by Tim on September 1, 2009
Our low-key approach to his birthday was a good move on our part. He seemed to enjoy this as much as any ‘observance of his birthday’ ever. (Definitely not a party animal.)
The weather was just achingly beautiful today. It never got above 76 degrees, was sunny all day, and felt like pure magic in the shade. I put together his big present while he was at school, and we spent the late afternoon together outside enjoying it.
The ’some assembly required’ (taxing to its limits my visual and spatial acuity for threading straps) paled in comparison to his complete bliss in his new swing. He long since outgrew the ‘bucket’, and swings for bigger kids don’t work because he gets excited, flaps his arms, and then flies out like a two-legged projectile.
We found this particular swing on a site that sells adapted equipment for special needs kids. It’s pretty much like a plastic, high-backed recliner with a 5-point harness. It’s rated up to 100 lbs, so he’s going to get lots of use out of it.
BTW – his other gift was the “We are the Laurie Berkner Band” DVD. Since she’s in the select company of the J-Man’s Pantheon of Goddesses*, that only seemed fitting!
All in all, one really good day.
[* In case you're wondering, membership in the J-Man's Pantheon of Goddesses is currently limited to Mary, our Blessed Lady of Signing Time Rachel Coleman, Laurie Berkner, and his Pre-K teacher Mrs. Jennifer!]
by Tim on September 1, 2009
OK. I imagine that a lot of you will roll your eyes at this, but this is our blog! 
I picked out a good-sized handful of photos from the J-Man Collection, because I wanted to give in pictures a sense of how much he has grown and how his personality has kept shining through from the very beginning.
You’re around proud parents who like showing off their kids. So buckle in! Massive Picture Alert!
1 day old!
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Last year, the J-Man rather enjoyed the fireworks we set off in the driveway. We just do the small, legal (i.e., rather lame) kind with some sparks and a fair amount of noise. Since it gets dark after 9:00 and he doesn’t stay up that late, we set them off still in daylight. We tried to create something as non-threatening as possible. Last year, he was somewhere between pretty OK and smiling about it. This year – not so much.
I am happy and the essence of all that is patriotic and American! Bow to my cuteness!
OMG! What’s Daddy doing?! He’s ruining my All-American cuteness!! Why does Daddy hate America?!
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It continues to be barely-organized bedlam here at the Flashlight house. The J-Man has expressed scant opinion of his little brother, however, though in a gesture of uncertain motive, he did take the diaper changing mat off of the changing pad and dropped it over the baby while he was sleeping. It managed to land in an appropriate, blanket-like position, but it could just as easily have been a byproduct of the J-Man’s dislike of cloth/paper/similarly-thin items being anywhere but on the floor or in a container.
So we continue to attempt to discern his mood about Baby Brother with little luck. However, I did see him complete this fine piece of work as part of what has turned into his regular meditation through building blocks. I’ll let you ponder what I think it resembles.
OK, I’ll spare you the pondering. Is he giving us a big, two-foot-tall, multi-colored middle finger about life in general right now? We report, you decide.
Here you go! We know he’s wonderful and adorable, but you can still feel free to tell us so!
by Tim on February 26, 2009
This cold that’s going around like wildfire here has knocked me flat most of the week. I’ve been dragging along OK, but any ambitious plans – blogging or otherwise – are just toast this week.
But I will take a minute to brag on the students of all three of the autism classes at our elementary school.
We went to our big, local kids museum here yesterday on a field trip. And when I say ‘we’ I mean all three autism classes at school (Pre-K, K-2nd grade, 3rd-5th grade), which is about 20 kids total. Given that this museum is pretty much like the Hawaii of school field trips in our city, it’s always teeming with children. Wednesdays seem to be your best bet, but it was still pretty crowded.
Our gang was basically doing their thing (playing with the model trains, sorting fake produce in the pretend grocery store, racing models cars down the ramps, playing in the ball pits, and the usual things you’d figure they like) with barely a fuss let alone any big meltdowns or anything. I know our teachers are awesome, but dang!
Contrast this with the barely-contained anarchy going on around us. I occasionally had to serve as the J-Man’s force field to prevent the running, screaming, largely oblivious kids from plowing into him. One of them came within inches of impaling me with a hockey stick. He wasn’t intending to do me an injury, but I highly encourage the Catholic church to make obliviousness at least a venial sin or something. Needless to say, we hauled tail through the ‘real tools’ play area. Seeing kids sawing wood with real hand saws was plenty enough warning for me.
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