It's odd how just a couple of experiences shape our overall opinions ? It's likely because I had a male pedi myself as a child that I prefer male doctors -- and the couple less-than-great female (adult practice) doctors I've had have colored my opinion regarding using them in general. Like midwives. My sister almost died because her midwife (in a hospital setting) refused to take seriously her complaints of chest pain (and other issues) after giving birth. The midwife should have obtained an MD to look at my sister, but dismissed it as -- "Hey, you just gave birth and you aren't going to feel great." She was released from the hospital without being seen by an MD for her complaints. My mother took her back in when things worsened. It turned out she was in heart failure. By the time she was seen by an MD and diagnosed, she spent weeks in the hospital, separated from her newborn, and it was touch-and-go for a while. As a result, I just generally try to steer clear of using midwives myself. Logically, I know most midwives are probably great, but I can't seem to make my feet follow suit with my head ?

Same here. I always prefer a male doctor and request it whenever I need to seek an MD for whatever reason. That's pretty easy to find in a GP, but it's becoming impossible to find a male GYN in my area, since my previous GYN retired. My caveat is that this only holds true for adult practices. We've had fabulous luck with female pediatric MDs -- our boys' regular pediatrician is a woman, their behavioral ped is a woman, DD's rheumatologist is a woman, and we've had several women pediatric specialists (and surgeons) over the years and they've been great.

To be fair, most of the men in my life seem to experience the same thing. It seems my husband can't go into any doctor, for any thing, without it being mentioned that whatever is ailing him is possibly because he needs to lose weight. He can go in for experiencing the exact same symptoms as every other person in the household -- and, still. Yeah. His GP isn't as bad about it any more, but only because he admittedly needs to lose weight himself. With my father, everything was because he was a smoker. Knee pain? SMOKER! (Despite having had two knee surgeries in past years, the torn ACLs, etc. were obviously a result of his smoking.)

Somewhat similar situation, but I try not to let it get to me. We have three kids who are all of ages (16, 9, 6) that would, typically, mean traveling could be easier -- but the two younger guys ASD (and not considered high-functioning) and it just make the logistics surrounding a big trip such an energy drain, before we've even started on reaching the destination. I'm tired. Like, really tired. We did do Universal a bit over a year ago and it was great, actually, but wowzers -- the overstimulation-come-down when those few days were over was intense and then we felt like we needed a "vacation from our vacation" for a week after getting home. It isn't something I even try to consider as a possibility these days. When it happens -- great; when it doesn't, oh well. I miss our "vacations" up to my FIL's place (a solid 12+ hour drive for us). We'd stay at his house with him, but he lived in an outskirt of Philadelphia so there were always things to take the kids to do and see -- zoos, battlegrounds, museums, etc. And since we did so at least twice yearly (and typically for 10+ days each trip), the younger boys were so used to Pop Pop's house that there was no adjustment period for them. My younger sister and her family went out of the country a few weeks ago and are now spending a month sight-seeing in NYC. I'm super happy for her and she deserves every minute of it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish it could be the same here, but the minute I think about The Marvelous Flying Marco walking a street in NYC with us, and hearing just the general traffic noises, the shrieking and rocking and covering of ears that would commence and his attempts to dart "away" from the noise (that could very well land him in the traffic), make me feel a lot better about not going, lol.

We have three kiddos with a variety of special needs. Two of the three have medical special needs, and two of the three (a different variation of 2 / 3, lol) are ASD -- one of the ASD kiddos is moderate (level 2) and the other more severely affected (mixed levels 2 and 3). Our youngest (more severe on the severe end of the spectrum) is very, very rigid. However, he loves vacations. We've always made it a point to talk to him frequently (and constantly) prior to a vacation about how things are going to be different wherever it is we are going (and we get specific about what will be different, when needed). I'm sure you've already considered that. The biggest issue for us is the car ride getting to the destination. Neither of our younger boys are fans of car rides. I hope they continue to enjoy vacations, but time will tell. It can be exhausting for me, definitely, because I always feel like I need to lug around a suitcase when we're out and about and far from the house. Even though we finally have everybody potty trained, there are accidents to consider, noise-cancelling headphones, safety harnesses, a stroller, and our youngest's must-have-everywhere item -- a sketchpad and a yellow papermate pencil (and a mini sketchpad will NOT work). But, we try to make it work. The kiddos are 16, 9, and 6, btw. Surprisingly, Universal was a huge hit and we didn't have any major issues. We stayed at a themed hotel/resort affiliated with Universal -- they had easy shuttle service to the park, and in the hotel they had a restaurant (with a variety of foods), a Starbucks, a pool, and an arcade, so even if we felt like staying in and away from the park for a day, we had things to do. And the kids all did great at the park, too. There were a couple times we had to utilize the stroller and headphones, but otherwise it was good. My caveat here is that my sister and her family live near the park and joined us for several days, so she would take our teenager to do things with her if our boys needed a break. And her husband is great with both our SN boys, and would take them to the arcade in the hotel so that I could regroup. We've done a couple other vacations, but otherwise, we "vacationed" at my FIL's (before he passed away) when we'd go to his house a couple times every year. Really we were visiting and caring for him, but he lives right outside a major city so there was plenty to do, and the perk was that our kids considered his house a "second home," so they had their own routines there already.

I can't imagine there's an issue with selling lesson plans.

You may want to ask the doctor about a more immediate anti-anxiety medication (xanax, ativan) to be taken while first starting the Lexapro. While overall our experience with these types of meds has been positive, the side effects in the first few weeks were nothing short of scary and emergency immediate-action anxiety medication made it possible to continue on with SSRI until the side effects had diminished. It can be especially hard, ime, for a young person experiencing scary symptoms already -- only to have the medication initially make things seem much worse instead of better, even if they logically know that it's normal for the body to take time to get used to the medication.

Two of our kiddos are ASD. DS6 is mixed levels 2 & 3 (so more severe on the spectrum) and DS9 is level 2 (more moderate, but with other medical and learning differences). Both boys only turned their respective ages within the past month. DS6 has done really, really well this year with ASDReading (a sister company to Reading Kingdom, if I recall). Actually, both boys have done well with it (DS9 is, besides being ASD, also dyslexic). Caveat: ASDReading is specifically geared toward ASD kiddos -- it is highly visual with no verbal output required from the child, and as little verbal explanation as is possible. And it's whole word, not phonics. After trying the OG / phonics way with DS9 for years (and only having a frustrated child who hated reading to show for it), we gave this a try. And DS6 has severe receptive language disorders/delays, and his rigidity is what characterizes him as more severe on the spectrum... so the "rules that are only rules until they aren't" were making phonics instruction a hot mess for him. I finally pulled up the ASDReading in a moment of desperation, because now BOTH boys hated reading (and these are boys who knew their letters and letter sounds before age 2, and were obsessed with letters and books prior to "learning to read"). ASDReading has been, hands-down, the best curricula decision we've made. DS9 does do a phonics-based spelling program, still (which is OG-based), and I will add the same for DS6 in a year or two. I have no recommendations for writing, because writing for DS9 has been very difficult, physically. He has very low muscle tone due to some other medical issues, so it's almost all copywork at this point. DS6 loves writing, but only does so informally at this point. For math, we have used Miquon for a couple years now. DS9 has always enjoyed it and retained it. DS6 started with it recently and enjoys it, too. Both boys are naturally more maths inclined. For content subjects we have, to this point, used MP's enrichment and read alouds. I am adding in Science in the Ancient World next year, alongside read alouds, and I am planning on Ancients, but haven't yet found a core for Ancients. I'll probably just go with Greek Myths, since they are interested in that, and I have what I need to teach it.

I am really very glad we did an obit for my Father-in-Law. There was no way we could know everybody he was "connected to" -- he had been a beloved private music teacher and store owner for over 50 years at that point. For the funeral Mass and similar, my husband could only rely on my 84 year old FIL's handwritten "contact lists" (which consisted of randomly placed names and phone numbers in a standard notebook -- and he had many such notebooks floating around). We were contacted by many people who knew him after the obit was placed, who had not idea he'd passed away; some who had no idea he'd even been ill. Even now (about two years later) we still occasionally get messages from people who knew him years ago, went to contact him for some reason, couldn't find him, and eventually found the obit (or talked to someone who had). These people were very important to my FIL. Just because we didn't know these other people well, doesn't mean he didn't. In many cases he had taught several generations of their families, and while regular contact may have eventually dropped off, he absolutely considered all his present and former students to be among the "most important people" in his life.

How do you know the child is "most likely" SPD or ASD? I have two autistic sons, and it really annoys me when people play armchair psychiatrist/psychologist and assume other children likely have "this" or "that" because they spent a (typically limited) amount of time around these children -- and I do my best to *check* myself on doing the same, lol. I thought nothing of my children's speech issues, honestly, and the speech delays were last (or close to last) on my list of "reasons I eventually sought evaluations" for the younger two kiddos. Most of the children in my family were late talkers and many also had articulation issues until (at least) well into elementary school. Most of those children are, now, doing just fine.

It means that I have no relationship with my father. And that I have no relationship with my dad means that he has no relationship with my children. I'm of the camp that believes if you aren't fit to be in my life, you certainly aren't fit to be in my children's lives. It stinks because I was very, very close to my father -- as a child and well into my adult years.

Not rude here. It would be indicative (again, here) of a small wedding. Well, to clarify, I've not heard of a wedding shower. I assume you mean bridal shower? It's pretty common here to be invited to the reception, even if you weren't invited to the wedding.

I subscribed to Premium, hoping that would get the blasted ads off the page -- but that hasn't worked (and it was, quite literally, the only reason I subscribed to Premium). I'm not tech savvy, so is there something I can do to make the ads disappear?

No matter the legalities of it, I wouldn't want my teenager going into that situation without me or their dad. Our OWN policy for this, if our kid is the drunk one, is for them to call us -- and there will be no questions asked. However, when there's another kid involved, it gets dicier. The cautious side of me would say you (the adult -- bring your teen if you want) pick up Drunk Kid and take them to their own home, ensuring the parents know. Because what if they become ill? An adult needs (ideally) to be aware. However, this may very well lead to the other teen not trusting you, not trusting their friend (your kid), and/or your own kid not trusting you with similar information later on. The other side of me wants to say that you go and get the kid and bring him/her back to your own house. But, then, we have liability to contend with if the kid becomes ill -- and you have an underage drunk kid on your hands if you have to deal with EMTs or similar. And if it gets back to Drunk Kid's parents, there is the chance that the kid may no longer be allowed to socialize with you and yours -- so any trust that was there, is broken. Really, just a sticky situation all around.

I've been using Apples and Pears for about 7-ish (?) years now. I used it with my now-16 year old DD and I'm going through it a second time with my 9 year old son. ADDING the letter tiles is definitely doable. However, I wouldn't go the scribe route and I wouldn't sub out the writing in favor of them. One of the major components (and why it works so well, in my opinion) is that it hits the multi-sensory notes -- the kids hear the letter/sound/word, say the letters/sounds/words, they see the letters/sounds/words, they write it while saying the letter sounds and the word, and so on. If you scribe, you're losing a huge part of the program (and, in my experience with the program, the component that seems to have the most benefit long-term, for retention). My 9 year old definitely struggles with writing. At 9, he still can't form most basic letters legibly. However, A&P is gentle, and even recommends halving the lessons if necessary.

My boys (9 and almost-6) love, love, love their Magnatiles, and have for years now.

We have central AC in our home. In the house we owned before this one, central AC had been installed at some point before we bought it, even though the house itself was circa 1950-something. My FIL lived in a 19th century rowhome in an outskirt of Philadelphia. He had nothing but fans. Since we visited him frequently in the summer, and for longer periods of time, we eventually talked him into a portable AC unit. It was kind of nifty ?

We have a heavy homeless population in our area, if you wander into the downtown area. And I would say around 90% of them are noticeably mentally ill -- but typically of the harmless variety (at surface, at least). This wouldn't be an odd occurrence for us at all. And, yes, I would hug the woman. And, yes, I would hug a man in a similar situation. The entire situation described in the OP reads as a woman who isn't "quite all there," as my grandmother would say. And an awful lot like an old neighbor we had who was suffering from (early onset) dementia. She was absolutely certain, while walking our neighborhood road, that anybody she came across was one of her children -- late for curfew or chores, lol. With that said, there is no way in Hades I would make any of my children hug a strange woman, regardless of what I would do myself. And I would make sure my child knew that they had nothing to feel guilty about. It's possible that the other mom in the OP's scenario had seen this woman before and that this wasn't an "out of the blue" for her.

He actually doesn't mind it at all. We play up the Tooth Fairy pretty big here -- and there's a fair bit of competition going with his 9 year old brother and "grown-up teeth," lol. Actually, he yanked out his last loose tooth on his own. He woke me up a few days ago by handing me his tooth with a huge grin on his face. He gets visibly excited about any new loose teeth, and runs around the house showing everybody who will look ? ETA: he's actually always clenched his teeth, now that I think about it. The teeth aching is relatively new, but I can recall the clenching being an issue even when he was still a nursing toddler. It seems like when he's most relaxed he clenches, if that makes any sense at all. Like his teeth automatically set in a clench. When he was nursing, it would happen most frequently as he was dosing off. Ouch for me, but that's besides the point.

You know, I thought about his molars coming in, but it isn't the "all the way" back teeth -- it's the tooth right before the existing back tooth, on both sides (exact same tooth on both sides)? He IS losing baby teeth like crazy all of a sudden, though. He'd lost none at his dentist appointment, but has now lost two (and the adult teeth are coming in quite well) and has another loose, all in the past few months. All front (bottom) teeth, but molars actually might be the reason. Maybe it's the gums, not the teeth, and he may not be able to identify the area.

The Marvelous Flying Marco (turning 6 in a couple weeks) has, for the past couple weeks, been complaining that two teeth (bottom, back -- opposite sides, directly across from each other) "hurt" when I brush those specific teeth or when he chews anything crunchy. However, when I look there is nothing noticeably wrong with them -- and he had a dental check up/cleaning a few months ago, complete with full x-rays, and had no cavities. He does have a pretty pronounced overbite, but that isn't something they are looking to fix at his age ? I have, however, noticed that he has a tendency to clench or grind his teeth during the day. I frequently have to remind him not to. Could the teeth aching be him grinding or clenching at night in his sleep? Because of where the specific two teeth are, it strikes me as something of this nature. If so, what can I do -- or what could a dentist do? He will not wear a mouth guard. Marco is ASD (more severe on the spectrum) and has several serious sensory aversions, primarily oral in nature. We're searching for a new OT, and they would work with him on those issues, but honestly that would be a long term goal, since keeping something (like a mouthguard) in his mouth all night is much different than simply trying a differently-textured food. And his receptive language disorder is pretty marked, so explaining the necessity would be almost impossible. I'm wondering if there are other options. The mouth guard is the only one that came to mind because I have adult family members who do the same, and they were give (or told to get) mouth guards.

I think "pays well" varies by area. I know I've seen advertisements -- local to me -- that describe it the pay as around $10-12/hour. Heck, we pay our babysitters more (to just sit with our autistic kiddos).

We live in a low-cost of living area in the south. We feed 5 people -- all with different dietary needs. DH needs low-cal, low sugar; DD16 is a vegetarian, and the boys (DS9 and DS6) are ASD with sensory-related food aversions. Then there's me, and I just don't really care much about food, lol. We have budgeted about $1100 / month (which includes toiletries, paper products, and personal bathroom supplies -- but not clothing). We do not eat our meals at home every day. DH eats out most days for lunch, either solo or with friends from the office; I typically eat lunch out with the kids (or order lunch in) a couple times weekly, and we (either DH and I for a date night, or all of us as a family) eat dinner out about twice every month. Eating out is not included in our grocery budget, typically. $70/wk would be very difficult for us. I imagine if I needed to, I would try my very best to make it work. Admittedly, at this stage in our life, I am more concerned with making it out of the grocery store with everything on the list, and less concerned about shopping around for deals. I typically just hit Costco (for meats and toiletries, plus a few frozen items and staples like peanut butter) and Publix. We do have an Alid's and a Lidel's within a few miles of us, but they aren't my go-to shops. Lidel's has, in my experience, been really hit or miss regarding consistency in products and quality.

I am very, very sorry for your loss.

One. The Marvelous Flying Marco ? These days (he'll turn 6 in a couple weeks) he's more of a jumper and bouncer, but he could (and did) climb EVERYTHING when he was younger. Even before he could walk, he would monkey his way up things that were too high for him to safely maneuver back down, lol. The other two kiddos, not so much. Middle DS (9 years old) had medical issues that prevented it, but his personality just isn't much of a risk-taker either. He was always (still is) more relaxed and likes to keep both feet on the ground ? DD16 enjoyed getting into mischief as a small child, but not of the climbing variety very often.