Winning Days, Losing Days

I suppose I can’t really put it off any longer, talking about the weekend.

This past weekend, we managed to get down to Busch Gardens one more time before the end of the season – the goal being to let my wife go do some haunted houses with her brother-in-law, which she enjoys, and get the kids on a couple of rides.  (Though, why anyone likes haunted houses is beyond me.  Then again, I dislike being startled/scared/et cetera.) Continue reading

The Minivan

For those of you who do follow my tweet feed (@DadEnoughBlog), I mentioned – briefly – about how I need a vacation from our vacation.  Indeed, we went down to Busch Gardens Williamsburg again this weekend, and I’ll write about that in the coming days when I have some… distance.  (It was that kind of a Sunday.)

On the other hand, this was the first road trip in the wife’s new minivan. Continue reading

Baby Steps

Everything is a baby step, until you have enough room in the rear view mirror to have another perspective.

On Thursdays, as I’ve mentioned a number of times before, I pick up the Monster from school so he can go to his gymnastics program at Rebounders.  This gives me a few opportunities that I don’t normally have. Continue reading

Elsewhere in the Classroom

Aside from the issues with security at the school, yesterday was also our parent-teacher conference with Ms. A in the evening.

About a week ago, Ms. A sent home his first assessment of the year, but mentioned that he’s been displaying more disruptive behaviors in the classroom.  This was entirely new, based on how he’d acted last year, even if there are a lot of things that have been trending in the right direction. Continue reading

Security Matters

As frequent readers here can tell you, getting my attention – my full attention – is a Bad Thing.

My wife and I are a team when it comes to the Monster and his various appointments, therapies, and whathaveyou.  She’s the one that most folks deal with – she’s friendly, and nice, and inclined to want people to like her.  Me, the warrior dad… I’m the one that things come to when there’s a Problem.

We have a Problem. Continue reading

Sometimes, You Luck Out

The Monster is not a morning person, in general. I’ve seen  more than a few articles talking about how stress hormones are higher in the morning, and how that affects general behavior in folks with Autism, and I can say that by and large, I agree with the consensus that it’s probably part of the problem.

So most mornings kind of go like this: Continue reading

On the Road – Port Discovery

So yesterday, there was a deal with the Smithsonian Museums and their affiliates for free entry.  Never ones to pass up a deal, we signed up to go to Port Discovery, the local children’s museum here in Baltimore.

(Yesterday was a whole bunch of free, since we also had lunch at a nearby, newly-opening Red Robin… but that’s beside the point.  We like Red Robin, if only because bottomless fries == distracted children with full mouths.) Continue reading

Joyful Noise

We don’t get a lot of opportunities to go to synagogue where it’s not going to matter if the Monster makes a lot of noise.  Simchat Torah is one of those occasions.

I mean, let’s face it.  The holiday’s all about dancing around with the scrolls, folks making noise and waving flags and singing and dancing… Continue reading