Gingerbread Biscuits: Baking with an autistic child.

Baking can be a marmite activity. Some children love the mess, the fun of creating and seeing your creations when baked. For others it can cause panic at the mess, the uncertainty of what happens next and upset at the fact it’s not instantaneous. J falls into the category of ‘thumbs down’ for baking. He…

How to cope with a difficult eater…

Food and eating has always been a challenge for us. It started as a baby with allergies and the stress of finding the right formula, and then got worse at 18 months when he just stopped wanting to eat all together. Now he’s 4 and his social and sensory needs play a huge part in…

Simple science activity for under 5’s…oranges and lemons

Science, and exploring in general are fantastic opportunities for children. They can support so many different learning experiences and really encourage thinking skills. I recently wrote about ‘STEM’ in early years (you can find the post here if interested) and this is definitely a great STEM activity. How this started… Today we popped for a…

Feeding a fussy eater with allergies and sensory issues on a budget: Spaghetti Bolognese

I often talk to parents about children and food. There’s so many difficulties: fussy eaters, sensory issues, money difficulties, tying to be healthy, time to cook from scratch etc. All of the above applies in our household with the added fun of allergies. So J’s list is: Fussy eater Sensory issues (dislike wet and sticky…

Our visit to the dietician…autism, allergies and sensory needs

J was an amazing weaner. Honestly, he was a dream. At 6 months we started J on purée and some baby led weaning. J would have fun smearing it around the tray, lick his finger and have a good try on anything and everything he put in his hand. He wasn’t fussy…the only difficulty was…

‘Nines Out of Ten’…our visit to Nines All You Can Eat Buffet! (Family review, including taking child with additional needs)

Last night we celebrated my little sisters 30th birthday. It’s always a bit difficult helping J understand birthdays. In December J turned 3 and it was the first year he really knew what was going on. Whenever it’s anyone else’s birthday he gets a bit confused. He asks me if it’s his birthday, is he…

Baking with kids vs baking, with kids!

There’s two ways to read this posts title. ‘Baking with kids’ yey, what a fun family day we’ll spend together. Then, there’s ‘baking, with kids’. The comma gives it that little bit of dread. As if ‘the kids’ comes loaded with potential threats. Now, I love seeing the cute posts about children baking with their…

My ‘Uncommon’ Christmas list…

Todays #blogtober17 prompt is ‘Christmas’. I love present giving. I love thinking about the person I’m buying for and what will make them say ‘wow’. If I can find unusual gifts then that’s even better… I was introduced to a company called ‘Uncommon Goods’. At first I thought ‘eurgh, expensive American company’ but actually there’s…

Blogtober 17: Kitchen – reducing our food wastage (with a fussy/sensory based eater).

Since giving up work to look after J and allow us to go to more therapies and group we have had to tighten our money belt strings. This has ranged from using apps such as Top Cashback and reward based ones such as Costa and Greggs to collect points (hubby enjoyed his free coffee this week). …

Getting flavours into a frustratingly fussy eater…

Sooooo, J continues to be a fussy eater. I don’t necessarily mean fussy as in won’t eat much, I mean he’s fussy over textures. He only likes dry food. Anything I make has to have minimal to no sauce so my spag bol is always passata based and cooked to an inch of its life…

What to do with leftover chocolate after Easter

So, it’s almost a week since Easter Sunday and my house was over taken by mountains of chocolate! J has only been able to eat chocolate for a few months due to working through his allergies so everyone was excited to be able to buy him Easter Eggs this year. This led to a giant…