When Reality Is Better Than Your Dreams: cookie therapy

I have a serious problem. I am sure everyone out there can relate to this problem too... I dont have enough time! There are just not enough hours in day to keep the house as clean as I would like, to run the errands that need run, wash & and put away laundry, and spend truly meaningful time with my amazing family (forget any crafting,baking,& blogging that this momma might enjoy!) Add on top of all that the fact that I have to try and fit in as much sensory therapy for Owen as I possibly can in a day to help him be the best he can be (more on that in a minuet)and it usually leads to some days where I feel like I have all my ducks in a row and others where I feel like they are scurrying about a willy nilly!

This morning was a ducks in a row kind of day!:D Man I love those days! The littlest Mr. let me "sleep in" until 7:15 and then since we didnt have school this am Owen sure wasnt waking up early (he's pretty sure he's a teenager @ 2.5 already and pulls the covers over his head if I try to get him up before 9 am...lol)So I was able to shower, tidy up a bit and start some laundry first thing this am while Liam played happily!! I was also expecting a sweet friend for a coffee date late this am (funny how people coming over can lite a fire under your butt eh?) Now, I really love to bake and I also love to have fresh baked goods when I have people over (yeah I know your all signing up for a coffee date soon right? lol )So I was excited to have the time to get ALL that stuff done in time to make some yummy cookies before my coffee date!

These cookies also served a different purpose this am though. They were part of Owen's sensory therapy for the morning! If you've read my previous post about Owen you know he has an educational "autism" diagnosis but the more we research and the more his occupational therapist has worked with him we are leaning more towards the fact that he may have something called sensory processing disorder. (you can read more about SPD here ) I will try not to bore you with all the complicated mumbo jumbo, but basically we need to fulfill his sensory needs in order for his body to calm down enough to learn and be content. One of the goals his occupation therapist has for him is to achieve better wrist rotation ( turning door knobs, screw on lids ect).... I know this might seem like a silly "goal" to some of you especially if you know Owen because most people think of him as a "normal" child but these "small" things are the kinds of things we work on every day to try and get our sweet, handsome, energetic boy caught up to where he needs to be. I try to sneak these activities in where ever I can in our day to make it fun and since Owen loves to bake with me there is no complaining or resisting about doing it ;) He carries all the heavy things like flour,sugar ect from the pantry and puts them on the island for me, he adds ingredients to the bowl, he stirs... they are all great fine/gross motor activities that any child enjoys but they serve a defined purpose for him in getting some of the pent up energy out of his body! Today I choose a recipe that included a special challenge! DUN DUN DUN the peanut butter jar!!lol

We made peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I used pretty much this exact recipe from Baking Bites but I left off the icing and I added chocolate chips!

This recipe is really simple. Basically you mix the dry ingredients in bowl

Then you cream your butter and sugar together and mix in the rest of the ingredients

dont you LOVE the look of success after opening the pb jar ??:

I pulled the bowl out of the kitchen aid to add the chocolate chips so that little Mr. could get a good work out from stirring that super sticky dough!