Same here.

I don't know anything about the meds you listed, so the following may not apply, but I thought I'd share in case anyone finds it helpful. You can get pet meds that are also human meds at Costco. They have (or at least they had several years ago, when my cat was still alive) a "prescription discount club" for people who don't have Rx coverage. My cat had his own membership card. :) And yes they knew he was a cat. One of his prescriptions was $6/month there, compared to $30/month at the grocery store pharmacy. They didn't have animal-only meds, though.

@ Storygirl Thank you! This year he was enrolled in a private school, as an extension student, so he will have a 9th grade private school transcript. I don't know if that will help with avoiding delays? I don't know how the public school would get teacher feedback for the private school teachers, as the teachers we used were independent contractors, so to speak. I guess whatever happens, we just have to roll with it, as we really don't have any other choice for 10th grade. It looks like IEP for autism diagnosis is not automatic in our district.

I got a rash from chemical sunscreen, so now I use physical sunscreen instead. It's Banana Boat Kids SPF 50 with active ingredients zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. The big bottle with pump dispenser was cheap on Amazon. Another one I like is Alba mineral sunscreen. I've had no rash problem with either of these. There is the pasty white factor to deal with, though Banana Boat rubs in pretty well.

@ MyLittleBears Yes, I told him. His psych already told him that he (psych) suspected ds was on the the spectrum, so it wasn't a surprise. I don't know how he feels about the label; he isn't able to express how he feels. That is the hardest thing for me to deal with, I think. Thank you for the book recommendation. I just put it on hold at the library.

@ wapiti: Some areas of struggle will be: introspective writing/analysis seeing the "big picture" remembering information that is presented as written material, like reading a textbook - he seems to forget it quickly he does remember fiction to some extent, but doesn't seem to be able to discuss characters, motives, etc. Some strengths: He remembers verbal information very well. Science. Music. He was given the WISC (I think that is the acronym) - is that IQ test? One service he will need for sure is help with social skills. I don't know if schools can provide this for high school students?

My teen had an evaluation recently and we just met with the dr and received the result of (whatever the current technical term is - I can't remember) = Aspergers. This was not a surprise; we were prepared for the possibility of this result. Also I think the dr said he is "borderline" for some other things but I don't remember exactly what. It was a little bit of informational overload for me. We are supposed to receive the complete written report soon. Also we will get referrals to other providers for various kids of therapy, etc. The only thing the dr didn't do was educational testing because of the only test results I supplied (very high ACT score in middle school); she said the school will do that. She said the school should give him an IEP. So... Who do I tell, and how? Meaning... I will need to tell the public HS that he will be attending next year. I am pretty sure that it was mentioned in posts here that I need to write a letter to the principal. Should I wait for the official packet from the dr before I do that? I think maybe the packet will have a letter that I include with my letter to the principal, but I am not sure. In any case, I don't know what to say in the letter or what to ask the school for. His psych, yes. PCP? Dentist? Family members... Who else? This feels very overwhelming.

Another Sherpani fan here :) If I need to carry more stuff (library books, groceries) I use a daypack.

EMP currently has a Star Trek exhibit. I thought I'd mention it in case it's of interest. I haven't seen it yet but it sounds cool.

Stress? Some type of low-grade infection? Recent illness (even very minor illness)?

I got all excited. I thought you said Benedict Cumberbatch. Then I read more carefully.

I always leave butter out in a covered dish, but not an entire stick. Maybe 1/2 or 1/4 stick. The kids replace it as needed.

Do you have out of network benefits on your dental? If so, see if you can apply your dc's lifetime ortho max $. Then you can choose whoever you want for your ortho, instead of picking from the in-network list. That's what we did. The ins paid their max $ and we paid the rest.

You recommended it, I read it... couldn't put it down. Today I am decluttering...

What are the water pipes made of? If it was MY kitchen faucet, the pipes would be plastic and break during the faucet replacement. The difficulty level would be stratospheric, requiring a plumber and costing $1000. Thankfully dh knew where the house water shutoff was, and managed to get to it in record time.

I had that happen with a pair of Clarks too. Also with a pair of hiking boots (not Clarks). That was the worst. My friend and I started heading up the trail and my boot soles began falling off. Fortunately I had another pair of shoes in the car that were appropriate for the hike. My dad also had the same thing happen with a pair of shoes (I don't know the brand). He had barely worn his shoes, although they were a few years old. My mom said she heard it had to do with the material the soles were made from. Apparently the material disintegrates over time.

Your grandma rocks! Why it's assumed to cause a religious conflict... well, because for some people it does. For example in my extended family, and in my circle of acquaintances, yeah, there have been a number of people who've told me, "I can't accept your child's choice. It is against everything in the Bible. It is against everything my church teaches." Never mind that my child never "chose" anything.

Thank you, this is very helpful!

I have no experience with this situation with a preschooler.

You tell them you love them. You listen when they tell you about their feelings, their understanding of themselves, what they want to do. You call them by their new name and preferred gender pronouns. You find a local support group for yourself and your child (should you be so fortunate to have such a thing in your community). You find the local doctor who is most experienced in working with the trans* community. You, your child, and your child's doctor discuss and decide upon a path of treatment appropriate for your child's age/stage of development. You go to court for the name change, fill out the documents for gender marker change, etc. You tell extended family, friends, school... all of which may be supportive or not. And then you deal with the unsupportive ones. The child will continue to wear the clothing they want, because they've been doing this for a long time anyway. The child already knows their anatomy does not match their gender identity. There is no reason to point this out to the child; to do so is hurtful. And most of all, you love your child, and you make sure they know you love them, because statistics say trans* people have a 41% suicide attempt rate and HAVING A LIVE CHILD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME.

Lots of windows. Energy efficient. We can afford the mortgage on one salary. And the fourth thing... we can walk to library/grocery/park/etc. and it's on a bus line too.

Yes, I had this done recently. The dermatologist numbed the area so all I felt during the procedure was a tugging sensation. It was quite sore after the anesthesia wore off, and hurt most when I was lying down. I was told to keep the incision area dry so I wore a shower cap when showering and waited a few days before washing my hair. I was also told to put Aquaphor on the incision area regularly. It healed just fine.

One of my dc and I :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub: Nancy Drew PC games. Nancy gets into some suspenseful situations, but no real violence. She can "die" if she makes the wrong choice, but you always get a second chance. Or third, or... For gameplay, you solve puzzles, find clues, etc. Maybe your library might have some of the games. Ours has a few. Some of the old games are tricky to install, but we have had no trouble with the games made in the last few years. ETA: I just saw you said "not creepy"... some of the games have a bit of a creep factor. Not all of them, though.

One of my kids wears "real" pajama shorts. All the rest of the sleepwear are items not sold as sleepwear. And they wear thrift store clothes. I'm not going to pay $70 for an Express shirt when I can buy it looks-like-new at Value Village for $10. One of my kids is forever begging to go there... never know when you'll score another pair of barely worn Doc Martens for a fraction of the cost of new.

This matches what I see in my area. The electric assist helps with hills, carrying loads, traveling longer distances, etc. The riders don't appear to be going faster than other bicyclists. OP, have you talked to the staff at your local electric bike shop? They should be able to advise, let your ds take test rides on various models, etc.