We’re about three weeks away from the winter break here, and we’re trying to figure out what to do with the Monster.
Normally, winter break would be a time for him to just kind of chill at home – at least, that’s what I used to do when I was his age. A nice two weeks away from the classroom and from homework (well, maybe not wholly away from homework) and time to recharge the batteries. And if I was lucky, perhaps to play in the snow as well. Continue reading
So for those following my tweet feed this weekend, you’re aware that we managed to take in Surfers Healing again in New Jersey, at the Autism Beach Bash held by Autism Family Services of New Jersey. Given that he drew the first possible surf time (9 AM), this therefore entailed an overnight stay.
And, for the second straight trip, our ‘backup plan’ failed us. Continue reading
This weekend, we zipped off to the Tidewater region of Virginia to go hit the two amusement parks – Busch Gardens and Water Country USA – and two baseball games. Unfortunately, one was washed out due to the weather, but…
I know I’ve reviewed Water Country USA previously (see On the Road – Water Country USA), but this time, due to the weather on Friday, we were able to do more of a visit that would answer questions that are of interest to Autism parents. Continue reading
So we’re coming up on the vacation trip, and we’re starting to finish our preparations to ensure that the kids are taken care of properly while we’re gone.
Now, when we leave the kids with their grandparents for a night, it’s fairly straight forward. But the kids aren’t familiar with the babysitter, nor she with them, so there’s additional preparations that have to be made. (To be fair, the sitter’s met them a few times before this, and she’s sat for us while we went out, so it’s not like she’s some total stranger… but she’s not family either.) Continue reading
As I mentioned a while back, the wife and I are hiring someone to watch the Monster and R while we’re out of town.
This is going to be our first vacation without the kids since… well, my sister’s wedding, back when we only had the Monster, and well before his diagnosis. (For reference, he was a 10 month old at the time, and stayed with his grandparents.) We’re fortunate enough to find someone with experience with children with Autism, coupled with the fact that the Monster is going to be out of the house for most of our time away, as he’ll be at camp from 8 AM to 5 PM each day.
Still, we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for the sitter, so the wife is making her all kinds of papers that talk about what passes for normal around the house.
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
This week is spring break at the Baltimore City schools. This means that the Monster’s been home without his regular schedule to give him some sort of regulation.
Now, because I’m hardly cruel, I did take off two days this week, and I’ve been working from home when she has both kids awake. Only seems fair to me, really. So we’ve been trying to find things to do, so that the Monster has other things to fill his time besides those things he’s already perseverating on. Continue reading
So, it’s April. And if it’s April and Autism Awareness Month, it must be time for major sports franchises to be doing “Autism Awareness Day/Night” at the ballpark.
For some strange reason, the Baltimore Orioles decided to do a night game. I don’t know about you, but the Monster and R don’t cope well after about, oh, 8:30 at night, so 7:35 start times don’t do me much good. On the other hand, Autism Society of Baltimore/Chesapeake arranged for group tickets for the 1:35 PM game today, so we took the kids to the ballpark for today’s rubber match against the Toronto Blue Jays. Continue reading
Yes, this is a second visit to the aquarium, but… I didn’t look at it as a review, that time, so it’s time that I did that.
Last night was Pathfinders for Autism‘s night at the National Aquarium. We attended the event last year when the Monster was 4 1/2 and R 1 in a semi-ragged fashion, so this year we figured the trip would be more representative of a visit with young children and one on the Spectrum. Continue reading
So we’re about half-way through the holiday break, and we’ve had really few enough disruptions to the status quo.
The Monster’s gotten into the routine – skewed as it is from his regular routine – of going to the JCC each day for his mini-camp. We don’t seem to be having too many real issues, after having made some adjustments to keep his sleep schedule somewhat aligned to the new day. Continue reading