My pleasure! Best of luck to you. :) If your son does turn out to be an Aspie, be assured you're not alone. :) I'm sure that I speak for all of us when I say that you can always come here and hang out with the rest of us and we'll be happy to give you a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear when you need to vent or have questions. God bless you and your precious family. :) :grouphug:

LOL This had me in stitches. Too cute! :) hehe If you indeed have 15 bffs I hope you realize what a lucky lady you are! But with your sense of humor I wouldn't be surprised that you had that many friends. :) :grouphug:

I don't know how your insurance is if you'll need to have a referral or not, but you're best off going to a pediatric neurologist or a pediatric psychologist for a diagnosis. In my case, my pediatrician recongnized that my children weren't developing "typically" and she suspected Autism, but she gave me a referral to the neurologist for an evaluation and diagnosis. If you can go directly to the neurologist without having to have a referral from the pediatrician you can probably save yourself a few dollars by not having to pay the extra co-pay.:)

heheheh a big AMEN to that. My kids are tough to be sure. I think parents of typical kids could never even dream of the kinds of stuff we have to deal with day in and day out, but you know, I love my kids to death and I cannot imagine my life without them. They have taught me so much about myself and the things I need to change and I am a much better person because of them. If I had to make the choice between having them in my life with all of their issues and compulsions or not having them at all, I would choose them every time. They're great and I love them so much. But sometimes I just have to sit back and laugh because it can get all so ovewhelming and ridiculous sometimes. When I read all the posters stories of their own special ones, I can relate so much and I'm glad to know that I'm not alone. :) :grouphug: God bless all of you ladies who are raising special kids! :grouphug:

That is what I'm afraid of. I want to give them something for them that they will like and that will show my appreciation for all that they do for my son, but then I run into things like... is this place near to where they live? Do they even like what they offer? Are they allergic to anything? And it gets tricky then. I know for myself that I am not an ice cream eater so if I got a gift card for ice cream I'd probably re-gift it to somebody who does. It's so hard to buy things for someone when you don't know them that well. :confused:

Isn't Autism fun? hehehe LOL I'm not trying to be offensive or to say anything off-color, but as one who is living with this day in and day out, I know that sometimes you have to just sit back and laugh. These kids are NUTS!! hehehehe :D ;)

did you watch it in 3D??? How were the graphics?

Oh they are sooooo cuuuuute!! hehe My daughter would LOVE those little ducks. :)

Cranberry juice or lemon juice added to water will help, but in my experience, there is nothing that works better than a total water fast. If you go on a fast of just water for 24-36 hours, that water will be gone. That's provided you are not pregnant of course. :)

Thank you so much for all the replies. I think a gift card is a great idea. I think I would want to give her a gift card to a place I know she'll go like the grocery store or Walmart or Target. Would that be a good one? Or would it be too much of a reminder of all the stuff she has to do at home AFTER working all day long? I don't want to give her anything that she will think is lame, but I don't really know them well enough to know if they like Starbucks or Ice Cream.

Kids n' pets. http://kidsnpetsbrand.com/ They sell it at Target in the cleaning aisle for like 4 bucks. :)

Welcome!! I hope you enjoy your time here. :) Congrats on the new baby. I hope she arrives to you soon. :)

That's a nice idea. Do the chocolates have nuts? I know some people are allergic to nuts.

My pleasure. :) We are enjoying the book very much, but I could see how a boy would be all over it. A young man who can track and has his own gun and a great dog? What's not for a boy to love?? ;) :D As an aside I have to say though that I was surprised at how intelligent the dog is in the book. My Aunt had 3 Irish Setters when I was growing up and she always said they were the dumbest dogs ever! hehehe

LOL That would be great I"m sure if I were in Oz. ;) :D Ah, but you made me think of something!! My bus driver is Cuban!! Did I tell you that she's the best bus driver ever?? I could maybe get her some Cuban pastries?? Is that too cheezy? (no pun intended) ;) :D

My daughter and I are reading "Big Red" right now. I can see a boy really liking that one. Maybe the Hardy Boys too?

Suggestions please. My son's last day of school is June 11 and I want to get his teacher, his bus driver (best bus driver ever!!) and the bus driver's aide a little gift to thank them for all that they do. I really would like to get them something for $10.00 or less, but I just cannot think of anything. I would be grateful for some good suggestions. Thank you to all who reply. :) Jennifer

It sounds like our two kiddos have a lot of similar issues. :)

hehehe Yeah Monk's great! :) Every time I watch it my husband and I just look at each other with a knowing glance as to who he reminds us of. hehehe My daughter even has the little ticks. hehe Well, I can only speak for myself here, but in my situation, the biggest issues with my son are safety and potty training issues. He has his own world that he lives in and although he interacts with us and he likes to have cuddles with me and stories, he mostly just wants to be by himself and play alone. My daughter is very much aware of her surroundings. She watches other people and other kids and wants to be like them, but she is lacking in the social skills to be able to communicate in all of the nuances and subtleties so that when it comes down to trying to participate, she usually gives off the wall answers or her ticks act up and kids in general just don't know what to do make of her. Some kids are kind and just humor her thinking that she's just got an off the wall sense of humor, but others are down right mean and cruel to her and it breaks my heart. I spend a great deal of time with her trying to educate her to read people's faces and not just take them at their words. I do social stories with her trying to equip her with more social skills and she is improving, but she still has a long way to go. Sometimes somebody will say something really snarky or mean spirited to her and she'll get a confused look on her face and ask, "Are you being sarcastic?" Bless her heart. She still can never tell for certain. I have really gained such an appreciation for the complexities of human communication verbal and non-verbal through watching her struggle through trying to navigate it all. She's a brave soul and keeps trying and I am very protective of her and am usually very close by to help her understand what someone is meaning when she struggles. Those things in addition to trying to homeschool her and deal with all of her behaviors make her much more of an investment in time and emotion than my son. He is a breeze compared to my daughter. :tongue_smilie::D

Oh that's too funny! hehehe If I had cable I might be persuaded to leave Overhaulin long enough to watch an episode of that! :D hehe

Thank you all so kindly for all of the wonderful replies and suggestions. Ay, the blessing and curse of homeschooling!!! So many curriculum choices! :D I chose two books. hehe I ordered the Learning Georgraphy through Art and also the Trail Guide to World Geography. Thank you all for the suggestions. :) Now to wait for them to come in the mail. :) Blessings, Jennifer

It was a worthy hijack. :) Thank you for sharing that and also for the link. I bookmarked it. :)

I always thought the little passages from other books were a way to excite interest in reading the whole thing. hehe I bought the entire series of Little House on the Prairie after the sections that we read from in LLATL. :) I'm glad I did too. I loved the books so much. hehe The first year I did LLATL I was confused by the format with the books too, but what I finally figured out just this year, was to start the book reading and do the other sections that have nothing to do with it while we are reading and when the book is finished to go back and do the sections based on just the book. I hope I'm making sense here. It worked well for us. :)

Phew, I'm glad I misunderstood your meaning then because what I thought you were implying was really troubling to me. Thank you for spelling it out more clearly for me. :)

I have a daughter with Asperger's, OCD and ADHD and a son who is severely Autistic. They are night and day in personality. My son, who is the most disabled, is actually in many ways the "easiest" one. With him it's a matter of keeping him safe at all times and always knowing where he is and what his is doing. Plus he is non-communicative so that is always a challenge, but personality wise he is as sweet as can be and very compliant. My daughter on the other hand.... hehehe She's like Monk's personality but on steroids! She can be extremely difficult to deal with and has a hard time sitting still and focusing. She can be completely wild and very difficult to manage, but she has a heart of gold. I know it is just her "issues" that drive her compulsions and behaviors so I try to be as patient as I can (she's the one I homeschool btw). For her, I cannot see any other way except to homeschool her. I shudder to think what she would be like if she went to regular school. My husband, who was convinced that her issues were a result of her being homeschooled put his foot down one year and told me I had to send her to school or else. She went for third grade and it was a NIGHTMARE!! She got bullied horribly and the school was completely inept as far as dealing with the problem. She came home everyday from school without knowing how to do her homework because she was daydreaming all the time in school. We were staying up every evening until 11pm 12am sometimes re-schooling her from what she was supposed to have learned durning the day. It was a tremendous strain on our family and after 2 months my husband said, "you're homeschooling her again next year." hehe These kids really have special needs and for us, one on one teaching is the only way for me to help her. She's very bright and sweet, but she just has compulsions and issues that dominate all else.