January/February 2026

Here's a link to photos and videos from January and February.

It has continued to be an unusually cold and snowy winter here in the northeast, and we have been staying inside a lot in January and February. Since we've been kind of dull because of that, I'm combining January and February this time. We had a period of about 3 weeks where there temperature didn't get above freezing, and several nights where it was below 0. One morning when it got down to -8, the cold water in our kitchen faucet didn't work, probably because of freezing in the plumbing somewhere below. Luckily the pipe didn't burst, but the next night I set up a heat lamp below by where the pipes are for what that's worth. Later in February there was this major blizzard that dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some parts of the northeast and almost 2 feet in New York City, but we lucked out here with only about 6 inches. Things finally warmed up a bit the last few days of February.

Rob: Outings. With all the cold weather, we've spent a lot of time at all the local libraries and  arcades and the other usual indoor places Alex likes go to. Alex and I  took a trip to a big mall in Danbury, CT that we haven't been to before. We did the arcade, the Chick Fil A, and the Kidz Zone place with all the slides and protective foam play areas. On the last day of February, temperatures got up to 50 and so we did the bridge walk at the Walkway Over the Hudson, where it was fun to see all the ice bergs floating beneath. Alex and Becky went bowling too, although Alex seems to be losing interest in that a bit.

Rob: This year we are exploring options for Alex's ABA therapy program. The school he's been going to for the past 6 years or so has been great. Unfortunately they are no longer able to accept our insurance this year. So rather than switch over to a Medicaid option to continue there, we decided to try some other options for therapy in the area this year. First among them is a place we've written about before where Becky happened to do some training at many years ago and was really impressed with. We are on a wait list there kind of - unfortunately they haven't been very good at communicating about their availability. In the meantime, Becky has been busy doing some paperwork to have a home therapy program through another local place and try that out. If these options don't work out, we can go back to the school where Alex was next year, or perhaps sooner since my work's health insurance will be changing later this year. Becky can say more about that below.

Rob: Job changes - I got a message one evening in January from my boss asking if we could chat. That was unusual and concerning, but it turned out to be mostly good news I think. I work for two professors who are married and share lab space and some projects, and they have decided to move their research enterprise from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas to Penn State. My boss was calling, very excited about this, but also wanting everyone's input before they accepted the offer. As the only remote employee in the group, this probably impacts me the least. But they will be taking on bigger roles there in the Penn State College of Medicine, so I am told that I might have an opportunity to expand my role there as well. That would be great, because the biggest struggle I have about my job is that is kind of a dead end, which is why I have been applying to other jobs occasionally in the past year or so that might offer better pay, new responsibilities, etc. (with no luck so far). This means I'll be within driving distance of the people I work with, which could be another bonus. So, eventually my boss did make that decision official and plans are in the works. More on that this summer.

Rob: Each year our stake does a Valentines dinner and dance in Poughkeepsie. We've gone a couple times before, and went again this year. A few other couples from our ward came too. Someone in the stake caters this nice dinner and they do some dancing with some instruction on line dancing, and there is child care in the nursery. It's a good time. We brought Alex, who eventually got tired of the nursery and came and joined us for dinner. He was so entertained by the dancing, he watched for a while, flaping his arms like he does when he's excited, then went out on the dance floor to run around with the people. I took some video of that.

Rob: We switched from Amazon Prime to Walmart Plus, which comes with Peacock TV just in time for the Superbowl and Olympics, which were both on Peacock. Since we have been inside a lot, we enjoyed watching those. Speaking of Olympics, one of the things that Alex has been into is watching Olympic diving. Somehow clips of that got on his YouTube kids, and he just loves watching the divers make a splash and the actions of synchronized swimmers. It's the funniest thing that he likes that. We'll have to take him to a local competition or something sometime. Anyway, time will tell if we can survive without Prime, but it seems most of the same things are available from Walmart. Walmart Plus is also cheaper, has other perks, and I'm really not a fan of Jeff Bezos these days.

Rob: I went to a training for volunteers to participate in the Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings project that the state runs. Basically, the volunteers scout out places near roads where frogs and salamanders would potentially cross for breeding in the early spring, and they go out with flashlights and identify the species crossing and count them and send the data to the state environmental department. I enjoyed hanging out with fellow nerds and look forward to doing my part to document the Spring amphibian migration. Speaking of amphibians, I wrote an article for Scenic Hudson about "herping" a couple months ago that was just published. You can read it here. My next article for them will be about some ice caves in the area, and for that I've spoken with a professor who studies these unusual crustaceans that live there. He invited to join him on a hike to go see these caves, and so I'm looking forward to that.

Rob: We've completed all the paperwork, etc. to be foster parents I think, so depending on the need for respite care that we said we could provide, we may have some opportunities to help with that in the near future.

Becky: Like Rob said, we're just staying in and staying warm.  The Valentines dinner/dance was pretty great.  I've also really enjoyed volunteer work with For the Many- it's a local grassroots organization that  works to get state and local laws passed that lower rent and utilities, keeps ICE out of NY, and reduces income inequality.  We also canvass for and endorse specific candidates like Pat Ryan.  The organizers of For the Many are impressive people (e.g. a DACA recipient who majored in political science and knows how to organize at the state and local levels).  I'll do an occasional protest, but prefer to do that in warmer weather. 

I've been spending some time on setting up a "single case agreement" (contract between Yellow Bus ABA and our insurance company) to get Alex's ABA services going at home.  Looks like I'll have to tell Yellow Bus to abandon work on that since Rob is about to switch insurance companies with his job change.  Hopefully, Yellow Bus ABA will not want to shoot me for having them set up a whole new SCA.  Hopefully by next month we'll have put a dent in the bureaucracy that goes with trying to get your kid with ASD set up with an ABA treatment program.  So nuts that a child with ASD's treatment program depends on his parent's insurance.  Yet another example of how screwy our country's healthcare system is.  But we're more fortunate that many and we'll make it happen!