my advice-

cook with your kids, bake with your kids

I have always done even simple things since they were literally toddlers- and well, you just never know what that experience will do for them! I was doing this well before we ever knew anything about Ty's Autism- it kind of helped put some pieces of the puzzle together, but we definitely enjoyed moments of baking cookies, stirring, helping mommy, whatever it was- maybe this is why he loves to cook today... and when you have a kid with the issues Ty does, well, this kind of practical life skill-

It's pretty incredible! And I know it helps him on so many levels the rest of us will never understand.

This warms my heart!