Eating Time

I remember when I was a veritable bottomless pit at some point in my teenaged years through my mid-twenties, when I used to be sucking down food day and night.  I think most teenaged boys do that at some point, frankly.

All of a sudden, well before his teenaged years, the Monster’s turned into that bottomless pit. Continue reading →

A Turkey of a Day

So much for my hopes that the Monster would be cooperative in a culinary sense.   He really had no interest in the turkey even though it looked like chicken, which he does eat, and veggies were verboten.  However, at least he had a muffin, so he didn’t go to bed hungry, and ate like a demon this morning when he got up. Continue reading →

Traditions

Some traditions are harder to keep than others, sometimes.

For the wife, Thanksgiving is a day to get up, eat breakfast, and watch the parade while trying to figure out what we’re going to bring to dinner.  (Well, that and go through the Black Friday circulars.) Continue reading →

Therapy

Today was our first visit to a behavioral psychologist for the Monster.

So far, we’ve been really unable to find an ABA practice that is covered by our insurance (as mentioned previously – ABA is not required to be covered by law here in Maryland), and we’ve been working with Kennedy Krieger for a number of studies and for developmental pediatrician visits.  As part of the battery of these services, we finally got the Monster in to see someone on the psychological side of the house to start working on the other issues. Continue reading →

Out of Sorts

So I have this wild, wacky feeling that the Monster’s still on the sick-side of things.

Granted, he’s clearly now without a fever and the like, but this was the second morning in a row that he’s been uncooperative and uncommunicative at breakfast time.  It goes beyond yesterday’s comment on not understanding what he wants – today was a meltdown that seemingly started from the moment he got out of bed. Continue reading →

A Spoonful of Sugar

Well, the Monster’s fever has broken, from what we can tell, so he’s going back to school tomorrow.

I have to say that it’s been interesting, dealing with his first real illness as a child.  He’s never really been sick – perhaps a sniffle or two, but nothing like this – and it was interesting to deal with. Continue reading →

…Like a Dog

As befalls every family at some point – the Monster’s gotten sick.

He’s been coughing for a few days, but hasn’t seemed all the worse for wear until the last few days when he started to show that he was genuinely not doing well.  It was the little things at first, like wanting to go to bed earlier, but over the last day or so, he’s started to want to eat less and less. Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Kiddies

I was informed, over the weekend, that I don’t talk enough about the baby.  That would make sense, since the baby’s also not diagnosed with Autism, but… I digress.

One of the frequent complaints I hear from other parents in the community is the difficulty they have in getting their children on the spectrum to bed at times.  (Yes, yes, I know this is a problem for most parents.)  On the other hand – we almost never have an issue with getting the Monster to bed.  Tell him he’s going to bed, and off he goes. Continue reading →