It’s been awhile, but we finally made our trip out to CA to see Dr. Michael Goldberg.
While we go on a regular basis regardless of what’s going on, this time we were motivated to go because Maximus has been having issues staying on his clean diet. While it’s true that every kid (and most adults) have issues staying true to good eating, it can have some serious health consequences for Max. So when he got to the point of cheating every single day we knew we had to do something.
This came about after several months of trying pretty much everything we could think of and making no progress at all. We were getting very frustrated and part of the problem is that Max does not always make the connection between his choices and the outcomes. He tends to blame others instead of taking responsibility. Some of that is maturity for sure, but sometimes he’s a complicated by to figure out too.
In brief, the visit went very well. Unlike any of the past visits, this visit was 90% between Max and the doctor with me just being present to clarify details here and there. He responded very well to the questions and there were even some insights into his thinking and some things that were bothering him. He talked to the doctor about some things he has never brought up to us, so I was pretty blown away a few times by the answers that Max gave.
All in all, I think a lot of positive changes will come out of this. What was really clear to me is that we need to do these visits more now that he’s older. Twice a year would be awesome if we could swing it. And I also think his siblings would have benefited from being part of the same discussion because it would have helped them understand a lot of the details that are lost on them day to day.
For me, the best part of the trip was having that one-on-one time to bond with Maximus. We always have such a special connection when it’s just the two of us, and even more so when it’s out of our normal environment. I just love the little guy.
Maximus preferred watching the live map of our travels over using the iPad. He kept letting me know what state and cities we were passing over.
Arrival at LAX.From 35 degrees in Chicago to nearly 100. It was awesome.Car for mom?A friends restaurant that closed a few months earlier.We stayed at a nice AirBnB that had a outside patio. We used it in the evening to just hang out.No visit is complete without a visit here. The smell itself was hard to resist.Returning our pimped out ride.Once again, coffee all over my socks. The same thing happened on the last trip so clearly it’s me that has a problem.
To kick off the first days of summer vacation we spent a week in Michigan visiting family and doing fun activities. Mini-golf, Dave & Busters and seeing a movie are just some of the highlights.
While everything I was shooting was supposed to be for this year’s “Summer video”, I couldn’t help myself and created a very short video of our Michigan trip.
Earlier this week while I was running an errand with the kids we noticed a new trampoline place. What surprised me was that it’s located in a business park, not a location that would ever really see drive by traffic. We checked it out that afternoon but today they went to actually JUMP and had a great time. All 3 were sweaty by the time that we left.
They had a “wipe out” type contraption that the boys loved. They more or less stayed on that the entire time that we were there (see photos and video below of that).
If you’re interested in checking it out yourself visit SkyHighSports.com. I can tell you that the Naperville location was amazing.
Last year I had the idea of taking Andrew to one of the many Hour of Code classes in the area, but found out about it too late. Everywhere I looked classes were already full. If you don’t know what the Hour of Code is, you can find out more at their website. It’s an initiative to promote learning how to write computer code and to get children interested at an early age.
I signed up for an apple store event at one of the downtown Chicago locations and picked one that had a special guest. In this case it was Danny Yaroslavski, creator of the popular coding app for kids called LightBot.
We started our day having breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s, one of my favorite breakfast spots in the city.
After that we hopped on the subway and headed to the apple store, which just happens to sit right on top of a subway stop.
As soon as Danny started talking to the group you could see the kids light up. I think in part because he himself is not much older than a kid and they could relate to him. He talked about how computers not only run the internet, but virtually every aspect of our world.
He called out Pixar specifically. He pointed out that while Pixar is about creating 3D characters and animation, it’s all done by code written at Pixar. A lot of their software is created in house to help solve specific problems they want to overcome. It was a good tie in and spoke to everyone.
After that it was all about grabbing an iPad (several were provided to the group) and playing LightBot. The game does not teach actual coding. Rather it teaches concepts, methods and problem solving skills that are part of writing code. Even as an adult, I found it fun and challenging to play at times. It’s more of a brain teaser as you get into the higher levels and have to find more efficient ways to perform the same task. Once these concepts are mastered, learning to actually write code will be easier to pickup.
After the one hour was done we went out front and took a group photo with everyone in the class and then back inside to look at some of the toys on display. We spent another 90 minutes playing with the toys which were pretty awesome. It’s amazing the level of technology that we take for grated these days.
We had planned to do a few more things in the city but the day was already half over and we needed to be back by 3pm so we headed back to the car and drove home. On the way back we took a quick detour to check out the Harold Washington Library. A library that’s so big it could probably hold 4 full size copies of the Wheaton library.
All in all is was a pretty awesome day with Andrew. We never seem to get enough one-on-one time with the kids so when we do it’s pretty special.
I don’t know if Andrew will be interested in writing code as he grows up, but for now he’s interested in it. If he does end up a coder, he will have a nice jump on what will be a very promising career by the time he is out of high school.
I have a small photo gallery on SmugMug from the days events.
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