Kaden and Aaron finishing off the meal with dessert--brownies!
Ahhhh...there is nothing that says "Minnesota" like Tator Tot Hotdish. We can try to make it "new" by switching out the vegetable (like corn instead of green beans) or adding cheese soup instead of the classic cream of mushroom variety, but it still is pretty much the same....just as we remember it from when we were kids.
It was the same old thing until yesterday, as we were trying to come up with something to make for dinner. Digging through the freezer until we came upon that bag of tator tots at the bottom. In our house, those are only used for one thing--the namesake hotdish. What made our tator tot hotdish new this time, was the help in the kitchen.
Aaron was in the kitchen in his walker. He was trying to get right next to us to be part of the action. Because Aaron normally has little interest in food (he is Gtube fed), we don't often find him in the kitchen. Mark and I were both there (Mark had a church cook book out on the counter so he could follow the recipe!) and so Aaron wanted to be by us.
After I had opened up the cans, it was Aaron's turn to help. I handed him the cans of beans to pour into our dish. And he carefully poured them in over the hamburger soup mixture and then took the can and put it close to his eyes to make sure that all the beans were out of the can. After seeing that all the beans were gone, he would make his signature sound that tells the world he was happy and that he would like every one to know that he did something really spectacular.
He poured and stirred and helped to layer the tator tots. He did not like the frozen nature of the tots so he wouldn't touch them. But he managed to get creative as he helped us finish the job.
It was a beautiful tator tot hotdish. The most beautiful I have ever seen. Aaron is 17 years old. Some may think that he has learned all that he is going to learn in life. I am so thankful that this is not the case--he continues to surprise us in so many ways. I am so thankful that we never stop learning either. Imagine if at 17 or 30 or at 45, that we had learned all that we were going to learn in life? What a scary thought...
Watching Aaron do something so simple and yet so new for him, reminded me that we can never stop exposing our children and ourselves to new learning experiences. We can not assume that our kids can not do something because they could not do it in the past. We can not assume that we know what they like and don't like because our kids are just like us...their interests change. I haven't made a macrame owl wall hanging in almost 30 years (aren't you thankful my interests changed?!)
Some days when I see Aaron do something he "should" have been able to do much earlier, I can get stuck there. As we laughed so hard watching Aaron do something so simple, I forgot about all the tears that we have shed because he can not do so many things that we take for granted. The "what might have beens" add the flavor to the joys. I think they make them so much sweeter. The richness and depth of every day moments are a gift that we are given when we are asked to raise kids with special needs. And it is so worth it....
It was the same old thing until yesterday, as we were trying to come up with something to make for dinner. Digging through the freezer until we came upon that bag of tator tots at the bottom. In our house, those are only used for one thing--the namesake hotdish. What made our tator tot hotdish new this time, was the help in the kitchen.
Aaron was in the kitchen in his walker. He was trying to get right next to us to be part of the action. Because Aaron normally has little interest in food (he is Gtube fed), we don't often find him in the kitchen. Mark and I were both there (Mark had a church cook book out on the counter so he could follow the recipe!) and so Aaron wanted to be by us.
After I had opened up the cans, it was Aaron's turn to help. I handed him the cans of beans to pour into our dish. And he carefully poured them in over the hamburger soup mixture and then took the can and put it close to his eyes to make sure that all the beans were out of the can. After seeing that all the beans were gone, he would make his signature sound that tells the world he was happy and that he would like every one to know that he did something really spectacular.
He poured and stirred and helped to layer the tator tots. He did not like the frozen nature of the tots so he wouldn't touch them. But he managed to get creative as he helped us finish the job.
It was a beautiful tator tot hotdish. The most beautiful I have ever seen. Aaron is 17 years old. Some may think that he has learned all that he is going to learn in life. I am so thankful that this is not the case--he continues to surprise us in so many ways. I am so thankful that we never stop learning either. Imagine if at 17 or 30 or at 45, that we had learned all that we were going to learn in life? What a scary thought...
Watching Aaron do something so simple and yet so new for him, reminded me that we can never stop exposing our children and ourselves to new learning experiences. We can not assume that our kids can not do something because they could not do it in the past. We can not assume that we know what they like and don't like because our kids are just like us...their interests change. I haven't made a macrame owl wall hanging in almost 30 years (aren't you thankful my interests changed?!)
Some days when I see Aaron do something he "should" have been able to do much earlier, I can get stuck there. As we laughed so hard watching Aaron do something so simple, I forgot about all the tears that we have shed because he can not do so many things that we take for granted. The "what might have beens" add the flavor to the joys. I think they make them so much sweeter. The richness and depth of every day moments are a gift that we are given when we are asked to raise kids with special needs. And it is so worth it....
