Friday, October 21, 2016

Family Picture

We recently went out to eat (at Benihana, obviously from the picture) for my wife's and Anthony's birthdays in October; my wife has enrolled to get birthday discounts, and it's still expensive with them! But Anthony really likes the food, and seemed especially happy with the complimentary ice cream after the meal.  The last time I posted a picture was about four years ago; our younger son is now taller than his sister, much to her chagrin.  


Sunday, October 16, 2016

I may have found a way to get Anthony to exercise.

I have tried running with him. That of course entails my jogging a couple hundred feet to entice him to follow along in his special-needs running style--and, as I write that, I acknowledge that it doesn't have a positive connotation, but the intent is that he doesn't know *how* to run because he didn't grow up running around or playing sports like children normally do--but he tires of it quickly, both physically and attitudinally, and I obviously don't want him to explode on me. 

We have tried getting him to ride an exercise bike, because we've heard he does it here and there at school. But he loses interest fairly quickly, especially if we aren't standing right near him telling him to keep going.

I have a rebounder (mini trampoline) that I use for my own exercise now and again, and have tried getting Anthony to jump on that.  He is OK with that for a little bit, but won't do it long enough to make much of a difference, and I am always concerned that his weight is too much for it anyway.  I'd love to have a real trampoline for him, because I have seen him jump on one for an extended period on his own, even to the point of starting again after stopping because he was tired. But I don't see us forking over the cash for one of those at this point because of the need to monitor him and the lack of space to put it inside our house for year-round use.

I tried taking him outside with me recently to help me pick up small rocks (of which we have an unexplained overabundance) in a front area where I have gardened. That didn't go over so well--I had to goad him to keep picking them up; I even thought to myself that he exhibited some signs of being a normal teenager! So, I sent him back into the house while I continued on my own.

But yesterday the routine was a little different; I gave him a haircut in the middle of the day and gave him a shower. Because of that, I didn't shower with him in the evening but instead had him change into his pajamas and go straight to bed. When I went to get him out of bed this morning, I recognized immediately that I had committed the cardinal sin of leaving a diaper on him, because the ripped contents of it were all over the floor. But, later, I thought I could try to get Anthony to pick them up and put them into the trash bag I was holding... and he did, without complaint! That involved quite a bit of repeated bending down, and he did a lot of it without me having to urge him on. Could it be because he understood it was his fault? I don't know, but I'm going to have him wear a diaper to bed every night so we can do this each day!

Well, no, of course, I won't.  Beside the fact that it creates residue other than what can be readily picked up, the diaper clearly keeps him awake for a while at night until he rips it off, and that isn't in anybody's interest. So it's back to the drawing board. I did have him later following my lead in bending down to touch my toes, so maybe there's some hope there, but I still foresee an organizational and motivational challenge to ever get him enough exercise to lose significant weight.