If I have to pick a theme for my day today, it would be “grass roots” day. Today I was involved in two different conversations with two different groups of people, proposing two different advocacy efforts. The interesting thing is both situations is that both were trying to get the ball rolling on some basic grass roots efforts. So that left me thinking about the commonalities of the two discussions, which is really a good place to start thinking about how to form a grass roots effort.

1. Connect like-minded folks. The first... more

There aren’t many parents of special needs children who aren’t faced with the prospect of needing to have lab work done on their child. And depending on a number of factors, this can be a very traumatic event or a routine occurrence.

How can you make having your child’s blood drawn easier?

1. Know what you’re in for ahead of time. Know exactly which tests they are doing and if there are any special requirements. For example, does your child need to be off supplements or medications? Does the child need to have... more

In my last blog, I talked about the various reactions our friends have when we start parenting our special needs children and how it can often result in the loss of a friendship. But does it always have to? Nope, not always…

Be straight-forward. Friends often say the wrong thing trying to help. “You’re worrying too much” may not be the indictment we think it was meant to be. Instead our friend (who may also be worried) is trying... more

Our beautiful, usually good-natured Ami, now 10 months old, finally got her first tooth. She has been extremely irritable. Screaming during the day, throwing her body backwards when she is being held and when she’s placed on the floor. She is only taking very short daytime naps and she’s waking up a couple of times during the night.

Giving her something to chew on seems to help for a few minutes or massaging her swollen gums with my finger. She has a frozen teething ring that she likes and she also enjoys gumming... more

I’ve been hearing and reading many warnings about sun and water safety for our children now that summer is here. We need to be especially cognizant of these potential hazards with our special needs children. We need to remember to think in terms of developmental age and not chronological age when it comes to water safety and continually applying sunscreen. If my children are going around our pond or into a boat, I always insist they wear a life jacket and take along an older sibling or parent. If I’m at the lake... more

Against my better judgment, we loaded LuLu in the car on Saturday morning and started driving north. We spent the weekend in Washington DC (at Super Dad’s sister’s house) and now we’re in Philadelphia for the week. This is a long-awaited trip for LuLu; one she’s known about for months. For me, I had NO IDEA what I was going to do with LuLu for five days straight in a hotel in downtown Philly, while Super Dad headed out each morning for his conference.

Well the truth is that it hasn’t been so bad…yet. Other than the fact that LuLu has been PMSing for the last several days and now can’t go in the swimming pool, overall she’s been really good. Here are some tips I’m using to make... more