I wasn't paying attention
Friday the 13th? I wasn't watching the calendar. That would explain why I woke up with very annoying "Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" on a rerun loop in my head for no apparent reason. Oy. I'm trying to coax my mental turntable to the next track, which I remember from my childhood as being "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." I always liked how it started.
Friday the 13th might also explain why, on my first day to muck stalls at a stable nearly an hour away, we're having a serious nor'easter. That will be a fun drive. And a fun run to the muck pile. At least I'm heading inland. In fact, I'll be halfway to miss_daisy. Maybe I should just keep driving.
But no! Because Luke has a championship hockey game tonight that promises to be a good one. And I need to muck the stalls because it's going to be a barter: I muck stalls, Shrek gets therapeutic riding. We visited this stable a few weeks ago for a free afternoon with one of the local autism groups, and Shrek loved it. Actually, I're really looking forward to today, weather (and icon) notwithstanding. I kind of enjoy mucking stalls. Any excuse to be around horses is a good one.
Anyway, he and I could use the break. We're both exhausted after working very hard on a report he had due today. Here's my strategy. We talk about the topic for days, at first casually and then more seriously. We do a little research. He gets comfortable with a few ideas. Then I start prompting him with questions. We discuss the answers verbally. Sometimes I have to reallly drag each thought out of him. Then, I rewrite his ideas as prompting questions on my laptop, Big thrill, getting to use my laptop, the other kids aren't allowed to touch it. He considers the questions and types in the answers. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. We hit something of a speedbump there when he pretty much refused to do the work. Took a deep breath, started again the next day, with him dictating and me typing. Went on like this, in tiny increments, with me reeling his focus back in every three minutes, for a few days. Finally we finished, and I put his report in a really spiffy report binder to emphasize his achievement. Added the beautiful cover art he'd drawn earlier, in the waiting room at Bookworm's pulmonologist's, and we both went to bed feeling as though we'd gone ten rounds with Voldemort. If I had paid attention that the report was due on Friday the 13th, I would have known what to expect.
On a serious note, you all stay safe out there, especially those of you on the midatlantic seaboard. They lost 3 fishermen when a trawler went down in Cape May yesterday. Lots of flooding. It's a bad storm.
Friday the 13th might also explain why, on my first day to muck stalls at a stable nearly an hour away, we're having a serious nor'easter. That will be a fun drive. And a fun run to the muck pile. At least I'm heading inland. In fact, I'll be halfway to miss_daisy. Maybe I should just keep driving.
But no! Because Luke has a championship hockey game tonight that promises to be a good one. And I need to muck the stalls because it's going to be a barter: I muck stalls, Shrek gets therapeutic riding. We visited this stable a few weeks ago for a free afternoon with one of the local autism groups, and Shrek loved it. Actually, I're really looking forward to today, weather (and icon) notwithstanding. I kind of enjoy mucking stalls. Any excuse to be around horses is a good one.
Anyway, he and I could use the break. We're both exhausted after working very hard on a report he had due today. Here's my strategy. We talk about the topic for days, at first casually and then more seriously. We do a little research. He gets comfortable with a few ideas. Then I start prompting him with questions. We discuss the answers verbally. Sometimes I have to reallly drag each thought out of him. Then, I rewrite his ideas as prompting questions on my laptop, Big thrill, getting to use my laptop, the other kids aren't allowed to touch it. He considers the questions and types in the answers. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. We hit something of a speedbump there when he pretty much refused to do the work. Took a deep breath, started again the next day, with him dictating and me typing. Went on like this, in tiny increments, with me reeling his focus back in every three minutes, for a few days. Finally we finished, and I put his report in a really spiffy report binder to emphasize his achievement. Added the beautiful cover art he'd drawn earlier, in the waiting room at Bookworm's pulmonologist's, and we both went to bed feeling as though we'd gone ten rounds with Voldemort. If I had paid attention that the report was due on Friday the 13th, I would have known what to expect.
On a serious note, you all stay safe out there, especially those of you on the midatlantic seaboard. They lost 3 fishermen when a trawler went down in Cape May yesterday. Lots of flooding. It's a bad storm.