Walking the Walk...Eating the Choices

First, I apologize for taking such a long break from posting. I've been working hard to tailor what I do so that it is more beneficial to you. Part of that has included learning how to recreate my website with the hopes of adding the blogging feature to that. Look for more information in the next week.

The most intense learning situations for me have been as Andy's Mother. The most rewarding learning experiences come from working with Andy and others who are on this journey with us. I can tell when people wonder if I actually do the things that I talk about in my own home. It's a reasonable question, really. Andy, with all his uniqueness, is his own person. What we do is tailored to his success.

Tonight is a great example. This spring, we took trips to our local New Seasons Market, with photos of cuts of meat and text for the specific order, and made purchases for dinner. Andy now thinks the meat department is the best part of the store.

Andy decided that today he wanted to be in charge of our dinner menu. It caught Charli, Andy's support provider, and me by surprise, but we grabbed a couple of the meat order cards and let him make a choice. He chose chicken kabobs. Off we went to the store.

Andy marched straight back to the meat counter, where we met Mason, who had served Andy once before.  As Andy handed over his card, Mason grinned from ear-to-ear, saying "I love this!" He then asked if he could show the card to his coworkers. They all smiled as they watched Andy waiting - not so patiently as he twirled - for his kabobs. Mason gave them to us, and Andy took the package with great pride. Off we strutted to pay and go home to make our meal.

As shown in Cooking by Color: Recipes for Independence, I use a broad guide for planning a balanced meal: if the meal has 3 of the 5 food groups, it is balanced. I always warn parents and providers that this can lead to some odd menus. Here's how it went: I offered Andy a choice of rice or noodles to go with his GF Teriyaki Kabobs. He chose Penne pasta. Hmmm. I tried again by offering rice noodles or Penne. He chose Penne. I offered a choice of tossed salad or sauteed vegetables.He chose sauteed vegetables. So I chose to mix the vegetables in with the pasta - something I do often.

Menu

Chicken Kabob
Penne Pasta with sauteed Broccoli, Carrots, and Feta Cheese
Milk

Hmm. An interesting cullinary mixture.

Is it balanced?

I'm afraid so! There are 3 of the  5 food groups on the plate. Andy has chosen well.

One could say that I crafted that balance by having him choose one at a time. It's true, I did. This is where Andy is in his communication skills and interest in this process. Just so you know, there are times I do this and he says "No" to entire categories of choices - regardless of how many I offer. I keep trying until we get a balanced meal. But he usually skips the category he was refusing.

On this night, he proudly - and I do mean proudly - ate every bite. Walking the walk...eating the choices. It's an adventure I wouldn't trade for the world.