Inventory

We are living in our new, rented house in the mountains.

The baby is almost six months old, and interacts completely differently from the way his older brother did as a baby. He does share his brother’s inability to settle down and fall asleep, though.

Husband is working full time.

I am with the kids full time.

No plans to enroll the five year old in kindergarten this fall. He’s been attending a “social skills group” for kids on the autism spectrum. The other kids in his group are similar to him, with diagnoses of Asperger’s and PDD-NOS.  He has still never been evaluated or diagnosed, but it’s clear that he fits right in with the other boys.

I’ve been struggling to find a community here, in our new city. The home schoolers appear to be mostly religious, which I’m not. They haven’t said anything directly, though, so we still show up at park days sometimes. We did make friends with a mom/boy from the social skills class, so I’m hopeful. It helps that our boys get along, and that we both have experience with similar parenting challenges.

I’m struggling to keep up with domestic responsibilities. I spend much of my time trying to soothe the baby to sleep by wearing him on my body, and sitting with him on my body as he naps. The five year old demands the rest of my time, it seems. I squeeze in cooking and cleaning here and there - just enough to keep things livable. I don’t know when I’ll ever have time to write. Maybe I can do it while the baby is napping on me.