So glad you've got that terrific family support! No matter what our situation, a great support network makes a world of difference in our lives.
Even though I may not have that crucial support from the majority of my immediate family members I grew up with, I am lucky enough to have amazing extended family that have been truly a blessing in my life, as well as great friends, who I like to call my-family-by-choice.

I believe a good support network can make the difference between somebody falling into a depression, and self medicating in a very destructive way, or being able to immediately reach out when we are overwhelmed, and have a soft, safe place to fall to help us refresh and rebuild quickly to get back to normal. :)

More great ideas, Shayla! Wish you'd been around when I worked in Early Childhood Education, many a years ago. You can NEVER have enough good ideas in your resource bins for learning through play. Fantastic! :)

And Shayla, you are fantastic! Honesty about life is refreshing, whatever the circumstance may be. Don't ever edit to please, even about the hard stuff. Just keep doing what you are doing, it's needed in this world.

On The Happiness Tree, when I wrote about some personal traumatic experiences and how I overcame them, I lost a couple of "likes". No big deal...because I got 5 new "likes" the next day. Honest accounts of experiences allow people to feel they are not alone, if they are going through the same thing.

And as for Kaylee, she WASN'T being honest with her comment, she was just being mean and hurtful.

Michelle, I agree with you completely :)

LMBO Love it! Shared the giggles and the genius on The Happiness Tree. :)

What a brilliant idea! It's genius, love it!

Kaylee, there is no way, anyone who knows Shayla, has read all that Shayla has written, would come to that conclusion.
Your comment sound ignorant and frankly, quite rude, and deliberately hurtful. It only reflects poorly upon you.
I would go on, but I have a feeling you would fail to read my response in full, and come up with other blatantly ignorant accusations.

More brilliant ideas for little ones! Fantastic :)

Oh do I ever know about the frustration of doctors misdiagnosing real diseases, as something else. I was told by a couple of doctors that nausea I was suffering was somatic (in my mind)...until a more thorough doctor, who decided to actually do scans found out I had numerous tumors in my abdomen (one the size a grapefruit), that were squishing my organs, and especially causing havoc on my stomach and bowels. I recently had a major operation to remove them.
And a few years previous, I was initially told the swelling in my legs was caused by sitting in my wheelchair, and my hair falling out was stress...turns out my liver had started to fail, and I almost died, because of their misdiagnosis. I have learnt doctors are not only human, but some of them can be arrogant enough to have the ego of believing they are more than that, super-human and all-knowing...that they are not. There are some really fantastic doctors out there...but they can be difficult to find sometimes, amidst the sea of mediocre, and just plain arrogant ones.

I have learnt how important it is to advocate for ourselves and our children, because not doing so, can have very serious consequences. What a hero you are, Shayla, to not ignore your intuition, to fight for your daughter, to get her the help she needs. I applaud that you try to really understand how difficult it is to deal with having autism, and put yourself in her little shoes. Finley hit the parent jackpot, you are amazing!.

Loved this one, Shayla :)