25 Reasons You Know You Are A Special Needs Parent

I recently read a post on the Scary Mommy blog entitled 25 reasons why you know you're a parent.

 

I would to like to add a list of 25 reasons you know you're a special needs parent:

 

1. You invite random strangers (therapists) into your house for the first time and before they get there, tell your children to quickly throw their crap around the room so it doesn't appear "too clean" because you don't want them to expect a clean house every time.
2. Meeting a great therapist is like a 12 year old girl meeting a celebrity. There are tears, lots of hugs and phrases spoken like "you're so cool". You also make sure you to tell them multiple times throughout a session how amazing they are and you are thrilled to have finally met one.
3. Racing through the grocery store, hollering please stop biting my face, pushing a big stroller and a little cart, shoving gluten free snacks in your child’s hands, while you watch them slowly go from quiet whining to total combustion, still managing to remember to grab deodorant (since you've been out for two days and have been using your husbands), and NOT cry when the checkout lady insists on talking to you about her grandson and how well behaved he is.
4. Sitting in a doctor’s office for 3 hours at least a few times a month doesn't seem abnormal at all and now you just remember to pack every single portable electronic device in your house, a picnic basket full of snacks and also a full meal because you never know when 3 hours may turn into 5 or 6.
5. When you have to wait anywhere else with your other kids they are always the best behaved.
6. The sentence "Her eye is crooked again" is not spoken by the sci-fi character on the TV.
7. The sentence "Her eye fell out" is not from a horror movie.
8. A diaper bag is required for at least 5 years. It's probably the same bag purchased when your child was born.
9. The medicine cabinet in your house full of syringes, liquids, and pills does not belong to a drug addict or your 90 year old grandmother.
10. You have strange swinging contraptions hanging from the ceiling and huge jungle gym equipment in your living room.
11. You go to the gym not to get fit, but simply to get out of the house. Then spend the entire time you are there checking your Facebook and bursting into fits of crazed laughter because you have "escaped".
12. You believe that all baby items should come super-sized so you don't have to spend a gazillion dollars on special order items that are the same ones they sell at Walmart only bigger.
13. Driving an hour and a half for a 25 minute appointment does not seem like a waste of time.
14. An hour and a half drive is actually like a mini vacation.
15. You start to actually love driving because when your kids are crying you can say "Sorry can't get to you. Mommy’s driving" and not feel bad.
16. You celebrate pooping on the potty and reward it with high fives, good jobs, kisses, and candy. (Oh wait. That was also my 2 year old)
17. You don't even bat an eye anymore when you check out at the pharmacy and the bill is $400. You just smile sweetly at the cashier and say "Of course. Do you accept credit?"
18. The wrong look from a stranger in the direction of your child causes you to snort, snarl, and foam at the mouth. You have the world’s best stink eye.
19. Sometimes punching people in the face just makes sense to you.
20. If someone overheard your conversation with your husband while on a dinner date they would think you were from the CIA and speaking in code.   blah blah ...IEP. . . blah blah. . .ARD. . .blah  blah... MMHR. . .blah blah. . . DARS. . .
21. LOL!  That last one was a joke. You don't go to restaurants!! And you definitely don't go there with your husband!
22. Dates include wearing your best flannel pajamas, renting a movie on TV and falling asleep during the opening credits.
23. Poop on the walls is not an emergency.
24. You are somewhat proud of the title "that mom".
25. You absolutely hate it when people ask you "what is your child’s diagnosis?" and are thinking of just handing out laminated business cards because it would be so much easier than explaining it.  And you forget how to spell the damn thing half the time so having it written down would be nice.  Plus they'd be handy in those times when someone has the nerve to look at your child wrong. While snarling, spitting and growling you could also hand them a business card.