I am so sorry I didn't respond to this after all of you took the time to write me such great responses. I got a bit overwhelmed and kept getting held up when I came back but I did read your posts at the time and really appreciated all the information you gave me. We still haven't started ABA just because I'm working on getting the funding all set up for it/to get the school district to pay for it and this has taken longer than expected. However, the place that did the eval did not do an OT eval and I felt he needed OT so I asked my son's pediatrician and he wrote a referral for him. The place I started taking him to for OT also has ST and they have a sister organization that does ABA (with a more mellow twist) as well. I really love this place and his first SLP suggested that he start getting ST there and have everything in one place (her son used to get OT and ST there as well). Although I really liked her and was a bit hesitant to switch, this seemed like a good decision and I also knew that they were really geared toward ASD children as well. I have no regrets because my son is thriving with his therapies and in just a couple months, I've noticed enormous improvement. My husband also took him there several times when I had exams that conflicted with the therapy timing and he could not say enough good things about the therapists. I do know they were evaluating him for Apraxia but I don't believe they saw signs of that.

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I just had a meeting Monday to go over the results of my son's (5) neuropsych eval and they've diagnosed him with Autism (high-functioning). He has some speech and developmental delays as part of the package (his receptive and expressive language put him at or below the 1st percentile and his sentence structure, word structure, and expressive vocabulary was estimated to be equivalent to less than 3 years old while his core language score was in the 0.1 percentile). They recommended formal testing in the future to rule out the possibility of intellectual impairment because of his speech and language delays. They recommended increasing his speech therapy to 90 minutes per week (he has been dong 45 minutes a week since July) and starting 30-40 hours per week of ABA therapy. They also suggested that I might want to switch his SLP to one who specializes in Autism and is ABA trained. His current SLP takes a more naturalistic, child-led approach and doesn't seem to be a huge fan of the rigidity (and from the impression I got, the focus on what the child 'can't do'/their weaknesses) of ABA. I really like her on a personal level and my son seems to like her a lot too so I'm torn about whether or not to switch. I'm also kind of having trouble imagining how 30-40 hours per week of ABA would look, that is 6-8 hours a day and I'm unsure of how you can do anything else during the day with that. I'm glad to finally have some answers but I'm also extremely overwhelmed and trying to move quickly to get him the interventions he needs now that I've come out of my 2.5 year denial stint during which he could have been receiving therapies had I just woken up. On a smaller note, I'm reading through the 100 Day Toolkit they gave me and it gives the suggestion of getting a medical alert bracelet for the child that says they have Autism so if there was some sort of situation where the child wandered off or got separated, authorities would know that he has Autism and also account for the inability to, for example, give his information or our information or answer their questions. My son hasn't ever been a runner (my 2 year old is the one we worry about) and I've never had an issue like this with him but would it be worth it as a 'better safe than sorry' measure? ETA: I'm all set to start nursing school in January but now with his needs, the amount of therapy needed, and homeschooling, we're trying to figure out if that is even going to be possible anymore.

The Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. I read them for the first time at that age and still go back for re-read during rough times as a pick-me-up.

Recently picked up "The Quiltmaker's Gift" and it is truly lovely. The illustrations are great and the message is a really good one.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Dark Places (same author as above) Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See Peony in Love (same author as above) The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield Older but I always love the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters as a comfort read. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Sister of My Heart (same author as above) The Birth House by Ami Mckay The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns (same author as above) I also find many of the books by Amy Tan (The Kitchen God's Wife, The Bonesetter's Daughter, Savign Fish from Drowning) and by Pearl Buck (The Three Daughters of Madame Liang, Imperial Woman, Pavilion of Women) to be addicting reads.

Our last year was an interesting experiment. My original plan was not much different from what I have now though it was perhaps a little less gentle. I switched around our main curriculum before I came to understand more of what was going on and now that I do know, we'll be having a very gentle at-your-own-pace K5 year. Spine Oak Meadow K Language Arts Finish up AAR Pre-1 and move on to AAR 1 when we're ready. EtC: Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code occasionally And, of course, tons of great read-alouds. Math Finish up Singapore Math K/MEP Reception and move on to Math Mammoth 1 and MEP 1. Handwriting: HWOT ' Science: Mostly covered by Oak Meadow but we are utilizing ideas from I Love Dirt! and reading Let's Read and Find-Out books. Social Skills/Speech: Social Detectives' The Incredible Flexible You Talkability

Not exactly a typical classic but a friend recently recommended the book 'Dinosaurumpus' and my children LOVE it. IMO it is a really good picture book for smaller kids and well-written for what it is.

Yes, the spoof of G Dragon on Surplus Princess was hilarious. I actually liked the main actress of The Woman Who Married Three Times as I felt she fit the character (seemed kind of cold and indifferent but beaten up by life and just tired of it all) but maybe she was just typecast or something. My problem with the thing was (SPOILER ALERT if you scroll down): In the drama, she was married to one man and they really loved eachother but he couldn't protect her from her in-laws (who they lived with). His mother actually became physically abusive with her and it got worse when she was pregnant with their daughter. Eventually, he agreed to divorce her to let her go because he wasn't strong enough to protect her and he didn't want to trap her in that situation anymore. Enter husband #2 who promises that she will bring her daughter into his house and he will play stepfather to her if she marries him. Instead, his parents, though "nicer" insist that if she marries him she has to leave her daughter with her parents and her ex-husband. She agrees (baffling but she does definitely regret it and blames the husband). Ex-hubby marries this complete psycho who was obsessed with him (his mother forced him as she liked the girl) and she's a way worse DIL than his first wife was to the point that even the evil MIL wishes he'd get rid of her and remarry the first wife (even when the first wife is pregnant with her 2nd husband's baby). The evil stepmom hits and abuses his daughter and he wants to divorce her when he finds out (and it is pretty clear he's still in love with the first wife and would like to remarry her and raise both children with her). Meanwhile, the main woman's husband keeps cheating on her with this actress so she leaves him but is convinced to come back and then he rapes her (it isn't referred to as rape, instead sugarcoated as 'forcing himself on her' as if that is different but yeah, it was definitely spousal rape) and she becomes pregnant from that. When he keeps cheating on her, she decides to leave for good (while everyone keeps trying to convince her to take him back). His family says if she divorces him then she has to give them the baby to raise. EVEN though she has leverage on him (they don't want anyone to know about the affair with the actress as it will ruin the family and she has photographs as proof) and even though they can't force her to give the baby, in the end she for some reason has to give them her newborn son (they show her crying after delivery) and the 'third marriage' is marrying herself/having her own independence. The first husband takes back the evil wife because he realizes her dad abuses her mom and somehow his love will cure her being an abusive, awful excuse for a human being and falls in love with her and they have a baby together. The evil stepmom's ending really bugged me because she wasn't even a likable or understandable sort of awful, just plain pathetic and awful and the main woman's ending killed me because even if she didn't end up back with her first husband (which I think would've worked well if she did), I cannot understand her having to give up the baby or that being considered a 'happy ending.'

I love Lee Min Jung ever since she played the 2nd female lead in BOF. She is so cute and really does well with her own stuff (really liked her in Cunning Single Lady/ Sly and Single Again) and she was good in Smile, You though that show seemed like it went on forever.

I have a worse ending than Big: Thrice Married Woman (aka The Woman Who Married Three Times). What makes it even worse is that it was 40 episodes just to get to that ending and I really could not believe it. Horrible. It wasn't left ambiguous, it was just plain horrible. The bad guys win and live happily ever after, the heroine's ending is somehow supposed to be a positive but I can't possibly get over what she had to give up (for no understandable reason since she had leverage). Major waste of time.

Ah, so you haven't yet seen Yeon Min Jung yet(the character I'm talking about) because she takes the cake. The only good thing about it is we've reached the portion of the show where the good guys start whooping her behind and there is one character whose entire story arc is bringing her down and making her life Hell (he is awesome). One major problem I have in K Dramas is that typically the villain doesn't get enough punishment. I mean, even when she repeatedly attempted to murder people (or murdered people) and committed the worst crimes, at the end everyone forgives her and she lives happily ever after. My favorite second female lead was the one in Protect the Boss. For once they made the 2nd lead a decent human and fun to watch interact with the others. She was really cute. LOL. Some of the kissing scenes, I tell ya. I'm seeing a lot more realistic scenes in the newer dramas but I always find it hilarious when the male lead bumps his lips against the girl's frozen in timewhile the girl stays completely statue still, arms at her side, grimace on her face

Actually, we do this too (no shoes in the house). In my experience, you either wear slip ons or you put your shoes on standing (or sit on the ground if you really can't manage that).

I don't understand this at all. When I've heard people make arguments that hijab or abaya or the clothes that I choose to wear are somehow oppressive, they're linking it to the ideas behind it (or at very least their perception of those ideas as someone feeling compelled to cover parts of their body or hide their beauty as a deterrent to male attraction especially when they feel the woman is not making that choice freely and independently), not the actual yardage of cloth the woman is wearing. If the message behind it is the same (or worse), how is a one-piece any different than a burqa? As for the latter part of your statement, it is independent of girls being victimized because the emphasis has to be on guys not to assault and humiliate a woman by undressing her against her will as a prank in order to work as a preventative and there has to be punishment for that as a reactive. Even if she DOES wear a one-piece, if the mindset is still there, the guys will still find ways to do similar things.

Somewhere 'Pen' is like "ouch."

Oh dear. I hope that lady did know so she could go home and self-flagellate for leading your boy astray and making him stumble like that. :closedeyes: :lol: Actually though, this happened to me one time. I think they said I was a mummy though? It was around Halloween-time. I was laughing but his mom was SO embarrassed and I felt bad for her. I smiled (even though he couldn't see) and waved and that made him happy. Doesn't always work though, I did that another time and that kid basically clutched their mom and hid their head in fear when I waved at them. A few times, I've heard kids ask if I'm a ninja. Of course, when I hear that, I always strike a ninja pose and put up my hands like I'm going to karate chop, natch.

Yes, I love those. One of the 'Y's here let the Muslim community rent out the pool for women on certain evenings and I've been meaning to make it over there (it is on the opposite side of the city so it is a drive). Where we used to live, my family had a pool so I could swim in that without any concern.

Maybe she was reading along one of the threads and got ticked off (ex: the controversial one) since the news one was from the previous week.

I was a big swimmer pre-hijab. After, I used to swim in full on abaya and hijab and with that heavy clothing, it seems like a pretty significant drowning risk even for a strong swimmer but between not swim vs that, I chose to swim like that. Then I found some website selling the Islamic swimsuits and my dad bought them for all the women in my family and the first swim with one on was amazing. The good ones have the same material as swimsuit material so you can still feel the water through the suit on your skin and it doesn't become heavy or cumbersome at all. It is like wearing a light wetsuit. Love those!

Bye! If she was staying I was going to come in to snarkily comment that 'this post is going to go well.' But I should've known when people write things like this they're just drumming up attention for an I'm leaving post. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I've made many a man stumble. Try standing behind someone in line or in public in full black with a face veil. When they turn around, 80% of the time, they either jump, stumble, or combine the two. The worst stumble ever happened when I had to stop one time and grab something but I was wearing eye makeup so I put the thing down that covers your eyes too just to run in. Hahaha, the guy in front of me in line not only stumbled but yelped. I can't blame him, with that particular one and with the eyes unexposed, you look almost identical to a ringwraith.

I would conquer the Hong Sisters' dramas next. Master's Sun (very different and cool IMO), Greatest Love, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, and My Girl. But not Big. Never Big.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade Growing up, I was very into storytelling and writing short stories and poetry. I stopped very suddenly and have not written since BUT I still consider 1001 Arabian Nights to be a great work of lit ;). Also, my mother used to jokingly call me this because I had a penchant for long, eloquent speeches on certain topics that would hold the attention which she claimed I had inherited from my father. Typically, I tend to go by a kunya username like umsami but I figured my eldest's name is on the longer side and i figured most people would think I was confused about something (umm...). I'm not Persian though as people have asked me before, my family is from North Africa.

Modest may actually be hottest...temperature wise ;) Glad I don't live in Florida anymore.

I'm currently hooked on Jang Bo Ri is Here. The show is ridiculous but it is like crack. The first 20 episodes, I was so annoyed by it. After that, it started getting a lot better. Now, around 35+, it is downright addicting and action-packed. Sucks for Lee Yoo Ri (Min Jung) though with the amount she gets slapped around but I'm sure if I had a person like that in my life it would be all I could take not to kick her in the face every time she entered a room. About the musical stuff...I don't listen to music but I was familiar with IU from when she sang in You're the Best Lee Soon Shin and I heard 'You and I' somewhere else as well. I watched 'Trot Lovers' though and Eunji's voice is amazing, even when she's just singing trot acapella. I heard she's part of a girl band and doesn't usually shine too much in it but really, any song she sang in that drama was great and she clearly has talent.