ADVICE PLEASE!!!!

[Guest guest]

Our son who was diagnosed with moderate autism last month will be two

years old in two weeks and lately it's become a nightmare for my husband

and I to go out to eat with him. We always bring him his gfcf food, his

own table mat (so he won't touch the restaurants tables), toys, portable

dvd player etc. in case he gets bored but despite any type of

entertainment he's been having these meltdowns that result in us eating

VERY fast and having to leave. My husband is in the military and we live

overseas so we can't turn to family and we haven't made any friends that

we can trust here also my husband is scared to leave him with a sitter

because he's afraid they won't have patience with him in case he has a

tantrum.

I feel guilty for not having the patience I should have with him in

those times when he's having the meltdowns but I'm the only one that

takes care of him and on those rare occasions that my husband is not

working 15 hour shifts and we would like to go out to eat we take our

son but I need to know how other parents do it with a child on the

spectrum?

He wasn't always like this. I don't know if it's due to his diagnosis or

if it's just the terrible two's kicking in. He's our first son so I

might be clueless about these behaviors especially after his diagnosis.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Sorry it's so long:/