A few words and dentistry

I received a call from L. the therapist today and she told me that Zach told my niece "I love you" again today. That's twice he has said it to her. Apparently, Melissa was a little nervous to tell me, because she thought it might upset me. I am so excited: 1) that he said words and 2) that he really must like her to be vocal with her! This warms my heart substantially. I need to tell her that those words are indeed special (more than those with neurotypical kids can ever understand) and that I am so glad he said them to her. Melissa caring for my kids is a VERY important job - she isn't just passing the time with some kids.

The other words he has uttered - a version of banana (banna is how he pronounced it) and he told L. "bye" when she left. YEAH YEAH YEAH.

I saw this article on dentistry and had to laugh. Back in December I cracked a tooth. When I showed up to the dentist - he basically said that I had been clenching my jaw and had ruptured a tooth. He started work on a crown that I later discovered wasn't covered by insurance, and kissed $1200 goodbye. The bad thing about this is, there was no checking to see if I had insurance coverage first. There was no discussion of price. He knew I was under stress because he told me that it appears that I had been clenching my jaw and shattered the tooth, likely due to stress since it hadn't happened before. He then went on to try to sell me some sort of prosthetic night guard to keep me from grinding my teeth at night, the cost? (I did ask after learning the painful lesson the first time) $550. No thanks. A girlfriend of mine called to check in (how great) and told me that I could go to Wal Mart and for $20 get a boil and bite mouth guard that would pretty much be the same thing. I did. Thanks K! My doctor is supposedly a good man - fellow Christian. Yup. You betcha. File this one away for future reference.

I have had contact from an SLP wanting to get in touch with me regarding doing some sort of volunteer work with the autistic. There are so many organizations out there - this was really strange that she mailed me. Well, now what do I do about all the people I have come into contact with who say they are interested in getting involved one way or another. I have tried to contact a parents organization to see if I can help out - I would think that they already have things in place. I am nervous about stepping on anyone's toes and causing problems. Hopefully, they will get back to me soon, and I can begin some work of my own in helping others. I just know that I am green when it comes to this stuff, and I don't want those who are out there doing similar work to be put off if I come in with a host of my own ideas and people. I have to pray on this one.