Jillsmo has 2 kids, one with autism, blogs at Yeah. Good Times. and tweets (a lot) at @jillsmo. She talks a lot about her cats, so you should read her stuff if you like that sort of thing….
Cats aside, you’ll want to make Yeah. Good Times. a regular reading stop. Her humor posts make me laugh or snort every time, her writing about autism is raw and enlightening, and the illustrations are the icing on the cake. And if you really want extra credit, check out the book Big Daddy’s Tales From The Lighter Side Of Raising A Kid With Autism because she’s featured in there, too. Now, enjoy!
I have two boys who both attend the same elementary school: Child 1 is autistic and Child 2 is in 1st grade. As such, things get sent home in their backpacks (homework, PTA fliers, collection notices, etc.) that don’t always make it into my hands. I try, very hard, to check their backpacks every day after school, but for some reason these sometimes important pieces of paper tend to slip through the cracks of their backpack zippers between the school yard and my living room and disappear in a puff of smoke. Or something.
Last week I was standing around on the yard waiting for my kids to come around and I was chatting with another parent in Child 1′s class. She said “can you believe this book report they have to do?” and I was like “Book re-which, now?” “Yeah,” she says, “I guess it’s a big deal; my kid is freaking out about it.”
Great. Apparently there’s an upcoming book report due, of which I am entirely unaware. So, I go home that day and I turn my house upside down (relatively; since it’s already kind of slanted) looking for a piece of paper with the word “book report” on it, and I find…. nothing.
Sigh. This means I’m going to have to ask his teacher about it, which I hate doing, because despite the fact that I really like her, I always feel like a complete and total loser/idiot/bad mom whenever I talk to her about homework, because… well… see 1st paragraph.
So, the other day I am once again standing around on the yard waiting for my kids to come around, and I spot Child 1′s teacher. (Now is my chance!!) I go up to her and say “Sometimes things don’t actually make it home to me, blah blah blah… book report?” And she gives me this look, like “Are you kidding me? You don’t know about the goddamned book report? It’s a big deal!!!” and says “yeah, I sent something home before the break. It’s due on February 3rd.”
Awesome.
So I ask her if she can give me another copy of whatever it was she had sent home, but she keeps trying… “it was on blue paper? There were about 3 pages stapled together? I sent it home before the break? You should have seen it….” and I’m like, “no… no… there is no blue paper, in any amount…. before or after the break…. I need another one….” She reluctantly agrees to get me another copy, despite my obvious incompetence as a parent. I hope the book report instructions don’t come attached to my copy of her Child & Family Services referral form.
So now I’m feeling like a total idiot, which sucks because despite all I’ve said so far, I’m really not that much of an idiot. I mean, I can have idiot tendencies on occasion, but for the most part I think I’m pretty good, all things considered. Anyway, I’m feeling like a complete idiot/bad mom/loser/etc. but I figure the worst is over and I get to go home soon…..
…. and then Child 2, the 6 year old, appears….
“Hey, Mama!” He starts right in with it, because that’s what he does. “I only have ONE word to say about my homework today!”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“CRAP.”
I laugh weakly and look at Child 1′s teacher, hoping she’s going to think this is adorable and laugh, too, but she, once again, has this look as if to say “are you kidding me?????”
I guess I’ll be getting that CFS referral form, after all. I’d better check his backpack for it.
