bed, bath & beyond

all in the last five minutes...

bed

bath

and beyond

YES!!!!!!!

Today I am PROUD to live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Today the Massachusetts Legislature defeated by 5 votes (tally was 151 to 45; 50 votes would have put our civil rights on a public ballot), the discriminatory, anti-gay, anti-marriage constitutional amendment proposed. Massachusetts remains the only state in the U.S. in which lesbians & gay men can be legally married.

Congratulations to all of us. It's a major victory. -check it out-

Lars & Meredith,

one of the loves of his life.
You can see why.

catch the beat

Had fun @ Perkins last nigth at the Braille & Talking Book Library's summer reading party kick-off event called "catch the beat." Here's Lars with his friend Harriet.

cheerios just now

Great week at school. Here are the beginnings of his communication book entries for the week (this is a book that travels between school staff & moms every day; a voice output switch also travels with recorded daily news that Lars can push to play/say):

Monday: "Lars was VERY happy today."
Tuesday: "VERY HAPPY all day."
Wednesday: "Lars was a little sad this morning, but perked up by snack time." [9 a.m.]
Thursday: (entry was all about the AFO's he's outgrowing)
Friday: "Lars was very happy & giggly. We had a great field trip [to Drumlin Farm]. Made butter by shaking a jar & tasted it, touched a feather & egg in the chicken coop, & felt wool in the sheep barn."

Planning to go to pride today, but 90% chance of rain, including thunderstorms...hmmm- I'd surely do it without kids, but with? We'll see.

no news=good news

Lars is doing really well, in general. Been giggling and laughing a lot, really enjoying himself. People ask if we gave him a happy pill.

Some trouble with increased spit up, throw up & reflux; some trouble with possible increased seizure activity. Got a depakote level & doc wants to up the dose a bit, so hopefully that will take care of it. He's grown considerably, so it makes sense that it's time for an increase.

End of spring & beginning of summer semester at Lesley, teaching 2 classes in each, plus the end of the year at Mercy Centre, plus starting the summer grad course that I'm taking at UMass--have, in combination, been completely overwhelming for me. The first three days of teaching summer intensives have already happened. Whew!

hot n tired

n grumpy... Lars' school bus got in an accident on the way to school this morning.

He's safe & home now. All I know is it was on route 20 in Weston, the EMTs came to the scene & checked him out, decided he was fine & didn't need to be transported to the ER, and another bus from the same company (Shuttle Bug) came & picked him up & brought him to school.

His teacher called when he finally arrived at school & said he was fine except for an abrasion on his neck where the car seat strap rubbed. They didn't take him on the class field trip, not wanting to put him back into a vehicle again so soon. He was apparently okay at school except for an angry half-hour in the late morning, perhaps after getting hot outside (For those of you "from away," it's 97 degrees here today. Our five minutes of spring have aparently elapsed already. Time flies.) I'd say he was probably pretty ticked off about being woken up & scared in the accident, missing circle time, which he loves dearly, missing the field trip & his peers, and about the whole hullabaloo in general.

I want to know more about exactly what happened so I can talk with him about his experience. I'm assuming the bus company will make contact with us this afternoon. If I were them, I certainly would call me.

5:15 update: Well, the bus company didn't call, so I called them. Can you say, "tailgating?' Can you say, "not paying close attention"? Lars' driver rear-ended a truck.

Story is truck sped up, Lars' driver sped up. Truck braked & driver "didn't catch it" & rear-ended the truck.

I spoke with one of the bus company's owners. She wasn't at the scene (assured me this is their first accident since 2004...), but reported that Lars waited in the van until the police and EMT's came, then after they cleared him to go to school, he had to wait another 45 minutes on the van for a second van to come. The police helped transfer the three kids to a different van & they went to school. She had no information about how long he cried, how the other two kids were, etc.

In order to do what’s required of me, I must ignore what I know about how vulnerable my children’s skin, bones & organs are when being hurled down the road enclosed in a metal box.

another good week

Lars has been having a good week at school. He has perhaps been a little more...himself lately. A little less all-good-all-the-time, and a little more up & down, which is Lars. Last week he had his first big neurological pain day at school, this week he had one rather weepy day & another when he wanted to be held all the time. That's my guy, after the honeymoon. He's still thrilled to go every morning & happy to tell us about it when he comes home again. Not to mention cute as a button.

He was having a lot of gagging, reflux, spitting up, and throwing up for a couple weeks, and it seems to have subsided. No idea why it came or went. Stomach bug? He totally didn't present as sick. A mystery.

I am more buried in work than I have been all year & am coming up on a weekend when Andey is working extra. If anyone knows of someone who's available parts of Sat, Sun, Mon, or Tue to hire for childcare (I'd be here but working in the house), please please let me know. I'm more than a little worried at this point. Phone is five oh eight, three oh three, oh five four five.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend.

such a head of hair

the week in photos

Rockin' & rollin' was popular this week (throwing himself as hard as possible forward & back while seated).



The tongue was also a big hit this week. I think this is the 4th time in his life that Lars has re-discovered his tongue. Each time it's amazing and wonderful. So sweet.