Getting Settled

Per the advice/suggestion of a dear friend in Bend, I am blogging my experience in LA at the UCLA Achievement Behavior Cognition program (ABC) Oskar is attending for the next 4-6 weeks. For those of you I haven't talked with for a while, Oskar was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and PDD NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified) when he was 4. Most of us are familiar with ADHD but PDD NOS is less familiar unless you live in the Autism world, which used to be an exclusive group but with 1-91 children being diagnosed daily, were becoming extremely popular and not in a good way. PDD NOS is the diagnosis you receive when the medical staff doesn't quite want to call it autism but your child is displaying some to most of the characteristics of autism spectrum disorder. So, in layman's terms, he kind of looks like a duck, talks like a duck, but doesn't walk like a duck? Perhaps a platypus? PDD NOS; the platypus of autism...and that's a shout out for all you OSU/U of O fans. A little Central Oregon humor.

We set off on our journey this past Friday driving down to LA over 3 days. I'm glad we broke the trip into chunks since Oskar asked if we were 'in California yet?' followed-up with 'I wanna go the hotel!' as we rolled into La Pine. That's about an hour from our house. These were popular questions for the next 3-hours repeated every 10-15 minutes. Throw in an occasional 'are we there yet?' and you have now experienced our general conversation for the duration of the car ride. Good times.

First stop was in Redding, clearly the strip mall/franchise haven of northern CA. All of our pre-packaged, pre-measured, and predicatable dreams were met through dinner at Applebees and a night's stay at the Baymont Inn. For kids on the spectrum, predictable is good so, I'm not complaining. On the way home, however, I am planning to stay in Weed, CA instead so I can pick up an 'I heart Weed' t-shirt. Clever Californians.

Between towns we did the standard pit stops and if there was a Subway nearby it was utilized. Once again, consistency is king. Made a few emergency bathroom stops just off an exit which made getting back on the freeway and exciting game of cat and mouse. On-ramps are short and so is the patience of the CA drivers.

The next day brought us to Santa Nella about another 4-hrs south. Definitely a truck-stop town. The highlight was the outdoor pool with a ginormous frog in it. VERY exciting for all, especially the two boys trying to fish it out with the pool net as they were equally thrilled by and afraid of catching the slimy critter. One of the boys informed me the frog would give us salmonella if he didn't get it out. Very brave of him. After many attempts, they were successful and proceeded to dump the frog into the garbage (huh?) to which the clever amphibian hopped out and escaped down the courtyard. I think it heard him croak 'suck it!' as he bounced away. We also enjoyed dinner at the self proclaimed 'world famous' Pea Soup Anderson's where Oskar ate neon orange mac n' cheese (homemade!) and I had an old skool chef salad. We opted not to try the pea soup but did buy some wasabi peas in the gift store. Planned to take a photo on our way out but didn't want to lose any momentum.

Now we're fully on our way to LA which was a lot of open road. Speed limit is 55 - 70 but drivers definitely pushing the upper end of the speedometer at closer to 80 - 90 mph. Who needs the Autobahn when you have I-5? Fast is good but the conditions of the roads are not and it gets a little hairy around Grapevine. Tire carnage litters the shoulders and saw multiple drivers fixing flats a long the way. All I could think about was when the last time I visited Les Schwab and that a AAA card would be good right about now. Filing that for the ride home.

405 was actually a breeze, especially after the horror stories I was told and made it to the hotel after a few wrong turns. I've learned there's Santa Monica Blvd and there's Santa Monica Blvd. Get it? Yeah, me too. Our hotel is about 2-mi's from UCLA so Oskar and I have walked several times. It takes me about 30 mins and us about an hour. Lots of drains, parking meters, homeless people, and newspaper boxes to explore on either the route to or from the University hospital. Monday was the first day of admissions. Lots of paperwork and meeting with staff. So far, not quite what I expected as the main point of contact is an intern who will be finishing his round in 2 weeks. I am hopeful we will receive expert services and advice as opposed to providing a lab rat for observation. I am also hopeful the intern is at the top of his class? All questions I will be posing the first part of next week when we have our 2-hr staff/parent meeting.

My agenda today is to find better housing. We are staying in a motel that is reminiscent of my first apartment on Alki. It was on Beach Drive and I think WAS a converted motel. Back then, when I was 20, I thought it was awesome! Now, not so much. It's old and dirty but it has what we need and A/C. It's cheap and the managers are nice. They have taken a shine to Oskar and that's all one can ask for.

All for now....heading out to find an apartment. Hope to move by this weekend. Also hope to figure out how to post photos where I want them in the blog. Any suggestions?

Ta Ta from LA LA