Jeaous of other kids

I went grocery shopping over the weekend (my 2 hr vacation without children) and just when I think I've come to acceptance with Gracie's Autism I get thrown for a loop. I was enjoying my shopping trip and playing with my shopping app on my new phone. I went to check out and glance at a gossip rag.

In the line was a little girl about Gracie's age, she looked similar to Gracie with long blonde hair and blue eyes. The little girl was sassing her mother. She was arguing that she had been good in the store and her mother was insisting that she had been naughty. They went back and forth both standing their ground.

I was over come with envy. I assume that little girl is potty trained, and didn't smear her poop on walls. That little girl made eye contact and actually spoke. She spoke in sentences and could express an opinion. I had planned on my life being different at this point.

I had planned on having a typical 3 yr old who would talk, be potty trained, who would dress herself, and most of all who would love her sister. I do love Gracie exactly how she is. I love her giggles, her stubbornness, and her strange little routines, but every now and then I'm struck by what might have been.