Day 1 of Camp Charlie (2010 version) got underway with Charlie in the white car at precisely 8.19am, which is precisely the time that Phil... Read more →
Metaphor & Metonymy
The above photo shows Charlie's 'favorite things' as I call them. He refers to this whole set of objects as 'blue beads': Charlie often refers... Read more →
Charlie woke up before 5am on Sunday which was just as well, as one of my aunts was flying in from California on a red-eye.... Read more →
Not Hearing the Melody for the Notes (#592)
02 February 2007
Charlie has now been taking piano lessons for just over six months and his teacher has made some small innovations. Originally, each of the keys... Read more →
Epic & Lyric (#544)
16 December 2006
When I think of life with Charlie in Autismland, it sometimes seems like an epic, other times on the smaller scale of a lyric poem.... Read more →
Giant in the Sky (#481)
14 October 2006
Ant Hockey at 10.30am (Charlie held his stick in one hand, did his best to follow a red ball in a jumble of feet and... Read more →
You Coming? Or Am I Going? (#300)
23 April 2006
After Friday's stomach flu leading to an unexpectedly quiet Saturday, Charlie woke up at his usual time on Sunday and seemed extra-alert as he looked... Read more →
Happily Ever After (#296)
19 April 2006
Once I got into work today---late because I stayed at home while Charlie had an early ABA session, to check in with the therapist--one theme... Read more →
Charlie Got Rice: Let Proust Eat His Madeleine (#291)
14 April 2006
First, a fib for Charlie: Got rice noodles? Want spring-rolls. Bike ride, helmet on! I count out Charlie's syllables. [For more "fibs"--Fibonacci-based poetry (six line,... Read more →
Squirrels and Dogs and Horses, Oh My! (#279)
02 April 2006
Over the past week, it has become apparent: Charlie is once again afraid of dogs. On a walk last Friday we ran into his afterschool... Read more →
The Broken Pattern (#265)
19 March 2006
After nearly nine years (plus those nine months in utero) of raising Charlie and living in Autismland, I would say "no" or "not really, but"... Read more →
To Have and To Hold (#248)
02 March 2006
"Gong Gong bue car!" came the voice from the backseat. "HAS," I said, braking carefully in the sleet and slush. "Gong Gong has a blue... Read more →
Autism Fragments (#242)
24 February 2006
mingled with all kinds of colors That is fragment #152 of Sappho, pantodapais[i] mem[e]ichmena chroiaisin if transliterated from the ancient Greek. Just three words do... Read more →
Strategy in the Autism Wars (#238)
20 February 2006
I needed to get sodas for an event at my job on Wednesday and decided that it would be more economical to get them myself... Read more →
Waking Up From an Autism Nightmare (#214)
27 January 2006
At 2am, we heard howling and knocking from Charlie's room and ran in to find him twisted up in his blankets and (I think) a... Read more →
The Best Therapy (#209)
22 January 2006
My 100-year-old grandmother, Ngin-Ngin, speaks no English and my Cantonese consists of the numbers 1-99, "he/she is," "he/she is not," "beef and rice," "more," "thank... Read more →
Tabula Non Rasa (#206)
19 January 2006
"Bee-oo-ti-fool!" Charlie called out as he ran from the dinner table and then back to put his dishes in the sink. He was very groggy... Read more →
Unforgettable (#204)
17 January 2006
JPEGS and other image files eat up a lot more memory than text files do, as Jim discovered when he was transferring digitized versions of... Read more →
Keep on Smiling (#196)
09 January 2006
"Put away your coat and backpack!" Nothing too unusual about that phrase, especially when said to a schoolboy on arriving off the bus. On hearing... Read more →
Charlieman vs. the Evil Stim Monster (#176)
20 December 2005
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a hero-Not Otherwise Specified!----it's a tall boy in a fleece vest and hat pulled nearly over his eyes... Read more →