Answers to YOUR Questions

Bonnie asked me about grocery expenses and how much are diapers here? Well, depending on how much "tandy" I want to give Woodjie for peeing in the toilet, and how many bowel movements everyone has that week (I know, TMI), I spend somewhere between $25 and $35 a week in diapers. I keep looking at the cloth diapers and thinking I could pay upfront and save A LOT. But... somehow, that would be like admitting that Woodjie is not going to learn to go potty. Um, cognitive dissonance here. Not to mention that I deal with enough poop without the diaper washing and rinsing and eeew stuff.

So in answer to your question on poop, Lisa, I have no idea. NO idea. With some of my older autistic children, who were able to speak and understand language, I gave them a little taste of vinegar I dabbed my finger in when they pooped their pants and TWO chocolates when it went on the potty. But you need to have that little success to "build on." How to do that? Well, you know the signs before the kid poops and pop him on the toilet reallly fast. But what am I saying? We've never had it happen for Woodjie. Or Rose, just yet, but I'm not worried about her in that area *yet.* I can't see myself punishing a child I don't think fully understands yet... and that would be Woodjie, big boy that he is. That would be mean to punish someone who doesn't understand.

Wilma and Blondee, I have to tell you that I do NOT have meal plans. Things are terribly chaotic at the house. They are super-adrenaline chaotic on many days. I am on dog paddling and keeping my nose above water mode. So, each week, D will come home from work via Sam's Club and buy mega popcorn chicken, mega pizza rolls, mega Pop Tarts and whatever else is on the "list." We sort of cycle between the same six or seven meals and when we run out of something, we buy more.

Eating almost nothing but bulk foods keeps expenses down a LOT. And did you know that Oreos are milk-free? So is Hunt's Lemon Pudding. Don't let the pictures of milk on the packaging fool you! Thankfully, Emperor and Woodjie are not deathly allergic to milk and eggs. If I make a mistake and they eat "trace amounts," it's ok. I just try to avoid doing that with most things.

Deb... on the glasses... they stay nice and unbroken if they are unworn. G needs glasses, but refuses to wear them. So do Elf and Emperor. I don't know how I'm going to get them to wear them for school later. And not to mention, a good deal of the reason WHY Emperor and Elf refuse to wear glasses is that Woodjie breaks them for fun, and then Emperor and Elf get into trouble for getting too close or whatever. It isn't always their fault because sometimes Woodjie sneaks up behind. I just see big dollar signs leaving the house whenever it happens. There are so many things I wish I could fix. SO so many dysfunctional things. This is a tiny one. Not enough energy to teach the kid to quit busting stuff. I can tell he plans it for times I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT go and get him into trouble. He just knows.

Tracy, my husband and I met in college. I'm not sure who introduced us, but we had many of the same friends and lived in the same dorm building freshman year. Here's a post with our pic!

OK, that's all I have in the public comment section. Have some doozies in the email... I think I'm gonna wait on those...