I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Busy busy

Wow, I'm busy!! These past few days went by so fast I hardly had time to sleep. Friday morning the loving husband called me and asked if I wanted to take Matthew and Carolyn to the circus that afternoon. He also wanted me to rent a rug doctor so he could do some more spring cleaning. His plan was to move the dark green couch from downstairs and shampoo the carpet before moving the light green couch downstairs--yes we have two green couches, we like the color. He figured that Andrew would nap while he cleaned (ha ha). I spent the next few hours getting myself and three kids dressed and off to Sunshine Foods to rent the floor cleaner, back home to fix lunch and try and get the upstairs living room cleaned up before the husband came home. I managed to get the furniture vacuumed out and all the gunk swept up from under it. I also found several missing items that had "disappeared" in the past few months. The kids were totally excited to go to the circus, Carolyn had been talking about wanting to go all that week. Matthew had brought home a coupon for a free ticket and I picked up another coupon at Sunshine so all I had to do was pay my admission price. I can say for a fact that the Shriner's don't make money on the admission price but they make a killing on everything else. I promised to buy cotton candy and I caved in an did the pony ride for each kid. Total spent--$19. I did not buy the inflatable animals, light sabers, glow necklaces or the weird glowing spinning things or any other food of beverage that was sold. as for the show, it was really good. Both kids were totally enthralled. Carolyn of course liked the tigers and elephants and Matthew really liked the motorcycle act. After we were done I stopped by a gas station on the way home and bought then each a 20 oz pop and a bag of puff corn. Total spent--$4.00 Before heading home I had to stop by the bank and get more cash. For some strange reason I was low on money (gee I wonder why). After we got home I spent the rest of the afternoon helping with the cleaning and amusing of children. I'm a lousy partner when it comes to moving furniture so poor hubby moved the very heavy couch upstairs all by himself. I had convinced him to donate it because in my opinion it was in decent shape. No, Goodwill said it was too stained on the underside. Before he took off to Goodwill I was vacuuming the couch and it was tipped up so I set it back down and it mewed. I then spent a few minuted trying to convince Trina to get out from inside it. Hubby joked that he would have not heard a thing when I told him of my encounter. Later that night after Jim picked up the chair and we (he) had moved the light green couch and chair downstairs we did Pizza Ranch. I'm blaming Pizza Ranch on the fact I gained a pound when I went to my meeting Saturday morning--oh well can't lose weight every week. After I got home Jim and Matthew set out for class and I had to take the cleaner back to Sunshine. After class was over Jim and Carolyn headed out to the dump with the old couch and I took the boys over to the wear house to pick up our new couch. Of course they could not find it and hubs ended up coming over anyway. We had a friend of ours come with a pickup truck so after Jim showed up I took the boys and went to get hamburger and chips so we could eat lunch. Later that afternoon we finally had new furniture in the house and very tired kids. I had managed to book my sitter for that night because the movie "Taken" was at the cheap theatre. The nice thing about spring cleaning is that there is no mad dash to pick up the house before the sitter comes over. The movie was really good and we enjoyed ourselves. Sunday found us down in Yankton at my mother in law's house. She wanted help in hanging some artwork and Jim's sister was visiting from Brookings. We had a very fun day. Yesterday I had Matthew's 6 year check up. He is growing perfectly according to the height/weight curve and the doctor told me that this was Matthew's best check up with him. I also had to get forms signed so the school had it "officially" on record that Matthew is lactose intolerant and I can send enzyme tablets with him if needed. Later that evening I convinced the loving husband to do Cardio class with me instead of going up to Brookings for class. After our class was over I was practicing my Tae Kwan Do and he was doing his Hapkido stuff. All was going great until hubby asked me to help him with the Hapkido. One of the moves involved a sweep and take down. The first time was OK but he went faster the second time and I ended up being dropped on my head--OUCH! Thankfully I have a very hard head so no major damage. Hubby felt pretty bad though. This morning he was up bright and early off to the airport for his monthly out of town trip. He'll be gone until Thursday night. I signed up to do the MOPS rummage sale this week so I spent this afternoon marking all the clothes I want sold. I also baked brownies for the bake sale. I'll drop my stuff on tonight before I go to class. Thursday evening I help out. When I signed up to do the sale I didn't realize this was hubby's out of town week so I'll be taking the kids with me on Thursday. They do have childcare so it won't be that bad. I'll let you all know how I made out money wise. Well now I'm off to start supper. I need to get kids fed, and baths done so I can get my stuff dropped off and be on time for class. If I'm lucky I might have time later this week to sit down and do more than check-e-mail.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Meetings and pancakes

Halfway through a busy week and it is finally warm and sunny!!! Of course it will be cool and rainy this weekend but at least there is no snow in the forecast. Yesterday I had Carolyn's Jr. Kindergarten transition meeting at her school. Because she is on an IEP and going to a different school than the one she is at they have a transition meeting so the new teacher and support staff have a chance to learn about her and figure out the best way to keep things as problem free as possible next fall. I missed Matthew's meeting last year so I had no idea what to expect. All in all it was quick and painless. I had a small scare when Carolyn's teacher started out the meeting by stating she was going to be attending a different school than the one we were at. There are three elementary schools in Brandon, one of them will be opening up next fall and that was the school Julie mentioned. All of us at the table had this stunned look on our faces. It turned out that Julie had just come from a meeting at the new school so she was still shifting gears. We are not in the new school's district. Carolyn has been making great progress this year and her teacher is optimistic that she will do very well next year. She is scheduled to go in the afternoon so all of her extra services like speech, PT, OT, and her Autism consultant will be during the morning hours. The Autism consultant was left off this form but since it was included on the original IEP she still gets the service. I will probably transport her to Marie like I have done the past two years. This meeting was not as complicated at Matthew's last year when it came to discussing services needed because Carolyn won't need a classroom aid or special transportation. She does have 10 min per week of special education classroom included in case she needs extra help or services but academically she does very well so I'm hoping that this is not used. I'm a little worried about the transportation because she will be riding the bus instead of a van but the bus makes special stops in front of the house for pick up and she and Matthew will be riding back home together so I'll just meet them at wherever the bus drops them off. I think the drop off spot is just up the block a few houses so it won't be too far for me to walk.

Once the meeting was over I headed back home. Hubby got out of work early so he could watch the kids while I went. I wasn't sure how long the meeting was going to go but I figured at least an hour but I was home in about 45 minutes. The Lions Club was doing it's annual pancake feed so I thought it might be fun to take the kids and eat pancakes for supper. We headed over to Sioux Falls and went to the convention center. This is a very big event and they serve thousands of pancakes. We got there around 5 so the line wasn't that bad. There were easily several hundred people in line or eating at the tables. hubby and I joked that the population inside was probably bigger than many small towns in the state. After we finished eating pancakes and sausage they had ice cream for sale for $1 so I took Matthew and Carolyn and headed over to get dessert. Both kids wanted bubble gum but hubby wasn't sure about that flavor and luckily they were out of it when we got up there so we had birthday cake, strawberry and chocolate chip cookie dough instead. Carolyn was upset they didn't have bubble gum so Jim told her the birthday cake flavor was bubble gum and she believed him. I ate way too much ice cream but it was very good. Since it was Wednesday, Matthew had a fitness class at the Wellness Center so we decided to go do that. Hubby and I elected to do one of the aerobics classes that neither of us have ever done. It was a total body workout--I'm still sore as I type this. After the class my Friend Tobi showed up and we met up with Shawna. The two of them were going to do their workout and I decided to walk a little with them While hubby showered. I found out from Tobi what my meal cost in Weight Watchers points---I'm glad I did the class. This morning I made my deadly chocolate chip cookie brownies for the MOPS meeting tomorrow. The brownies are so easy to make. Take a package of chocolate chip cookie mix and make it, take a box of brownie mix and make it, put both of them in the same pan and bake for 35 min. Frost when cool. Matthew has no school tomorrow due to a late start so I won't be able to make my meeting. I'm bummed but at least I get to sleep in (hopefully). It was our groups turn to provide breakfast and I signed up for the brownies and fruit. I don't do egg bakes so on days when our group does breakfast I make the stuff up ahead of time and drop it off the day before. The church we use is open in the afternoons and no one bothers my items. It saves me the hassle of trying to get there early and taking 2, or 3 kids (depending on what year) and food inside. Also if I have a sick kid or don't get out the door on time I'm not stressing because they don't have my food to serve. We only have one more meeting this year. I'm going to miss my Friday mornings. I'm thinking I will do it again next year. Carolyn will be afternoons so I'll just drop her off at school on those days. There is a Brandon group but I have gotten so attached to the Sioux Falls group that I am willing to drive 20 minutes (in good traffic) all the way to the South side of Sioux Falls. All too soon my time in MOPS will be done and I will no longer be a mother of preschoolers.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Weekend recap

Yes, I Finally got around to doing a new post. Actually I should be sweating my tail end off at cardio class but Carolyn fell asleep after bath and if I had to choose between waking a hibernating badger and waking a sleeping Carolyn...I'd pick the badger every time. Andrew also dropped off to sleep while I was on the phone with hubby discussing the day's events so at this moment I have two sleeping and one awake. Of course I'll probably pay for it later tonight when Andrew is bouncing all over the place at 11:00 and Carolyn announces that she does not want to go to sleep and refuses to go to her room for the night. Hubby is up in Brookings at his Hapkido class so he was calling on his cell before heading up there. We do a lot of phone meetings. Sometimes it is easier to have a 10 minute phone conversation sometime during the day or early afternoon hours than to have a 30 minute face to face at home. Anyway we had a busy but productive weekend. Hubby had class Friday night so I got to hang out with Shawna and Tobi and get a little fitness activity in. We try an meet up to encourage each other in our weight loss and exercise goals. My schedule is much more difficult to match with theirs so when we do get together we have lots to talk about. Saturday mornings I go to my Weight Watchers meeting. Because I had such a good Easter Weekend in Rapid City I wasn't expecting too much for the weigh in. I was only hoping that I didn't undo too much of my hard work. I was totally surprised and happy when I lost 1.2 pounds and got my 10% key chain. When you hit the 10% of your target goal you get a key chain. I have now lost over 14 pounds and if I lose another .2 pounds this week then I get my 15 pound sticker. I'm soo close to my 20 pound goal--yeah!!!. After I do my meeting I go home and then get ready for the Saturday morning cardio class that hubby and I have been doing for the past few months. It totally kicks my butt and leaves me sore for days but it has really helped with the weight loss and fitness goals that I have set. Unfortunately, the Saturday classes end this month so hubby and I have to find another something to do during that time slot. I guess since the black belt test is coming up sometime this summer we'll just spend more time practicing our stuff. Saturday was also date night so I took Andrew home with me and went about getting the house picked up. Later that afternoon hubby and the other two kids returned from running errands and he decided we should do a little spring cleaning. The kid's bedrooms were in serious need of picking up so that's what we did. I also decided that it was time to take down the crib and put it away. Except for the first two months of Matthew's life and when we were moving the crib has always been in one room or another. Even during kid changes the crib stayed up because it was only a matter of time before someone needed it. Yet another reminder that my children are growing up and my time in baby stage is over and toddlerhood will soon pass into fond memories too. Don't worry, potty training is a milestone that I relish not having to do ever again. In addition to the crib, I sorted through all the clothes and bagged everything that was not usable and divided it between sell and donate. That will be next on my to do list. After the rooms were cleaned and the sitter was settled with the kids Hubby and I set off for a fun few kid-free hours. There were really no movies worth spending time or money on so instead we went shopping. First it was to the used CD shop to find some tunes. I always drive Jim crazy with my finds...Someday he will acknowledge Country music as an acceptable genre. For supper we decided to do Chinese. Not the buffet, actual sit down and wait for it food. We hadn't done that in forever. I still think that the food is much better when it is cooked as an entree that if it is put out on buffet. After supper it was over to JC Penny's for clothes. I've been looking a little frumpy lately so I needed a few tops that didn't make me look pregnant or hang on me. I opted not to buy pants, I still have more weight to lose and I want to get at least on size smaller than what I'm wearing. I always enjoy date nights. I try and make a point to remember life before kids and enjoy myself when I have the opportunity to do husband/wife outings. On Sunday hubby had another class in Brookings. There is a test next month so he is trying to get all his material learned and practiced. My sister-in-law and family lives in Brookings so we all piled in the van and headed up. While Jim did class, the kids and I found a very nice park to play in. It was small and in one of the older sections of town so it wasn't very crowded. The playground equipment was the perfect size for the kids. It was smaller in size than some of the stuff in parks so the kids were able to play without me having to worry about them hurting themselves. Of course the camera I had planned on bringing was back at home so no photos. My SIL and nephew met us there and we had fun talking and playing. After class we drove back to Sioux Falls and went furniture shopping. Our couch downstairs is 10 years old and pretty much worn out. The chair is even older and in desperate need of replacement. We found and got a great deal on a leather sofa and recliner chair. Sometime this next week we will pick them up and I have to get rid of the stuff downstairs. I'm beyond excited..NEW FURNITURE!!!!!!! Next up, redoing the back yard area. I want to get rid of the stuff in the back garden and either plant grass or vegetables. I also want to get rid of the purple flowers in front of the house and put something non flower there. My long range project is to get rid of the bushes in front and back--I really hate them. Well that should be about all there is to say. I've go to attempt to wake sleeping kids up or else I'll be on Facebook at 3 am going GO TO SLEEP KIDS!!!!!.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter in Rapid City

The cousins: Matthew, Andrew, Carolyn, Carson, Cameron
The Rezin Family: Mom, Me, Bryan, Chris, Dad


Well that was a fun few days. I'm glad to be back home and back to the usual routine. We left Friday morning for Rapid City. The plan was to leave sometime that morning and try to get to Mom and Dad's house by early afternoon. The drive of course was long and not much fun. We do have a DVD player in the van but it hasn't been working recently so we loaded up the ipods and packed books for the kids. Except for those times when all three kids wanted the same book it wasn't too bad. We did stop and kill some time (run off pent up energy)at Wall Drug. It would have been nice if the backyard area was open but due to all the snow it was closed. For those who haven't been to Wall Drug...there is extra shopping and entertainment behind the building in an area called the back yard. They even have a giant animatronic dinosaur that roars and blows smoke every half hour. The folks were very glad to see us and the kids. Special thanks to Mom and Dad who remembered that it was Good Friday and made us mac and cheese and fish instead of the pot roast they had planned. Because there are five of us and Mom and Dad have one small guest bedroom we stay at a nearby hotel. Later that evening Matthew and Carolyn and I went for a quick swim while Jim and Andrew napped. Saturday was our do nothing day. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground so we took along the snow clothes. The kids had a blast playing in the backyard with Jim. The weather was nice and sunny so the snow was trying to melt. Dad had gotten out an old saucer sled so there was much pulling going on. Poor hubby, he was wiped out. Later that afternoon my sister Chris stopped by with her husband and their two kids. Matthew is 6 months older than Carson and Andrew is four months older than Cameron so there was lots of playing going on. Later that evening we had planned on going to church services. The Catholic church is only a half mile from my parents house and a few blocks from the hotel. There was an Easter Vigil at 8:30 that night. We had first thought of asking the grandparents to watch the kids while we went to church but the 8:30 time was a problem. Rapid City is in a different time zone so they are an hour behind. The 8:30 time was more like 9:30 to the kids so they would be tired and want to go to bed. Dad had been up really early that morning since he works Saturday's at the Rushmore Mall doing maintenance work so he was pretty much wiped out for the day. We decided to do the split the church service thing -hubby would do church that evening and I would do the 8 am Mass the next morning. Plan in place I dropped the loving husband off at the church and headed back to the hotel. All three children were fast asleep within a half hour. Hubby came back much much later. I learned from him the next morning that the Mass was three hours long. Yes, three hours. They had nine different readings before they got to the Homily. One of the reasons was that new members to the Church were baptized and or confirmed into the faith. No you can not be re-baptized so if you were baptized in a different church you would just be confirmed as a member of the Catholic Church. This is done during the Easter season and the bishop presides over the service and all who have taken the RICA classes are invited to participate. Had we stayed in Michigan I would have participated in this service in Grand Rapids. So hubby got to hear the bishop speak, light candles (part of the service was candlelight) and be blessed. At one point, Jim was convinced the purpose of this Mass was to worship until Easter officially began at midnight. At least for us with the time zones change, hubby accomplished this. Let's just say that hubby was more than willing to let me get up and go to Mass without him the next morning. As he put it "I'm good for the rest of the year". After I got back from church we headed out to Deadwood for Easter Buffet. We met my parents, brother, and sister and family and had some very good food. Forgive me Weight Watchers for I have committed megga food sins. For many years Mom has liked going out to the buffet at the First Gold Hotel and Casino. They have very good prime rib amongst other tasty things. I decided to give myself a vacation from point counting this weekend so I have no idea how "bad" I was. Dinner finished we headed back to Rapid City and over to the parents house where the kids spent more time playing and I got to get a few family photos. Later that evening we went back to the hotel for a quick swim while Mom and Dad picked up pizza for supper. Yesterday morning we had one last breakfast/coffee with the grandparents and off we went back home. I really enjoy visiting Rapid City but I totally hate the drive out there. The kids had tons of fun and we did too.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Easter

Well I finally got my ring back so I was going to write about that but I thought that it might be a little inappropriate to gush about a wedding ring on Maunday Thursday so I decided to wait and write about that later. I will say that I'm soooo happy to have my ring back, I feel married again. Anyway, I got this brilliant idea that this year we should go out to visit my parents, brother and sister and her family in Rapid City over Easter weekend. I figured that with the holiday falling during the second week of April we would have nice sunny weather and I wanted the kids to experience Sunrise Services at Mt. Rushmore. We used to do that a lot when I was younger. Get up, put on warm clothes and sit/stand through a short outdoor service with (at the time) hymns sung by a group of local Cowboy musicians. Then back home for Easter baskets and pancakes. Those years it was too chilly or snowy or wet we dressed up and went to services at our church. Oh the misty watercolor memories.... Now fast forward to reality and the Black Hills have been buried under feet of snow with more expected. Instead of cute spring clothes and a fun trip to the park we will be packing snow clothes and maybe planning on sledding and making a snowman. For obvious reasons the Mt. Rushmore plans won't be happening. I'm thinking maybe we could do the Easter Vigil Saturday night at the Cathedral instead. Mom still wants to go to Deadwood for brunch so I'm sure that is what we will be doing Sunday afternoon. Even though it won't be quite what I wanted I still plan on having fun with my family. I have spent all this week trying to get things ready for the trip. Yesterday I did all the laundry there was to do so that I would have clean clothes for the kids and a lot less laundry to do when we came back on Monday. Earlier in the week I made sure to get the snacks and cleaned out the van so it looks nice again. The only thing I had not gotten to was the fish feeder. I thought I still had a weekend feeder somewhere in the house but I must have used it because it was not where it was supposed to be. My grand Thursday plan was to make sure the kids were bathed and showered by the time hubby came home from work so we could all leave for Tae Kwan Do class at the same time. Hubby usually helps teach the kids class so he likes to leave the house by 6:30. I figured that we could go to the Wellness Center and I drop the kids and husband off and pop over to Target and pick up the food. I'd be back before the 8:00 adult class. Simple. NOT!! My afternoon routine was going great and I had supper ready to go by the usual time and then the best laid plans went kersplat. Carolyn pitched a huge fit because I got after her for eating Jim's sweet roll for supper instead of her stir fry. She started screaming she hated stir fry and stomped off to her room and slammed the door. I'm sure I heard a few "I hate mommy" phrases too. After 10 or so minutes all was quiet in the room and when I opened the door there was a small lump buried under the comforter snoring. Meanwhile, Matthew finished his food and then wanted me to move the laundry that was on his bed because he wanted a nap. Within minutes of me finishing that task Matthew was fast asleep. Past experience has taught me that it is better to let the kids nap than to try and keep them awake so I let them sleep and hubby went by himself to class and I did not get to Target. I then waited until after we got home from class, the kids were in bed and I had packed the bag for the kids for our trip and set out for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is always a challenge to do and when it is done after 10 pm then it is even more of a challenge. It still amazes me how busy the store is even at late hours. As I was walking in a family was coming out with three carts loaded with groceries and supplies. And by family, I mean there was at least one small child. I go to the store on the East side of Sioux Falls and that area has a lot of working class families. I'm sure many of them work second or third shift jobs and this is the only time they have to shop. When doing late night Wal-Mart it is best to have a sense of humor and lots of patience because stuff is usually sold out/not restocked yet, help is nowhere to be found and the cashiers have limited English skills. They do however, have a greeter so that even at midnight you can be cheerfully welcomed into the store. I got my few items--they did not have any size 6 Luvs diapers-- and went to find a person to stand behind that did not have an overflowing cart of items. Remember, it's late and there are very few checkout lanes open and the majority of shoppers are grocery shopping for the month. I found my line, the person ahead of me was more than half done getting checked out. It was going great and then I hear "I never see it do this before" Yes, this is a direct quote. The name on the cashier's badge along with her accent was enough to convince me that English was not her first language. Anyway her till had frozen up and she could not finish the transaction. The floor manager was also not able to got it to work so she was calling for more assistance. I had five items and was trying to be patient but I was tired and wanted to get the heck out of there so I finally asked if I should just move to another line. The till next to her was almost finishing up and there was no wait. I quickly moved over and sorry to say forgot to mention it to the lady behind me with the very full cart. The cashier did tell her not to put anything on the belt because her till was broken. If I wasn't so tired I might have told her to move past me to the other line but truthfully, I did not want to wait another 20 minutes. I now have all that I need for the trip and the fish won't starve. I hope all of you have a very happy and blessed Easter. I'll fill you in on my trip next week when I get back.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. It's a day where people all over the world take time out of their busy lives to focus on a cause that to many of them is all to up close and personal. There will be PSA's with celebrities and global leaders talking about awareness and donating money to help research the causes and treatments of this very heartbreaking and baffling disorder. I decided to do my part and post a blog entry. Those who know me and have followed this blog are no strangers to the fact that two of my children have diagnosis's in the umbrella of disorders known as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Matthew never met the clinical definition as having true Autism but met enough criteria to have Autism Spectrum Disorder given. Carolyn missed the ASD diagnosis by one check mark because the school felt that parallel play was still acceptable at age 3 so she got the diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified instead. It is still on the autism spectrum but not considered as severe. Both children are considered highly functional in terms of language, academic and social skills. As for Andrew..I'm not sure about him. At 18 months he failed a checklist that screens for signs of Autism and he was starting to show a few familiar signs like the delayed language and poor eye contact that the other two have but I contacted the state's Birth to 3 program and he was screened and is now working with a wonderful speech therapist. He has made huge gains and is doing things developmentally and language-wise that Matthew and Carolyn never did at his age. He will be screened just before his 3rd birthday and I will know if he is functioning at age level.

All family matters aside, I wanted to write about the bigger picture when it comes to Autism. There has been so much written about it and featured in the news and there have been certain celebrities who have come out with their personal stories about having a child with Autism. For all the information out there the fact remains that this is a very confusing and unknown disorder. No one knows why children develop it and no one knows why it runs in families, and no one knows the best way to treat it. Google the word autism and thousands of entries pop up. Try "autism cures" and even more sites come up. I will say to all of you...take what you see and read with a huge grain of salt. The truth is that this disorder affects every child differently and not every child diagnosed with Autism will function in the stereotypical way. Yes, there are treatments out there that do work but the truth of the matter is that they are very expensive and time consuming and there is no set standard on how to use them . Sadly, most major insurance companies don't cover any part of Autism treatment. There are a few states that do require the companies to make coverage available but they are the exception. For instance, my insurance company will cover the cost to take Matthew to a psychiatrist and pay for his medication but I had to pay out of pocket to cover the behavior therapy that provided the most improvement for him. I was lucky, he only needed a few hours a week. Depending of the severity of the condition, some parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on therapy or special schools for their children. This does not take into account those who put their child on a gluten free casein free diet in hopes that that works. My biggest wish is that enough outcry is heard and insurance companies step forward and cover the basic therapies needed such as speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy, sensory integration, applied behavioral analysis (ABA) and respite care.

I will end this post with a list of things parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders want you to know.

1. Please don't feel sorry for us. We love our children just like you do. We are no more different than those parents of children with other chronic conditions like diabetes or developmental disabilities like Down's Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy.

2. Please don't pass judgement when our child acts up in a public place. Our children look just like any other child so what looks like a bratty temper tantrum could easily be a meltdown due to over stimulation or disruption in routine. We have enough to worry about without being on the receiving end of dirty looks or offhand comments about our parenting skills.

3. Please invite us and our children over for play dates. It might be a little more challenging and take more planning but we will let you know what you should do. You will also be giving your child a unique learning experience. Please don't take it personally if we turn down birthday party invitations or play dates in crowded noisy places.

4. Please teach your children to treat others with kindness and respect. Children with ASD's, especially those with Asperger's are very venerable to being picked on and teased because of their odd ways or obsessions and fixations with objects. They have enough of a hard time trying to figure out the complex social situations during the school day without the stress of being physically or mentally abused.

5. Please share with us your child's accomplishments. No, we are not going to feel bad listening to you tell us about your child's latest and greatest thing. We are all parents and discussion of our children is a given. Please be just as happy for us when we discuss our child's accomplishments or setbacks even if it doesn't sound like that much of a big deal. Don't be too surprised if we have not idea what the current watercooler topic is. Most of us don't have the extra time to devote to popular TV programs.