The Best Text of All

Teaching Ryan to text and use a cell phone has been somewhat a work in progress. This year we got him a phone for school. We explained that kids his age communicate mostly by text message. That was enough to sway him — from complete indifference to mild interest — in owning a phone. I […]

It’s Still Progress

It was 5:38 a.m. this morning when Ryan marched into our room to tell us he had been awake since 4 and couldn’t go back to sleep. He promptly climbed into bed. I heard only bits and pieces of his conversation with Veronica before falling back to sleep, but what I heard was poignant enough […]

Progress: Of Body, and Mind

I took Ryan to evaluations for his hockey house league program two weekends ago. I no longer fear these the way I once did. I watched Ryan do what he normally does. He followed instructions. He tried his best. He was close to the back of the pack in some of the skating drills. At […]

The Seeds of Self-Advocacy

Hockey is back. You know how I know? Saturday night at 7, just as one of the biggest college football games of the year, Alabama-Texas A&M, was winding down, I was forced to surrender the living room TV for a preseason game on NHL Network. Johnny Football ain’t got nuthin’ on Evander Kane, Alex Ovechkin, […]

Ignoring, Not Ignorance

It feels like just yesterday I was fighting tears at Riley’s elementary school “moving up” ceremony, having parachuted in between Games 4 and 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. And yet tomorrow the new NHL season kicks off with the opening preseason games. That will be one day after my two middle-schoolers!!!!! finish their first […]