Mall of America - Bloomington, Minnesota

We took a last-minute family mini-vacation to Minnesota. The main purpose of the trip was to see the Mall of America and its Nickelodeon theme park.

The flight from Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul is about 51 minutes, nice and short for my 4-year-old and 3-year-old, who are both autism spectrum on top of being preschoolers. My 4-year-old could have spent the whole day just at the airport. He loved watching the planes through the window and running up and down the lines of seats in empty gate areas.

We booked a one-bedroom suite at the Country Inn & Suites across the street from the mall. It wasn't that expensive ($95 with tax on hotels.com) and that bit of extra personal space made all the difference. The couch in the main room pulled out into a bed for the kids and they had their own TV in that main room. My husband and I had our own TV in the separate bedroom. There was a microwave and refrigerator in the space between the two rooms. We were close enough to look in on the kids and close enough for them to get us quickly if they needed us, yet the extra space kept us from getting on each other's nerves, as we normally do in a standard two-queen-bed room.

The staff at Country Inn & Suites were exceptional. We arrived a few hours prior to check-in time and asked the front desk clerk if we could leave our bags somewhere until check-in and he let us check into our room early. They have a complimentary breakfast buffet that was good with just enough variety. The exercise room is small, but I was able to get on an elliptical machine in the morning without waiting my turn.

Country Inn & Suites offers a complimentary shuttle to and from the airport, as well as to and from the Mall of America. I found the latter to be odd since the hotel is across the street from the Mall, but upon arriving, I saw how complicated it is to get to the main entrance, so the shuttle was handy. I believe in the summer months it would be fine to walk to the mall, but in January, I appreciated the shuttle. The mall shuttle leaves the hotel at the top of each hour. The airport shuttle needs to be scheduled in advance.

The mall is huge. The stores were pretty much all the stores you can go to in Chicago, except all in one spot. The one downside of the mall are the kiosk vendors. They are very aggressive and if you try to ignore them, they shout insults after you! I've encountered aggressive kiosk vendors at Orland Square Mall in Illinois, but this was ridiculous.

I would not recommend the Nickelodeon store. We forgot to bring a sippie for my 3-year-old and had to buy a cheap plastic one there for $10. I saw items in the store that I had previously seen at Walmart, Target and Kmart over the holidays for much cheaper. If you're looking for a collector's item that is only available at Mall of America, I would only recommend it then.

The Nickelodeon theme park was very cute. The whole way on the plane I kept telling my 4-year-old that we were bringing him to see Sponge Bob, Dora, Diego and the Backyardigans. He was incredulous when he saw this was true! I liked the fact that there is not a standard admission price for the whole day. Some of the rides are for bigger kids and some rides are not appropriate for kids with sensory issues. There's a vending machine where you can buy “points.” Each ride costs so many points. Another nice feature is that parents are not charged points if you go on the ride with your child.

On the lower level of the mall, there is an aquarium. With your admission, you get a bracelet that grants you access to the aquarium for the day. We went through twice, the kids loved it. There's a glass tunnel you go through where the sharks, turtles, etc. are above you, on either side of you, all around. The Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas has something similar. There's also an area where children can touch starfish and other creatures. My 3-year-old almost killed a starfish and my 4-year-old splashed water all over the place, but the staff were very nice and it was a good sensory experience for the kids.

That night, we ordered room service which is off the menu and delivered from the TGI Friday's in the building. Our meal came in 15 minutes and we fed 4 people for about $35, including tax and tip. The convenience and the kid-friendly menu were worth it. There's also an IHOP in the building with many meals under $5.

Our experience with Country Inn & Suites was so positive I became a Gold Points Plus member upon check-out and was able to get points for this particular stay.

All in all, Minnesota proved to be a good close-to-home family getaway. We'll be coming back!

Biting

Received a call from the acting principal of my 3-year-old's school today.  Todd bit a substitute teacher through her jeans and broke the skin because he wasn't getting what he wanted. About 2 weeks ago, the same thing happened where Todd bit his cousin because she was preventing him from doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.  He never bites myself, my husband or his brother aggressively, or at all, for that matter.

This is an unfortunate aspect of autism.  Sometimes autistic kids bite for a reaction, if they are overwhelmed, on sensory overload, or are unable to communicate another way. Todd is non-verbal.  It's often hard to tell if he understands what's being communicated to him.

When the principal called, he asked my husband "is something going on at home." I know that's a standard question for school administration to ask parents, but it implies the incident must be our fault.  I understand aggressive behavior is inappropriate and must be addressed.  I understand schools need to report significant incidents to parents.

I was called to meet with the IEP team.  It appears we're all on the same page and through behavioral analysis and occupational therapy, hopefully the aggressive behavior can be avoided in the future.

Easter Seals - an autism parent's best friend

Easter Seals has been a godsend of a resource for me ever since my older son's speech delay became apparent in 2007.

I initially contacted our local site and an evaluation was set up to take place in our home. Speech therapy, developmental therapy and occupational therapy were then arranged to take place in our home, at our convenience. They helped set up hearing and vision evaluations, as well as an appointment with a neurologist, who diagnosed him with PDD, or pervasive developmental disorder. (My family physician brother tells me this is a catch-all diagnosis when it's apparent that something is wrong, but the child doesn't exhibit enough symptoms of any one specific disorder to justify a diagnosis of autism, Asperger's, etc.)

When my younger son showed signs of speech delay at 18 months, I immediately called Easter Seals to have him evaluated. Our Easter Seals social worker arranged for him to be seen by one of the country's best pediatric neurologists at University of Illinois-Chicago, who diagnosed him with autism.

The therapies for both boys continued in our home until they each turned 3. Our therapists and Easter Seals advocate assisted with the transition to our local school district preschool.

We recently were informed by our school district (District 126 in Cook County, Illinois) that there is no self-contained special ed at the kindergarten level (my oldest is about to turn 5) and it was strongly suggested that both my boys attend a co-op in Midlothian, Illinois, effective as soon as possible. I was told I could see the school prior to my children attending. I was appalled at what I was shown. I was shown a kindergarten classroom with much lower-functioning children. (It was never explained to me why my preschooler would need to leave the special ed classroom in our neighborhood.) I understand my son has issues that need to be addressed, but where would the intellectual challenges be for his strengths? In tears, I called Easter Seals that day. Our social worker was more than happy to help me. She told me about several websites, most importantly one that shows the legal rights of special ed parents. A few weeks later I also heard from a parents' advocate from Easter Seals who gave me a wealth information over the phone, then sent me even more information through the mail.

I now have appointments in early March to look at some private schools that may be appropriate for my sons to attend. I requested a one-on-one aide for my 4-year-old for this semester and the special ed assistant director raved to me how much that is helping my son pay attention in class. (Side note: So why did it have to be my idea? It's sad it's all about the budget.) I also have the option to keep my 4-year-old at his current school once he becomes kindergarten age (5) with a one-on-one aide. I was never informed of these options until I got upset. Why does it have to come to that?

The most important bit of wisdom passed on to me from the parents' advocate at Easter Seals was this: It is the job of your doctor, therapists, social worker to look out for the best interests of your child. It's the school administration's job to look out for the best interests of their budget, so keep that in mind when suggestions are being made.

Aging out

My little guy turns 3 next week & will officially age out of the Early Intervention program. He's progressed so much recently, but verbally only still says "mama" and "baby." It was always difficult to come straight home from work & have the therapists waiting right when I get home. Now that it's over, I feel so vulnerable and like I'm facing this alone.

Podcasts

A list of podcasts I like, all available on ITunes:

A Quiet Mind
Autism Podcast
Autism Research Institute
Green 960 - Rachel Maddow
Irish & Celtic Music Podcast
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews
Meditation Oasis
NPR: All Songs Considered
NPR: Most E-Mailed Stories Podcast
NPR: Story of the Day Podcast
NPR: World Story of the Day Podcast
RTE - Morning Ireland
The Bugle - Audio Newspaper for a Visual World
The Onion Radio News

Lloyd's

Going to meet an old work friend I re-connected with through Facebook. We're having lunch at Lloyd's on Wacker. I remember last time I was there, the seafood was very fresh & well-priced, hard to come by in Chicago. That said, the last time I had lunch there my firm paid for the lunch. For a while, I was the welcome wagon for new employees & one of the perks of that was to take them out to lunch on their first day. In this economy, we haven't hired anyone new in quite a while.
A sad side note, I wore makeup today - I'm not sure my friend will recognize me in my usual daytime state as the last time we saw each other was before I had kids. :)

Berry Chill today!

If you don't know, Berry Chill is a frozen yogurt place. Today if you ask for the Obama Special, you will get a free frozen yogurt with blueberries, pomegranate & coconut free!

I have never tried Berry Chill before, but the free dessert I received today was absolutely delicious! The yogurt was tasty & the fruit was very fresh. I'll definitely be back!