A Lot Can Happen In a Little Bit of Time
The best way to describe Monday is through a timeline. 4am. Charlie wakes up. Showers, etc. 4.25am. Charlie asks for a walk. Jim suggests a bike ride; I point out that it is kind of early. I set this Giant Timer app on Charlie’s iPad—it is simplex elegans, a giant digital timer with neon chartreuse … Read more
Pretty Okay: Few Words, Lots to Translate
Charlie woke up at 5.20am, showered, and came down the stairs exuberantly. It was ‘no’ to a walk and then he went to get his socks. Jim brought up the possibility of a bike ride; I pointed out that it was a bit early. Charlie (now besocked) returned back down the stairs and we asked … Read more
Superlative, Without Compare
It was towards the end of my Intermediate Latin class in the early afternoon on Friday and, with 15 minutes to go, I was going over the comparative and superlative of adjectives and adverbs—how one says 'longer/more long' and 'longest/most long' in Latin (longior, longius and longissimus, longissima, longissimum, if you'd like a little Latin … Read more
Morning Stars
Charlie woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning. By 5am he and I were out walking under the stars. I sighted Orion and the Big Dipper and thought how, six or so months ago when such early, early morning walks had become quite frequent, those constellations had been some 180 degrees elsewhere in the sky. … Read more
Rhetorical Questions, from Cicero to Charlie
The Twelve Tables, the Roman forum, and the finer points of litigation in ancient Rome are calling me tonight, plus I've got to write some sentences for a quiz on the Ablative Absolute and Indirect Statement for a Latin class. I don't think think I'm wrong to think that you might prefer to read yet another … Read more
Countdown Time To (Shhhh!) School
Not that you needed to know this, but this working the transition business can be taxing in all domains. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. In previous years, the transition back to school after the longer summer vacation has often been a time of 'outbursts,' 'explosions,' 'incidents' in our household. The last week preceding the return to school … Read more
The Day After the Big Day
While Charlie's dental surgery went quite smoothly, and while he didn't have any nausea or dizziness from the anesthesia (he ate heartily once we were home—he'd not had anything to eat after 7pm on Wednesday night—and we went out for two walks round the neighborhood), there was the inevitable 'something'; an after-effect. He couldn't go … Read more
Master of Timing, & Timers
Today's title is brought to you courtesy of Jim, who uttered that very phrase about us three Tuesday at 4.55pm. That's the time that we had the good, or the bad (depending on how you look at it) fortune to get to the beach, just in time to see the lifeguards packing up. We hadn't … Read more
Siesta Time?
For the past two weeks, Charlie's been taking a late afternoon (5pm-ish) nap, after coming home from school, snacking, using the computer. We've been usually waking him (or trying to) after about an hour using 'natural noise' (turning on the radio, opening a window) and his iPod Touch timer. Even without these, Charlie generally only … Read more
Something To THINK About: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism
Charlie got in a full night's sleep on Sunday and, Monday morning, he and I had a cheery ride to the Big Autism Center, even with a brief turnaround after a few blocks when I realized that I had forgotten to give him his medications.At school, he got right out of the car and, when … Read more
