One of the biggest stumbling blocks that we face, when we’re going out to an amusement park, is how to cope with the water park.
Most water parks are not really built to accommodate people with disabilities. It’s easier with a land-based ride, since there’s usually an exit and an entrance, and most parks seem to use the exit as a ‘fast-pass/disability’ access point. But a water ride… usually has one way to ride it, and going in the exit doesn’t work. Continue reading
It’s unusual when I’m home for a day and none of it has anything to do with the Monster.
Of course, my morning did start off with getting the Monster off to camp. Because I did not have to be at the office, I did most of the work for a change at getting him up and going. This is usually a two person job – me in the kitchen packing his lunch and getting breakfast on the table, while she’s getting him dressed, lotioned, and his bag packed. Continue reading
So I’m back, now that things are squared away.
Beyond all the other reasons that I’m very grateful for having my job – for the good insurance it gives me, for the flexibility I have about dealing with things for the Monster, and for the fact that I genuinely like my job – there’s this once-every-five-years perk of having a sabbatical. I’m officially – as of tonight at midnight – on a paid vacation from work for four weeks. Continue reading
So I clearly should not have said something.
Around 1:30 AM, the Monster woke up and started talking to himself, despite the melatonin. By 1:45, it was clear that we had to leave the hotel room, or he’d end up waking up R, and ensuring that his mother would be up all night. So, as happens when we go on vacation, I decided to take him out in the car and pray that he’d go to sleep eventually.
Yeah… ‘eventually’ was about 6 AM. Continue reading
The biggest problem we’ve had, since the diagnosis, honestly is traveling. We usually handle the ‘travel’ portion of the entire itinerary just fine, but as you, my faithful readers, have seen, it’s the overnights that give us trouble.
I can handle meltdowns in amusement parks, and I can handle the Monster’s finicky eating when we’re out and about. What I can’t handle is a constant lack of sleep. Continue reading
When I was a kid, like almost everyone else in our country, I used to go somewhere to see the fireworks.
Ironically, for us, the issue is actually not the Monster, because he loves fireworks. The issue is R, who can’t stay up that late routinely if we’re going to want him to be useful the next day. Continue reading
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the doctor yelled at me again about my weight, and added my blood pressure onto the list to boot. Since then, I’ve been working a lot more on trying to be healthy.
As those who follow my tweet feed know, I’m walking somewhere between 3.5 and 4 miles a day. (Depends on if I’m jogging at all, if I get started earlier rather than later, and generally how I’m feeling vis-a-vis breathing any particular morning.) I’m also doing a few other things to try to bolster my health in general, like drinking more water and trying to (further) cut my food intake, since we all know that upping output and lowering input is the only way to really lose weight. Continue reading
I’ve been very big about the fact that I’m not willing to do things without decent scientific evidence. Our kids are vaccinated, for instance, because the overwhelming evidence is that it’s what is best for them (and that it doesn’t cause Autism). We haven’t gone GFCF because there’s no evidence that the diet does anything to help with the symptoms of the Monster’s Autism.
But there are things where there’s a suggestion from a few decently-done studies that indicates that something might work… and you just have to try it. Continue reading
Now that it’s hot enough on weekends, and we’re past Memorial Day, we’re finding time to go take the kids to the pool.
The Monster is swimming twice daily at his day camp, but there’s no reason for us not to go swimming ourselves at the JCC… and they do have a fabulous outdoor pool complex here. Continue reading
I’m fortunate enough to work for a large company that has one of the biggest, rarest perks in the business world – a paid sabbatical program. Once every five years, I get a four-week paid sabbatical from the office (besides all of my copious PTO)… and my fifth year anniversary with my company passed in November. It’s time for me to take the break.
My wife and I are planning for an actual “adults” vacation – we’re going away without the kids. Continue reading