Category: Ariana’s Posts
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February Gratitude & Some Reading
To My Children Words can be spoken or written as no more than hollowed vessels that propriety and circumstances may dictate be served up and spiced at the appropriate intervals. These customs surficially demonstrate to others that we love, we care, we rejoice, we are grateful. But to render them with every depth of feeling…
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The Schedule’s Packed, But It Creates More Than Stress
Most days are packed. Up at 4:45, giving the kids their meds, getting ready to walk around 5:30 with Tony, neti pot, yoga, rower, shower, makeup, drive into school, participate in everything that might be required there, drive home, be present for anything his ABA RBT or BCBA needs, do some chores when they don’t…
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Maybe This Ain’t Your Mama’s Stress
Originally, I had planned this particular post to come after “Maybe She’s Going Through It.” Then everyone was sick, and I just wasn’t feeling the writing vibe. And then I got carried away in watching my son doing so well with some of his goals the first week we were back at school, and I…
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The Gift Of The Christmas Germs
There’s no way a gift bag, fancy wrapping, ribbons, or a bow would hide that this year, I felt stretched thin enough that I simply slapped traditional veneer on the right spots heading up to the holiday. So what we were doing kinda looked outwardly like appropriate festivities, but the feeling didn’t quite reach into…
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Maybe She’s Going Through It…
The stairway up to the balcony level at Symphony Hall is pretty wide. If I had to estimate, I would say it is four feet at least between the wall and the first set of rails, and then another four feet or so of stair width on the other side of the middle rail. Hannah…
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Scheduling Like Tony Schedules And Then Some…
To help our son with his combination of sensory differences, functional deficits, and disability-related needs acclimate to an environment such as a public school is more complicated than just showing up and gradually increasing his time when he shows he’s ready for that. There are so many moving pieces to think about. How complicated is…
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What I Think Every Neurotypical Therapist, Teacher, Or Paraprofessional Should Know
As you are looking at this picture, I don’t want you to ask yourself should our son have been up there on collapsed bleachers. I don’t want you to think about whether or not he can get down safely on his own. Those are, of course, valid questions, but there’s really only one thing I…
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Seeing The Potential Versus The Problems
My sweet sister-in-law, Randi, sometimes babysits our son when I have medical appointments. For a recent appointment I had with my allergist, I got him dressed and asked him to keep his clothes on for the entire time his Aunt was here. Tony has a history of pretty intense tactile defensiveness as his skin nerves…
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More Than A Backdrop Or A Therapy Prop
There are times when I have encountered the sentiment in others that I don’t have much of a right to express any sort of discomforts over the personal challenges I have faced or the sacrifices I have made to provide the intensive level of support required for our son. He is the one with the…
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Can We See All The Sides?
I thought of all the ways I could write this post, and I decided just to wrap it around a screenshot from an e-mail I sent some friends on December 28, 2016. I am going to re-type it just following this in case the images don’t show up well for those who get my posts…