$0.31 Scoop Night at Baskin Robbins

Every night is a constant challenge to keep up with the boy. The busier I can keep him, the less trouble he gets into. Gonna definitely have to take him out tomorrow and get in on this one. Sometimes being a deal hunter has some tasty benefits. Wednesday Baskin Robbins is having 31 cent scoop night to help fire fighters (read about it) . Might as well help them out, at the rate we're going I'm gonna need them at some point.

Melatonin Deficiency

I took my son in for his yearly check up today and mentioned to the doctor that he had been having difficulties at school and that his sleep patterns are very erratic. She mentioned that many times autistic children have a melatonin imbalance, and suggested that I start giving him a small dose. I am eager to see if the results will be noticeable. He rarely sleeps an entire night without waking at least once, and often will get up in the middle of the night and no go back to sleep for several hours. I hope this works. If we can get the sleep patterns straightened out, other things might fall in line.

Radio Flyer Saves the Day

This weekend is my son's birthday. My mother decided to buy him a trike, but my little guy can get so rambunctious, I wasnt sure it was such a good idea. Then I was out deal hunting for CheapToday.com, and I came across this model by Radio Flyer with a detachable push bar on the back. What a great idea! It's exactly what I need to keep things under control while he learns the ropes, plus it was 50% off. Woo Hoo

Forbidden Fruit

My son is non verbal, in that he only speaks a few words, although he makes a fair amount of noise. I have had three different planning sessions with my sons teacher and the autism specialist at his school. Each time they have asked me what food he eats, with the promise that they are going to make cards to help him visually identify what he wants, and communicate via symbol. Each time I have supplied them with a list of foods he likes, and emphasized that he will not eat fruit in any form, so there is no need to make cards for those foods. Today, nearly eight months after the first meeting I finally received the cards. Over one third of them contained various pictures of fruit.

Is Mold at a Discount a Bargain?

For years Aldis has been my savior on those weeks when I buy groceries with pennies I've scraped together from under the couch. But lately I have had a couple of hard knocks.

The first was from canned tomatoes and chilies. I had bought some, and was really getting into my morning huevos ranchos, and then I started getting sick. Really sick. Then I would get better, so I'd have some more and get sick again. I realized it was the canned chilies, every time I ate them I was getting severely ill. I was disappointed, but not sure if it was a bad product, or if maybe my stomach just couldn't take it.

Then I went to open a can of ravioli for my son and there was mold ON THE INSIDE OF THE CAN...AAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH. Gross, Gross, Gross.

As depressing as it is, I am just going to have to pay a little more for my canned goods. Saving ten cents a can isn't a good deal if we die of food poisoning.

Nightmare on Toddler Street

It's been a long week. The boy is definitely feeling his Wheaties. Among other misadventures he threw mommies toothbrush in the toilet, spread an entire stick of butter on the kitchen floor, hid the cellphone, got a hold of my razor (AAAAAAHHH- thank goodness no injury) and tried to crawl naked out the bedroom window. It got me thinking "what else could go wrong?" So I dug up this article on what to do if your child eats a cigarette and brushed up on home safety tips. If you need me I'll be wrapping everything I own in bubble wrap and weeping softly in a fetal position.

Powerful Mojo

I have a confession. I want to beat Curious Georgeto a bloody pulp with a tire iron. Then I want to put him in a casserole and serve him to the man in the yellow hat.

Unfortunately my cherub lights up like a xmas tree every time the monkey comes on. I cherish his delight so much that invariably I give in. I used to think that parents who endured children's programming were brain damaged. Now I know it is something much more sinister.