I was recently shunned by my 8-year old not once, but twice, in one day. 

The first incident was when I tried to ask him a question related to school and he asked if I was going to ask him those questions every day.  The second was that evening after leaving his weekly peer group session he attends to help him with his social anxiety and self esteem, and when I asked what they did his response was “do I have to tell you?”    

I’m a full-time mom of two (one of which has special needs), part time writer, and once again, a full-time employee for a software company.  After 20 months of staying home to give more time to my family I had an opportunity come my way that was just too hard to pass up, being that it’s a little different from the role I played in my past work life and am able to do MOST of it from home. 

But I admit my anxiety levels have been higher as I’m now trying to again juggle it all.

I had an interesting conversation this past weekend with a friend who filled me in on a discussion she had at a sports end-of-season party.  The topic was about how much money they spend for their daughters to participate in this sport and whether they should steer their kids toward a less expensive activity in order to put some of this money toward a college fund. 

I find this article interesting not only because I have an autistic child but because of how many families seem to be affected today by some sort of special need or disability, not just autism. 

Earlier this year when my son was still in preschool, I was worried for a while about the increased number of fibs he was starting to tell.  Yes, I should say “lies”, but being that he was only 4, I had a hard time accepting these elaborate fabrications he was sharing and that he told them with such confidence as if they were absolutely real. 

My son is back in our room at night.  He tends to go through these spurts where he is afraid of the dark.  Once it gets dark outside, he won’t go upstairs without me, he won’t go down the hall to the bathroom if no lights are turned on, and he doesn’t want to be alone in his room. 

I have one child who will sleep in until 10:00am if I let him, and the other who will not sleep in no matter how tired he is.  And of course, the one who won’t sleep in is the one who requires more sleep than the rest of us combined.

Summer happens to be a time of year when many families schedule a move so as to not disrupt a child’s school year.  But no matter what time of year it is, it doesn’t make it any easier for children to part from their friends. 

I have an iPhone, and I love it.  The week I left my full time job of 15 years, the most exciting thing I did was shut off my corporate blackberry and switch over to the iphone so I could finally have a “fun” phone.

I’ve been told I’m hard on myself.  I disagree, but what do I know (hmmm…).  When I was younger, if I didn’t do well on a school test or in a sport I would get down on myself.  I’d then start to think negative thoughts about my capabilities, which would lower my self esteem and continue to affect my performance even more.  We see this happen in professional sports all the time as a player gets into a slump.