Little Happinesses
Charlie's teacher noted that he used the self-check to check out his groceries on his class's weekly grocery store trip Friday. That little note made me very happy. The thought of Charlie able to do something so basic and essential to taking care of himself just really excites me. There is so much that Charlie … Continue reading
Taking Care
I wrote this post on Care2.com about 20 year-old Bryan Nevins who died last Saturday after being left in a locked minivan by two caretakers at the Langhorne, PA, residential center where he had lived since he was 14 years old. Bryan and three other Woods Services residents had gone to Sesame Place, an amusement park in … Continue reading
Sweat But No Tears
'Fitness buff.' Not a term I would have used about Charlie a year ago. Sure, he's been doing bike rides regularly since Jim took off his training wheels when Charlie was 6. But not for 20 miles (10 miles bike ride x 2) and not in 90 degree ++ temperatures. Certainly when Charlie was younger … Continue reading
Bus Prep
Next Tuesday: That's when Charlie will start taking the bus home from the Big Autism Center to our house. Yesterday morning Jim and I met with Charlie's teacher, a school behaviorist and the principal to discuss some strategies. We've been Charlie back and forth to the BAC since he started there last November. Since December … Continue reading
Language Is Just One Kind of Communication
The clunky title of this post sums up one of the greatest lessons I've learned in life with Charlie. Charlie is 'verbal' in the sense that he can say some words and phrases to express himself. He can say those words and phrases thanks in part to years and hours of speech therapy and speech-and-articulation … Continue reading
Now You See It, Now You Don’t: The Tether
The beach is one of the few places where we find ourselves simply standing and looking. Most of all we're looking at Charlie and calculating how soon it will be before he drifts towards the lifeguards' orange flag and we have to call on him to get out of the water, and point him towards … Continue reading
At the Beach, Now and Then
At one point yesterday, all three of us were in the ocean. Jim was the farthest out where there was a sudden mountain of waves—it was low tide and there was a long stretch of shallow cool water—Charlie was a bit further in (though he'd been out where Jim was or past it when we'd … Continue reading
Bikram Yoga Can Wait
Well it finally happened. The newsworthy heat got to Charlie. School was pretty good Friday except for a brief period in the morning when (perhaps because someone else in his room was noisy) Charlie got upset, distraught. He was fine as the day proceeded and went on the weekly grocery store outing with his class. … Continue reading
‘Giraffe’ (No, We Didn’t Visit the Zoo)
Charlie and I were driving in the white car after an aborted trip to Target late Wednesday afternoon. Nothing of any particular interest, excitement, or controversy had occurred. I had picked Charlie up at school and we'd gone home, gone walking (far less humidity, still strong sun). It was a bit of a different day … Continue reading
Can’t Beat the Heat So Just Join In
This summer of 2010 seeming very likely to be about to go down as the Hottest Ever Since They Started Keeping Records (at least so far for June), it's inevitable that I would post about it. Especially as I am, truth to tell, a heat wimp. By which I mean, even though my genetic make-up—southern Chinese … Continue reading
We Go With Him by kristina chew 