Camelot
At Charlie's spring concert last Wednesday, one of the classes of high school students sang the first verse from 'Camelot,' the Lerner and Loewe musical that is sometimes (accurately or not) seen as a symbol of John F. Kennedy's presidency; of what might have been achieved. The first student who performed did most of the first … Read more
Tripping the Light Fantastic, Is Us
On Wednesday afternoon, Charlie performed at his first concert, the 'Spring Sing' at his school. His class was the fifth to perform and, when I came into the school cafeteria, he and the other kids in his class, his teacher and aides were all sitting in the audience as another class (of younger students) performed … Read more
Soloist and Accompanists
We started listening to the radio in the car after some in-car neurological storms of a quite—ok, an extremely—bad kind that were stoke, we were aghast to discover, by music. Up the age of the five, Charlie was obsessed with cassette tapes, or rather with pulling out the tape of cassette tapes, and then watching … Read more
Tempo Divine
I've been writing about Charlie making some progress with things, specifically his ability to be accommodating of our—of other people's—requests. First example of Friday occurred at 3.30am. We heard rustlings from his room and then chattering and then the thump that means Charlie had gotten out of bed. Jim and I both got up as … Read more
‘Aut’ At the Folk Festival
Being 'aut and about' with Charlie is a mantra of sorts for us, and not only with a view to keeping his days (especially weekend ones) activity-filled. It's never 100% for sure how Charlie might react in any community setting, where the careful control exercised in our house and its environs can't be assured. Any … Read more
Some Sounds Are Better Than Others
It was late afternoon and Charlie and I had just come back from a walk yesterday. He got into the car and I told him I needed ten minutes to do a few things. Charlie indicated he was ok with this and climbed into the white car, which was parked in our driveway. The front door … Read more
Some Sounds Are Better Than Others
It was late afternoon and Charlie and I had just come back from a walk yesterday. He got into the car and I told him I needed ten minutes to do a few things. Charlie indicated he was ok with this and climbed into the white car, which was parked in our driveway. The front door … Read more
Marking Time
In preparing for the Greece trip, I put a mental "not thinking about this till after we get back" note on a number of things. Consequently, I just realized that Charlie has Spring Break next week: I knew this would fall around Easter and I knew Easter is April 4th, but now I know, no … Read more
Marking Time
In preparing for the Greece trip, I put a mental "not thinking about this till after we get back" note on a number of things. Consequently, I just realized that Charlie has Spring Break next week: I knew this would fall around Easter and I knew Easter is April 4th, but now I know, no … Read more
Time for a Refresher Course
We thought Friday would begin in an unremarkable way. Charlie had an early dentist appointment at the dentist he's been going to for a couple of years, and quite successfully. We've never been able to do an x-ray but Charlie usually gets through letting the dentist look in his mouth and check his teeth, the … Read more
