First Day of “College”

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

I had already decided which old post I was going to re-post for Finish the Sentence Friday’s “Share an Old Post” when I came across this status in my Facebook memories from 8 (gulp) years ago and decided (being that it is so timely) I would share the post related to the “college” status instead.

From the “Everything is Related” series:

Everything is Related – Toy Story

– Everything being related, many times, is the ability to relate one movie or actor to another. This has helped him to be more open to watching something that may not be Disney-based. This was not always the case, but now he can go and enjoy a movie with his friends or at an ARC activity without issue……..

–Everything being related, oftentimes just explains his love for a particular city, game, song or some of the many other things that he does or says.

–Everything being related, has, many times been used as a learning tool. “

This post is about just that…

DC as Woody and Candy as Jessie from Toy Story – Halloween

Again we start at Disney. Disney, Disney, Disney anything Disney. When the first Toy Story came out way back when, I wasn’t sure DC would really go for it at all. Yes, it was Disney, but it was not the Disney he was used to. There were no princesses, no castles, no Haley Mills and most of all, no music. Of course I know that there was music, but not the “Hollywood musical” type of music – characters would not be belting out a song at the drop of a hat. DC was never a “toy” kind of kid. He never really liked or played with toys, so the toys in the movie were nothing that he would be familiar with. But, to my surprise, he loved it AND the two that came after. This boy who does not like toys actually owned a Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head and a Jessie. No, he did not want to play with them, he just wanted to own them.

Tom Hanks brought him to “The Polar Express” and of course “Saving Mr. Banks” (also related to Mary Poppins).

Tim Allen…..Tim Allen….. he loves Tim Allen. That love brought him to “Jungle to Jungle”, all of the Santa Clause movies, “Christmas with the Kranks” and “Home Improvement” (yes, woo hoo, an actual TV show)…. but there is more…..

When DC was younger, transitioning into a new school was never easy, but it did seem to be easier on him than some of his other friends (and me). “School age” for Special Education here is 3-21 years of age. So there were many moves and many transitions during his time in the school system – kindergarten building to elementary, to middle school, to high school. The school handled these transitions very well. They started early with many tours of the new school, picture books with photos of the classroom and other areas of the school and a few visits (orientations) with parents. DC was always anxious about these moves but he always did rather well due to all of the work the school system and I put in to make the transitions go as smoothly as possible.

The number of children in SPED in DC’s age group seemed to be much larger than the kids moving up in previous years. This meant that the schools they were moving up to had a lot more students to accommodate at one time than ever before. We always joked that our kids always seemed to be the “test subjects” for these new or expanded programs. At times this did not go well.

When DC was in his junior year, I started looking at alternate programs for him to attend for his last two years of school. DC would walk with his class at graduation at the end of his senior year (at 18) and then either spend two more years in the high school or I could have him out-placed into a different program that focused more on getting him ready for the next phase – a work/day program and life. I already knew I did not want him in the high school for another two years and I was already leaning towards another program the next town over. Mid-senior year, the high school announced that they were creating a transition program of their own in conjunction with a local university. It would be up and running in time for our kids to start that September. The program they came up with sounded wonderful but, our kids would be the first ones through and again the “test subjects”. This worried me.

On the other hand, I was torn because it had only been over the previous couple of years that DC recognized “friends”. He had real friends. Not just the children of my adult friends, but real friends. People that HE considered friends. Friends that he did things with and wanted to do things with. DC had always gravitated more towards adults and with the exception of his friend of many years, BB, he did not pay much attention to kids his age at all. I didn’t want him to lose that connection. I rationalized that “social skills” were one of his major issues and if I tried this program and really did not like it, I could always move him to the other program I was looking at earlier.

Putting this program together was a long process. Obviously there are many legal issues to address when creating this type of program. By mid-summer the other parents and I were beginning to panic that this program was not going to be up and running by September. Fortunately by August it was a go, but they had lost all of that transition time they would have had during the school year. We did get to visit a few times before the school year started and I did talk to him about it all summer. Some of my friends children have siblings that went off to college so in turn their children expected to go off to college too. DC doesn’t think like that. He doesn’t have any expectation of what should come next. He lives in the ‘now’ until the ‘now’ changes to a new ‘now’, but we were calling it ‘college’ for everyone’s benefit. “College, College, College” he was going to college. I was still worried, having missed all of that transition time.

Toy Story 3 had come out right around this time. We bought the DVD and watched it at some point during that summer. It didn’t even occur to me while we were watching it or even up to the point when DC was standing at the front door waiting for the bus on the first day of school, that he made a connection in his head with the movie…..

He turned to me and said “Mom, I am going to college, just like Andy in Toy Story”

….. and he was.

With that, everything was just fine.

****

This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday (5th Friday of the month) post –

Share anything previously written! Post an old post for some new eyes, write something new and link that to an old one…

Hosted by Kenya G. Johnson of https://www.kenyagjohnson.com/

and Kristi Campbell of https://findingninee.com/

Jekyll Island, First Flight and Barney Colorforms

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

I always loved this photo of DC. I love the floppy hat, the bench on the beach and other than my eyebrows, I love everything about this picture.

DC was a year old and his father and I, in all of our infinite wisdom decided to fly to Savannah GA and Jekyll Island. DC had never flown before. We figured that since it would be a relatively short flight (3? hours), he would be just fine.

It really was not all that bad on the way down until we had to change flights in Atlanta. When he realized that he was not done and was getting on another plane, he just screamed and screamed and screamed

and screamed.

All the way there. I was armed with everything I thought I would need to help keep him occupied (remember, we had no iPhones, iPads or any sort of technology back then); his favorite cheese nips, juice, books and I’m sure some other items but he was not having any of it. He just screamed and screamed and screamed

and screamed.

It was amazing how long and hard that little skinny child could scream.

It is amazing to me how much he loves to fly now. After this trip, I thought we would never get him on a plane again.

Flight behind us (until we had to get back home) – this trip is where DC developed his absolute and complete love of hotel rooms. These days, he packs all of his technology, DVD’s and books and takes “his spot” at the desk. There was none of that back then.

He did find the full length mirror on the inside of the bathroom door and not being one to ever pass up looking at himself in the mirror, plopped himself on the floor in front of it and applied and re-applied his Barney Colorforms to the mirror, over and over again, for hours. He could have done that forever. I was VERY happy I decided to grab and pack those at the last minute – purely out of desperation in anticipation of his first flight! It’s funny because that he did not have much interest in Colorforms at home, but he came up with a different use for them in that room that made him happy.

I had totally forgotten about Colorforms in general until I began writing this.

Do they still make Colorforms?

In between the flights to and home (the flight home was just as, if not more horror filled than the flight there because the screaming began as soon as we stepped on to the first flight) we had a nice time. The area was beautiful. DC loved the beach, “swimming” in the pool and of course the hotel room.

It was his first official attempt at travel and although some of it did not go very well at all, the rest of it was just fine. The “just fine” outweighs the terror of that first flight.

I love this photo

I miss him at that age.

I miss that little face.

I wish I saved that little floppy hat.

1 dc jekyl island 1992

***

This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. This weeks prompt, “Share a photo and the story behind it!”

Finish the Sentence Friday is hosted by Kristi at Finding Ninee and Kenya at Sporadically Yours

The End of Summer?

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Like clockwork on August first, DC started talking about the last day of camp, which I discovered last year really meant that he THINKS the last day of camp marks the end of summer and in his mind the air conditioners will be coming out.

Until last summer when he must have heard someone at camp call the last day “the end of summer”, DC was resigned to the fact that the air conditioners do not come out until late October or November. Just hearing one person say “Camp is over, Summer is over” has moved his expectations up for “air conditioner – free” living. And like last year, he was not happy to hear that there is some summer left after camp is over. Life was much easier when his expectations went to October (or November).

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

(Originally posted August 2017 on Take Another Step – Life with DC)

It was very early in August and I could not believe that DC seemed to be getting excited about the last day of camp as if he was willing it to be over. He loves camp and I did not understand why he wanted it to end so badly.

He started saying “This week, the last day of camp? Camp is over?” on Thursday the 4th.
I told him he had the following day and next week left.

“Next week, last day of camp? Camp is over?”

Yes, You went today and you will go tomorrow then Thursday and Friday next week. Next Friday is the last day.

I was confused because he loves camp so I tried to get him to tell me why he wanted camp to be over. Wasn’t he having fun?

“Yes, DC is having fun with my friends”

So I gave him a choice…

DC would you rather to to ARC (work) or Camp?

“DC want to go to Camp, see my friends”

Do you like camp? You don’t have to go if you don’t like it any more.

“Yes, like camp. Fun with friends”

Let me just break here to explain that although DC understands the seasons, he cannot always tell you that July is summer or September or October is fall. Summer is HOT. Winter is COLD – so if we happen to be in Florida in January, it is summer – in his mind. He knows the seasons and the months that go with them by memory, not by understanding. They do not always make sense to him and when he is not concentrating or has something else on his mind he goes by the weather, period.

This week he started asking me about the last day of camp again and added “Summer is over”.
I told him that camp would be over on Friday but summer would not be over for a few more weeks.

He looked very disappointed by that.

It was then, as he stood there staring at the air conditioner and looking forlorn about summer not ending on Friday, that I realized what was going on in his head.

Someone at camp must have mentioned the end of summer. DC got it into his head that summer was over on the last day of camp.

DC hates the air conditioner. He thought he would be getting rid of it earlier this year because he heard and believed that the end of summer THIS year would be the last day of camp.

He must have been excited thinking he would be getting a break earlier than usual. As per the conversation we had before someone mentioned camp being the end of summer – he was looking at October as the end of the air conditioning. No wonder he looked so disappointed when I told him there was still more summer ahead…

<From Facebook Status 8/1/17 (before his end of camp/summer assumption)>

I know the air conditioner bothers DC but I usually don’t hear about it after the first few weeks after it goes in (it went in, in April) – Today is August 1st aka #CalendarFlipDay and after flipping all of the calendars, DC said…
DC: My ‘Hair-dish-on’ out in October
Me: What?
DC: ‘Hair-dish-on’ out at Halloween.
Me: (wondering why he is talking about Halloween)
I don’t know what you mean.
‘DC: ‘Hair-dish-on’ FAN out at Halloween!
Me: Ohhhhhh, the Air Conditioner! October or November, okay?
DC: October
(He’s hoping that the air conditioner is out by Halloween. He knows that removing the A/C is NOT a decision I make lightly or early.) I guess even though he might stop talking about it after the first few weeks after it goes in; it still bothers him.
He’s looking for the light at the end of the tunnel – and even if it’s two months away; he wants to know it’s coming.
#WishfullThinking #IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe

———

I really do feel for him but I can’t take them out early. I can’t do it… I just can’t:

<From Facebook Status >

I can’t say “shopping for a bathing suit” is on my list of “Seven Things I Hate About Summer” because I just don’t do that….. haven’t owned one in years..

Number 1-7 for me THESE DAYS are:
1. IT’S HOT!
2. It’s too hot
3. Why is it this hot?
4. I can’t take this heat!
5. Holy S&%#! I am not going out there!
6. I AM ON FIRE!!
7. IT’S Too #$&%in’ HOT!
#IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
(you can pretty much count on hearing all of the above year round from me, though)

——–
<Facebook Status >

DC: Mom, Fan, Flapping, whoo, Mom, Flap like bird.
***
(DC pointing out that my “I’m sweating to death” episodes include some of my very own “Flapping” …. Seriously, that’s kind of amazing that he’s made that connection…)
#IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe

——–
<Facebook Status>

#IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe enough said…

——-
<Facebook Status >

Dc wakes up in the middle of the night (yes, it’s 50 degrees and yes, I have both air conditioners running at the coldest temperatures) –
DC:”Mom! The Fan is Freezing!” – from the boy who never seems affected by heat or cold.
DC: “Mom! Turn it off!”
Me: “DC, I’m sorry but I can not do that. You will have to use another blanket”
I will do just anything for this child, except turn the AC off.
#IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe

——-

<Facebook Status>

DC just came home from his Dad’s. It’s 9 bazillion degrees (to me anyway) so yes I have the AC on. He just came down stairs with his long pink and mauve pajama bottoms (the same PJs that he had to have in Niagara Falls), his big Doctor Who Robe, Doctor Who slippers and a stick on mustache. Who says we lack any fashion sense?
#IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe
#TheMustacheMustKeepHisFaceWarm
oh…. and the teal Cookie Monster shirt.

——–

As you can see, this is not an issue that is new and does not look as if it will be resolved any time soon (unfortunately for the both of us)….

I am very soon off to bed armed with ice pack, my cooling pillow and the A/C set at “ultimate freeze” ~ Happy August. Here’s to looking forward to the “end of summer”.

Summer Reruns: Shore Leave

Posted by TakingItAStepAtATime

Four years ago this weekend, we made the ‘Trek’ to Baltimore to attend Shore Leave…… yes, everyone puts up with me and my Star Trek obsession.

The previous October, we made it to New York Comic-Con. I was nervous – it was so crowded, but the hope of meeting Felicia Day, kept DC pretty much on track. He also got to meet William Shatner and the Real Mike Tee Vee. All were very nice to him and he was very, very happy.

A few years back a friend of mine told me about “Shore Leave“,an event held in Baltimore every August. It is smaller than ComicCon and the original plan was to try this first, see how DC managed it and then move on to the bigger ‘Con’ in NY at a later date. Somehow we ended up doing it in reverse. But, since DC did so well at Comic-Con we decided Shore Leave would be a breeze.

The first “sign” that DC learned when he was very young (for those of you that may not know, DC was non-verbal until he was 7 years old) was the “Live Long and Prosper” sign. If and when he saw a picture of Mr. Spock or heard him mentioned, he used that sign.

Today, he is verbal but will still, at times use his signs in conjunction with his speech – that “Mr. Spock” sign has come to represent Star Trek in general for him and he still uses it.

We left on Thursday afternoon as soon as DC came home from his work program. It took a full 8 hours to get there (traffic). It was late but at least we would be there to spend some time in Baltimore on Friday before Shore Leave opened on Friday night.

Reading the Shore Leave schedule, I noticed that there was a “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” tournament at 6pm. DC loves the Big Bang Theory and thinks “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” is the most hysterical thing he’s ever heard. He does not really know what it means, the words are just so funny to him. I thought if we attended the tournament, he would see exactly what it is…. a game. I didn’t think he would actually understand the game, but at the very least he might understand what they are talking about in the show.

: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

When we first walked in, the moderator was explaining the rules, reading from a very confusing T-shirt, complete with diagrams and pictures of the signs. One of the participants piped up “That boy (DC) has the directions right on his shirt” – I don’t think the moderator appreciated this, he looked up, sighed and went right back to explaining with HIS T-shirt. DC got a kick out of the tournament and asked me more than once “to play“. I knew he really didn’t understand it and thought about asking the moderator if someone could play a quick game with him when they were finished, but during the practice rounds I did with him, I could see he really didn’t get it. He just threw whatever I threw. I told him he could play against me. We played at the table while the tournament was in progress. This seemed to make him happy enough.

After the tournament we were walking down one of the hallways and I noticed the TARDIS in the corner and pointed it out to DC. He recognized it immediately yelling, “Dr Who” We went to check it out. It was a photo booth. I don’t know what sort of directions the man gave DC when he was in the booth, but I could see from the computer screen outside that every time “Look at the Camera” came up on the screen, DC did something with his hands and his face, when the prompt was not there he sat looking at the screen normally. I’m sure he was following his understanding of the directions the man gave him.

He also happened to find a pair of TARDIS slippers. There were only two pair on the table, but thankfully one pair was his size. He was pretty darn happy to get them. He has a “thing” about slippers lately, I don’t know why. He has a few pair of slippers at home but never wanted to wear them, all of a sudden he loves slippers and wears them all of the time. The Tardis slippers were a nice find for him.

: K9

: Do Not BLINK

Pictures taken, slippers purchased, now DC was beginning to get antsy. He had enough for one night and as you may or may not know, DC’s favorite thing when on vacation – besides bookstores and restaurants, that is – is the hotel room. He really just LOVES hotel rooms, so he was anxious to get back to “his” desk and all of his “stuff”.

On Saturday morning, we decided to take in the “Fairy Tale Panel” back at Shore Leave. DC must have been much more exhausted from Friday than I realized as he fell asleep and slept (in the front row, mind you) throughout the entire hour. 200lbs of dead weight hanging on me the entire time – just what you want when you are running a panel, someone fast asleep in the front row! He did also sleep through the Once Upon a Time panel at ComicCon, but at least it was a dark room and we were nowhere close to the front. I suppose it could have been worse, he could have been snoring.
Saturday was much more crowded than Friday night had been. We tried to stay away from the most crowded areas, but refreshed from his “nap”, DC made a bee-line to the Buffy doll that I knew he wanted but refused to buy the day before – I think he was just too overwhelmed on Friday night to know what he wanted until he found the Tardis slippers, that is..
We had purchased tickets for 3 photo ops the night before, but we still had a little time to kill, so we went to the autograph tables, which surprisingly, were not very crowded.

Our first stop was Robert Picardo. I explained to DC that he was once on a Star Trek (Voyager). His sign read “I’m the Doctor”. This confused DC, he knew it wasn’t David Tennant, the only Dr. he is aware of, but the sign did say “I am the Dr.” so he called him Dr. Who.

– just following directions, Doc…….

We moved on to Michael Welch. He was exceptionally nice to DC – really, they all were.

We then headed to THE most confusing Photo Op line ever. We had tickets for 3 Photo Ops which meant we had to get in line 3 times. The lines did move quickly, but it was all very confusing trying to figure out where we were supposed to be.

The woman at the entrance to the photo room just Ooo’d and Ahh’d over DC every time we arrived for a photo. “Oh! Look at him, he is so excited!” – he was, plus there is no one that loves to have their picture taken more than DC does.

His first photo was with Robert Picardo, “Dr. Who” from a half hour earlier. He didn’t call him Dr. Who this time even though he was wearing a Dr. Who shirt (he didn’t have his “I’m the Doctor” sign with him and it wasn’t David Tennant on his shirt).

Next up was Eve Myles. She was a few minutes late getting to the photo room and when I saw her coming down the hallway, I got a little bit anxious. Her hair was much longer than it is on TV and in photos. DC LOVES long hair, LOVES it! Before we were faced with another ‘Snow White Incident’ I launched into “the rules”.
“DC, you can not touch her hair”
“Okay Mom”
“DC what is the rule? – Tell me”
“Don’t touch your hair” (the usual pronoun confusion,but I knew he understood)
and then….. just for good measure…
“DC, what is the other rule?”
“Don’t pick up the people”
and he didn’t……….

Next and thankfully, last as DC was tired of getting in and out of lines…. Silas Weir Mitchell. I love Grimm. DC has seen it a few times, but I don’t think he really knew who he was. It didn’t faze him because, someone was taking HIS picture and isn’t that really all that matters?

At this point, DC was starting to get edgy. Our last stop was the Eve Myles autograph table. We had a good 1/2 hour wait until she was finished with the Q&A she was leading. We slipped inside to listen and more importantly to move DC out of the hallway.

He didn’t want to sit down.

He didn’t want to stand where we were standing.

He didn’t want to stand in the next place we moved to.

We moved close to the door and he seemed okay with that.

But then a staff person came over and told us we couldn’t stand there so we moved back to the hallway.

We decided to just wait at the table.

There was a wonderful lady sitting at the table who just happened to be a Special Ed teacher (we seem to run into Special Ed teachers everywhere we go, she was the second on this trip), she let DC pick out the photo he wanted autographed early. He picked a photo of Ms. Myles from a Merlin episode. We chatted a bit, she chatted with DC a bit as well. She told him he was doing a good job waiting – he loves compliments….. who doesn’t.

The Dalek from the Tardis photo booth was now roaming the hallway “EXTERMINATE!”, so that helped to keep him occupied until Ms. Myles was finished with her Q&A. When she arrived at the table, the woman whispered something to her and then introduced her to DC. She told her that he was waiting a long time for her. He was first in line for her autograph, she was lovely to him. He was thrilled…..

but he was also “done”.

I didn’t try to push him to do any more. We arrived that morning at 9 and it was now after 3. That was a long stretch for him, even with the nap. He had a few sketchy moments throughout the day, but I really I think, overall he did a fantastic job!

In the words of DC, “We all had a wonderful time”

except for this guy…………..