Miles

Triumph of the BelmSled

April 9, 2009

Di and I donated tickets to the Boston Museum of Science to Miles’s fourth grade class. His teacher, Ms. Mullen, asked if we would would like to attend, knowing our mutual interests in science would help her in answering questions raised by the kids. One of the scheduled activities was a visit to the Design [...]

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The Bottom Line

April 6, 2009

Di & I were invited to dinner with the rest of the staff of her startup venture. We asked Jackson, our neighbors’ son, to look after Miles. The two of them get along, usually playing video games until we return. When we left, I had Miles set up to play Little Big Planet on the [...]

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Tune Up

March 24, 2009

Last October, during what should have been a routine dental checkup and cleaning for Miles , I was asked for permission to do a full-scan mouth x-ray as well. The dentist seemed concerned, so I consented. A few minutes later he brought me over to the lightbox to look at the film. He said “I [...]

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Yesternow

February 6, 2009

Miles came home with his report card today. He’s continuing to make excellent progress,  a trend that started last year. What changed a year ago was our realization that Miles needed help in dealing with anxiety. He’s a very smart boy (yes, all parents say that, but I have empirical data), but he would get [...]

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In a Silent Way

January 26, 2009

Seven years ago Miles was diagnosed as having Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). He had been very slow to learn new words, and was not speaking very much by the time he was 18 months old. Fortunately, our pediatrician was particularly vigilant about possible early signs of autism, and insisted that we have [...]

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Pantry Purge

January 15, 2009

Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column last week was about getting rid of unused and unneccesary items in the fridge and pantry. Many of his suggestions (e.g. “OUT – imitation vanilla, OUT – canned vegetables, OUT – grated imitation ‘Parmesan’”) were easy to implement because those things have never been in my kitchen. Some I have quibbles [...]

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Like Rock Band, only less fun

January 14, 2009

I had a classical station on the radio while I was driving Miles home from school today. The Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor was playing and I was humming along with it. Miles asked “Dad, how do you know this music?” “My dad used to play it,” I explained. “Papa played with [...]

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Potato Paradise

January 8, 2009

Miles interrupted my dinner prep one night, saying “Dad, I think you need to make this soon.” He handed me a sheet of paper written on both sides: The recipe is for Patato [sic] Paradise: Things you need: potatoes potato chips frozen fries (any kind you want) mashed potatoes cooking utensils knife How to start: [...]

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The C Word

January 8, 2009

Miles is halfway through the fourth grade, which has been pretty good for him. Now that he’s back in school after a long holiday break, some of his old behaviors have temporarily re-emerged. He gets frustrated when class sections last longer than expected, and he also gets agitated when he doesn’t immediately understand a new [...]

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