I can't back into the garage, but I can back into the drive. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I'm honestly not aware of many subdivisions that have lifeguards, locally, and almost all have pools.

I'm really bad at this kind of thing. Do you think they would notice if I brought a more talkative friend (from outside the neighborhood) along? :coolgleamA: (I kid, I kid.)

No lifeguards. It isn't a standard pool. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but I know it isn't like the pools at other local subdivisions -- it's more like a resort or amenity pool. I don't know how to describe it, except to say that it's different and not the type that you could, say, use for swimming laps. Part of the issue is that when the parents are in the main pool area, they can't see the kids on the other side of the lazy river because of how the entire pool area is shaped.

That isn't happening if I can help it, lol. The moving process was a nightmare and short of absolutely having to, the very thought of doing it again makes me itch. It's entirely possible that I'm just far more up my kids' rears than most other parents. I'm not known for my ability to "let loose."

The HOA is still builder-owned and way less than reliable (outsourced to a management company). Unless you leave your trashcan out for too long -- then they are on their game.

I have no clue how to appropriately title this. I live in a lovely, new-build subdivision in a smaller town. We just moved in almost 2 years. Very nice, large homes, in a neighborhood with sidewalks, a pool with a lazy river and waterfall, a clubhouse, etc. We know NOBODY here. Despite the neighborhood being filled to bust with kids my kids' ages, zilch. Cliques had already formed by the time we came, and newbies typically get in by default of having their kids in the school down the street, waiting at the bus stop together, etc. I'm not in there. And most of the time, I'm perfectly okay with that. Everybody seems pretty nice, I'm just not "buddies" with any of them. It's polar opposite our old neighborhood. I have no clue how to talk to the neighbors about a couple of issues that involve MANY of them. It's not like there's only one or two -- it's like a neighborhood epidemic. I might even be the only person annoyed and concerned :p With the summer months, most of the kids are home all day. I can totally be on board with children of appropriate ages being allowed to run the neighborhood. Because I would assume that a typical 7 or 8 year old would know basic safety road rules, etiquette, etc. The problem is that even the 3 and 4 year olds are out -- unsupervised, playing in the road around their house. And when I say "playing IN the road," I do literally mean playing in the middle of the road. And show no understanding of needing to move for vehicles. Or, even better, playing in my driveway, at the end of my driveway. Or stopping at the end of my driveway, while playing on sidewalks, AS I'm backing out my full-sized SUV, and just staring at the back of my moving vehicle. Eventually the kids move, or eventually a parent comes out of their house and moves the kids, but it only takes ONE time for tragedy to happen. I kind of just want to be like, "If your kid is playing and roaming the neighborhood, please first teach them to get out of the way for moving vehicles." I know all kids can freeze occasionally, and I wouldn't bring this up if it had only happened once or twice. But I get sincerely worried watching some of the really little guys play in the road. Tonight at the pool, almost a dozen parents were in the same shallow end drinking wine and beer, while their young children were dive-bombing in the lazy river... with no regard to people floating in the lazy river, and almost landing on smaller children floating several times, and not stopping even when I finally became frustrated and told them to stop (for the record, I am NOT a fan of telling children other than my own what to do -- but this was an immediate need, dangerous (take out the issue of them landing almost on smaller kids -- the lazy river is NOT a safe place to dive bomb), and I have no clue who their parents were in that mix. Again, a lot of the kids were very young (4 or 5), mixed with a few random older kids (8 to 10-ish). And the golf carts. Holy moly. And these are the adults! They will park next to other golf carts, in the middle of the road. And when you drive up, instead of them moving out of your lane, they wave you past! And you just pray that a kid on a bike isn't going to come streaking around the now-blind curve (blind because of chatty golf carts -- not a blind curve otherwise). 1. Are my frustrations unjustified? Is this typical neighborhood stuff? 2. If I bring this up with my neighbors, how much backlash can I expect? 3. If I bring this up with my neighbors, HOW do I bring it up?

I'd probably be in.

In my state, children who are considered to have a life-long / chronic special need or illness have the opportunity to qualify for a special type of medicaid that isn't income dependent. It only covers services related to that illness or special need, though. So, for example, if I chose to pursue it for our sons' autism, it would cover their related OT, ST, PT, evaluations, or whatever else could be tacked onto their "autism plate," but our private (employer) insurance would be necessary for everything else not related to their autism (and the private insurance would be tagged first, even for autism-related services, with the special needs medicaid as secondary).

nm

Just updating my own post. We've moved some things around as we get closer to the new year. Phonics: Primary Arts of Language Reading He takes private piano lessons in-home as well, so we'll count that as "music." Him and his 8 year old brother also take ballet and tap (out for summer; will resume in fall), so we'll count that as "PE," lol.

Well, I thought it might be the animal thing because he also reacts very negatively about Dinosaur Train and Peg + Cat... but he loves Julius Jr., Micky Mouse Clubhouse, Max and Ruby. He likes Ninjago, with the exception of two very specific episodes, according to Big Brother, who is giving me the "what Marco will watch" run-down. Marco won't watch "Misfortunes Keep" (?) and "a time blades episode."

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So many common themes! Animals that walk and talk, the music or pitch, and PBS. I didn't even put that last one together (PBS). I read an article the other day about how autistic kiddos "love" Daniel Tiger and I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. I wish this one did! His big brother (also autistic) DOES love Daniel Tiger and all of the shows I've mentioned in this thread -- and frequently, even at 8 years old, sings the social-skills' songs from them. Not this little guy, though.

Does Super Why? I haven't actually watched it except in passing. I didn't think it had animals with human traits in it. You could be right!

There are a few shows that The Marvelous Flying Marco is absolutely terrified of. I mean, headphones go on, screeching, stimming, hands on his ears over his headphones, eyes closed, non-verbal. He will NOT discuss WHY he's scared of these shows. In fact, even the mere mention of these three shows sends him into the aforementioned state. He one time, over a year ago, saw one of these shows on the waiting room television at his ped's office, and now will not enter the ped's office until he is curled into a fetal position on Sissy's shoulder, headphones are on, and he will not look at or speak to anyone until we are safely in the back exam rooms -- even though it's been over a year. Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Curious George The Cat in the Hat (Knows A Lot About That) Super Why I'm trying to find a common theme here, because occasionally he adds a show to that list, but we have no clue it's been added until someone mentions it or he sees it, and starts either throwing himself around the room or pacing and screeching/covering ears. Anything come to mind (something common to these shows)?

I never knew there were so many options for pens!!!

Oh, wow. Those are great ideas. Thanks!

He has a leather cover for his ipad already. He does play guitar, piano, and accordion. A guitar strap is a good idea! I'm off to look. Any idea what makes for a good quality one? Like, are there places to buy leather better than others?

It's that time of year again. I'm a really horrible gift-buyer. My husband is typically a great gift-buyer. We like to buy "traditional" gifts on our anniversaries. This year's needs to be pottery, willow, or leather. He only uses one type of wallet (ever) and has one that is fine. So, I'm stumped. Because, yeah, that's as far as my brain reaches. I happen to know, because he's a TEASE, that he's already bought my gifts and he did manage to stay within the original confines of pottery and/or willow, although he encouraged me to be "flexible" in how I regard pottery and willow, lol. Any ideas? He's a techie (by career and for the love of it), a musician, devoutly religious, and very sentimental (so, he enjoys sentimental items). Years ago you guys advised I get him a sentimental wood burned item with his favorite quote from Etsy and it was a big hit.

I hate cooking. I really just do not care for it. Everybody in the family prefers meat at dinner. Including me. And we're very low carb, so bread or pasta at every dinner is a no-go. It ends up being a meat and a steamer vegetable, which is boring for everyone involved after so long. But I really hate cooking, lol. I've even looked at investing in one of those meal-box deliveries, but they still require I cook :P

Pretty much exactly what she said (minus living in Silicon Valley, lol).

It doesn't bother me at all. I hope it gets better for you. I really, really do.

NM hugs

I'm so sorry you're going through this. :grouphug: