Disneyland, at Age Ten

We took a long-deferred vacation to LA a few weeks back. James was excited to go back and ride Small World, Alice, and the Nemo subs. He was so excited that he had trouble finishing his waffle breakfast at the "Letter Q Hotel" (James' name for Quality Inn and Suites).

We like staying at the Letter Q because we know what to expect and have good vacation trip memories. The price is good for the quality, and they have free breakfast, with make-your-own waffles, which the kids have loved.

Even though this local was right next to a construction zone (and had lost about a third of their property to the new development) the noise was not the issue I'd feared. We enjoyed a quiet room and filling breakfast every morning.

At Disneyland, James humoured me and went on the teacups. I tried to keep the spinning to a minimum, because he does not enjoy it very much any more. Yes, we rode It's a Small World every morning. I do enjoy the holiday version, though, and we usually end up singing carols on the ride.

Two new favourite rides emerged from our trip: James became a fan of the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, and especially the Star Tours rides. Wow! I guess all the repeated YouTube viewings of Star Tours and ep. 7's buzz overcame his dislike of sudden shifts and drops. It was so neat watching James enjoy the more immersive rides. The newer system that replaced the old Guest Assistance card helped us out with the crowds too. More on that later.

We also got James on Soarin' Over California once, which was a huge thing. We celebrated with a few rounds of Monster's Inc. Ride. Olaf was at home next door, so we played in the snow and went sledding. Seriously! Unfortunately Elsa was at the end of her meet and greet. James would have liked to say hello. We had a great race in a red race car in Radiator Springs  It is nice that Disneyland and California Adventure are places where he can do things, like other kids.

Movie Review: Peanuts Movie

Wrapping up a long holiday weekend after a super-stressful couple of weeks. We wanted a family movie, and considered The Good Dinosaur. When I looked up the movie times, I saw a reminder ad for the monthly Sensory Sensitive Films. For November, it was the Peanuts Movie. Sold!

What is a sensory sensitive movie showing? It's:

• Leaving the lights partially up ...
• Turning the soundtrack much lower than regular showings ...
• Creating a welcome environment for families with members who cannot tolerate loud noises, sit still through a movie, or have verbal stims to help get them through something exciting like a movie out in public.

Our local theatre provides this on the last Saturday of each month at 10:00 am, and I salute the heck out of them for this!
Back to the movie ... James knows the Peanuts gang. He may not have grown up reading them in the newspapers the way I did, and we don't have TV, so he's missed the TV specials on holidays, but the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack is a perennial favourite at home and on car trips. Every week on our shopping trip, James looks for Peanuts character dolls in our local Trader Joe's -- James has friends among the crew members, who "help"him look -- he loves his lollipop reward for finding their hideout in the store. We've visited Snoopy's Ice Arena, toured the Charles Schultz Museum (which also sponsors traveling Science Exhibits for our schools), and cursed the Red Barron in the skies overhead during our annual air show at the Charles M. Schultz airport -- of course we wanted to see this movie!

Two thumbs up for a well-done tribute to the series and characters. I was not sold on the 3D-ish animated treatment until I saw it onscreen -- it's a simple (to look at), charming mix of old and new that I think works very well. The characters look, sound, and feel very true to what I grew up with. Snoopy, who I feel became much larger and complicated than originally intended, was, to me, very recognizable. All his personae were there: good dog/Charlie Brown's ally, WWI Flying Ace, Joe Cool, Dark & Stormy Night writer, and Woodstock's friend. Charlie Brown's honesty, compassion, and staying true to himself despite all his bad luck shines through in a very refreshing way that I think has been missing from recent Peanuts animations.

The plot is simple, like Peanuts was written/drawn for the newspapers, and the kids are refreshingly kid-like and timeless, without being cloying or too mature. A lot of familiar and well-loved themes are woven into the simple story in a way that feels like snuggling down in a familiar patchwork quit that visually cues happy memories. If you like the Peanuts gang, you should definitely see this movie. If you are looking for modern re-imaginings classics, like Cat In the Hat, The Grinch, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or the Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, this is probably not for you.

Speaking as a parent of sensory-overloaded kids, having the soundtrack down low was a big help. I really liked the way the dogfights were not too loud or chaotic and the planes sounded realistic, but reproduced on a muted level. While James squirmed and started asking if the movie was going to be over before we hit the 2/3 way through mark, the vignettes were short and attention-getting. I enjoyed being able to redirect James by connecting his local experiences with the Peanuts characters to the characters onscreen, without feeling like I was detracting from the movie experience of the rest of the audience. Twice, James had to use the bathroom, and because the lights were partially up, this was not a big deal. A couple times we heard verbal stims from other audience members, and felt right at home.

Definitely, I give the movie, theatre, and film series two big Thumbs Up. We plan to return for next month's movie: The Good Dinosaur.

Testing, Testing ... Marin County Calling

Saturday morning. An hour car ride, for a morning's worth of testing. Hitting a wall, but persevering.

It was sunny, clear, and cold at home as we got into the car at 7 and headed south on 101. Over the Petaluma Hill, a cold greyish mauve fog bank lurked over the hilltops. Ghostly, white-translucent  scarves of ground fog shrouded dells, grapevines, and leafless trees. We wondered if we would see fog over the ocean, and hear, as James calls it, the "Foggy Horn."

By Novato, however, we were back into sunshine. James decided he wanted to listed to the Disneyland CD. We had fun listening to soundtracks for rides the rest of the way in. Star Tours won, with 4 repeats. He has watched the YouTube videos of the original ride so many times that we can recite the script in time to the sound track. He does a pretty decent R2 verbalization.

The testing office has a beautiful view of Mt Tam. The trees along Fourth St. are flaming autumnal colours. All this is some nice quiet time. There is plenty of work waiting for me at home.

Enjoying being in the moment.

Still looking for answers. James is worth it.

Shabam! Fall. Triennial IEP. Too Much.

Counting down to James' triennial IEP. So not looking forward to it. He is supposed to be in 5th grade. Everything has been coming home marked "4th Grade." I am being told that everything is blended. Indeed? Why is it all marked 4th grade? When did who decide to hold him back him a year? Because I sure as heck was left out of that loop.

James is pretty happy. They have him doing 2nd grade math that he mastered 2 years ago, adding 4 addition math problems a night. He had been doing long division last year. He is playing games on the computer a lot. Gah!

The ElastiMom Mantra Explained

Fall is here, bringing milder weather and the promise of some rain and relief from our high threat of fire. James is excited for Halloween. He will be the only trick-or-treater from our household this year. For a change, he has decided he wants to be Mr. Incredible (and so he is!) -- I am thinking we can get away with using his Incredibles PJs and some long red pants ...

Life keeps throwing my tough things. I wish I could be like Elastigirl and be Super Flexible and punch out the IEPs. I wish I had Edna Mode on my side. She could make me an ElastiMom Super Suit to wear to the IEP meeting and prevail for my kiddo.

First Day 2015

Not sure how I feel about this school year. For the first time in 6 years, James is not starting out as Full inclusion. It's heartbreaking for me but James seems to like it. It's been his easiest start back in years.

Glad it is easy for him because everything else is a mess, from the constant construction on-site all year to the fact that no one still can tell me what his Special Day Class routine is like to the fact that the district is asking me if I have the original signatures page for the IEP meeting we had in June.

On top of that, the comparison between the organization and seemingly effortless support at his sister's new school and the broken mess from his school district ... after all our efforts ... I must confess, I broke down and cried after dropping him off that morning. I feel like I've failed him and he's being lost down a hole.

Science Experiment: 4th Grade

While doing housecleaning and photo organization, I came across James's science project this year from Fourth Grade. He was so excited to do this experiment and write-up poster with me, probably because it was simple and not drawn out.

He made illustrations and gave me the words and some observations to use. He helped cut and paste the computer print outs from the PowerPoint presentation file I used to create the paragraphs of text.

We had a pretty fun time and he was chuffed!

Extreme Dental Visit

James has been seeing a pediatric dentist regularly since he was 3.  For several years, his teeth would get cleaned and checked. While James does not like sugary foods or sodas, he also won't brush or floss properly without an assist. We don't always make sure he does a thorough job, as we are usually exhausted by day's end.

This caught up with James last year: a cavity was discovered. Because it is difficult to get James to sit still for a cleaning and impossible to get him to sit still for x-rays, his dentist recommended sedation dentistry. Because he screams and freaks out over needles and whirring noises by his ears, she recommended general anesthesia (GA) - quote for which was $800, which we don't have.

Turns out there is a special program for kids with issues like James'. We could get it from his health care HMO. Catch: they only offer this in a service area that is over an hour away.

So I did phone consults and health histories. The day before his procedure his Dad took him to the pre-op physical at a facility an hour+ away. I spoke with four different people about GA and James. The week of the procedure, I worked 10-hour days so I could take a day to accompany him to the almost 2-hour away hospital without losing pay. He started fasting 12 hours before his procedure.

We got there early and signed in. James got his wrist bracelet and a number code, so I could track his progress on the Outpatient Surgery Board. We've been here before. What was different this time was that James' number showed no status - not even that of "waiting room," which some others showed. I was concerned about this because (1) James has a history of wandering and (2) I wanted to make sure they knew he was here so they didn't give his slot away as a no-show. It took a few minutes, but I was able to talk with someone who could not find him in the system, even though he'd checked in. Yikes!

Within 5 minutes we were called back to the prep area. I noticed that James' number now showed a proper status and I was assured we were not only on time, we were an hour early. The nurses, staff, and surgeon were all super nice. We had James changed into a hospital gown and up in a gurney in no time. He had his blankets and found Nick Jr., which kept him busy for most of our 2-hour wait.

I had a final GA consult and got some expert help from a nurse to get James to take the initial oral sedation. I checked all the procedures he was going to get with the nurses: tooth cleaning, first dental x-rays. at least one cavity filled and dental sealants. They would also take blood for several lab tests that had been postponed due to James' fear of needles. I gave James an overview of the procedures and told him I would be there with him until he went to sleep and when he woke up.

It was a long afternoon. I had some lunch, read a book, and took some walks up and down the hospital corridors. At last it showed he was being taken to recovery. It took a while, but he started waking up. And he wasn't happy. While the type of GA used made him less contentious, he  REALLY hated the sore feeling from having the breathing tube in his nose and throat. Despite  warnings to his team, James ripped the IV out of his foot. He really hates needles too.

An hour later, a helpful orderly helped wheel James outside. Fortunately I had been able to park so close to the hospital that could see James the whole time I picked up the car and drove back to pick him up. Then we had a 2 hour ride home with James moaning (and occasionally roaring) in the back seat. It took him a while to realize that a tooth was missing (a loose baby tooth). He didn't like that either. Turns out he had 4 cavities. Luckily none of them were serious, but we do need to step up the oral hygiene. I don't think either of us wants another extreme trip to the dentist any time soon.