Recap: Sometimes These Posts Write Themselves (For An Entire Week, And I Can't Complain Even If The Whole Family Is Completely Loony)

I started the week thinking I might be able to pull off two or three posts given my lack of time and inspiration, but then Ren left some odd things in our online shopping cart, and Sky came home from school with the most awesome comic ever, and I was reinvigorated.

In case you missed the excitement, here's a recap. Click on titles to go to the posts.

On Monday, in "It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times," I describe what's been going right for Sky at school and what hasn't. This year, for the first time, Sky's teacher talked to his class about his ASD, and it's made a big difference.

"Does Any of This Seem Strange to You?" is my take on the things I found in our Amazon shopping cart. I got so distracted by what I found there, I didn't realize I hadn't bought the book I planned to purchase until two days later.

In "Sometimes These Posts Just Write Themselves," I offer you the world premier of Sky's latest comic. I think you'll be fascinated by it. I was. And also a tad disturbed.

Thursday, I wrote the obligatory Valentine's post, "How Does He Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways." Don't tell Ren what I wrote. He might get a big head, and we really don't need that.

Lest you start to think our life resembles something on a Hallmark card, I felt I needed to tell you the real story of our Valentine's Day in "A Valentine's Vignette." I swear I didn't plan to post on Friday, but my whole family seems keen on keeping me busy with their antics.

Recap: I May Not Have Been in My Right Mind

I started coming down with something early in the week, so my posting sputtered a tad. Still, here's the week in review in case you missed it. Click on titles to go to posts.

On Monday, I wrote a post called "Your Perfect Child." It's in response to my experience with one particular couple at Sky's school but relates to many similar experiences I know we've all had when taking our autism spectrum kids out into the world. It may be a bit on the heavy side, but I'm glad I finally figured out a way to express my thoughts on the subject.

On Tuesday, I was too tired to think, so I let the kids write my post. In "This Post is Brought to You by the Letter P and the Number WTH!" Sky reflects on Christmas and rocket landing gear (hahaha, just now autocorrect put "fear" instead of "gear" and that might actually be more accurate), and Pink P seeks to broaden her artistic horizons. She fails, and it's all Ren's fault.

On Wednesday Stow and I took a little trip to the pediatric gastroenterologist, but I'll write more about that later. By Thursday, the cold caught up with me.

Somehow on Friday, in my congestion-induced haze, I was able to write "A Post about Gymnastics when My Head is Fuzzy with a Cold." The story of our accidental gymnastics paraprofessional is a good one, though I'm not sure I communicated it well in my post. If you think this post is bad, you should've seen the intro class I taught that day.

Recap: Close Encounters of the Unknown Kind

It was a weird week at the Moe household. If you missed any of the excitement, here's a little recap (click the titles to link to the posts):

You know how they say, "It takes a village?" I've discovered it also doesn't hurt to have a geologist. After a hard weekend, a chat I had with my geologist friend awhile back gave me the courage I needed to keep going. I wrote about it in "Well, At Least They Probably Won't Become Extinct." I mean, in the long run, isn't that all that matters?

Tuesday started out with a little more vomit than I typically like that early in the morning. In What Magic is This? I talk about Ren's secret cure for the pukes (you have to read it to find out). And, again, I am amazed by the tricks up his sleeve.

I Think Aliens Maybe Abducted My Kids describes the completely unexpected change in behavior that occurred in my kids midweek. After complete mayhem over the weekend, suddenly they acted like no children of mine. The only possible explanation? Aliens.

In "There May Be Something to this Alien Thing," I wonder whether the aliens got a hold of Stow, too. How else can you explain his sudden ability to talk? I mean, alien invasion definitely makes the most sense.

Weekly Recap: Well, At Least There Were Pictures

So, here you have it, my week in review. Click the titles to go to the posts.

On Monday, I posted "On Being a Stepmom," my stab at describing what it's like to be a stepmom. It's impossible to clearly articulate the complex set of emotions involved, especially on such a touchy subject, but I gave it a shot. 

On Tuesday, in "Snack Time," I lamented the loss of the carefree snack time. It's no fun when your kids can't eat most of what they are offered, no fun at all. To cheer myself up, I posted pics of some of the lunches the kids have been eating. 

My fear of the food-related meltdown was realized the very next day when Sky fell apart about a Fruit Loop necklace. You can see the details in "In the End, It was the Fruit Loops."

On Friday, in "Details, Details, Details" I wrote about absolutely nothing of import, but, hey, at least there are pictures. 

And, finally, a mini-blog for today:

These last couple of weeks, I've been seeing a lot of bickering between people affected by ASD on two difficult topics: the link between vaccines and autism and the effectiveness of biomedical treatments. 

Every parent needs to come to his/her own conclusion on these topics, but please make those conclusions after doing your own research. If anything, our experiences post-diagnosis have shown me that there is a lot of misinformation out there--from the media, from many of our doctors who know very little about autism and current research on it, and even from places like the FDA and the CDC. Instead of reacting in fear or from a sense of inadequacy, take it slow. Take it slow, and figure out what works best for you.

It took more than a year to get Sky in the right therapies and to work things out with his school, and then it took several more months to find a good doctor and to start making changes in his diet to address his various nutrient deficiencies (deficiencies, it turns out, that many other ASD kids also have). Am I doing these things because someone told me to or because I somehow feel guilty? No, I'm doing them because research shows that these things can help. Was I completely overwhelmed at first? Absolutely.  It's expensive, and it's time-consuming. We just do what we can when we can and try not to worry about all these things we can't do right now. 

Like it or not, we're all in this together and our numbers are growing at a frightening rate. If we can share our knowledge and respect each other in the process, we might just be able to make this world a better place for all of our kids, autistic and neuro-typical. 

Recap: Ren and Stow, Ponch and Jon

Just in case you missed anything, here's a recap for the week. Click titles to follow the link.

On Monday, in "What CHiPs Taught Me about International Marriage," I unveiled my grand philosophy on marriage. Ponch and Jon from CHiPs show up but nothing racy happens. I promise.

On Tuesday, in "Dear Comcast, Really?" I revisited my complaint to Comcast after they raised my rates even higher. In a creepy turn of events, the Comcast appeasement "troll" commented on the blog and invited the displeasure of several readers.

(Gluten-free lunch, Day 18: Rice balls with fish, apple, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, and seaweed. Day 19 was blue corn chips, hummus, carrots, and tomatoes, but I didn't get a picture.)

In "Crash Helmets Optional," we look at one of the realities of having a toddler with sensory issues, and, I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm not sure the helmets should be optional.

I wrapped up the week with two lists. The first, "Five Things You Should Know about Ren" reveals all his deep dirty secrets. In the second, "Stow's Top Five Play List," I give you the lowdown on all the best toys for a kid like mine. No one paid me to promote these products, which is kind of a shame since my day job isn't going to make me rich any time soon.

What You Missed

Since I posted several times this week, you might not have been able to keep up, so here's a recap (click on the titles to link to the posts):

On Saturday I posted "Curses!" about Sky's acquisition of some colorful language at school. In the post I worried about whether his new vocabulary might force me to give this blog an "R" rating.

On Sunday I wrote a follow-up post called "The Vagaries of Language." Some of you wondered why it was such a big deal for my eight-year old to learn a few bad words. So I explained how Sky's relationship with words impacts his world. This post reminds me of a couple of other ones about how language fails us. Check them out by clicking the title.

"The Conversations We Have at Our House"
"To TV or not TV"
"To Diagnose and To Label"

Then on Monday, I posted a guide to Mom In Two Cultures called "So Are You New Here? or Do You Come Here Often? or Hey, Baby What's Your Sign?" to welcome all my new readers.

Wednesday I came clean about the pumpkins in "Why I Should Never Become a Cultural Ambassador or Parenting Advice Guru." Ironically, totally unrelated to my post, the next day Ren discovered both pumpkins are starting to decompose. Yay, they are edging their way slowly off our property.

Thursday we talked about boy parts in "Can I Call this 'Tiny Baby Penises' or Will That Get Me in Trouble?"

And yesterday Sky celebrated some awesome gains this week by using his Kindle all night. Friday's post, "So You Know This Is Just Enough to Jinx Us" tells you all about it.

Thanks for reading!