Woo hoo! That’s a good one! Just because I’m not going to use this post to whine doesn’t mean I’ve got no complaints. I promise you though – I won’t go there today. Today I want to cheer myself up as much as anything. I do this with full knowledge of the consequences: this will be a boring post. Ask the news director at your local television station. Misery, desperation and destruction sells! You show me a local news program that leads with a story about a local kid’s puppy finding his way home to Kansas, after being dog-napped in [...]
Adam
This one’s gonna be trouble
I know. It’s hard to believe for some of you, but Adam does get into trouble. This evening I had to take Adam’s TV privileges away. That’s what we parents like to say. I had to take the little devil’s TV. He had it coming and I had to deliver. Parents are like the post office that way. Neither tears nor sympathy nor full throttle tantrum shall keep us from our appointed role. Saying I “had to do it,” is anesthesia for the conscience. I take that back. Saying is not believing. You have to believe it. Your sanity depends [...]
That girl
I was working out at the Y this evening and Adam was spending the time in the play room. It’s a really big room. I thought you should know that, I don’t know why. I went to pick him up afterwards and he came storming out breathless, exclaiming “Man! There was this girl in there who was a beast and she was chasing me like I was her favorite food!” I laughed. He didn’t seem injured in any way, either mentally or physically, so I think it was defensible. Adam didn’t didn’t share my view on the subject.
My boy
Adam still likes stuffed animals. We thought he might outgrow this “faze” by the time he started kindergarten. He hasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, this is not something that disturbs me in any way. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It reflects his personality – a sweet, sensitive kid. Often he’ll notice I’m not feeling too well, and without a word he’ll leave a surprise for me by my pillow. Tonight it’s a soft little white bunny to keep me company – to make me feel a little better. He won’t mention it afterwards. It’ll disappear one night, only to [...]
We’ll call him Billy
The stop sign just up the street from our house does more than control vehicle traffic. It controls a little piece of my kids’ lives. A stop sign should add an element of predictability to the cars passing by. It should slow them down. It should make drivers more aware of pedestrians and the kids who swarm the neighborhood. It doesn’t. If anything it makes traffic less predictable. If we lived on a straight stretch of neighborhood road, with no impediment to travel at all, you could count on fewer variables. In fact, it would be quite simple. Cars would [...]
When the autism spectrum wins
After a month of hunting down posts about Beth’s childhood, my mind wandered to our other child. How has he fared through all of this? I remember first thinking in terms of Beth’s disorder “winning” during a Skype therapy session for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The therapist sought to personalize, yet disassociate the disorder from Beth in a way. She tried to objectify it – make it seem separate and distinct, to make it into something for Beth to fight. It also served to lift some of the shame from her shoulders. “This isn’t you Beth. This is OCD, and we can [...]
Mutiny on the pitch
It didn’t take long. Adam just had his first soccer practice, and already the parents are planning the coach’s ouster. From what I hear it might be deserved, but I’ve never coached little kids so what do I know? First, there was the last minute way it was organized… as in: nine o’clock the night before we got a call from the coach – complete with a shopping list of what Adam would need. I suspect she’s a stay at home mom – not that there’s anything wrong with that. When the kids showed up the next evening our coach [...]
First assisted ride
Adam’s had a bike in waiting almost from the day he was born (a hand-me-down from a friend). It spent a lot of its time neglected on the front porch – until one afternoon I decided its time was nearing. Then it came inside to live with its brother and sisters. This weekend I mustered enough enthusiasm and energy to take Adam for a helmet fitting and drag out my repair stand and tools. I spent the better part of this morning giving the old bike a once over – adjusting brake heads, checking cables, making sure everything was tight, [...]
