I grew up going to sporting events.
I was very, very fortunate as a child – between my father’s season tickets to the New Jersey Nets and New York Jets (and what fabulous seats those were), and the ocasional tickets that we were given by neighbors to go see the Yankees, we kids frequently got to go see sporting events. I always assumed, as I was growing up, that I’d be doing the same someday with my kids. Continue reading
Today was the Monster’s first day of camp.
He’s used to riding the bus – he’s done so all year to school, and the drive to camp is about the same time (perhaps a little longer). This will be the first time he’s gone all day to camp on a five-day-a-week basis, and the first time he’s riding a real school bus without a five-point harness. Continue reading
I know I promised this review on Friday – I’ve had a few things to keep me busy offline (least of which is a complicated schedule to squeeze in extra therapy for the Monster on Friday afternoon), and since I don’t generally post on Shabbat…
A week ago today, my family visited Busch Gardens, in Williamsburg, Virginia. We went primarily to go enjoy the Food and Wine Festival, but admittedly there was a coaster that we’d not yet riden at the park… Continue reading
The first time that my wife mentioned brushing our child – and not referring to trying to make some order out of the mop that’s usually crowning his head – I have to admit that I thought she’d lost it somewhere.
The Monster had been going to private speech and occupational therapy for about two or three weeks when the OT suggested that it might be helpful to adopt a brushing protocol as part of his sensory diet. His therapy at the Therapy Spot is after school and after his ride home on the bus, so he’s already had quite the full day at that point and is riled up. As an attempt to try to get more out of the speech portion, the OT had been integrating her treatment with the speech portion, giving him additional stimulus to try to help him relax and focus. Continue reading
For some strange reason, we have a week off between camp and school on either side of the summer break.
When I was a kid, the camps were basically set up to start the week after school ended, and then we had two weeks after camp before school resumed. (Our camp also offered a ninth-week program for those parents who didn’t want to have us lingering around the house.) This meant that parents had a good stretch of time to plan for, rather than having to fill two smaller periods… Continue reading
This past weekend, we managed to hit both SeaWorld Entertainment parks in Williamsburg, Virginia – Water Country, USA and Busch Gardens. I’m going to cover these separately since a) they’re not attached, and b) we had different experiences at each.
(As I always state with reviews – I was not compensated in any fashion for this review. We paid for our own admission to the park.) Continue reading
I’ll be writing about our weekend over the coming days – I just need to have some time to get a few more photos taken and to collect my notes, and then I’ll be getting that cranked out.
This morning, though, was my meeting with the Monster’s providers. With the bus problems last week, and my irate emails to the school system, his IEP coordinator asked me to come in this morning to discuss the implementation of FAPE vis-a-vis his education. Continue reading
I’m very fortunate in that I have a job that gives me a lot of flexibility about how I work.
One of my biggest fears, once I was promoted to management earlier this year, was that I’d lose a lot of that flexibility. The flexibility I’d had as a software engineer had allowed me to take work-from-home one day a week, when the Monster was two, to go with him to the PIES program, and it allowed me opportunities to spend the day at home working when he was off from school due to the occasional professional days earlier in the year. Continue reading
I’m sure, before too long, y’all will be a little tired of hearing about travel anxiety with the Monster.
We’re planning another outing that will involve an overnight stay, this time to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. For a lot of families, I’m sure this wouldn’t engender the terror that we have with such trips, but… it’s there, and it’s from history. Continue reading
The biggest problem with the school year ending, and with the bus problem being unresolved, is that there are differing opinions about what I ought to be doing about the problem.
There’s really no good course of action – three days later, the Baltimore City Public Schools have still not answered any of my emails regarding the matter. There is no positive purpose to the “ignore it and he’ll go away” logic since, plainly, the Monster is returning to their schools in the fall. Continue reading