Hello everyone! I've been thinking about an interesting situation lately. It all started with a post from Autism Daddy on facebook about his son taking his shoes off at home. This short little post got a response from 181 people all saying the same thing! I was one of them. It made me curious to see if there were any more out there dealing with the same thing, or was this just a fluke? So, I made a post over at www.myautismteam.com. In two days I got nineteen replies saying the same thing! I don't know why this is surprising to me. I guess I'm used to thinking that I'm the only one dealing with the challenge of autism and that is more and more not the case any more. It's rather freeing in a way. I tend to be a high strung, nervous kind of person. The kind of person who worries way more than she should. The type of person who likes to have a place for everything and everything in it's place. I married a man who is rather similar. Then we had children. Child number one is a writer/artist. Her creativity flows all over the house along with her papers, art supplies, dishes, food wrappers, shoes and lap top. I've made a small inroad here, but there is always something I have to clean up once she is out the door or in bed for the night. I've learned to tolerate her messes over the years. Then we had our son. Yet another very unique individual. At first I was thrilled to see how neat he was. Yeah, he isn't a slob like his sister!! Then the truly autistic behaviors began. Dad totally freaked out, and I was just stunned. I suppose that's a topic for another post. Anyway, when your child hits a certain age and you start looking towards his future, you start to take a closer look at some of his habits to see if anything can be done. This is where my head has been at lately. I'm trying to get my son to be a little more self-sufficient. Someone that I don't have to worry about so much. Here's where the shoes come in. He's always been barefoot at home. When he was little his feet would get filthy from running outside. He even got a wart on his foot then. Ever since then I have been hyper vigilant about his feet. I've offered flip flops, sandals, slippers of all sorts, never thought of the pool shoes that one mother mentioned, but they were all met with a refusal. I had hoped that someone had a solution for me. That I wouldn't have to worry about my son's feet being cold in the winter. Two hundred parents said I wasn't alone. Two hundred parents said we've been there and nothing drastic has happen yet. I turned to my daughter's fiance, who happens to be an aspie. His response "Is there something wrong with being barefoot?" I stared at him for a minute. Me in my slippers and socks and thought "Is there?" Just yesterday I found some cookies that I had made all sorted by color. I laughed and showed them to his sisters. "Guess who's been in the cookies!" We all laughed because this is one of his idiosyncrasies that we have come to accept and adore. I guess I've found another one now. He will wear sneakers or dress shoes when he has to go somewhere. I pray he will never have to wear work boots for a job, because I just don't see that happening. This has to be enough. So what if he is barefoot at home? Is there something wrong with it? Is there? As long as his feet stay reasonably clean, and they usually are these days, I'm thinking he's just fine. Sometimes it's the mom's that have to be taught!
I have a recipe for you this month. This one is Applesauce Spice Cake. I got it from a Betty Crocker cookbook that I found at the library back in 2001. I don't remember it's name, but I hope they don't mind me sharing it here. My son never, ever eats fruit. The closest I get is apple juice or applesauce. This is a hit with him as you can see by the photo. It never lasts long around here.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 16 oz can applesauce
3/4 cup raisins
Directions:
1.Grease and flour an 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
2. Combine first seven ingredients and set aside.
3. In mixer place soften butter, beat 30 seconds. Add sugar. Then add eggs, beating one minute after
each.
4. Add dry ingredients and applesauce alternately to beaten mixture.
5. Stir in raisins by hand and turn into the pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It's done when toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
We once were out of nutmeg and cloves. We doubled the cinnamon and added ginger (about 1/2 teaspoon) to taste. It still turned out yummy.
