BLAJDOG's World

lalalala...lalalala...Elmo's World, that little ditty, I have come to realize, is the warning sign to get two of my kids out the door. The first song, at the beginning of his segment on Sesame Street, tells me we have to get out to the car to get my oldest to the bus; by the time I get back some 10 minutes later it is 'crunch time' to get the last minute details done on Liv before the strains of the ending Elmo song signal the inevitability of Liv's bus pulling up. Our bus driver has recently been reliably punctual due to complaint from ill-mannered parents during back to school night; imagine complaining on the bus's timeliness after less than a week back!

Today's morning was a little more hectic than normal; I was up 15 minutes late, leaving us 50 minutes to feed dress and get Liv out the door; easy if that were the only thing we were doing. But, in 'emergency mode' Linda and I (Linda mostly) are a blur of activity and we even wound up with a few extra seconds to spare. In any event, eggs should be the only thing scrambling in the morning; we both hate the way it makes us feel. It would help if Liv slept in her OWN bed all night (and if we had the A/C on last night)!

This time of year is most perplexing in the NJ area because it's hard to figure out how to dress everyone: mid to upper 50's in the morning; 70 up to even 80 in the afternoon. Me being warm blooded and my wife on the 'colder' side, the struggle to dress for survival is always a source of friction:

"Should they go in capri's or shorts?" Linda asks

"Dunno," Replies meteorologist dad "it's going up to 80 this afternoon."

"How's it out NOW though?"

"Just a little chilly, probably could get away with shorts."

"Maybe I should put them in long pants?"

"No, no, it's not THAT bad."

"So capri's?"

"Yea, you could do that."

"You sure they won't be TOO hot?"

" Capri's or shorts, either way."

"What do YOU think?"

"Capri's."

"How bout a sweater?"

You see where this goes, the indecision of what's going to be best, what's going to provide the maximum benefit with the minimum discomfort. It struck me though, that this is the same with therapies for the girls. We have no guarantees for what the future weather will be, we can only provide what we think will be the best for them in their current state. No one's there saying "If you do X hours of ABA, Y hours of speech, Z hours of OT, they'll be fine." What's the best outfit (therapists/programs); what's the right sweater (mix of therapies that we can shed or bring back depending on their current state). There is no real right or wrong answer; it's all about how it fits them (and the comfort WE feel in providing all the thing we think are the right thing).

We can hope for more sleep tonight, earlier alarm reactions from me. Hopefully, we can also get some clearer pictures on what therapies will work best for autistic kids, because scrambling is for eggs indeed...