5 mins read

Autism and Hotel Fire Alarms

Autism and Hotel Fire Alarms Pre-pandemic, my husband, son, and I had a visit to the bay area. We stayed at a fairly nice hotel in downtown Oakland. We had an unusual experience in this hotel, and I learned something about my son. What happened? The hotel has twenty-one floors. Our room was on the…

4 mins read

Parents: Just Because We Can Doesn’t Mean That We Should

A few weeks ago, during a conversation about the ways in which technology has infiltrated our lives, someone suggested that I watch a particular episode of Black Mirror, the Netflix series that is billed as the updated version of The Twilight Zone. In the episode, a mom, frightened when her preschool daughter wanders off from…

7 mins read

Mean Girls In Kindergarten? Dealing with Girl Drama

I have four kids – my boys are 15 and 13, my girls are 9 and 5. While my boys nearly drove me into the ground as toddlers with their endless physical energy and constant running around, the girls are currently winning the race to dig me an early grave with their ongoing girl drama and emotional highs and lows.If I had to choose, Id take the physical exhaustion of boys over the emotional …

6 mins read

An Older Teenager with Autism and a New Dog

An Older Teenager with Autism and a New Dog The last time our family got a puppy, our son was eight years old. After a few months, the dog, a German Shepard, got to be very strong. She was difficult to walk on the leash. She had training, but didn’t “take to it” very well.…

5 mins read

How to Get Back Sexual Desire During Pregnancy

What with the hormonal changes, the morning sickness, and the uncertainty of exactly what’s happening inside your body, you may find yourself at what seems a total impasse when it comes to sex while you’re pregnant. Fluctuations of libido are normal, especially during pregnancy. The best thing you can do is relax and take care of yourself.