But the bloom is off the rose, and Dubuque, which once seemed a very grounded and open place, has turned to the usual bad habits of many cities.  The politicians are inaccessible, the police are unethical, and the laws are now going from protecting citizens to generating money off of them. Schools get cut, but special pet projects do not.  Small businesses suffer at the hands of larger ones. They found a way to get rid of undesirable “people from Chicago” (code word for black) legally.  Discrimination is almost as rampant as apathy and ignorance.  There are few people with strong convictions here, and it shows.

I want to fight for a community that fights with me, for me, alongside me. I’ll be the best thing that ever happened!  

We still have to ride it out more than a year, since we do want our daughter to graduate from the local high school. It would be foolish to pull her out now.  But if we can figure out how to make it work, we need to go to a good city, one that is family friendly.

Image via Wikipedia

One of the first apps I got on my son’s iPad was something I wanted for myself. The Monster at the End of This Book was one of my favorite books growing up.  When I saw it was at the iPad store, and it still had Grover, and not Elmo (which they had when my daughter was the age for this), I had to download it!

It keeps true to story, and is interactive in a seamless, appropriate manner.  It encourages the child to be involved in the story, in subtle ways. If they still don’t get what to do on a page, Grover will hint, building up the hints until the work is done.  He does it in a way, though, that suits the story. “Whatever you do, don’t touch that. Not that corner over there. That will make the page turn. You don’t want to turn the page!” Things like that, and maybe a bit of a flicker or flash to show where the child should touch.

My son is completely non-verbal, and can’t really read much at all.  He’s never been interested in reading, either.  He’ll look at I Spy books, or flip through something with a character he likes, but not much more than that.  After a while, though, Ted would read along with the book, running his finger under each word as it was said. Each word comes on the page one at a time as Grover says it, and he’s really starting to learn the relationship between what is said and what the word looks like. That interaction is probably helping him read more than the constant drilling we’ve done over the years in school, in therapy, and in the home.  He reads it every night before going to bed.  He also is engaged with it more than most other apps, without perseverating on it, reading it over and over for hours on end.  It’s also made a great reward for his educators and his therapists, because he will work for enough stars to have time with this app.

I’ve seen a number of children’s e-books, and apps based on children’s books. This is probably our favorite, and save for a handful of others, one of the better crafted ones. You can tell that not only did the software developers know what they were doing, educators and other professionals who know about development of literacy skills and children were involved. All the little touches not only make this app more enjoyable, but are a great way to help an emerging reader.

This award-winning app is $3.99 at the Apple App  store.

It’s a shame that insurance does not cover these. An AAC device starts at around 3k.  An iPad with a good case, good AAC software, and some other apps? About 1k.  But the insurance would rather pay 3k and up, because those devices are for communication only.  Heaven forbid someone has something that can be used for things other than the intended purpose. They’d rather throw money away. No wonder premiums are so high.  Insurance companies will not use common sense when it comes to deciding what to pay, and what not to pay.

I hope to be reviewing some of the apps we’re using.  The whole experience is a real game changer. It’s made an impressive difference in my son’s life.

A series of photos with my son and sparklers.

I wanted to share the Dubuque Street site with you.  If you’re from Dubuque, you’ll enjoy the stories of residents, their struggles and successes, their  foibles and and strengths.  There’s something to reading a piece and putting your hand up to your mouth, your heart, and getting it. Relating, or just knowing, having witnessed something like that in your time here. The recognition of the unique community we have.

For those of you who knew me back in Brooklyn, it’s good to see where I am. What kind of people are here. It’s not a dull backwaters of corn-eating, pig raising farmers. We have culture, we have characters, we have heart.  I always recognize two things in my life.  One, the Brooklyn I miss is not the Brooklyn I left. The Brooklyn I miss is long gone. The place where we played on the street and went to get ice cream and our neighbors had regular jobs and sometimes things were tight and sometimes things were a bit nicer but we were all in it together. That’s gone, now I see a huge divide between the haves, and the have nots.  The second thing is Dubuque is closer to the Brooklyn I miss.  There are snow cones, which are almost as good as Italian ices. There are pool parties, and good food, and people saying hi. There’s working class here. Office jobs and blue collar jobs and “whatever you can get” jobs.  You don’t feel like you have to compete with multi-millionaires, with bankers and lawyers who will sell their mother for a Rolls.  Nor do you feel like there is no hope at all. At our worst here, I still had hope. You could usually find a meal in Dubuque, if needed. Dubuque has neighbors. I like that.

So for those who knew me back in Brooklyn, take a peek at Dubuque Street site.  You’ll see I’m in good hands. It’s not dull here. It’s not cutthroat, not like it started to get when I left. There are some characters, some sad stories. Lots to be done. But the people are REAL, and that’s something that I was starting to miss from my life.  I loved my circle, I loved my friends and family, but it seemed like it was shrinking. So Dubuque is the “Brooklyn I miss” and there is no way I am leaving. Read, and you will see why.

If you’d like an invite (I get M&Ms if you use my invite to join), drop me a line. Even if you aren’t in the area, ask for an invite — your area might also be a charter area, too, offering free membership, or you may simply think this service is worth the fee. Check it out!

We get away from the TV, computers, video games, phones, the internet for a while. We eat as a family. And we get some great time outdoors with some play. You can’t go out and not have a good time and get some playtime in (if we eat at a park) or some hiking in (if we eat by one of the places with trails).

We never do anything too complex. Not a lot of salads, side dishes, drinks. We usually just have a couple of burgers or hot dogs, and drinks. Less to carry, less to throw away. When you make it part of the routine it doesn’t have to be a big production of three different salads, two desserts, chips, three kinds of drinks, four kinds of meats and lots of condiments. It makes it easier to make that decision, “should we grill tonight?”

If we did it at home, it wouldn’t be the same. Only one person would be outside tending to the grill, and people would rush to get back to whatever they were doing inside. It would be a big production as we tried more elaborate foods, and we’d have less outside friendly food and more dinner food. So we never replaced our old grill, because we know if we do, we will miss our family time, our outdoor time, our fresh air time, our relaxation time.

The only thing I would change is to remember to leave some bug spray in the car. Those bugs at the Mines of Spain are driving me nuts!

Camp Albrecht Acres hosted the Dubuque Ren Faire, and it was a BLAST. We all had so much fun!

This came off my car, what is it? My car was rattling like MAD before it happened. Click on photo to get to the photo of the other side, thanks.

Via Flickr:
WHAT IS THIS? My car rattled until this went flying off it today. This is the other side of it.