Why do I put myself in these situations.....

As a mother of a child with special needs you will try your very best to give your child every opportunity that other typical children have, but at what cost to a mothers own sanity?

My adorable, wonderful, energetic Dom is your average 4 1/2 year old boy with Aspergers Syndrome. He likes to run around, discover new things, look for ABC's and numbers and take his Mom along for the ride. Throughout his little life we have tried mommy and me classes, gymboree classes, playgroups, music classes, piano lessons, soccer and now the wonderful world of gymnastics!

Let me step back for a second, i dont know if it is the world of today but i currently have friends who do swimming lessons, backetball classes, gym classes, etc., so as a mom with a child with special needs I feel that it is my duty to not let my son's disability stop me from getting Dom involved in the same sorts of things as long as Dom likes it. So here came gymnastics....

Dom loves going to this class, he calls the class gym-magic class. He has a great first 15 minutes of the thirty minute class and the whole second part of the class I am there to get him organized, remind him of what he is supposed to be doing and chasing him around as he hides and ignores the instructors. As the other toddlers and 3 or 4 year old are doing the routines and following directions, there i am getting Dom who is hiding in the corner and trying to bribe him with french fries to just make it through the last five long minutes of the class.

Now class is over, so my stress is gone, right, WRONG!! Now it is time to get Dom out of the class and into the car, this is where the whole challenge really begins. As soon as he gets out of class, he goes into the play area, runs around like a crazy person, throws toys and screams, SHUT UP and WHAT THE HECK while all the other moms give me and him dirty looks. I could typically take these looks, but not after working all day (4 hrs), picking up dom from school, giving him a speedy dinner and making it to our 530 class for thirty minutes of fun aka stresscity!! So, we finally make it into the car after twenty minutes or so, i finally take a relaxing breathe and thank GOD that i made it through another gym magic class and think.....why do i put myself into these situations!