Happy New year, blah, blah, blah

I'm just so wiped, I can't get into the new year's spirit. House is a wreck, tree needs to come down, deadlines looming. Sick kids, sick hubby. Ooo, dog's not sick, there's a bonus.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

But onto the ongoing topic; my boy. I've been hooked up with two other sets of parents of PRS kids in the last month. Very cool.

I really love talking with other parents. I've learned so much through my son and I wish I could spare all the other PRS parents out there some of the harder lessons. Not that we're over it all or did it all right, but I know I've also learned SO much from talking with other parents. And then there's just the support aspect. Parenting is hard enough without the added stresses of special needs. Knowing that there are others going through the same things has been really helpful to me. Just to be able to get answers to the, 'Is this normal?' question is a relief.

I guess that's just the way I'm wired--an extrovert. I gain energy and strength from interaction with people. Even more so when I'm going through something stressful. But I know there's others out there that would rather just keep to themselves. And then there's the chance that opening yourself up to others might bring on the suspicions about why your child is the way he is. (Was it something you did? Not enough vitamins during the pregnancy?) I was even thinking that just today as I watched my daughter sitting in on Jairus' speech therapy. She was answering all the questions right and I thought "See, it can't be anything I'm doing wrong, because she's ok". You'd think after nearly five years I would be over this issue.

So my point here for other parents is...connect! I think most parents are good with this, but others need to come out of themselves in order to find the answers for their kids. It might be embarassing to admit that your 5 years old isn't toilet trained yet, or really doesn't speak yet, but when you do, you just might discover that quite a few others are in the very same boat.

Happy New year! (It's actually March 9th, but I started this post in January!)