To Track or Not

Last night, the wife and I were sitting around after the kids went to bed, checking out the news while playing around on Facebook.  (Though, when did this become a thing, a married couple sitting in the same room, both perusing their own Facebook accounts on separate laptops?)  Due to the groups that we’re in on Facebook and elsewhere, we were reading quite a bit about the search for Avonte Oquendo.

And that brought us back to the incident two weeks ago in our own lives. Continue reading

Early to Rise

Just one of those mornings today – I got back late last night from curling, and so it figures that the Monster would wake me up at 5 AM.

In his defense, I don’t know why he was awake.  I don’t know if it was a matter of a bad dream, or just being bored, or whatnot, but I woke up to him screaming, and decided to intervene before he either woke his brother or his mother. Continue reading

Revisiting – Paying For It

Last week, my open enrollment for health insurance through my employer opened.  This was coupled with getting a robocall from the Monster’s school on Friday night, asking why we’d not submitted paperwork for the free-or-reduced-price lunch program.

Both of these come from the whole, complex issue of “paying” for the Monster’s Autism. Continue reading

So When Does He Start?

Now… for those who have paid attention to my avatar (or listened to me mention it before), my escape from the Monster’s Autism is curling.  The sport everyone watches during the Olympics every four years, yes, with the brooms on ice.  Some folks have music, some folks have other sport endeavors… I go out into a cold room with my broom and throw forty-two pound stones down a sheet of ice.

(I’m used to the quiddich jokes, by the by – they’re getting old.) Continue reading

Little Steps

Part of the usual morning routine is that the Monster starts asking for Sesame Street somewhere along the way.

Depending how early he’s starting, we either do or don’t have an issue with putting on a “Play With Me Sesame” for a bit, which probably is not the best thing for him really.  It’s usually a factor of whether we think there’s enough time to see the episode before the bus arrives, or if he’ll disengage from a preferred activity cleanly without a fuss. Continue reading

Winning Days, Losing Days

I suppose I can’t really put it off any longer, talking about the weekend.

This past weekend, we managed to get down to Busch Gardens one more time before the end of the season – the goal being to let my wife go do some haunted houses with her brother-in-law, which she enjoys, and get the kids on a couple of rides.  (Though, why anyone likes haunted houses is beyond me.  Then again, I dislike being startled/scared/et cetera.) Continue reading