I’ve had a few folks tell me lately, especially when they see I’m more active online in the evenings, that they’re jealous that my kids are in bed so early.
And truthfully – the Monster is usually in bed by 7:30, and R shortly thereafter. It’s a good thing… kind of. Continue reading
One of the things that I’ve noticed most with the Monster’s verbal issues is the way he perserverates on certain phrases, even when they don’t make sense.
We had an incident, a while back, where he was repeating something that sounded like Spanish, but wasn’t anything I could decipher. It turned out it was echolalia just churning back something he’d misheard from a Dora the Explorer game, once we heard the source and matched the cadence with what he was saying.
And then there’s the times where it’s genuine nonsense, and we’ve no idea what he’s trying to say. Continue reading
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
My wife spent the day at Honestly Autism Day this past Saturday, so she came back with some new ideas for therapy options for the Monster, between talking to a few of the speakers and having time to meander around the tables in the vendor area. Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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