Month: April 2014

Preparing for the Worst

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I was never really big on having pets when I was growing up.  Sure, I had a hamster and a couple of guinea pigs, but nothing that was really a full-out, roaming around the house pet.  A few months after I moved to Texas, after college, I ended up having a kitten foisted on me – the poor sucker was found sitting on the trunk of my car, and I was asked if I could hold him till the no-kill shelter had a spot in a few weeks.  Yeah… he never quite made it to the shelter.

Samson’s seventeen now, and he’s not doing so hot. Continue reading →

Community of Support

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Last night was my monthly trip to the “Dads Talk” group at the ARC of Baltimore.  I’ve missed two months in a row – I had a bonspiel in February, and had that disastrous flat last month on my way there – but it feels very good to be getting back into things again.

One of the questions raised last night, though, was the sparse attendance at the guys’ group.  The mom’s group often has double or triple the number of attendees – so much so that they’re dividing that group along child-age lines.  And, as you can imagine, I had an answer. Continue reading →

Bring Your Kids To Work Day

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Today’s “Bring Your Kids To Work Day” at my office.

As I understand it, once upon a time, this was really meant as a means to either encourage children to get an appreciation for what their working parent did during the day, or as a way to have your children consider their career plans as they get older.  This isn’t quite what’s going on, but… I’ll buy the intention, at the very least. Continue reading →

Fixing Things

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Today was the first day of school since Spring Break.  The Monster got onto his bus without any fuss this morning, and we’re grateful for that.  (We’ll see how grateful his teachers are.)

Today’s also the day that his regular IEP chair, Ms. R, returned, and so bright and early, I fired off a request to her for a team meeting to discuss the massively screwed-up Individualized Education Plan (MSIEP). Continue reading →

Pull Up Your Pants!

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Setting aside the occasional accident, things are getting better on the toileting front of late.

We’ve gotten back to the point that he is, by and large, avoiding accidents during the day while he was home on break.  We’ve had a few messes – and we suspect those were mostly because he wasn’t feeling well and not quite communicative about the matter – but most of the time, we’ve either gotten a verbal insistence that it’s bathroom time or he’s given non-verbal cues. Continue reading →

Handy…

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I don’t remember when – or how – I found out that I was right handed.  I happen to have a parent who is left-handed, but I ended up a righty.  My wife, likewise, is a righty, but statistically, there’s roughly a 17% chance that either of our kids could still end up a southpaw.

Somehow, along the way, the Monster’s in-school OT has become convinced that he’s a righty, but I’m not so sure. Continue reading →

Not Quite Kosher

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We’re halfway through Passover, and… well, it’s going interestingly.

We knew, coming into the holiday, that it was going to be a challenge with trying to get the kids to increasingly observe the traditions of the holiday.  R, of course, doesn’t know any better, being two.  The Monster, though, is getting to the point that we can try to teach him about the holiday, and try to find foods that work with his picky eating habits. Continue reading →

Schedule Scatter

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This week is spring break at the Baltimore City schools.  This means that the Monster’s been home without his regular schedule to give him some sort of regulation.

Now, because I’m hardly cruel, I did take off two days this week, and I’ve been working from home when she has both kids awake.  Only seems fair to me, really.  So we’ve been trying to find things to do, so that the Monster has other things to fill his time besides those things he’s already perseverating on. Continue reading →

Chasing Dreams

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What I hear a lot from other parents of children with developmental disabilities – and disabilities in general – is about how they’ve had to put so much of their lives on hold for their children.  I’m not quite talking just about the usual “well, we have kids so we can’t do X, Y and Z anymore,” and more about the “well, there goes that” kind of attitude.

I think that’s part of the problem and weight that we shoulder with a child who has difficulties.  It’s one thing to compromise our own hopes and dreams to concentrate on our kids, it’s another to set them wholly on the wayside. It’s that weight that makes it so hard to bear.

We have to have freedom to pursue our dreams… else you’re just living for your kids. Continue reading →