Find me a parent who doesn't analyze most everything his child does and I'll call him a liar -- or at least someone who isn't as neurotic as me (which isn't hard). OK, fine, I over-analyze everything. Which is why I was grabbed immediately by BabyCenter's newest "Momformation" blogger, Susan Etlinger, who wrote:

In every parent’s life, there is at least one heart-stopping moment when you wonder: is my kid normal? Is she on track? Shouldn’t she be talking/walking/reading/solving differential equations right about now? For most of us, that’s just what it is: a moment at a playdate, a casual comment from a stranger at the mall, and eventually it passes, usually to be replaced by different obsessions. But for others, that first terrifying moment is followed by more moments, and more questions, and sometimes a life-changing diagnosis.

In her family's case, the life-changing moment came with her son's diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified -- or "Not Quite Autism," as she calls it. With wit, wisdom and grace, Etlinger traces her family's life on the spectrum, and their story is a new must-read for any parent.