Under Where?

This is a request for knowledge, however small that tidbit may be, of where to find washable, reusable absorbent underwear that will fit our son. This is not the normal boys' briefs, just to be clear, but these are special ones that can absorb almost any amount of urine or fecal material my son cares to deposit in them.

With the prices of everything (including his therapies) rising, the price of his disposable pants is getting a bit prohibitive (and the bigger he gets, the harder they are to find in his size). I realize that the rising prices are likely due in no small part to the concurrent rise in gas prices; the items have to get to the store somehow, and it costs more to ship things now. But that knowledge doesn't make shelling out the extra money to keep my son's rear upholstered (and the furniture protected) any easier. His younger sister uses the cotton training pants and vinyl pants to cover them when we're at home; I figured that finding some in my son's size wouldn't be a big deal, given the sheer number of special needs kids worldwide. Surely they would have something like that readily available, right?

Alas, I seem to be sadly mistaken. The other moms that share the waiting rooms at A's therapies have no idea where to find such things. They all use the disposable pants. I have spent FIVE HOURS just today surfing the internet to ferret out a source for the elusive reusable youth undies, especially made for un-potty-trained kids over the age of 3. I have tried searching countless combinations of words, with the same results no matter what combination I enter.

Most sites that are spit out by various search engines lead me to non-related sites, or if I was actually linked to the desired type of underwear it was adult-sized briefs, or disposable youth undies only. The latter were being sold in bulk, so in theory that is a bit more economical, but I'd still rather do the wash and dry thing since it looks like we're going to be un-potty-trained for another bit. I already wash and dry his sibling's pants, and it's not too much different than using cloth diapers. There's just more stuff to clean out of them the bigger my son gets. Wash 'em and hang them outside in the sunshine to dry, and they're just fine.

I'm not having much luck, but I'm going to continue the hunt. If I find a good place, I'll post it in the linkage section. Here and here are the only two places I can find anything in A's size. Is there a location I can buy, say, 10 pairs at a discount that anyone knows of? If I have to pay $20 for each pair, then we'll just suck it up and do it, even if we have to spread it out over a few months. Eschk.

But, having said that, if anyone knows a cheaper source and is willing to share, I'd be more than happy to scout that out too! : )

Eco-Friendly

We try to encourage eco-friendly practices in this house, including but not limited to simple things like turning the lights off when you leave a room, recycling, and composting kitchen scraps/q-tips with cardboard sticks/shredded empty toilet paper rolls/etc for my upcoming organic garden project. The garden won't actually be started in earnest until next year, this year is just prep work and gathering supplies. Plus, that means my compost will be ready to use by this time next year. Since I do not have an active garden anywhere on my property, I don't have a lot of 'brown' material (woody stems, leftover garden plants) to add to the compost pile yet, thus the shredded cardboard and used paper towels in the compost mix to keep the 'greens' (fresh kitchen scraps, lawn clippings) from turning into sludge instead of nice humus.

K just seems to instinctively "get" some of this. For example, she somehow knew that baking soda isn't just for cooking, but it's also a terrific "green" cleaner for surfaces and fabric. Note the extra deep deposit on the (already clean) underwear:

Awareness and a Useful Website

For those who may not know, CNN has been showing evening programming about autism all week; Larry King Live had a panel of people from both sides of the vaccine issue last night. You can also go to cnn.com to get access to all sorts of articles. It has been interesting watching how other people have adapted to their own childrens' unique needs, and hearing the subtle (mostly positive!) changes in how the medical establishment and the CDC are approaching the disorder.

Here is a website given to me by A's OT, full of various toys and gadgets she uses in her office, but available to the public:

Pocket Full of Therapy www.pfot.com

Ha Ha!! I got the link to work this time!! (And there was great rejoicing in the land). I have also posted it in the "autism linkage" section on the right.

We also had a rather astonishing thing happen this morning: A walked up to me and said, "start poop?". I immediately grabbed the back of his pull-ups and checked, and sure enough he'd just started. I whisked him to the bathroom, where he deposited said substance into the potty.

!

YES!!! Let's pray it continues, as he's shown zero interest for the last...ah...four and a half years of his life.

Hey, it's progress. Self-awareness and continued public awareness. A banner week for autism, both on a personal and general level.

Upcoming BBQ Event

This is our Oscar, Mayer. Oscars are in the same family as piranhas, and some have teeth. Mayer has teeth. He's also about 11 inches long, and his teeth are proportionate to his over-all size.

My kids love to feed the fish, especially the goldfish. We put the food into the lid of the food container to minimize spillage on the floor, and to speed up the process. A was helping me feed Mayer this morning, and was being a little slow about dumping the food into the tank. My hand was resting on top of the aquarium as I encouraged my son to hurry up. Alas, it wasn't fast enough for our fish, who leapt up out of the tank to bite my pinkie finger on my right hand. The remaining food in the lid hit the ceiling as I jerked my hand back.

I have already informed my husband that the kids will not be feeding Mayer again, and if the (censored) fish draws blood again, he's getting grilled. My husband's response was laughter, the kind that gets you out of breath.

To borrow a phrase from Queen Victoria, "We are not amused."

I'll keep you posted.