Two short anecdotes that didn’t make the cut: In preparation for my youngest child’s first musical performance, we practiced songs daily. The day of the event, we sat near the front of the auditorium and waited. Our child’s turn on the stage was spent staring at his feet, rocking on his toes, wandering from his […]
Amy spent the entire morning drawing pictures and writing love notes to the shelf elf. “He’s going to take them all back to the North Pole tonight.” I suggested that the elf had plenty and perhaps she should do art for other people. “I’m going to make enough pictures for the shelf elf to take […]
Evan played happily with his Legos while Amy sat beside him, brooding. “Evan? You know that box that was my fort all day yesterday? The box that was soooo much fun and I loved it and I colored it and I kept my pillow in it and it was the best box ever?” “Yeah.” “Daddy […]
Last week, when I assaulted the eardrums of everyone in the vicinity of Children’s Hospital with my plastic tree’s metal stand dragging the roof of the parking garage, it turned out to be the highlight of that day. Our destination was the children’s eye doctor who has taken care of my family since Tommy was […]
Wednesday, Amy had to visit the dentist for a small filling on one tooth and sealant on a molar. My job during this adventure was to be reassuring and stay out of the way. Amy hopped in the dental chair and they leaned the chair back to work on her mouth. The assistant pulled Amy’s […]
4:00 pm – Sarah enters the house, vomits and goes to bed. Her temperature is 101. “I stayed up too late last night. I’ll be fine after a quick nap. I have to go to a football game tomorrow night.” 10:00 pm – After a six hour nap, Sarah’s temperature is 102. “I think I […]
What is the Halloween version of the Grinch? Me. Well, if you ask my teenagers, it’s me. Tommy hasn’t gone trick or treating for years, but suddenly he has started mumbling that trick or treating sounds like fun. It’s only mumbling though. He is happy with the long-standing deal that when you stop trick or […]
While I don’t question that Tommy was ready to leave high school when he graduated, I am now firmly convinced that he needed something after graduation and before any attempts at college. He needed a year of being taught “how” to be a student. Because of the Asperger lenses that filter his view of life, […]
Bearden High School has some new art today. It’s NSFW, but the images are here and here. When I toured the local high schools, I looked for and asked about vandalism. The schools in West Knoxville clean and repaint constantly to reduce its’ presence. The scars it leaves behind are still visible on the fences […]
After completely biased and unscientific research, I have come to the conclusion that the maximum amount of time my children can survive when I am on the phone is exactly one hour. I’m not talking about normal, unexpected calls. Normal phone call survival time is actually much, much lower. I am talking about expected phone […]