Category: Parenting

I have a confession: I side-eye the parents yelling at their kids in Wal-Mart. You know the ones. The real screamers. I’ve always advocated and strived for non-engagement with my kids’ (we both know I mean Big A) negative behavior. With concentrated effort, I usually succeed. Until earlier this week when

I am a woefully bad at art. I’ve never been good at painting or drawing. I can’t even use scissors well (I blame being left-handed). I love doing Dollar Tree crafts, but that’s just hot gluing cheap pieces of plastic to other cheap pieces of plastic. As I scroll Pinterest,

Last Wednesday we had our toddler tested for autism. At barely two years old, he received a definitively diagnosed with autism. It is like everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. Our day-to-day is no different. There are triumphs: Big A said “choo-choo” and signed “train” Sunday. There’s still a

Big A gets a lot of attention here at Ish Mom. As Dr. Phil says, he’s the “squeaky wheel.” I love my youngest the same as my first-born, but I’m not nearly as worried about him. Little A is a happy baby. He is quick to smile and eager to

I’ve taken Big A to toddler storytime at our local library since he was four months old, patting myself on the back all the while. Now my hands are too full of a kicking, screeching, nonverbal toddler for self-congratulation. As my oldest grows so do his meltdowns. Storytime was fun

We threw Big A a Little Blue Truck second birthday party using free Little Blue Truck decorations we printed out. He’s obsessed with vehicles of all kinds and the books are a big hit in our house. The birthday boy had the best time. He was excited to see his

It is small consolation knowing that Big A, my two-year-old autistic toddler, is as frustrated by his lack of speech as we are, especially because he communicates this by screeching, kicking, and throwing whatever’s closest (or his little self upon the floor). Big A doesn’t ask for a drink, he

Science For Littles Making slime with Big A was an exercise in critical thinking for both of us. Messy play is a great sensory experience for toddlers: they get to feel different textures and witnesses the reactions of mixing ingredients. I didn’t introduce the periodic table or anything, but things

I knew it was going to be a bad appointment when I forgot it. I got the text reminder Thursday that we had a WIC appointment the following morning. I already had a plan for Friday, so this was enough to send me for a loop (and my oldest son

Orbeeeeeeeeezzzz Do you guys know about water beads? I’m going to assume you do, I’m typically one of the last to Know Things. On our continual quest to provide Big A with experiences he may feel the need to, I don’t know, remark upon, my best friend Amanda came over with