Flashback Friday: Another Bad Mommy Moment

Yesterday morning I had a moment of déjà vu. I found myself in the same situation with Prince Charming that I was in over a year ago with Monkey. It starts with a tired mom forgetting to finish the laundry and ends up with at least one boy without dry clothes to wear to school.  

In this situation, Prince Charming had a much more difficult time accepting the change in circumstances than Monkey did last year.

Luckily I found a pair of pants for him to wear that were hiding out in Monkey’s dresser drawer and happened to be the right size. Can you say minor miracle? He objected to the idea of a new pair of pants he’d never worn before. After significant prodding, he put them on and they fit perfectly. He was a very happy little boy when he got on the school bus. Thank God.

To read about the original Bad Mommy incident, click here.

A new chapter

This weekend I was a part of something wonderful and I wanted to share it with you. I’ve been running a support group for special needs families for almost 3 years now and have been doing it as a one-woman show pretty much the entire time. I have always been happy to do it because I know that the group is needed in my area, and frankly, I need the support for myself. Each meeting I get to connect with great people. No matter the diagnosis, we all share similar struggles. And, many of the attendees I can now call my friends. The whole thing is a true blessing to me.

The best part is that I have an opportunity to learn something new at each meeting. The speakers always have great information to share and I soak it up like a sponge. I have a desire to learn, not only for myself, but for the sake of my children. This should come as no surprise. I was always a nerdy kid and got really good grades. I even went back to college (before kids!) to get my Master’s degree because I thought it would be fun. I still get weird looks about that one, especially when people learn that it wasn’t to gain fame and fortune or an executive position somewhere. I just like school, I guess. Yes, I know I’m strange.

As an aside, I’ll tell ya what that fancy and very expensive degree got me in the job department...nada. Zip. Zilch. I’ve always found a job easily, but even with an MBA and an extensive job search in the past year, I got nothin.’

I am a self-proclaimed busy body and not having a job when our family could use some financial help is not my idea of fun. To make myself feel better, I always find ways to stay busy and do work (even if it is unpaid). Helloooo, can you say blogging? Anyway, I got to thinking about how I could create my own job doing what I love. I’ve found that my mindset has changed drastically since my boys’ diagnosis. My heart is truly in the special needs community now. It’s what I am passionate about. I mean, how can I not be passionate about something that affects me every single day?

Since I started the group I’ve met hundreds of people who have children with autism and other special needs. Not one person has had an easy time of anything. We all struggle and there are some significant needs out there. I have to say that my life is pretty darn easy compared to some people I know. I recognize that and I appreciate what I have. I also see it as an opportunity to do something when others might not be able to.

I began thinking that I should take my group to the next level.

Spring Regression, Summer Transition

Did any of you experience a regression with your child during the spring? I can’t tell you how many people I know had chaos bloom in their children when spring hit. It’s like all of our kids drank the same water and spontaneously started freaking out. It happened in my house, times two! It’s a miracle I survived. Seriously.

The boys fought like rabid animals when they were at home. I got phone calls home from teachers several times a week. One of the most interesting calls home was when I found out that Prince Charming told another classmate to “kiss my boobs.” Yep. My little boy. I was mortified. Luckily, the teacher found the humor in the situation and knew that there was no way he would have learned it from home.

Bad Mommy at SPD Blogger Network

Over the weekend I had another post run over at SPD Blogger Network! I originally wrote “Bad Mommy” back in January. In the post I talked about how Monkey has some tactile sensory issues and how a potential sensory disaster was averted despite my forgetfulness.  

I encourage you to go visit the post over at SPD Blogger Network and don’t forget to browse some of the other posts, too. There’s a lot of great bloggers on the site!

I’d love to hear about your Bad Mommy experiences in the comments below. When did you mess up and how did your kids handle it? Did they make you laugh or did they have a major meltdown? Do tell!

Meltdowns happen

You know the saying... “Sh*t happens!” Well, I can tell you that meltdowns happen! And they can be loads ‘o fun! Like poking your eye with a sharp stick kind of fun. I had the distinct pleasure of working through a meltdown last night with Grumpy Badger.  

Granted, he’s had some big transitions recently. He started a new schedule at school last week. We are working to integrate him from half-day into a longer school day, eventually moving him into a regular classroom. I think the changes are wearing him out, which makes his meltdown fuse shorter than normal.

I could tell when he got home from school that it might be an interesting night. He was very reactive to everything I was saying, and any demands placed upon him launched an automatic tirade of complaining and “I don’t want to” responses.

By the time we got to his social skills group, he seemed to be more cooperative and I thought we might be able to redeem the evening. Toward the end of his appointment, he was becoming unfocused and non-participatory. The meltdown alert system in my head started to sound the alarm that there might be impending doom sometime soon. I was right.