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About dustinnikki
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 in Kids & Family
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Member:
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Nicole
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Epinions.com ID:
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dustinnikki
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Location:
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Ohio
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Member Since:
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Apr 02 '08
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This is my hubby and our crazy kids...
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 241
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Member Visits: 4,802
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Total Visits: 13,929
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About dustinnikki
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I live with my husband and our two kids. They drive me nuts most of the time but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. We live in a very small town in Ohio and we have a German Shepard named Buddy and a cat named Cujo. A cat named Cujo probably sounds strange for a cat but if you met him, you would know what I mean. He's crazy!
Our son is 2 years old and we are experiencing the terrible two's right now. Yay for us! Throwing things, throwing tantrums and constantly getting into things! Those are the fun years aren’t they? This boy loves the Backyardigans! He will sit through the whole show and sing and dance right along with them. He repeats everything now and we have to watch what we say around him. He has a very big vocabulary! He is also very goofy. He is also into cars and trucks and that's what he plays with most of the time.
Our daughter is 7 years old. She is on the autistic side and was recently diagnosed. She was actually diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Her symptoms are so severe that the Neurophysiologist that diagnosed her said that rating her on the autism spectrum, he rates her as being autistic.
My husband and I learn more and more about her disability everyday. Most days seem like a struggle and others are okay. My daughter excels like you wouldn't believe in school. It's the other problems she has that we struggle with. She has a big problem dealing with change in her schedule. It could be the tiniest thing that will set her off. She has to be in control of every situation and needs to constantly know everything that is going on. She will throw worse temper tantrums than our 2 year old will and will hit herself when she is upset.
She doesn't sleep much at night at all. There are a lot of physical things she can't do because of this. Like riding a bike and things like that. She will stare into space a lot, pick at her lips, there is little or no eye contact at all, she is very finicky about anyone touching her. Sometimes it's like she's lost in her own world. A lot of times she will act younger for her age. But she does have a wonderful personality.
We do have a lot of fun. We go to the park and we do things together. She plays with her brother really well because she doesn't play with other kids her own age very well. She is getting better and learning how to cope with certain things and certain situations. As she gets older and also by learning she has adapted to things but there is still a long way to go. She also likes to try to teach her brother things. We do arts and crafts together and she loves to read.
Sometimes I wonder why this had to happen but I don't think I would want it any other way although I wish every day that our daughter didn't have to go through this. I love my family and wouldn't want anything different. Sometimes things are very hard but we don't give up even at the times we think we would. I couldn't ask for anything else!
I would like to say to everyone with child disabilities or with a disability of their own to never give up. I think that is the most important thing you have to learn and you need to learn that first. I always thought I was doing everything wrong before we knew what was going on. We just didn’t know and we know a lot more than we did. I had to learn and accept that this is the way things are, not that I was doing something wrong as a parent. I think that’s the hardest part. Not knowing and not giving yourself the strength to be a parent of a child with this disability. I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason. Love my life and I am happy. Don’t ever give up!
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