The bussing issue reared its ugly head again.
For anyone who is new to my blog – or doesn’t follow my tweet feed – the Monster is bussed from our house to his elementary school and back each day. The school he attends is not our zone school, which is five minutes away and roughly in our neighborhood, but all the way across the city. His bus ride, on a good day, is somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five minutes. Continue reading
As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend we managed to make a trek up to Pennsylvania for a trip to Sesame Place for a few hours of fun in the sun and a visit with Chica and Kelly.
(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 had figured, when we left the house yesterday afternoon, that I’d probably be getting home tonight and trying to put down my thoughts about our trip to Sesame Place (in-season) before Falling Skies starts… but the review will come tomorrow, actually, because something better came up. Continue reading
Since school is out in the next few days, we’re going to be hitting the road on and off through the summer to make some use of the free time without homework to try to squeeze in some fun.
Of course, this kind of hitting the road also entails additional difficulties that we don’t face at home. Continue reading
While 1-2-3 Magic’s worked wonders at times for the Monster’s behavior, there are times – especially as he’s becoming a more willful five year old – that the system isn’t doing much to curb the excesses of his behavior.
We’re finding that he’s getting sent to his room more often these days for not listening when we’re asking him not to do things as much as he’s getting sent for actual misbehaving. The shrieking has gotten out of hand, even with a suggestion from his OT to try to substitute something else to keep his mouth occupied like a party noisemaker, and yesterday he went so far as to actually hit the wife. Continue reading
The school year ends next week. At the moment, the last day is supposedly Wednesday, but the pre-K “moving up” ceremony is Monday, so we’re not entirely sure that the Monster actually has school after that.
It’s been an interesting year, that’s for certain. He’s been doing fine and keeping pace with his pre-academics, as they refer to the course load at his grade level, even if he’s not necessarily gaining much ground on the other skills that he’s delayed in. Continue reading
Just as a follow on to yesterday’s post (see Heal Thyself), I thought I’d give an idea to anyone who’s never been through a sleep study what it’s like. (I’ll have a real post later today, related actually to life with the Monster.)
I will admit, to start, that I didn’t look forward to doing this at all. I realize, of course, that finding out whether or not I have sleep apnea is very important (and potentially life-saving), but… it’s a matter of both not enjoying the idea of having someone watching me sleep and not wanting to be uncomfortable both during the study and with the resulting treatment if it turns out to be the case. Continue reading
With a child who is on the Spectrum, I spend a lot of time worrying about his health and developmental needs. Between juggling his therapy appointments, gymnastics in lieu of physical therapy that the city will no longer grant, and getting him to and from school, there’s a lot of things on that list.
The one thing that doesn’t appear on that list – and probably should, for obvious reasons – is my own health needs. Continue reading
I wrote last week about the fact that the Monster’s diet is getting more and more restrictive of late (see Dwindling Options). On Saturday, I took him to the doctor for his annual checkup.
(Fortunately, he didn’t have to get any shots, was generally cooperative and only resisted when the nurse wanted him to do a hearing test… but we’re not worried really about his hearing, so.) Continue reading
My company, or at least my local division of it, has a couple of major recreational activities each year. We have a Halloween party to end all, where the kids are invited to come trick-or-treat around our office, and the employees have a major decorating contest with massive prizes. We have a formal holiday party that’s just to die for, and gets better every year. And we have the company summer picnic.
For the last several years, the picnic’s been at a local club where we could have a cookout, eat hard-shell crabs and go swimming. This year, as a change, the company picnic was at Six Flags America, down by Washington, DC. Continue reading