June 2019

We've enjoyed great weather and several outings to parks this month, including our first visit to the Big Apple (although not the core of it). Some home repairs have come back to haunt us. And Alex is getting ready for a full time therapy program that is really going to change up our routines.

Long / Coney Island (Rob)

There was a doctor out on Long Island that Becky wanted to take Alex to, so we made a short weekend trip out of it. To get there, it's about a four hour drive, so we left first thing on a Friday morning to get to the appointment by 1 pm. After the appointment, we got lunch at Chick-Fil-A and took a walk around a nearby IKEA (two things we don't have in Binghamton) to let Alex run around a bit. Next, we made a stop at Jones Beach State Park, which is miles of beaches that extend all along a southern portion of Long Island. That was uncrowded and quite pleasant -- my first experience dipping my toes in the Atlantic, and Alex's first experience at a real beach (Becky has been there on a cruise if that counts). Alex enjoyed playing in the sand and watching the waves, but he was mostly afraid to get too close to them. That fear was only supplanted only by his insatiable urge to throw rocks in water, as seen in the video below. We stayed in a nearby AirBnB that night, which happened to be in a gorgeous old neighborhood. The next day we decided to make a stop at Coney Island before continuing westward toward home. Coney Island reminds me of Utah's Lagoon, except it has a boardwalk, shops and a beach. Our visit there started out pleasant enough: we let Alex run around a park, we pushed him along the boardwalk in the stroller for quite a ways, enjoyed some hot dogs, and played at the beach for a bit. But unbeknownst to us, our visit coincided with the 37th annual Mermaid Parade. One news report said the event drew 875,000 people. It got more and more crowded, and as we were making our way back to our car, we had to find a way to push through all the people and get to the other side of the street at the same time the parade was beginning. I'll add that this particular parade drew a variety of people in interesting costumes, as you might imagine. We barely made it through the crowd  and across the street before the mermaids, mermen and mer-non-binaries came trickling down the street. For a block or two, I literally had to part the crowd so Becky could push Alex though, causing some people to complain about their toes getting run over by the stroller while others (presumably those who have borne children before) were helpful in telling people they needed to make way for us. It was a chaotic picture that my words can only begin to illustrate. Anyway, the whole scene was so overstimulating that Alex just endured it in a bit of a curious daze. Eventually we got back to our car, and got the heck out of the Big Apple. It was a fun weekend trip and it's been too long since I've been to the beach, but also nice to be home.

Sippy Cup (Rob)

Like with a lot of babies, the bottle has always been a source of comfort for Alex. That has never subsided, and we've had a hard time getting him to drink from anything else (as you may note in  one of the videos below). But we had a minor breakthrough this month in getting him to transition to a bottle with a more sippy cup-like nipple. A gradual approach away from the bottle never worked for us, so we had to try a more extreme approach: deprivation. No bottle until he was thirsty enough to give the sippy cup nipple a try. He doesn't like it as much, but he seems to be warming up to it so far. Drinking from a cup is still a long ways to go, but we've finally made a step in the right direction. Making transitions with toddlers is an artful process, especially for autistic kiddos who find a little more comfort than usual in their routines. Fortunately, Alex handles most other transitions well. 

ABA Therapy (Rob)

On July 1, Alex will be starting an intensive 6-hour per day therapy program in the Hudson Valley area. This program uses a technique that Becky is trained in called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which has become the standard of treatment for kids with autism. It will involve a lot of focus on using his motivations to shape his behavior. He has some repetitive behaviors, like throwing rocks in the water, picking flowers, etc. But his communication is our biggest concern -- he's still only saying a few words at best, and not very receptive to language either. Since we couldn't find a full-time ABA program in our area, Becky will have to be out there with Alex staying in hotels, AirBnB and eventually, an apartment during the weeks. It's a bit more than 2 hours away, which makes commuting impractical. There's still a lot that we have to figure out with this arrangement, so we are trying to stay flexible for now. There is another full-time ABA program that Becky is interested in, also in the Hudson Valley area, that doesn't start until September. So eventually, we'll decide which of those two programs to stick with. Hopefully with this intensive effort, we'll be able to help Alex make those connections cognitively that he needs for language development. As noted last month, Becky has worked hard to get insurance to cover the costs of Alex's therapy program. We may be able to get the additional living expenses covered through state services, but that remains to be seen.

Non Sequitur Tidbits (Rob)

Although it needs some landscaping work, I've come to really like our backyard because it's a private little nature sanctuary. Chipmunks, squirrels and many birds are common, and I've found some wild strawberries and raspberries growing back there too. As an added bonus, it now lights up with fireflies at dusk too. Our hot water heater went out again just like it did a couple months ago, so I needed to have the repair guys come back and try to figure out was they missed last time they were here. They ordered some parts and hopefully, it will be back in order the first week of July and covered by warranty. So through a combination of sponge baths, boiling water and using the shower in the basement bathroom at work, we've been trying to keep ourselves from getting too smelly. With Becky and Alex being gone during the weeks, I'll have some time to work on other minor home improvement projects that I'd like to begin. Eventually, we'll have to get a new roof too, so I've had a couple guys doing estimates on that. At work, I have a bright and ambitious intern working with me who has been very helpful on some projects. Also, it looks like I should be getting a nice raise soon too. At church, we are slowly getting to know people in our new ward. No new callings yet, but Becky and I are assigned as ministering partners and have made a couple cookie visits. There are three professors in our ward that work at Binghamton University in the fields of Chemistry, Social Work, and Economics. We will be ministering to the families of two of them, and the third is in the Bishopric and lives just down the street from us.  This is congruent with my professional role at the university, which is to support faculty in their efforts to acquire sponsored funding.

For more photos and videos of our day-to-day life during the month of June, see here.