The Welcome & The Stares

Like all parents, I love to get out for a few hours on my own. One of my favourite parts of going out is coming home again because I get the most incredible welcome. HRH gets very excited, shouting 'Mama Mama', pointing and jumping. I get a huge hug and then he runs up and down the room for a bit with excitement, still shouting 'Mama Mama'. The excitement generated on my return is directly proportional to the length of time I have been out of his sight.

Her Cuteness always gives me a big hug and also does the running and shouting 'Mama Mama'. After all, that is what her big brother does so why shouldn't she join in. Firstborn, at the very cool age of 8, mostly just says 'nnnggggh', but occasionally he will join in and my welcome turns into a great game with everyone running around squealing with excitement.

So you see, I have no doubt in my mind how much I am loved and appreciated by my children. Anyone who has ever witnessed 'The Welcome' has a big smile pasted on their face right now. The joy is infectious, trust me!

Yesterday we went out and had lunch. When Mr LS was cleaning the table HRH went with him to the bins. I must have been out of his sight for all of 30 seconds. When he saw me again he had a mini happiness tantrum, jumping towards me with the biggest smile on his face, shouting 'Mama Mama'. The people at the table beside us stopped eating mid-chew, mouths hanging open. Silence fell at their table and they just stared at him.

Now, I have to say, I wasn't upset by this at all. I was too busy enjoying the moment because I never tire of 'The Welcome'. They stared for a good while though, well after his happiness had settled down. I suppose it is just becoming more obvious that HRH has special needs and I wasn't aware of that. I am so used to him being him. He has turned three this month and behaviour that would have been perfectly acceptable in a younger child is now not so acceptable (to others) as he gets older.

I suppose I had better get used to the stares. How do you deal with them?


*photo credit google images

Blog Gems - Air Your Archives

Bloggers,

How many posts do you have languishing in your archives? Great posts that will never be dusted off and brought out to breathe again! Maybe you created fabulous content before you had lots of followers, or maybe you have been blogging for years and your current followers haven't seen your older material.

I have a plan.

Blog Gems - Air Your Archives is a forthnighly linky list where I will give a prompt and you select a post from your archives that fits the prompt. You do not have to create content for the prompt, unless you want to. All you have to do is copy and paste the url of the post into the linky list. Voila, an old post gets a second shot!

The prompt this week is 'A favourite post'. Pick any post that is one of your favourites.

To take part:

1. Follow my blog to get future Blog Gem posting information and linkys.

2. Grab the Blog Gem button and place it on your sidebar (html code here)

Putting the button on your blog is not a dealbreaker, some people just don't like doing it and I have no problem with that at all. What I will say is that something like this can't be successful without 'word of mouth' so I would appreciate if you could find another way to let people know that this is available and they are welcome to join in.

3. Enter your link.

4. Read and comment on the submissions of the two blogs preceeding you on the linky list. (I trust you!)

5. Help me spread the word by telling your blogging friends.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for me I am the one sitting in the corner sucking my thumb, worrying that this idea will bomb! However, if you have any suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Now, point us all in the direction of one of your favourite posts........

My *hectic* social life!

In case you didn't catch it, there is heavy sarcasm in the title. There are two social highlights in my week 1) the resetting of scores in Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook on Tuesdays and 2) the #fridaytwiz on Twitter on  Friday evenings. This is perfectly normal (I believe) for parents with very young children, even more so if you have a child/children with special needs. Most of the time it is just easier to stay at home rather than pack the entire house just go to a coffee shop and have your children run wild there when they would be perfectly happy at home!

HRH is now getting more ABA tuition hours though and I had decided I would make a concerted effort to 'get out' more. With this in mind I arranged to meet up with BlueSky and Jazzygal yesterday for coffee. All three of us have special needs children and it took us about three weeks to get a date that suited each of us. We all have appointments, therapies and meetings to work around. I think we did well to get it together so quickly!

I was bringing Her Cuteness with me, along with chocolate and the iPad to bribe her. I was so excited and the nearer I got to the shopping centre the more excited I became. I turned into the underground carpark and .........................and Her Cuteness puked, everywhere! And she kept puking. I pulled over as soon as I could and started the clean up process. I phoned Jazzy to explain and say that I had to go home. As it happened, Jazzy was in a clothes shop and bought a change of clothes for Her Cuteness so I got to stay after all.

This was my first attempt at a social gettogether in a very long time. I would have been so upset to have to go home again. Not only that, it would have made it harder for me to try again, I think. I can't say why, for sure. Maybe it is just that I have fallen into the trap we aren't supposed to fall into, the 'it is easier to stay at home' one. It is easier to stay at home, but it is more fun to get out and meet friends.

Thank you Jazzy for buying the clothes. Thank you BlueSky for your patience in waiting for us and thank you both for the meet up. I had a lovely time.

Did you ever find yourself falling in to the 'it is easier to stay at home' routine? How did you break out of it?


PS Her Cuteness is fine, she just overheated in the car.

*photo credit google images

My 'Number One Fan'

Imagine yourself sitting innocently at your computer, chatting with your friends and enjoying the benefits of your social networking sites. Your email inbox pings to let you know you have a new message. Then it pings again a short while later, another new message. Then another. The emails are like a fly in the room. The fly is annoying but never gets quite close enough to you to take a good swipe at it so you do your best to ignore it. This continues for a few days.

Cue suspense type music here please.............

A few days later, while you are enjoying the #fridaytwiz on Twitter, the fly morphs into a bluebottle, one the size of a dinner plate. The bluebottle keeps diving at you, getting more agressive each time. Everytime you turn around the bluebottle is there before you, on Facebook, on Twitter and your email. All of a sudden your fly swatter is no good and it is going to take an AK47 to bring the bast it down.

Imagine the kind of person that would do that to another person! Hmmm, maybe best not to.

Most of the online safety awareness information is aimed at children and their parents. But bullies aren't just children, they grow up to be bullies too.

What do you do?

You don't engage with the person, at all. DO. NOT.

Block them, you can block on Twitter and on Facebook. If you don't know how then ask somebody. If your friends don't know contact the site itself. DO. IT.

Set filters on your email addresses to automatically delete incoming emails from that email address. Google how it can be done for your email provider.

If you have suggestions please put them into a comment and I will copy and paste them into the post. A large number of internet users are not 'internet savvy' and someone is going to find the information helpful.

What tips to you have? Have you had a similar experience?


*Photo credit google images. Excuse the artistic licence taken with 'blue bottle' but the photos of an actual bluebottle fly were disgusting!!

Communication is so much more than words!

Today, when I handed HRH a milkshake, he said 'tada ada eesake' unprompted. I translated this as 'thank you for the milkshake' and I was so excited that I put it up on my Facebook page.

I have been paying serious attention to his babble for a long time now because I feel he is trying to say so much and it just isn't coming out clearly. I really want to encourage his communication skills and have been spending a lot of time 'chatting' with him.

There is a statistic that states 90% of communication is non-verbal and 2 hours after the milkshake incident he reminded me of this, of how I need to watch his whole body.

He held up one hand and said 'Mama' and held up his other hand and said 'Dada'. I named the body parts, but he kept on holding up one hand at a time and calling them Mama and Dada. After a few goes I joined in and said 'Mama' with one hand up and 'Dada' with the other hand up.

Then he put his hands together and said Mama and Dada again. He held them clasped together for a few seconds, smiling at me.

That was even more moving for me than his 'thank you for the milkshake' and a great reminder that there is so much more to communication.

Helping our children find a means to communicate, in any form, is what counts!



*photo credit google images

A picture speaks a thousand words!

I talked recently about reaching the first anniversary of HRH's diagnosis of autism and the amazing progress that HRH has made in the last year. It is still hard to fit it all in though, there is only so much one can write in a blog post. As it was his birthday yesterday (happy 3rd birthday HRH) I thought I would show you the difference:

His 2nd birthday, afraid of the cake and the activity around him. Look at his frown!

His 3rd birthday, a 33 second video clip. Watch out for the big smile halfway through as he enjoys his birthday present! Watch out for the great eye contact and the fact that he is sharing his enjoyment with his siblings and his Dad (behind the camera).




All I can say is 'WOW'.