"But he doesn't 'look' autistic..."

Some people say to me "but he doesn't 'look' autistic"....

Here is a story of how Lex struggles:
This weekend we were supposed to travel to Long Island to attend multiple functions (or as Lex called it, "a ceremony, a party and a birthday party") and spend some time with our family.

Unfortunately, yesterday, while I was home nursing a migraine, I got a call from his school nurse saying Lex had a low grade fever and just didn't seem like himself. So like the over-protective mother I am, I went and picked him up early and brought him home.
He seemed ok for most of the day and night, but right before he hunkered down for the night, I gave him his last dose of Tylenol and some water. All of a sudden I watched him veer into the bathroom instead of his bedroom. What had gone down had promptly come back up, along with his dinner. The poor kid was miserable and his fever was back. I eventually got him to sleep with the understanding that if his fever persisted in the morning, we wouldn't be going to Long Island, as his grandparents were babysitting his little cousin for the weekend and he certainly didn't want to get her sick, or any of the other kids we were planning to see.
Fast forward to this morning. I got little sleep as I kept waking to check on him. He awoke this morning feeling much better and with no fever around 7 am. I thought we were golden and started packing bags and getting ready to go. It was around 9 am when I decided to check his temp again before I got him dressed. And then the hammer fell. His temp was back up to 100. I watched his face fall as I told him his fever was back and we wouldn't be able to go. I explained again about being a responsible older cousin and friend and how I was sure he didn't want to get anyone else sick. He agreed and even though I knew he was upset, he perked right up when I told him that he could have some extra iPad time since the best way to recover is to rest and take it easy.

Everything sounds great, right? You think my story is over, but it's not. This is where his autism comes into play. Around 1 pm, I hear crying coming from his room. I head in to see what's going on. He's standing in the corner with tears streaming down his face. I ask him why he's so upset and he says to me "Momma, I have a plan. I feel better. We can go to New York now or Yiayia and Papou can come here. Is that a good compromise?"  (Yiayia and Papou are Greek for grandma and grandpa). This poor child thought that we weren't going to NY because he thought his getting sick equated with a punishment. He commonly uses the compromise/"I have a plan" speak when he is in trouble and wants to get out of it. So for the next ten minutes I had to try to convince him that he did nothing wrong and that the only reason we weren't going to NY was because we didn't want anyone else to get sick. He kept telling me he couldn't calm down because he was too upset. I felt horrible and I tried to comfort him the best I could. I ended up using my last-ditch diversion technique that I save for bad meltdowns like this, which is a stash of new preferred toys/items in another room to divert his attention. Luckily, it worked and the sadness and depression was quelled.

I share stories like these so people can be more aware of what our life is like behind our closed doors. Life isn't always big cheesy smiles and funny stories. Sometimes, they include randomly finding my son crying in his room and knowing how to deal with it. I share so people can see that my son is a sensitive, loving child, who isn't perfect, but he tries so damn hard every day at everything he does. I love him in the happy times and in the sad times. Today was a rough day. But i wouldn't trade it for anything, because it's a day with Lex. And Lex is my everything.

Sorry, but your kid isn't like my kid

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this phrase: "my kid is just like your kid".

No. I'm sorry, but no.

Unless your kid is autistic, your kid is NOTHING like my kid. I know Lex sometimes talks, acts and behaves "typically" in front of you, and the stories I tell you may have you believe this, but you are wrong. I give you a snapshot of maybe 10% of his life. If you do not live with me or his father, you cannot begin to understand what he is truly like and therefore, cannot compare your child to mine.

Let me take another stab at this.

Has your child been invited to a birthday party from a schoolmate this year? If so, our kids are nothing alike.

Does your child get singled out on the playground for their preference to play by themselves? No?

Do you have to....you know what? I'm not going to continue. I made my point. It's insulting to parents of special needs children to try to tell us that our kids don't go through anything different than typical children. Because trust us. We WISH this was the truth. We wish our kids were just like yours are. But that's just not the way it is.

The point of this post is that sometimes it's best to keep your opinions to yourself. I lost a friend over a conversation that went something like this. I got accused of using Lex's autism as an excuse. Yup. Chew on that one for a minute.

A Guide To Social Media (A Satirical Blog Post)

Using Social Media Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc...) can be scary, so I'm here to help! Here are some tips I've learned through my years of online experience on how to use Social Media most effectively:

1) Make sure to post the same thing on every Social Platform. Someone might miss it if you don't!

2) When posting a "selfie", use filters. Make sure to eliminate any trace of blemishes, this way when people meet you, they will totally be able to recognize yo....oh...wait...

3) Ask celebrities to retweet you constantly on Twitter. They TOTALLY love that!

4) Send Facebook game requests to your friends who don't play them. This will encourage them to join you! If they don't respond the first or second time, send it three or four more times.

5) Snapchat filters and stickers are so much fun! Make sure to use them all the time and even use them outside of Snapchat! Babies love them too!

6) GoFundMe is a great way to get people to give you money for stuff you are too lazy to save up for yourself. Write up a great story about that trip to Disney you always wanted to go on or how you always wanted those calf implants.

7) If using Twitter to promote your business or blog, make sure to complain every time your tweets don't get retweeted or liked. People/Customers love seeing that. Also, no need to have separate business/personal accounts. They will be able to figure out which tweets are which.

8) Use Facebook and Twitter as your personal diary. Never be afraid of sharing too much. There is no such thing as TMI.

9) If you are a parent, please make sure to document every single moment of your child's life! Nothing is too embarrassing! Those kids will grow up and laugh! (we think)

10) Students love to trash their teachers, why not online, right?! No one will ever figure out it's you.

11) Sub-tweet or Vaguebook. All. The. Time.

12) Humblebrag about yourself. People know deep down you are really modest.

13) Change your username on Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat every week. People love the mystery.

14) Invite people to everything using Facebook Invites. Hardcopy invitations are so 2010.

15) Use one of those "following me"/"unfollowing me" programs on Twitter and have it post to your account every day so we can all find out how many people followed/unfollowed you every day!

16) Keep your accounts public, even if your company could potentially be watching your social media accounts. No one cares what you say!

17) If you don't trust your significant other, share a Facebook account with them. That's sure to keep them honest!

18) Live tweet TV shows without using hashtags. No one really uses that mute function anyway and people really like your recaps!

19) Don't filter yourself. Say whatever comes to your mind.

20) And last but not least, don't ever delete your MySpace account! Tom would miss you too much!

(Disclaimer...I am writing this as a satirical blog post. Which means that I'm poking fun. At me. At you. At people we know.I have done all of these things at one point or another. Don't take this blog post seriously. It's called satire for a reason. I'm trying to make you laugh.)