Last week, Darwin had a “full team evaluation” at The Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia. He met with 4 different therapists and doctors who led him through various tests, engaging him in different ways to evaluate his behavior as it relates to the Autism Spectrum. Today, his mother and I met with the team again to discuss their observations, the diagnosis, and the recommended treatment.

The diagnosis is autism. Point blank, no bones about it. Does an atomic bomb do just as much damage if you see it coming? Yes it does.

Before Darwin, I’d never spent any considerable time around young children. So once he was born, every day proved to be a new experience, which is still the case. Because of that, I didn’t have a great basis for comparison between him and any other “normal” kid. But once he became slightly more mobile and I started to see him in the context of playing with or near other children, I started to notice differences. Subtle differences maybe, but I saw them. I was told that I was being paranoid, and that he was totally fine.

A few weeks ago, I was at the playground with Darwin, pushing him on a swing. He was smiling, giggling occasionally. We were having a nice relaxing day together. For whatever reason, it dawned on me that such a thing had never been shared between my father and I. I get really emotional when I [...]

Lately I’ve been feeling like I have so much on my mind, that forming a concise, focused blog entry seems impossible to do. With so much going on, and so many issues to deal with all the time, it could be easy to overlook some of these precious moments that I have with Darwin while [...]

My life was better before. When exactly was “before” though? And better how? I’m not sure, maybe. But I feel like right now everything sucks really, really bad. I am still constantly overwhelmed by the idea that I technically do not live with my son. At this point it hardly matters, because he’s with me [...]

No, this isn’t about the remix album. This is my life, and it is a complete fucking wreck.
The Batcave has been a total disaster. I haven’t even had it for two weeks, and just about everything has gone wrong with the place. Yesterday I sent my landlord and email outlining all the problems, and explaining [...]

Darwin’s Birthday was Friday (July 25). Parts of the day really sucked, but the bulk of it was spent with just the two of us, which was really nice. I took him on the train to the city, and we hit up the Please Touch Museum and Pita Pit. Ok, he slept through Pita Pit, [...]

A year has passed since Darwin was born (a year on Friday, actually). I’ve been thinking about what I would write for this post, and as usual, I fail to find the words. I find it nearly impossible to encapsulate my feelings for this boy, and about the whole experience of being thrust face first [...]

Under no circumstances did I ever intend for that last post to remain at the top of this site for that long. I’m sorry.
Anyway, I’m not sure what my deal is. I think about posting on here pretty often, but lately I just haven’t found the time/energy/motivation. As usual, my life has been all kinds [...]

Yesterday I celebrated my first Father’s Day as a father. That video gives you a pretty good idea of how I spent most of the day, aside from romping through the city earlier in the afternoon eating everything in sight.
Overall the day was very good. I was worried that it wouldn’t be, because Saturday was [...]