Splat Goes Life.

It's funny.. the way we were raised has such an impact on how we are as parents. That could either mean we are totally the opposite of our parents, or too close for comfort. We have all these grand ideas of how to raise our own children. The problem is that none of us knows what will happen after the moment of conception. I don't like to get into parenting debates with people. I think they're pretty pointless, unless the person you're debating is the other parent. Think back to all of those nights before you had kids- dreaming of which of the two you of they'd look like. You may have been in perfect agreement about how much (or little) television time they'd get. You agreed on making all of their baby food from scratch. You also may have agreed that they'd only be allowed to "friend" kids who were academically "gifted". Maybe you'd swear to yourselves you'd never allow your kids to have a cell phone in elementary school, a...

If you're a new reader to this blog, know that it's an anonymous one. I do not use my real name, or the real names of my children. I have shared this link with no more than 5 people (perhaps less), and my husband does not even know how to find it. I can tell you that I live in a suburb of a major metropolitan city in Ohio, and that I am a woman in her mid-40's, with two teenagers. My son Jack is 14 1/2, and my daughter Savannah is going to be 16 in a little more than a month from now. My son was diagnosed with Autism after we started him at a local "early childhood education" center for kids with developmental delays, and their typical peers. Jack had some odd behaviors early on, but I never really gave them much thought until he was two, and I started to worry about not only his lack of speech by that point, but his seeming inability to respond to his name. The pediatrician had no worries. "He's a boy", and "He's the second child...

(Sung to the tune of "Dreams", by the band Heart) Only, what I'm really talking about are nightmares! Re-reading this blog over the last several days has reminded me of some things that I haven't thought about in a really long time. In fact, on the way home from Jack's counseling session last night, I asked him if he remembered being home-schooled. He did, and he said he never thinks about it and "never wants to be reminded of it again!". Yeah, I mean, it wasn't really as bad as all that, but I don't blame you, kid. One thing I can tell you for sure is that it was a nightmare for me. It has been. Off and on, for several years now. I used to wake up in the middle of the night, when Jack was attending his first elementary school. While things didn't improve for a while even after we moved him elsewhere, the people at this first school were basically giving me panic attacks every night and day. I'd wake up and either start thinking a...

I started re-reading this blog yesterday.. perhaps to torture myself. I don't know. I mean, I do know, but I couldn't help but be a bit depressed thinking about just how sh*tty things have been over the years. It occurred to me during my painful review that it's been just 5 years ago that things hit boiling point, and I pulled Jack out of school for the remainder of 3rd grade. That's some serious sh*t, when you feel like you absolutely have no other option. Things were so bad, that my son's physical and emotional well-being were both completely compromised, and I myself was on the verge of madness. It was 5 years ago that we were preparing Jack for a major transition- to a new school, new friends, new teachers, and even a new doctor. Two years after that, we were transitioning yet again, to a new school, new friends, new teachers, and new doctor. Here we are, just about to end the 8th grade. No new doctors (that I know of), but now we're preparing for hig...

I guess it was in April of 2015 that we managed to get away from the doctor at the Autism clinic at the local university, to switch to a private doctor. It doesn't seem like it's been three years, but it's been a blessing in some ways. The doctor is actually a former student of Jack's current middle school- she started the year the school was first opened, and she actually had the same History teacher that Jack currently does. (On a side-note, wow is this teacher great! He's Jack's favorite this school year, and I think it may have something to do with the fact that the teacher's wife is an Intervention Specialist. He gets these kids, or certainly has some tricks up his sleeve that other teachers do not have). Anyway, we initially saw her once a month, I believe. Things were not going well with medications, and I felt like I was getting desperate. As well, my son was not in a good place. You hate to see your kids unable to function well with their pee...

LOL So, time has literally flown by. We're 2 1/2 years later, and I feel like my life has "flipped, turned upside down". (Cue Will Smith). My "little Jack" isn't so little anymore. In fact, he's several inches taller than me, and only 2 1/2" shorter than his dad. I know he's still going through puberty, but he really "grew the F up", and fast. I guess the average is 2" a year, and he's pretty much been on schedule with that. He's also surpassed me in weight, which he might have already done the last time I posted, but at least he seems to have thinned out as he's gotten taller. Of course, outside of "pool season", I almost have *no* idea what my child's legs or abdomen or chest look like. He definitely doesn't want to be seen. We are about two months shy of the end of 8th grade. My IEP meeting (the one preceeding the transition to high school!) is taking place in one month. I guess I'm ...