A few nights ago, I tried a small accidental experiment with the V-Man. I was going to make hamburgers (with homemade buns too) but decided I was simply too tired and it would take far too long.
I'm at the final stage of fighting my cold and still a bit zapped of my regular crazy bursts of energy (which none of it gets used for cleaning magically...) and decided last minute on a switcheroo to Singapore vermicelli. Easy, budget-friendly and relatively light but filling.
While the meat and veggies were cooking, I started to mix up the sauce. I then noticed that someone snuck into the kitchen.
It was V-Man!
The reason why he has to sneak into the kitchen lately is because A-Man doesn't like him in the kitchen. A-Man is super territorial about the kitchen being his personal space to be creative with Mommy (me) but at times that's quite frustrating because I don't have enough hands to separate the two from beating the crap out of each other...or enough fingers to stuff into my ears as they cry and yell.
He seemed interested in what I was doing, which was both shocking and exciting.
So I took each spice shaker/jar and let him smell them. Lately, he's been very keen on smelling new food before trying them.
He let me hold the jars and after a deep sniff of each spice (i.e. curry powder, chili flakes, pepper, etc.) he would close the cap by pressing down on it then to let me know he was finished smelling - he pushed my hand away gently.
This is a huge improvement within itself as he used to shove everything away from him quite roughly too!
"Alright, what else can I get him to do?" - I thought out loud to myself.
Next thing I know, he's eyeing the stove and I know what you're thinking:
"Why the f would she let her kid near the stove? An autistic one at that?!"
But yeah, I did.
I pulled a chair up to the stove and he eagerly climbed aboard and took a look at the contents of the wok (pork & vegetables).
I showed him the spatula to stir the food with and he stood there just flapping and bouncing from his heels to his toes repeatedly out of sheer excitement.
He was happy. He wasn't screaming or crying - oh wait.
Then he decided to put his face near the wok and put his mouth on the side of it (like he was eating it)...well, he leaned back after I said firmly, "No." And continued to bop around on the chair.
I helped him to stir the meat and veggies and once the sauce was fully mixed, I took his hand and let him pour the sauce into the wok and stir a bit more.
He gave up on stirring after a couple of minutes and seemed quite pleased to look.
I tried talking to him and explaining what I was doing out loud to him and he listened for a bit then hopped off the chair and ran away to play.
Will I do this again?
Sure - why not? He had fun, he was learning something, he was able to do things (as little and insignificant as they may seem to you or I) - even for a short period of time and maybe it'll be a nice memory for him of cooking with his mother.
BIMU
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