Tulip Meatloaf
A couple of really good things happened today and I wanted to share this with all of you. Never know, might actually help one or two of you somewhere down the line.
First... TLP faced a fear today and made a Tulip Meatloaf all by himself.
I mean it... NO HELP FROM MOM except for telling him what to put into it.
Well.. I always make everything sound so easy, don't I?
Okay... he was AFRAID to make a meatloaf.
Seriously, he was... and he started to panic as I told him to add two eggs to the big mess in the bowl.
"I have to put my hands in this," he said sounding very nervous.
"I can't do it, Mom. It's going to make me throw up."
"I can't touch that raw hamburger and eggs stuff with my bare hands."
I told him he could use a spoon... which would be a little harder...
OR
he could PRETEND that it wasn't meatloaf... and PRETEND THAT IT WAS PLAY-DOH.
I told him that he didn't just have to throw his meatloaf into a bread pan like I did,
he could spread some aluminum foil on a baking sheet and form his meatloaf into ANYTHING that he wanted it to be.
He seemed to really open up to that idea.
So I had him rewash his ands again and just as he was starting to make a bad face and feel a bad sick feeling in his stomach... I smiled and said, "This is PLAY-DOH. Remember that as you are mixing it. This is PLAYDOH... and you are going to make this really awesome creation after you are finished mixing it up."
He seemed to be doing okay so I asked him...
"What are you planning to make when you get your PLAY-DOH all mixed up?"
"A flower," he said smiling.
"What kind of flower," I asked him.
"A Tulip," he said.
When the PLAY-DOH was all mixed up, I had TLP get a bowl of warm water and sit it on the table next to his bowl of PLAY-DOH. Together we put the huge pile of PLAY-DOH onto the aluminum foil and dipped our hands into the warm water. We used the water to smooth out the cracks in the PLAY-DOH and he sculpted the most beautiful Tulip.
When he were finished... he was still doing great. He wasn't sick... and now I can't wait to taste his yummy Tulip MEATLOAF later tonight.
Sometimes... we just have to learn to play our children a bit to work through some of these fears.
He wasn't messing with me... he was seriously AFRAID he was going to be sick when he touched that raw egg and raw hamburger. I could see it on his face.
Today... TLP faced one of his fears.... and tonight... we're all going to eat it.
So.... the second thing that I wanted to share with all of you was the story about the fire pit grill breaking. When we moved it back up onto the deck today... one of the three legs fell off. Like I always do.... I said, "We'll let Dad know when he gets home from work and he will fix it for us."
Well... I was washing dishes in the kitchen and I THOUGHT TLP was playing out in the yard until I heard him call me to come help him. (That in itself is a small miracle)
I went outside and there he was on the deck... and he had a screwdriver and a socket set and he had the leg put back on the fire pit.
WOW!!!!! I was impressed. Really impressed... because I seem to have two left hands and that's why I always save all of the broken things for Dad to fix. Ha Ha
The really amazing thing wasn't the fact that he had fixed the fire pit/grill. The amazing part was that he ASKED FOR MY HELP. He needed me to hold the screwdriver tightly against the screw on the top because it kept spinning as he was trying to tighten it on the bottom.
He needed someone to help him... and he asked for help. That's a pretty amazing thing for a RAD kid.
Anyway, I just wanted to share these two stories with you today. I'm so glad that he is back home with us, and so glad to see that he is doing so well. I'll keep you updated on our progress as time goes on.
