exercise
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Your best is the best
When we came back from our family trip back in July, J was struggling to get back into his running grove. It wasn’t that J didn’t want to run. The runs were just hard. Some of those summer running practices near the end of July were rough. J’s body was physically fine. His legs were strong, his lungs were strong, and he wasn’t battling any injuries. But running is one of those things that if you miss too many workouts it takes a few workouts until you feel like you’re back to where you were, and being inconsistent (and even missing) morning runs on our two week holiday set J…
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The 10K Gamble and Learning to Trust J
The Fargo Marathon is a pretty big deal around here. It’s a Boston Qualifier, and a really appealing one at that (Fargo is a really REALLY flat course and the weather is usually decent). There are races all week long for whatever floats your boat: dog runs, kid runs, the 5K and then marathon day which includes the 10K, half marathon, marathon relay, and marathon. The city gets really into it. The neighbourhoods do too–live bands play music to help rally the runners, people bring out orange slices to you, there are posters everywhere and hundreds of perfect strangers are cheering you on. It’s a really cool experience. This year my…
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J can do something most kids can’t
There are very few things that J can do that most kids can’t. In fact, there’s only really two things I can think of off the top of my head: the ability to remember the most obscure information and retain that information (like squaring and cubing numbers into the 10,000s, remembering dates and obscure facts of presidents of the United States, and remembering every exit number in ever state from North Dakota to Kansas). The other? running long distance. The party trick memory is fun for a little bit, but it’s really hard to engage with someone when all you can do is spew random facts at them. And it…
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A little Christmas story
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying a lovely holiday season! I just thought I’d take a moment and post one of my favourite little stories of kindness we’ve experienced in the week or two leading up to the holiday. J has been a champ when it comes to his first season of winter running. Most of December has been pretty cold, and despite the wind, snow, and sometimes single digit temps (or below -15C), J’s done a good job sticking through it all. I’ve said this before–running is one of the greatest life lessons out there, and one of those lessons i that you keep running…
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“Maturing” and these moments now
Winter has decided to visit Fargo and settle in for a while. Tuesday we had a blizzard watch and while NDSU got out out at 2pm, J and W still had school until the normal release time. The one schedule change for the kids came later that night–J and W were both supposed to have their choir concerts that night but because of weather conditions, all after school activities were cancelled and the concerts were postponed until Thursday later that week. Surprisingly, J was okay with that. Lately, J seems to be able to roll with things like everyone else. I’m always asking myself “why” when it comes to J,…
- autism, creativity, cross-country, exercise, home strategies, learning strategies, reading comprehension, strategies
Rehabilitation–or just “habilitation”
Sometimes I feel like J has been in rehab almost every day of his life, except that instead of relearning skills he once had, J has never had the skills. Like all the skills. Sometimes I feel like it’s just one big, impossible task. NOTHING is intuitive with J. There are some days where I feel like I am literally programming a human like I would be programming a computer. Every little skill, every little nuance has to be first modeled before he can learn it. Which makes it feel like the biggest task on the planet. It’s also why I feel really, really grateful for the people who send me little…
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The fragile and complex autism ecosystem
Even when life is predictable and the autism variables are in homeostasis, I’m always looking at ways to make sure the very fragile and complex autism ecosystem is running in optimal form. Because J has been managing his obsessional behavior much better, because XC requires us to be more disciplined in his school and academic responsibilities, because J’s spontaneous expressive language is getting better and better, it’s been easier to see what deficits need a little more work or attention. Because J has been so cooperative with math, French, and other subjects that require daily after school study, I’ve been able to see that a lot of J’s struggles currently lie in his…
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Concussions, autism, and processing
Thursday morning threatened rain. Not just a light drizzle, but a big Midwest rain. The cross country team runs no matter what the weather is and so as we ran out the door that morning for practice, I pulled J’s windbreaker out of the closet along with a baseball cap. I’ve been trying to get J to be okay with running in the rain. He absolutely hates running in the rain. In the rain he runs like the walking dead, arms locked by his side, his shoulders up to his ears. He has sensory issues with wet clothes. He hates rain in his eyes. I thought the wind breaker might keep him drier…
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Running with bean bags
It amazes me sometimes the things that J can do and the things he can’t do. It amazes me that these strengths and deficits permeate into every aspect of his life–socially, mentally, emotionally, and yes physically. Today’s post is about some of the physical deficits J struggles with. Throughout J’s life, J has had physical struggles at fundamental developmental levels and stages. He was a great crawler and subsequent furniture cruiser, but he didn’t have enough guts to let go of the furniture and take steps on his own until he was 14 months old (most kids start walking at 12 months). He was a great breast feeder, bottle feeder,…
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Why it’s more than just running
Right now, I feel like I’ve gotten a little unnecessarily poetic about running. Almost borderline obnoxious. People ask what it’s like running with J or how it’s helping him and I feel like those questions open the floodgates. I get passionate. I get emotional. I talk about it like it’s some religion or diet everyone should try. What’s gotten into me? I’m an English major. I’m a writer. I’m passionate about literature, music, art, and drama. I’m a staunch advocate for the arts and get irate when funding for those programs gets cut while organized sports often remains untouched. Why am I falling in love with organized sports? Why do…
