I’m not quite sure, now that I’m at the point where I am, that I remember what it used to be like when I was the Monster’s age.
Certainly, when I was his age, I was going to nursery school and the like. I’m sure that at that age, my mother was dropping me off daily and picking me up, not that I remember how much of the day I was there, if I liked it or not, etc. It never made much of an impression on me, apparently. Continue reading
Not that anyone else particularly cares if I weigh into this one, but… I suspect I’m not the only one who watched last night’s debate.
I’m going to – as I do with everything else about this election – keep to where it has relevance to this blog. Continue reading
Yesterday was our first conference with our Monster’s teacher.
I have to admit that I don’t know what I expected going into this – this is the first time I’ve been on this side of the table. I’ve been the one that was being discussed, and I’ve been the teacher. (Yes, Hebrew school, for about four years. Don’t look so shocked.) Continue reading
I think I’ve been very good about trying to emphasize my son’s strengths as much as his weaknesses. All kids are a nice balance of pluses and minuses, and the Monster’s no exception to that rule.
As I mentioned a while back, there’s a decent amount of software that works well with autistic children. We have a few of the smaller free applications loaded onto my old iPod Touch, which we let the Monster play with when he’s being good (or on long car rides). There’s also a good deal of paid software that could help, especially with trying to get the Monster to communicate better.
And he does love his technology. Continue reading
Yes, I know, I seem to discuss this almost every week. (It actually’s been a whole week since I dedicated an entry to this.) Obviously, where it comes to what we’re doing with the Monster, this is the biggest part of how we’re trying to get him ‘ready for school and life’ at the moment.
So the potty process is still going strong while we’re trying to get him trained. Granted, we don’t know how hard this is for most parents, since we’ve never had to deal with this ourselves, but… I’m not much for worrying about that kind of thing. Continue reading
My wife and I had a rare afternoon out without the children – the Monster and his brother spent the afternoon and evening with their grandparents, while we went with my dad to the (awesome? incredible? “WOW!”?) Virginia Tech “at” Cincinnati football game. I wasn’t even thinking yet about what to be writing when we got home, and found a letter from the Romney-Ryan campaign waiting.
Now, obviously, that excited me (not as much as the game, but hey). The wife had been very realistic about what I might find when I got a response from a letter, and I agreed with her wholeheartedly, both when I’d sent the original letters, and now that a response had arrived. Continue reading
So we’re about a month into the Monster’s first school year. It’s time for us to start thinking about how things are going. Continue reading
I mentioned a while ago that we were trying 1-2-3 Magic with the Monster. It’s having its up and downs. Continue reading
Tonight is Yom Kippur. And we’re going to synagogue for Kol Nidre.
Unlike a lot of families that I grew up with – and a lot of families I know – we take our children with us to synagogue for Kol Nidre. I spent more than one such evening babysitting for neighbors when I was younger, to make sure they could go to services. We’re fortunate enough to have a synagogue with a soundproofed quiet room that looks into the sanctuary and is wired to the same sound system, so we can daven along with the congregation while our children are acting like crazy people. Continue reading