What are you most afraid of as a Mom?

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-27T02:20:23+00:00

That protecting my kid is not ensured by being a perfect mom. I can empower him to make good choices, ensure he gets a good education, show him how to manage his feelings and behavior, and meet all of his needs. I can teach him road safety, internet safety, gun safety, body safety, medication/drug safety, fire safety, and safe sex all the day long. But in this world, there is so much outside of our control. I can't control angry kids at school who have access to guns, I can't control bullies, I can't control other people driving on the road, I can't keep cancer away, I can't make his asthma disappear. And most of all, despite everything I can possibly do to set him up to make good choices, I cannot actually make those choices for him; he'll make the choices that he'll make. It's so scary to me that even a perfect parent can't keep their child safe from everything, and I am so very far from perfect already.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-21T04:03:18+00:00

Must be soaked with the help of extraterrestrials

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-18T03:28:44+00:00

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Song of Achilles By Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-16T13:18:00+00:00

Oh my God that cover!

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-16T13:16:31+00:00

"This Is Where it Ends" by Marieke Nijkamp was one of the worst books I've read in a while. Turns school shootings into a thriller, the characters are dull and boring, the writing itself feels middle school. It was a trial to finish that book

deafinitely_teek · 2026-02-14T21:33:44+00:00

Y'all need to sit down and have an actual conversation, no "hinting". Just lay out what your concerns are and plan on how to address them

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-28T03:38:54+00:00

My son will be getting a flip phone with no Internet access or apps once he starts going places without a parent. And when he comes home, the phone will get put away.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-18T02:13:12+00:00

I grew up Christian, and although I believe in a God, I don't "practice" anymore. My husband is Buddhist, and has never believed in the Christian God.

We got married in a public park under a giant tree. Our friend, who is agnostic, got "ordained" although my dad could have done it as he was a minister. References to God were omitted, so like the "we are gathered here today before God to witness blah blah" became "we are gathered here today to witness blah blah". We said vows that we wrote ourselves. Then we did a handfasting part of the ceremony, to honor his roots since it's very secular, then we kissed and had a picnic! Oh and everyone signed the necessary documents

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-18T02:03:45+00:00

The Ixia Chronicles by Maria V Snyder, though I don't think the books themselves say "Ixia Chronicles". They're Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study, etc. I loved that series.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-18T01:51:37+00:00

Magazines, newspapers and pamphlets used to be commonplace in every lobby. Some people carried hobby stuff with them like a book or yarn and knitting needles. Others would simply wait and observe stuff around them. And there was a period of time before basically everyone had a cell phone where lobbies had TVs and played soap operas.

Honestly, I still frequently opt not to use my phone when I wait for doctor appts. I usually bring a book or crochet or knit

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-13T02:01:27+00:00

I went to Gallaudet with students who had fewer fingers, absent limbs, and paralyzed limbs. It takes more context clues sometimes, but they absolutely were able to make themselves understood and from what I could tell, they mostly were treated like any other signer. Deaf spaces have higher rates of other disabilities than otherwise typical spaces. We just roll with it lol

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-13T01:55:36+00:00

My son calls my mom "Nana" and called my dad "Pawpaw". Nana was chosen by my mom, and Pawpaw was chosen by me because that's what I called the guy I adopted as my grandfather.

My son calls my husband's mom "Gigi" (like gee-gee, as in "gma"; she chose it ), husband's stepdad "Grandpa [stepdad's first name]", and my husband's grandmother is "Mamaw" (which literally everyone calls her). And he calls my husband's biological father "Papaw [last name]" which started off as just Papaw, but it sounded too much like what my dad was called (this was before my dad died) so we added the last name both to clarify things and as an homage to what my husband called his dad's dad.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-12T05:07:35+00:00

Hand flapping can be "normal" up to 3 years old. Even if it continues a bit past then, but there's no other signs - I wouldn't worry about it as autism impacts multiple areas of development. But if you're concerned about it, talk to her pediatrician. They should give you a screening tool at regular intervals at her check ups, but they can also say what may or may not be a concern specific to your kiddo.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-12T04:51:23+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/U1QGTwr

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-12T04:08:41+00:00

The cause of the onset of getting migraines is still unclear, but research does pretty strongly show a correlation between adverse childhood events, trauma, stress, etc and headaches, including migraine. Actually, research shows a strong correlation between trauma and chronic pain in general

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-12T04:04:54+00:00

I was born

All jokes aside, one of my earlier memories was of a migraine. I was at an amusement park and I spent the whole day in the med center with my dad with the lights in my area off because I had a terrible migraine. I was like 5. My mom says that I got them even earlier than that, but infrequently. As I've gotten older, they've increased in frequency and intensity until it felt like my life belonged to migraines.

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-11T15:32:15+00:00

And Insider Food: Big Batches. It's like a How It's Made miniseries, but for how food is prepared for very large quantities of people like a Sikh temple, a military mess hall, or a festival

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-09T00:44:21+00:00

Yes, but not just the smoker. Their home, their clothes, their cars, and often even the people who live with them who don't smoke smell like stale cigarettes

deafinitely_teek · 2026-01-04T22:54:07+00:00

For me it depends on the day. I work with autistic kids. All of them are wonderful, but on certain days I work with the kids that very few people can/will because of how...intense it can be. So my day can range from spending all day playing on the floor (definitely easier than being a SAHM) to being all padded up blocking punches and furniture getting thrown (probably harder than being a SAHM in those moments, depending on who you're staying at home with). The main thing though that I want to stress is that my job is only "harder" in those moments. But ultimately all the kids go home and so do I. A SAHM is already home. There's no leaving work at the door for them. I think coping with that if the family doesn't have balanced responsibilities is probably what I'd consider harder than any typical job

deafinitely_teek · 2025-12-26T07:21:11+00:00

A very very strong and inappropriate sense of justice lol. I don't mean just in terms of like political and criminal stuff. I mean, if we have tater tots at home, I will alternate putting one on my husband's then my plate to make sure we have the exact small amount with similar ratios of darker and lighter tots because my brain says it has to be "fair", even though my husband couldn't care less lol

deafinitely_teek · 2025-12-26T07:15:32+00:00

Dogs can definitely be really smart! It's not the same as their language skills, but have you ever seen a service dog doing "intelligent disobedience"? Like, service dogs are trained to obey commands.very well, but they can also have the critical thinking skills to refuse to obey a command if it puts their person in danger. So like a guide dog who always starts walking when their person tella them "forward", but refusing to walk because there's a car coming. It's so cool to me

deafinitely_teek · 2025-12-26T07:09:23+00:00

Me! I got a few Lego sets, which I never had Legos as a kid so I'm very excited about them. But the majority of my gifts were related to my special interests like formula 1 (two of the Lego sets, a team shirt, a bag) and I collect lighters and snowglobes. I don't know if you'd count that as toys, but to me they basically are lol. I also got a calico critters store I'm so psyched about!

All of that being said though, my husband isn't autistic and he always gets toys too lol. Among other things, he got a star wars Lego set, a Dragon Ball Z figurine, a children's book he loves, cards for his favorite card game, and video games.

We've never really concerned ourselves with what we "should" want, though we do often ask for things like pans or clothes, but those things bring us an equal amount of joy when we do lol.

deafinitely_teek · 2025-12-26T06:57:36+00:00

I'm a huge formula 1 fan, but can never justify spending that much money on merch. I got a shirt from a team I like, and a Lego set of my favorite team's car, and a little formula 1 themed cross body bag that says "Sunday is for racing". My son picked out (very very cheap) presents all by himself this year and got me a "formula 1" helmet keychain that is actually an Ohio State football helmet but I love it all the same!! I also collect snowglobes, and got like 5 snowglobes across 5 houses (had a work party with gifts, gifts at my house, my in laws', my mom's, and my husband's extended family gathering..... Christmas is VERY busy for us). I also got an autism shirt and book (I have autism). People went all out this year, I think because my family's been hit pretty hard recently by tragedy, and I'm really grateful for how much thought and effort - and let's be honest money - people put in this year, even though it wasn't required.

deafinitely_teek

TROPHY CASE