bountifulplate

Raise your hand if going to the dentist is your absolute favorite place in the world to go. Our "journey" with finding the right pediatric dentist has been YEARS in the making.  My anxiety at one point was so high, I totally avoided taking him. We tried the dentist my husband and I go to and Dominic hopped out of the chair and wouldn't cooperate. We went to a dentist that everyone said was wonderful and she automatically wanted to sedate him after seeing him for 30 seconds. Yet another time, we tried a dentist that a bunch of my friends said was the best around and he didn't really try and work with him. So, after asking a friend of mine who used to practice Dentistry, I finally got another dentist to try. I loved this fourth dental practice the moment I walked in the front door. The front staff, the hygienist and the dentist all tried really hard with Dominic. After him non-cooperating, it was mutually decided that he would need to go to our local hospital and g...

Shortly after the death of one of my husband's cousins earlier this year in Cleveland, Dominic started telling me, "have to get Grandma out of the Burcham Hills ." Burcham Hills is the care facility in East Lansing where my mother-in-law lived for several years before her passing in 2011. We visited my mother-in-law a lot and she came to our house for dinner at least once a week, so he got to know her pretty well. About a month ago, Dominic said, "Grandma Martha is wearing a black coat in the cemetery." As most people know, I am rarely at a loss for words. I truly had no clue what to say to that. My mom (Grandma Martha) has been gone about 16 months. About two weeks ago,  I had lunch recently with two of my very good friends. During the course of the conversation,  I told them about how Dominic was still coming to terms with my moms passing and the best I have been able to come up with was, "she was broken, couldn't be fixed and went up to Heaven....

There was a time when the thought of taking Dominic to the grocery store would immediately make my stomach tense up, because I knew there would be the inevitable "meltdown" at the checkout. Thank goodness those days are behind us! With tenth grade starting this Monday, I decided to take Dominic with me today to the local Kroger . I called it a "field trip."  I let him carry my "list" and push the cart. We were in there quite a while loading up the cart with great deals! The Kroger was surprisingly empty around the time we went and there was a lane open with no one ahead of us when it was time to check out. I recognized the clerk at the register. I love going to her lane because she is always happy and likes to chat (just like I do)! Dominic helped me put all the items on the conveyor belt and then we both walked towards the clerk to get ready to pay. I made the comment that we were loading up for school (lots of granola bars and Cheez-Its ). She look...

Dominic starts tenth grade a week from this coming Monday. A handful of my friends have kids around the same age as Dominic who are taking (or have taken driver's education training) and are already practicing driving. While I am very happy for them, a part of me feels a little bummed out (and left out).  I remember very distinctly when Lauren was younger, secretly comparing her to other children her age. Things like, crawling, walking and saying their first words. When you are a parent of a "typically-developing" child, those three things come along pretty much "on track." It's a different ball of wax when they have differing needs. Before Dominic was diagnosed with Autism at 2 1/2, I knew something wasn't quite right, but I was so overwhelmed by everything else going on in my life at the time, that I was just happy to make it through each day. When he started school at age three and still in diapers, I wasn't too concerned. It was much easier just...

Did you get an allowance growing up? If you are parenting a child or adult with Autism, do you give them an allowance? I truly didn't even think about giving Dominic an allowance until about a year or so ago when Dominic's private speech therapist suggested it. My first thought was, "will he understand the concept of "earning" money for chores?" Dominic still struggles with knowing how much money is worth and how much something costs, so getting an allowance was the perfect way for him to continue to learn. We kept a chart with the date, his "chore" and the amount given (we came up with $2.00). I also kept a clear mason jar on the kitchen counter and every time he did his "chore,"  he got $2.00 and he put it in the jar. That way, he could see the money as it accumulated. I also printed out a picture of the Lego kit that he was working for from the Target website and attached it to his allowance sheet. Dominic is very visual, so seeing ...

I knew it was just a matter of time before I would be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Since the passing of my mom almost a year ago, I had turned to my favorite thing to do when dealing with stress - EAT. There are those of us who don't eat when we are stressed and those that love to eat when we are stressed. You don't even have to be hungry to eat. You just want to eat and it's usually not a craving for a cucumber, you crave something sweet, like things with lots of sugar. You would think by now, at age 55, I would have figured out a better way!!! Anyways, I went and saw my primary care doctor back in January of this year. After taking a look at my lab "numbers" she said, "your triglyceride number is still high and it's been high for five years, what are we waiting for? I'm putting you on Metformin ." I love my doctor, she is also kind of like a mental health therapist. She is the one that diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and pu...

Who else besides me thought the suicide last week of a 10-year old young man named Seven in Kentucky was a tragedy? Seven was bullied repeatedly because of a bowel condition he had no control over. Unfortunately, this was not this young man's first time at being bullied. In August of last year, he was choked on the school bus until he passed out. I have said before that I was bullied in high school. I never reported it to the school, because I feared it would make the problem worse, plus I had to see these girls outside of school because we played sports together. This is my own opinion, but I think empathy begins at home. If we raise our children in an atmosphere where racial slurs and making fun of others different than ourselves is acceptable, then why wouldn't we expect our children to be that way outside of our home? Empathy, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary means, "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously exper...