Now I’m not intending this to sound like whining, but it might. Instead, you have to understand that sometimes I just “observe” my life and have a vague recollection of what it would be like if I wasn’t parenting LuLu.

Yesterday LuLu, Kay and I had our semi-annual dental cleaning appointment. The girls’ appointment was scheduled for last week, while we were in Illinois; so we were fortunate that they had time to take them at the same time mine was scheduled on Monday. However, the way they had it set up was that Kay and I were to be cleaned at the same... more

I decided to try Julie’s reverse psychology, of prescribing the behavior that works so well with Lulu, on my teenage daughter. I told her that I had to go into work for a few hours. I knew she was going to want to take something while I was gone. I wanted her to know that it was ok for her to take whatever she wanted. I didn’t want to have that between us. I told her that it was causing a problem with our relationship and I didn’t want that to happen. She was quite upset by my telling her to go ahead and take whatever she wanted. She adamantly said that she didn’t want anything. She said... more

I interrupt this regular blog on parenting special kids to tell you how happy my children are that we returned to Atlanta today. Just after we pulled in this afternoon, it began to snow! Frankly, we had a hard time remembering the last time it had snowed in Atlanta, but then decided it was in 2004.

I have to laugh thinking about what prayers I had asked for from our church family. They wanted to give us “something” in our time of grief. I suggested that prayers for “a safe journey and no bad weather until we returned” were in order. I was thinking of... more

Through our rather challenging week of traveling and funeral with LuLu, we have to say we’re most thankful for ear plugs. Yep…they saved the day on many occasions.

One thing is for sure; we have a family that loves to laugh. And as more of us showed up in Mattoon, Illinois, the laughter reached louder and louder decibels. Super Dad, in an unexpected stroke of genius, remembered he had some ear plugs in his suitcase from his work. LuLu has rejected ear plugs on numerous occasions before; but after her successful trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s , she was willing to... more

My daughter, as well as many other people in the world, cannot accept the blame for anything she does. Today, during a discussion about a school assignment that she didn’t turn in, she made the following statement. I have been asking God to help me, but he isn’t! I can tell you for sure, that her behavior will not change, if she doesn’t own her behavior. If she will not take responsibility for her actions then she cannot change them. This has been a major blocking point that has prevented my teenage daughter from improving her behavior.

She refuses to take responsibility.... more

LuLu informed me of this today when I told her that if she was too sick to do the tiny bit of school work I had assigned her then she was too sick to trek out to the beach this afternoon. Although this logic prevailed yesterday, and she got her schoolwork done, today is a different story. She’s pretty sure she’ll feel much better when she gets to the beach!

Super Dad’s father passed away mid-morning and the rest of the day is pretty much thrown out the window. The balance between our typical insane day and arranging a funeral is a bit surreal. So,... more

Cooped up in a hotel room with limited entertainment options (once it’s dark at the beach), we had little to do besides watch Super Nanny as a family. Tonight’s episode, like many, included three spoiled children and two permissive and submissive parents.

What was the most entertaining for Super Dad and me was watching LuLu’s reaction to the whole show. LuLu was cheering Jo on with all the advice she was giving. She was especially for the idea that parents should be able to tell their children “no”. I quickly turned around and told her “no”.

She... more

We’re headed to Florida this morning, since Super Dad received a call last night that his father’s health is worsening. Knowing that he’s 91, the news is not shocking. But switching our plans and attention to Grandpa from LuLu is a bit challenging.

And so it is when parenting children with special needs. When “life happens” that doesn’t involve your special needs child, it really DOES involve your special needs child. Super Dad feels the need to visit his dad and to be there. So he needs to go. Oddly enough, he was scheduled to keep LuLu with him on Friday... more

This morning I was running a little late when the phone rang. Even though I didn’t have much time to talk, I answered it anyway when I saw who it was. It was an adoptive mom of six children with at least 10 years of experience parenting special needs children under her belt. We had run into each other at the dentist a couple of months ago and chatted for about 30 minutes about the similarities in our 10-year-old daughters’ behaviors. “Hi Julia, Do you think it would be alright to send my daughter to school with her glasses taped on her face?” I was a bit stunned by her question.... more

Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese. “Big deal.” you say. Well it was around here. You see, LuLu had never been. Several years ago, when we finally figured out that noisy atmospheres contributed to her meltdowns, we declared that Chuck E. Cheese was the “wrong” place for her.

So, when she was invited to a birthday party there yesterday, she was presented with quite a quandary. And for the first time, the way Mom and Dad handled it was right on! We didn’t care whether or not she went…and we had a contingency (bail out) plan on all in place.

LuLu fretted... more