Lots of gardening, and trimming back overgrown bushes, and I’ll be smoking chicken with my rub, so light posting.
Category: family
Charlie Went to a Cub Scout Meeting Today
He’s interested.
I’m conflicted. I last donned a uniform related to the Boy Scouts of America in 1975, and I won’t do so again as a scout master or an assistant, given their anti-Gay bigotry.
As to his participation, I keeping my own council for right now.
11 Going on 16
My daughter just turned 11 today….Not dating yet….thank God.
Her birth was fairly easy….for me….For Sharon*, it was 14 hours of back labor followed by forceps delivery…
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
My Daughter Had a Concert at School Tonite
It was painful, though no more painful than any other elementary school art activity…Children are works in progress.
My daughter sang in “chimes” and was in the orchestra.
As to the part of the concert without her?
Let’s just say that the jazz band did a version of the Mickey Mouse Club theme as a dirge…….
Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!! Tekeli li!!!!!
What I Did This Weekend, Visiting an Alien Culture
I went to visit my Mother-in-Law. Her synagogue was honoring her for the volunteer work that she has done, so we went up, along with two of my nephews.
It was a fairly nice affair, but once again, I am reminded just how alien I find Frum* culture.
From sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, you have the entire, no operation of things electrical, so whatever lights are on or off stay on or off (except for a couple on a timer), the stove is left on low with a plate on top of it to serve as a warmer, and light bulbs in the fridge are unscrewed.
I think that Sharon† finds it all rather comforting, as this is what she grew up with, at least in her later teen years‡, but at synagogue, and at social events I feel as if I am from another world.
The award dinner was actually a bit better that most such events. At most orthodox weddings that I’ve been to lately, the seating at the dinner has been sex segregated, but this time, as it was not a religious event per se, we had mixed seating.
We also had the good sense this time to leave our kids with a sitter for the dinner, which had both of our stress levels a lot lower,
The interaction between Charlie’s Asperger’s and significantly sized crowds, there were 70+ people there, is frequently not good. It gets him overstimulated, much in the same way that blood in the water overstimulated.
We went to a couple of museums while were there, most notably Sunnyside, Washington Irving’s house. It’s interesting from an architectural and technological perspective, though I think I enjoyed my visits to Monticello when I was living in Charlottesville, VA more, as it was far more ambitious.
Then again, unlike Jefferson, Irving did not bankrupt himself building out his rather more modest house.
*Very orthodox culture.
†Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
‡As she got older, her parents became rather more observant.
All things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia
Well, not me, but my daughter and wife.
They will be seeing the normal Philly sites, IIRC.
Natalie has a field trip to Philadelphia today, and since that meant that they had to be to school early, I was at work late, because I had to wait for Charlie’s bus to pick him up and take him to Chatsworth.
One of the benefits of his new school is that his bus trip is much shorter, so he gets almost an extra hour of sleep in the morning. If he were still going to Forbush, the bus would have picked him up at about 7:45, not 8:35.
My Son’s IEP Meeting Tuesday
As I’ve mentioned before, my son has Aspergers syndrome, a condition on the Autism Spectrum*, and for most of the past three years has been in a private placement, the Forbush School, a part of Shepard Pratt Health System as a result.
While this has helped him quite a bit in dealing with his problems, which are almost exclusively behavioral/social and not academic†, but he’s also very high functioning, an IQ of around 135.‡
So while Forbush has been good for him in terms of a social experience, academically, even with the very small classes they have there, he has increasingly found the academics not sufficiently challenging.
The problem with Baltimore County Public schools has always been that we have been unable to get sufficient support, and so we lawyered up, and he got placed at Forbush.
While Baltimore County could have supplied the necessary services, for less money than the Forbush tuition, they simply wouldn’t.
So, while we were all on the same page about wanting him to go back to the mainstream public school, we were concerned that he would be placed in Behavior Learning Support (BLS) class for kids with severe behavior problems, which would have him in a situation with older kids who are behind him academically, which would be the worst of all possible worlds.
So, this Tuesday, we had a meeting to get our ducks in a row for him going to Chatsworth, an area elementary school which is set up with the most special ed resources.
It was a four hour meeting, and we went through the 25 pages in his IEP. Two goals were dropped, because the staff from Chatsworth found them redundant, and there were some minor rewrites, but basically we now have a situation where he will get the support he needs
He will start at Chatsworth on Monday, and he’s both nervous and psyched. He’s already spent about 5 half-day and 2 full-day visits to Chatsworth and sat in all the classes hew will be in, basically the Gifted and Talented (G&T) program, which is good, as he started to complain about what he calls, “Boring stuff he already knows.”
*There is some dispute between the experts as to whether it is a mild form of Autism, or a separate condition that is on the spectrum. Me, I don’t care, I just want to make sure that he has the services he needs.
†He has a bit of a problem writing long essays, because he can’t keep the idea in his head long enough to physically get it out onto paper. If he dictates, he’s fine though.
‡Just today, I was explaining how X-rays work, and discussing a brief primer on wavelength and frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum. We were at the Chiropractors, and they have an X-Ray machine there, and he was curious. He picked it all up in about 30 seconds. Like I’ve said before, scary smart.
Well, Now I Know Why My Family is Insane…
Because I’m completely nuts, that’s why.
It appears that my kids were overly rambunctious, and they decided that they must be some sort of evil robots, and started talking like the Daleks of Dr. Who fame.
I was downstairs for this bit, but when I came upstairs, and my wife was speaking to the kids like a Dalek, saying, “Destroy, destroy, destroy!!!”
I told her that it was completely wrong, that they didn’t say “Destroy”, they say “Exterminate,” and then I put my arm in front of my face to resemble the Dalek protrusion, and said:
Exterminate!!
Exterminate!!
Exterminate!!
….
Oh damn!!!! Stairs….Must exterminate architectural barriers.
Contact Congress!!
Legislate!!
Legislate!!
Legislate!!
I guess you had to be there.
Natalie and Lavi
After 10 years, my daughter (the 10 year old), and the cat (age 15 more or less) how they have finally come to an appreciation of each other.
It might be more accurate to say that Natalie has finally come to understand, and acquiesce, to Lavi being a cat.
Natalie has always been Lavi’s person, just as Charlie has always been Tudza’s person. (I’m the mommy, they imprinted on me)
However, Natalie has only recently come to internalize the fact that Lavi is not a doll.
I don’t mean that she did things like dress Lavi up in dresses, but rather that unlike an inanimate toy, you have to reach an accommodation with a cat.
Natalie has never been comfortable with the cat sleeping on her, or with sharing her pillow with her, but finally, Natalie has created a space on her bed, right next to her own pillow, which is Lavi’s.
The surprising thing was that she could find space on her bed for this. There are about 80 gazillion stuffed animals on it (Only a slight exaggeration. This Weekend she said that she was at 357).
So now Lavi has her space, and Natalie has her space, and I don’t have complaints that, “Lavi is sleeping on me.”
Works for me.
Had to Rush Home
Natalie was bleeding from her ear, and my wife had to take her to the urgent care clinic to get her checked out, the nurse would not put her on the bus, and I had to get home for Charlie’s bus.
Luckily, it was just an abrasion, probably from a scratch or a burst zit (Natalie is developing mild acne), so she was sent home with a tube of ear-friendly antibiotic ointment.
The logistics, however, were amazingly awful, as I am an hour commute from home.
The joys of being a parent.
My Son is Very Jewish
So my son, Charlie, age 8, and I are watching Keith Olbermann, and we get to his favorite bit, Worst Persons in the World, and this time, it’s Joe Lieberman who wins the gold, for accusing the Ned Lamont campaign of hacking their website in 2006, when it was discovered well before election day that the problem was a poorly configured and overloaded web server, so it was Lieberman who hacked Lieberman’s web site.
My son knows that Lieberman is someone I detest, but there are a lot of those, so he asks, “Is he the one who hates blacks Jews and women?
Realizing just who he was thinking of I reply, no, the one who hates blacks, Jews, and women is Pat Buchanan.
He nods sagely, and says, “OK.”
And then I say, “Joe Lieberman is Jewish”.
And he smacks himself on his head, and says, “That is so embarrassing”.
I’m not sure that Non-Jews get the cultural overtone, but this is a perfectly Jewish moment.
Charlie’s IEP Meeting
Well, Charlie had an individualized education plan (IEP) meeting today.
There is consensus, that he should be moved from Forbush, a private placement to Chatsworth, which is in the public school system.
Charlie is on the Autism Spectrum (Aspergers), but he’s also talented and gifted, he rates at least a grade above his age in reading and math, and Forbush, with its focus on the more severely disabled, has difficulties in providing sufficient enrichment.
The problem is that Chatsworth is still building its Aspergers program, and he would be the only person at his level in the class if he moved in the next month, and since his issues, except for hand writing, are with social interactions, and not academics, he would either be alone, or in a class of 20+ other students (with an aide) if he went over now, so we are suggesting that it be done in September, while BCPS wants it sooner (they are paying for Forbush, which is expensive).
At this point, they want to update some of his tests, so that they can make sure that he is in a properly challenging situation, as he is scary smart.
It looks right now like he will be doing some more visits to Chatsworth to see how he handles everything.
One thing disturbed me at the meeting. His teacher looked so young. When did that happen? Teachers used to be older than me.
Referral Fees
One of our close friends, and my XGF*, Debbie, is a lawyer going out on her own and starting her own practice in disabilities and education law.
My wife just referred one of her clients to her, as the situation has reached the point where a lawyer needs to be involved, rather than just an advocate.
By way of a thank you, Debbie baked us a pie.
Ohhhhh….pie!!!
*Ex-Girl Friend
Natalie’s Audition at Sudbrook
My daughter, Natalie, is in 5th grade, and so will be going on to middle school next year.
She decided that she wanted to audition for a spot at the Sudbrook arts-magnet middle school. And today she auditioned.
I don’t know what happened, parents are not allowed in the auditions.
Natalie has a lovely voice, though she needs training to project her voice, and she is studying violin.
CPAP Update
My first night at home with the CPAP went fairly well.
This is the 3rd time that I’ve tried this, the first two times were at sleep centers.
The first time was a disaster, with me feeling like I was choking as I drifted off to sleep, and the second time, I think that I had a less ham-handed tech running things, so it went fairly well.
The CPAP did wake me up a couple of times, but I think that it’s just a matter of getting used to it, though I am grateful that this model has a ramp up mode, so when trying to go to sleep, it starts slow, and builds up pressure, in my case 7cm water gauge, which helps me drift off.
My wife didn’t notice any slower, and I was not feeling significantly more refreshed when I woke up than I normally do, but I’m told that this takes time.
I Had His Liver With Some Fava Beans and a Glass of Chianti
Ok, I’m not Hannibal Lechter, though, I just have a snoring and apnea problem, so I’ve got myself a CPAP kit, with mask.
Kids Make You Say the Damnedest Things!
My wife* says the Shema with my kids every evening after I read to them and tuck them in.
Tonight, Charlie was a little bit wired….In the same way that Bob Novak is a little bit treasonous.
So like always, I shout down to my wife in the computer room, “Honey, the kids are read for prayers.”
Then I think a second, and follow up with, “Like Baghdad is ready for the Ice Capades“.
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
I’m Reall, Really, Really, Really Dull: New Years Edition
It happens when you have kids.
The kids were determined to stay up to midnight, and in fact were determined to watch the sun rise.
So, they watched Nick, which had a countdown timer on screen, while I finished assembling the drawers of Sharon’s* new desk while she worked upstairs on her laptop on some reports for clients.
Unfortunately, I did not have the right screws, but a quick run to Target, actually two runs, I needed two different sizes of screws, fixed that.
At one point, she and the kids went out for ice cream, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I kept up work on the desk.
After I got the desk together, I rearranged the furniture, found a network cable, and set up the printer.
There were a number of fits and starts regarding getting the network to recognize the printer, and half way through, it was almost midnight, so I took a break, and went to the TV with the kids, and called Sharon* down.
I passed out the blowout horns (see picture below), and changed from Nick to one of the networks to see the ball drop in Times square.
After that, we switched to a local station to see the fireworks display on the inner harbor.
Thankfully, the kids were ready for bed and had no interest in seeing the sun rise any more, so we put them to bed, and about an hour after that, the printer was up and running as a network node.
For new years day, we went to the Baltimore Society of Model Engineers open house show, and looked at their intricate O and HO scale layouts.
It was amusing listening to a modeler talk about how he had just purchased a new engine, and that he needed to “dirty it up”.
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
Vulture Shopping
Well, we just came back from shopping at CompUseless, aka CompUSA.
When we got there, my son Charlie asked, why we were going there, and I replied, “Because they are going out of business because they suck, and no one wants to shop there.”
After a pause, I realized that an 8 year old might not understand the subtext, and I continued, “Since they are going out of business, they are discounting stuff, so we are hoping to find a good deal.”
He expressed wonderment, not at the idea that a business going under would discount, but because I had anticipated his next question. He’s a bright kid, but having Aspergers, sometime there are social jumps like that seem to him to be magic.
My anticipating his next question rather impressed him.
It’s noteworthy because he spends so much time confounding me with things like fairly abstruse questions about microbiology, the nature of black holes and the big bang (I send him in the direction of my elder brother, who has a PhD in high energy physics), and meteorology (he loves the Weather Channel).
We scored a UPS, a color laser printer (about $220 after discount, which will replace my wife’s ruinously expensive ink addiction), a DVD burner, and some blank DVDs.
Culinary Adventures: Chicken and Seaweed
We needed to make dinner, and my wife doubted that we had enough left over chicken to feed us all, but I had a solution.
We had a pack of udon noodles, so I got the water boiling for them, and put a about 3 cups of stock in a pot and started to boil it.
I took about 4 sheets of nori (Japanese sushi seaweed), shredded them, and put them in the stock, and brought it all to a simmer, then added the chicken and remaining gravy, some oriental vegetables (broccoli, snap peas, water chestnuts, etc.), and a few chicken wings from the freezer, which took no time at all in simmering broth..
Boiled the noodles for 8 minutes, and then rinsed with cold water to stop the cooking, and when the wings were good and done (even frozen, not that long), put the chicken and veggies on top of the udon.
The seaweed added a lot of umami* to the broth flavor, and even my son, who is a notoriously finicky eater† loved it.
*Umami, from the Japanese word or “meatiness” is the 5th flavor, along with salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. The actual taste bud receptor, for glutamates present in animal proteins, was determined in 2002, though it has been a part of oriental cookery for centuties, and the great Brillat-Savarin‘s concept of osmazome a very similar concept of meat flavor.
†Finicky eating habits is a classic symptom of conditions on the Autism spectrum