3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon.
What does that mean at your house?
At my house it means Rock is going stark raving mad, refuses to take a friggin nap and has asked to go outside about 467 times until I finally throw on my nikes make an exasperated huff out the door with him.

You know the place.....
Giant building filled with germy kids, liquid sugar and something that resembles pizza, little paper tickets spit out of machines to exchange for a plastic monkey or eraser, and it's always painted like a castle, or circus or jungle.
In our town it's called Pete's Party Palace. I call it "Pete's Party Purgatory". It's big. It's blue. And there's a ginormous plastic dragon outside for the lil ones to pose with and crawl on. I'm sure it's covered in rotovirus, influenza and pertussis. So of course Rockstar wants to climb all over it.

I used to make fun of people who "advertised" their child's autism. The t-shirts, buttons, hats, etc claiming that their kid is "gifted differently" or has "Awetism". Please. I especially hated the people with little cards in their pocket explaining their kids situation - ready to pull out quick whenever their child showed their rear in public. I mean, get a life. And don't do that to your poor kid.
My opinion has changed 100% - as of today. In fact, I wish I had a purse full of those stupid cards.

3 years ago......this was our usual experience. What a long way we've come.......
Sitting in the parking lot at SuperCuts....................heart rate is beginning to spike. Doing some deep breathing exercises. Wishing I had a xanex. Or a flask of something maybe - to calm down. I creak open the car door and get out. Time to get it over with.......
This is what I used to lovingly refer to as "haircut hell - rockstar style". I would let poor Rock's hair get so long he couldn't even see so I could avoid doing this. I'll explain why.............

Yes - that's the title of my blog.
Any R&B fans out there will recognize this little tune from the radio. About a man who enters a very classy establishment and meets his future baby mama....or something like that. It takes on a whole new meaning around here...............

Who would have thought watching the Rock give another kid a bloody nose would end up in a dinner invitation?
Last day of school for the year. To celebrate, I take Rockstar to the local bouncy house establishment - Pump It Up. I lovingly refer to it as "Germ It Up" because there are no telling how many 24 hour viruses are crawling around that place. Kids galore. Smells like the inside of a shoe. Awesome.

The usual routine. I pull the GMC into the carpool line and wait for my little Rockstar to come bounding in the car. Of course he has to open and shut the door exactly 5 times before he'll get in. I look back to ask him if he had a good day........
WHAT THE? He has a hole in his grill! OMG! Where is his tooth? Surely he's too young to be losing baby teeth right? Which one of your little autistic punk classmates knocked it out? Where is his mother? Did you get in a fight? Does it hurt? Are you bleeding?

Don't get too excited.........
The Rock still has autism, big time.
A couple of weeks ago our church had a "healing of the sick" service so to speak. If you had an ailment, like cancer or other disease, you could go down to the front of the church and the elders would pray for you. Really cool concept - I thought it was great (safe in my pew - thankful that I wasn't sick and didn't have to get up in front of everyone).

"I'm so OCD"..........
Something you hear people say all the time. People with a type A personality say it a lot. People who have no clue what OCD is really all about...............
The Rock can tell you a little about it.
Rock has just recently begun his battle with OCD. Most autistic kids have a touch. Lining up toys in a straight line and freaking out if someone messes it up. Doing the same activity over and over. Comes with the territory. Autism norms.....

He shows up at our house every Tuesday........ He has long hair........... There's a guitar strapped to him....... He has a goatee......... There has probably been some marajuana use............ He's the epitome of "free spirit"...........
His name is CHAZ and he is the Rock's drum instructor.
I've always had this "thing" for drummers. In high school and college I was on the dance team - we had to practice with the band. Somehow I always got in trouble for migrating over to the drum section. I don't know. I just thought they were "cool".