Mama Bear Vent

I've got a bit of a protective streak in me. A small streak that makes me go slightly beserk when my children are wronged. Combine that with the fact that I've got a child with autism that appears 'normal' and bad things can happen. I went to go pick up the babysitter tonight and two other children were playing in her yard. We know them from church and school. Issac always gets SUPER excited when he sees people he knows (and he's loud to begin with). He's literally hanging out the car window screaming, "Hi guys!". While I'm waiting for the babysitter to come out, one of the kids, who is older, tells that other one, "He's so weird." More whisperings that I can't make out because by now I'm giving her an ice glare. The babysitter comes out the front door and this girl tells the babysitter, "I'm so sorry you have to babysit him". I know he's loud. I know some things that he does are socially 'off'. But I just want to cry because he is the sweetest kid I know and he just wanted to say hi. He was so excited to see them and say hello. It's a good thing Issac was oblivious because if I had to spend tonight consoling his broken spirit, I would be even more infuriated.

What do I do? Do I talk to the girl? Do I talk to her parents? Do I realize that kids are immature and just let it go? Issac is totally unaware so do I just be happy that he thinks all is well? I really don't know what to do but the whole thing just eats at me. It's my worst fears realized - that he'll be rejected by those around him. Why is parenting so hard??

School, birthday, and ...muskrats?

I still can't believe I have a 2nd grader. Where does the time go?? Issac is very, very happy to be back in school. He has a very sweet teacher and loves everything so far. We've already had our annual first-week-of-school mishap but at least it didn't involve the police this year. :) School pictures were last Wednesday and the day was crazy from the minute we woke up. We'd had softball the night before so we didn't get home until 11 so I didn't pick out his clothes or make lunch. In the morning, I was super busy with work and Issac had no clean clothes. We finally found something and then he spilled breakfast all down the front of his shirt. So I frantically searched for ANOTHER clean shirt. Long, crazy story short, he finally got off to school clean with his hair combed, teeth brushed and money for pictures and lunch. After school, I'm going through his backpack and find the picture order envelope STILL IN THERE. I gave him two checks. He turned in the lunch money but not the picture money. So our craziness was all for nothing... Oh well, retakes, right?

The same day was even more crazy because it was Evan's birthday. Several Geo Trax toys and trucks later, Evan is completely content. He told me, "I like being 4 - 4 year olds have more toys."

Finally, we are having issues with muskrats. Yes muskrats. We have now caught 2 in the last 3 days in our window wells. It's quite the ordeal to get a muskrat out of your window well. If you ever need to remove said animal, give us a call. We now have a 'method' - dog carrier and rope. :) They are kind of cute and the kids think it's awesome but I'm getting tired of playing fur trapper. And my hose got eaten! This is not even the first time we have had this happen - we had one at our Idaho house too! Anyone else had this happen or just us? Maybe we just attract them for some reason!

Hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend!

Inflation

Teeth are apparently worth more now than when I was a kid...

Yes, Issac requested the tooth fairy leave him $50.00 for a baby tooth. Luckily, the tooth fairy is a smart lady and wisely only paid out $1.00. His response - "The tooth fairy only gave me a dollar. You can't buy anything with that!"