Ditto everything Mia said. (Plus I love you're out of GT denial now and actually claim PG status!!)
I'd also like to add that I feel sadness for DS when he realizes that he doesn't fit into his age-level friend groups. He knows already at nearly 6 that his classmates don't "get him" and constantly says "they're just not my people." He is overly aware of eyes on him everywhere we go and has sadly, learned to tone down some of his enthusiasm due to stranger comments, people staring etc. I feel sad that he gets teased, that he's not confident enough to just turn around and tell kids to shut up. That he won't read at school because he doesn't want others to know. And primarily, I feel a great deal of sadness that he is well aware of this already when he's only in kindergarten.
Is it like having a child with cancer? No nothing of the sort. But a very close friend with a daughter with autism and I share many conversations about the bit of a sense of loss. The ideal childhood we had planned out in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" is nowhere to be found. The day I got his test results was like the day the optometrist said he'd need glasses... a big heavy sigh and a realization that this is forever. It's not a phase, it's not "something he's going through." He's just always going to be moving, intense, focused and unfocused at the same time. He's always going to be the one who gets creative if the teacher loses track of the class.
And I'm going to always have to be the parent who stays on the school, whatever school, 24/7 to make sure that he doesn't become a statistic- one of those underachievers who drops out of high school and never really lives up to his potential.
According to my mom, parenting any child is hard hard work. Parenting a HG kid is faster, more furious and quite a bit insane. She would know!
