I got my annual reminder today that I’m fat.
Okay, so the doctor was a bit nicer than that when we were discussing my health, but that’s the basic gist of the conversation – I’m fat and my blood pressure is higher than when I came in for last year’s physical. Continue reading
So… as you all know, I hang out on Twitter an awful lot. One of the other parents I follow posted a link to an article discussing whether or not we should have a parents’ day for special needs parents…
Well, let’s be honest. The article is a compilation of thoughts based on a Facebook post about whether we should have one, with reactions from parents as well.
So my thoughts? Continue reading
What I hear a lot from other parents of children with developmental disabilities – and disabilities in general – is about how they’ve had to put so much of their lives on hold for their children. I’m not quite talking just about the usual “well, we have kids so we can’t do X, Y and Z anymore,” and more about the “well, there goes that” kind of attitude.
I think that’s part of the problem and weight that we shoulder with a child who has difficulties. It’s one thing to compromise our own hopes and dreams to concentrate on our kids, it’s another to set them wholly on the wayside. It’s that weight that makes it so hard to bear.
We have to have freedom to pursue our dreams… else you’re just living for your kids. Continue reading
Despite the fact that I am the “heavy” in the relationship, the one who does the horrible things to get my son the benefits to which he is entitled, I really am a nice, friendly guy. I’m far more suited to being more sociable and the jokester.
This applies to the Monster’s Autism too. Which means a lot of gallows humor at times. Continue reading
I’ve mentioned in other places that I think us special needs parents need to make sure that we take care of ourselves now and again, lest we go absolutely crazy.
And so, I’m going to step away for a few days. Continue reading
Since the bus issue was resolved with the new route, we’ve really had few problems – the first day hiccups aside, and also disregarding bad weather, of course.
One of the things that happens when you go the route I go, though, is that you get a letter from the CEO of Schools afterwards. Continue reading
I’ve probably mentioned a few times that R is enrolled in a couple of studies for siblings of children on the spectrum. Framing this weekend are the two-year appointments for these studies, where the wife’s having to take him into the lab for him to be evaluated… but that also means loads and loads of paperwork, where we’re answering questions ad nauseum about his development.
It also makes me think about those times where our children are particularly normal or not. Continue reading
This is more of a “my failings” than “anything else” kind of post.
I’m not the most observant Jew, but I’d consider myself a decently-good one who tries relatively well to hew to the practices of Conservative Judaism.
For those of you who are long-time readers, you know that I’m a gabbai at my synagogue. I spend a Saturday morning, every few weeks, up on the bimah at my congregation, helping to run the Torah reading. I find it very rewarding – not perhaps as rewarding as I find reading a portion myself, but certainly involving less of my personal time at home trying to prep for participating in the service, and certainly less nerve-wracking when one bears in mind that I have extreme stage fright, even after reading Torah for nearly thirty years.
Sorry for being quiet for the last day or so – reality caught up with me.
Besides being stranded in the house for two days, everything just seemed to pile up at once – work, home and even school reared its ugly head. It just served to remind me that while all parents seem to always be busy, we get it worse with everything else on our plates. Continue reading
Yesterday afternoon, since it was a nice day, we took the kids to the playground around the corner.
Going to the playground means watching the Monster and R while they’re around ‘typical’ kids. And that brings up all kinds of other issues, most principal among them being the fact that there’s the obvious grounds for comparison of the Monster with other children. Continue reading