Gordon and I were watching one of the many Michael Jackson tribute TV shows with Duncan snuggled up next to me on the sofa. He particularly enjoyed Say, Say Say and had a little "wave your arms around" dance to himself. Then we played a few of our favourite tracks from the Off the Wall CD and danced about the living room. Lady and her friend came in and requested Thriller then demonstrated their entertaining interpretation of the zombie dance. Thomas was a tad embarrassed by it all.
I went into Belfast hoping to meet a blog buddie who was up attending an ABA conference. I had the wrong time in my head and arrived half way through her lunch hour. Eventually we found each other and had a few minutes of hasty but delightful conversation before she had to go back to one of the many talks. I sneaked in to listen to just one of them, to see if any of my criticisms of ABA and it's promotion were addressed, but I felt terribly guilty about crashing the conference so I went off to poke about in the shops for a while.
Later Gordon and I went out for my birthday dinner. I had been especially grouchy; we were late to leave and I was starving. I am not at my best when I am hungry.
But after sitting down and downing a drop of red wine, I suddenly cheered the heck up and we had a most delicious meal. We declined dessert, but were provided with one anyway; three of the waiters brought out a toffee cheesecake embellished with a birthday candle while singing Happy Birthday. I can thank my waiter chum for that kind surprise, and for the massive reddener [blush] it generated.
We met Phil afterwards, a smart and talented man who's a fantastic photographer and as into literature as Gordon is. Over a few drinks we yapped about all sorts and tried to get my husband interested in twitter and blogging. It had been a lovely night.
4 comments:
Belated Birthday Greetings Sharon.
Low blood sugars make me very cross too.
Thanks Grannymar! Whenever you are able to come here for dinner I will make sure to avoid butter and cheese and to have some tasty nibbles ready straight away.
Oh I get well grouchy when hungry too!
It was lovely to meet you Sharon. The talk you bunked in on was a bit like ABA 101 so well timed. The advice I got then and from the other lecturer I switched to after the break has already come in handy, improving life along the way.
It is not a cure or a method of "recovery". Just a way to make life easier one small step at a time.
xx
Hope to see you in Dublin for a big plate of Ebi Katsu soon?
Hi Hammie. Yep I did think that talk was going over the basics. Most of what was said I had read already elsewhere. It did reinforce (gettit!) some of my objections to the therapy. It was quite like Supernanny type of parenting advice, how to get more of this behaviour and less of the other. I accept that for many (most?) it is not about recovery or cure, though I don't see why a 50% recovery rate is touted by so many so often.
I have a philosophy of parenting that I copied from a book- if it works and leaves both your and the child's dignity intact, then go for it. How you use the ABA tool works well for you and that's great. I do think that the history of ABA and the implication that it has a solid research base when it really doesn't damage the field. Like Michelle Dawson has said, when she critiques it, she is called anti-ABA. Scientists aren't supposed to react to criticism that way. I can't imagine physicists using such language when a colleague questions their work and ideas!
I'd love to meet for noodles and I promise not to harp on about all this. At least not too much!
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