Chef Maggie

Maggie loves to "cook."  Of course, her definition of cooking is different than most. Maggie cooking means Maggie in the middle of the kitchen sending out orders on her dynavox,  pulling open any drawers in reach and throwing everything out of them. We have to make certain there is nothing breakable or dangerous within her reach. Generally it's the dishtowels and lids form the pans that go flying.

If she can reach the refrigerator, she is ecstatic  because it has two doors on top and a sliding freezer on the bottom and she loves all three. She will open and slam them as much as possible. In the interest of our refrigerator, and the food inside of it, she never gets to do that very long.

The other night Tim was cooking the  hamburgers, something he does quite well. Maggie was beside herself. She was in the kitchen doing her thing and she gets to order Tim around too. A great day in the neighborhood!  Maggie was delighted with the entire set-up as you can see from her wicked grin.

It was quite crowded in the kitchen with Maggie's chair and Tim trying to use the stove. I stepped into the dining room listening to the two of them "banter."   Tim was telling her all the things he was putting in the burgers and Maggie was laughing and slamming drawers. After a bit, Maggie had enough and wanted things to get serious. I heard her use her dynavox to say:
                "Tim, cook. Or I'm gonna knock you on your can."

Turns out she's Chef Ramsey.

Nextcourse

Maggie is featured in a post in a blog at Nextcourse, the people who come into her class to cook. Maggie really adores Chef M.  It's a bit misleading to suggest Maggie was typing things into her talker, the person writing this has never met Maggie, but you will get the idea.

check it out here Nextcourse blog

Too Many Cooks

We had a late dinner last night just because I was moving so slowly yesterday. The nurse was already leaving by the time I cooked dinner, so Maggie came into the kitchen to “help” me. This is one of her favorite activities.

Because her wheelchair is so cumbersome and the kitchen so small, there is really just one spot for her to hang out while I prepare dinner or do dishes or whatever. Maggie is parked next to the counter where she can reach the pot drawer and dish towel drawer. If I am cooking at the stove she is directly behind me. I have to make certain that anything breakable is out of her reach because she flings anything she can find. I did recently lose a 40 year old Betty Crocker bowl because it was in the pot drawer and did not survive Maggie’s “cooking”. (My own stupid fault.) The counter top holds the microwave, the coffee maker and whatever else happens to be laying around. I push the coffee maker out of the way and dissuade her from opening and slamming the microwave door because when she does she moves the entire thing. Losing a bowl is one thing, but the thought of the microwave flying across the room is something else again.

As I was starting so late, I just let her do her thing and concentrated on preparing and assembling the eggplant parmesan. It’s easy, but it takes several steps. I kept up a constant chatter with Maggie who would respond by flinging a pot top or utensil onto the floor with a resounding clang. The towel drawer was opening and closing with a force that makes my furniture building, wood loving husband wince. [but he wasn’t home yet, heehee]. I knew what was going on behind me but I was ignoring it and just talking to Maggie about how to make eggplant. She may not have been that interested.

When I finished I turned around to find the drawers pretty much cleaned out and a very satisfied looking Maggie. You can see the drawers opened. Once I picked up the towels, there were the pot lids. Too bad she didn't throw the towels first. It may have been quieter.

I think it was Hell’s Kitchen and she was telling me to hit the road.

Too bad. Dinner was delicious.

Cook please

Maggie was in her chair with her communication device hooked up and I was working on the computer when I heard the computerized voice say:

“Cook, please”

No. I would rather not. It is three in the afternoon and I am trying to finish this project.

“Mom, cook please”

Maggie, I can’t right now. It’s not time to eat and we are hanging out in here doing this.

“Mom, cook please.”

I look at Maggie and finally get that she is trying to tell me something. I ask her, “Do you want to go in the kitchen?” Her hand flies up to her mouth – her sign for “yes”. Ok, kiddo, let’s go.

That exchange happened sometime this summer. It was a huge breakthrough. Maggie was using her communication device to express something she wanted without prompting. And she improvised using the limited choices on her talker. There was no place to say, “I want to go in the kitchen.” Therefore, she got her point across using the “cook” button.

You have to think for a minute about how smart that is. Those of us who speak, read and write do things like that all the time. We take them for granted and do not realize what a complicated cognitive functions they require. It is automatic for most of us. It is not automatic for Maggie. Every step of that process is difficult and deliberate. It is amazing.

Maggie’s frame of reference is very different from yours and mine. She doesn’t eat regular food; she is fed a special prescribed medical food through a tube in her stomach. She does not cook and she does not generally even watch anyone cook. She does not spend much time in the kitchen because of the configuration of the house and the difficulty of maneuvering the wheelchair. Nevertheless, she had to employ and improvise on all those concepts to put together that particular string of words to convey her message.

Now we hang out in the kitchen a lot. I get her into the kitchen and she “cooks.” Of course, that word means something different to her than it does to me. Maggie “cooks” by opening and closing the refrigerator a hundred times and by opening any drawer she can reach to pull all the contents out. (We keep her away from the knife drawer). Before we “cook”, I have to push everything breakable or dangerous well out of her reach.

It is entirely possible that Maggie has been using her communication device to express her wants and needs for some time and I am only now noticing it. Communication by definition is a two way street. One party has to be open and receptive to the communication. In this scenario, that is my job. I need to listen closer and perhaps translate a little. What else is she trying to say to me?

Maggie may be brilliant, but her mom is a little slow on the uptake. “Mom, think please.”