This picture perfectly encapsulates parenting, so I had to share it with all of you. I hope you like it.
Posts Tagged ‘parenting’
Government going to actually stay open? Num num.
Will the government actually stay open this time?
It should be concerning that I have to write the phrase “I’ve lived through several government shutdowns at this point”, the one most affecting us being the one in 2011 because both of the kids were on WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and that isn’t mandatorily funded. Everyone who was on it was advised to use their debit cards or vouchers at the start of October because most states had residual funding and could continue the program with it until they ran out of funding, which is exactly what I did… I went to the WIC store in my city and got all of the staples that we could get. All of the other benefits and services that we get fall under mandatory funding, which is affected by the debt ceiling — and oh, we’re bumping up against that. Wonderful. It looks like October is going to be a positively wonderful month for my family. It truly will be.
Meanwhile, I am continuing to homeschool both of the boys in spite of our state funding virtual schooling again. Only 10% of the district’s students can be enrolled in it, which means that there is never a guarantee that either of them would be selected, and there is no prioritizing for disability. The school also has to have or exceed a certain grade to be permitted to homeschool… or maybe that’s the district in general, which makes things even more of a toss-up if I were to consider it. And then there’s the fact that both of the boys would have to go to their respective schools to take the state test, and we know for a fact that Bub is not testable. So they would literally have to go up on campus where the schools and the districts can not mandate masks by executive order from the governor, which means that there is a risk of exposure to COVID-19, and then they could bring it home to each other or give it to me. At any rate, though, even with accommodations (assuming that the school actually gave them), if they did not get or exceed a certain grade on the test, they would not be permitted to continue virtual schooling. I know for a fact that Monster has a confirmed intellectual disability because he is more testable in that regard. If he does, Bub has to. Homeschooling for the long-term just makes more sense in our situation, and it is working well for us. I swear I have ADD or ADHD, though…
Bub watching his brother has gotten hilarious.
He was watching him write numbers in long form here (“fifty”, “seventy-five”) and his face was just hilarious.
Opening the Floor: Yes, I Am Autistic, Folks
Because of the amount of W*ncest shippers that viewed my blog in a twenty-four hour period (we’re talking, like, thirty), I decided to open the floor to all who wanted to ask me questions to give me something to blog about. The least I can do is give them something to read. Of course, I won’t be identifying who asked what.
The first question that I was asked was about my autism “diagnosis”, which is a story in and of itself.
I began to participate in autistic-led communities when both of my children were formally diagnosed autistic because I wanted to learn as much as I could to appropriately and effectively parent them. At first I did not identify, or self-identify, as autistic because I did not know that I was autistic. As I began to make autistic friends in these communities with the advice that I occasionally gave as a parent being given clout, autistic adults began contacting me and speaking to me. A lot of them said that they believed that I was autistic, that they saw autism in me. A variety of ways to say it were used. I began to mull it over as the count of autistic adults telling me that they thought I was autistic increased, and I realized that I was comfortable not only with being an autistic adult but also self-identifying as such. In some circles I joke that the Internet diagnosed me, but it is the honest truth. I don’t feel ashamed of being an autistic adult, nor do I feel bad. Now, in these autistic-led circles, I self-identify as autistic and I try to give the best advice possible to neurotypical parents of autistic children. Autistic adults continue to see the fact that I am autistic in the kinds of advice that I give, and some of them tell me that. So yes, hello — I am autistic, and I am not ashamed.
I will get around to updating the about me section of this blog in due time, or probably seconds from now.
We shall see.
Did I forget to queue a post up in here or something?
Apparently I did. And I had convinced myself that I had posts queued for the next few days, too…
I’m supposed to be sitting here looking for more video games for Bub, ones that he does not already have, but even that is proving to be difficult because I’ve already pre-ordered him much of what I would want to pre-order him. I mean, not that I’m complaining about making a lot less work for myself… but now I have to find him things that he doesn’t already have. I would consider getting him Pokemon plushies, too — ones that he doesn’t already have — but the going prices on some of these, the ones that I’ve found on Amazon and eBay, are absolutely obscene. I’m not going to pay $35.00 for a Pichu plush. I would have no problem paying a reasonable price for one. However, I am not paying $35.00 for one when it is not even that rare.
It might also be that Pokemon plushies in general go for exorbitant prices, which would (and is) making me reconsider purchasing them. I’m not about to cut off my arm or my leg to afford maybe… one plush, two at the most. Admittedly, some of them don’t have the worst prices, but a lot of them are marked up to almost unbelievable prices, and it makes us want to develop a Funko Pop collection rather than a Pokemon one if this is how things are going to be. But between this and the fact that my head has hurt for going on two days now in spite of the medication that I’ve been prescribed, I want to limit my consumption of things that are probably going to frustrate me… and the idea of these things being marked up as high as they are is definitely on the list. Let’s not, please. Let’s actually price things appropriately so that people purchase them.