Well, this month as John Motson would say has felt like a month of two halves for us , largely dominated by the weather. We started the new term resorting to the Wii for entertainment which only comes out in the Winter months in our house for several reasons , number one is that I would rather the kids were in the garden in the Summer but the real reason is that I cannot get over the fact that my disabled son can beat me hands down at Wii tennis , particularly as I paid to have lessons for two years . It may not come as such a surprise to my dear friends whom I had the lessons with but what annoys me more than anything is that he doesn’t even look at the TV half the time! If I could just remind you of some of the comments we have had from Occupational therapists over the years in their reports of Alexander, – "Alexander has visual perceptual difficulties which makes it very difficult to accurately place objects (ie raisins in an egg cup)", "Alexander’s pincer grip remains undeveloped", he has poor spacial awareness and has difficulties controlling his movement ". I could go on but the point is, if they had given him a Wii control instead of raisins he may have surprised them !!
Once back at school Alex’s teenage vanity has taken over again. Last term it was all about having two pockets on his school shirt ( please tell me anyone if you have ever found these ). I spent several evenings transferring pockets from one shirt to another so that he had two to fit his very specific requirements. My sewing skills held up for the first couple but after that I got carried away and thought I could manage it after a glass or two of Sauvignon and with half an eye on Desperate Housewives with what can only be described as disastrous results. This term so far it has been about hair gel (vastly over applied ), new glasses ( I caught him repeatedly throwing his old ones at the wall singing "glasses broken " to himself) and of course he still favours a coloured tie to match with T the driver’s tie of choice of a morning ! This trend took off with some others in his class last year, the boys must have looked as though they were auditioning for News at Ten .
Alex has a new teacher this year – his 3rd Mrs Smith of his academic career and I will not have a bad word spoken about them. We have not had a bad Mrs Smith yet and he is settling in well although it may bring a smile to those of you who read last month that Alex is studying Richard the Third this term. I was laughing to myself wondering what on earth he would be able to learn about this Monarch when I realised that I know nothing whatsoever myself ( I have tried several times to learn the Horrible Histories Kings and Queens song and still can’t remember it ! )
Apart from that, we have 2 new chickens , Lady Gaga and Snowie to keep Kelly , the last of the Charlies Angels company. Sadly, Sabrina recently passed away (the only way that Alex can understand this is that she was either "broken", or "finished"). I guess both are true really. We’ve also acquired an Ipad as you can now get a Makaton app which will be great.
So the second half of the month has been much more out doorsy and fun . I don’t know if it is just me but I have got the wrong date, for the wrong activity at the wrong location a few too many times this month and think that I may be overloading my tiny brain – how will I ever learn about Richard the Third when I have Guides, Netball, Basketball, Parents evenings, Dance , Cheerleading, Sailing, Oh and work to get right first !
