Smitten.

A late start to the morning for Boy Wonder meant that I could clean out the rabbits and chickens before he woke. This task was completed in pj bottoms, an old fleece belonging to Superman and his crocs. This wasn't a problem as I was in the back garden until a work colleague arrived to pick up some parcels on her way in. Well it gave her a giggle!

This morning we went to get some Halloween decorations and did a little food shopping. Not an ideal activity for Boy Wonder so we just got the basics. The shop was also quiet (until we arrived!) and Boy Wonder set to work on reinacting adverts connected to the products he could see and shouting across the shop every time he noticed a 50p off offer. There were quite a few! We then went to one of those pound shop places for Halloween decorations and bought a few ghosts, spiders and a 5 ft Frankenstein. We then went home to have lunch and decorate.

Boy Wonder's sessional worker came this afternoon to do some work with him on safe mobile phone use, safe lists, what to do if scenarios and being polite. She seemed impressed by his understanding  of the rules which was reassuring.

Later we went back to the pharmacy to collect Cat Girl's chocolate movicol and Boy Wonder's medication. Cat Girl's had to be reordered and Boy Wonder's script got lost and then was found so took longer than expected. We dashed home to get ready for the party that they were invited to at the Local pub for a girl at school.

The party was a disco and was very loud and very hot. Boy Wonder and his best friend went from irritated and frustrated to high and loud! Boy Wonder clearly wasn't coping too well and became angry over the smallest things. Although Cat Girl and the others seemed to enjoy the party, Boy Wonder  really struggled and once back in the car made it very clear that he said he didn't want to go!

Boy Wonder settled down and watched Nigjtmares of Nature. They were showing a Condor which they sarcastically described as beautiful. Boy Wonder said ' What, that's not beautiful, that's ugly. My girlfriend is beautiful. Nothing can compare to her beauty!' What a gorgeous sole he is and really dotes on this girl.

Boy Wonder chose to settle down on my lap tonight, something that he hasn't done for a while. After a fair bit of fidgeting and chatting he was soon asleep.

A typical half term kinda day

We had a steady morning. A very high and giddy Boy Wonder made for a pleasant change to the low mood and aggression. I  packed the morning full of activity to keep him on a level which seemed to work well. He made a cake, made a pie for Super Man's tea and some flap jack. Cat Girl and I made syrup surprises and choc chip muffins.

At lunch time we had a meeting with the resource worker to complete a referral for sibling positive play sessions at home. The idea being not only to provide evidence of how Boy Wonder's anxiety impacts at home but to give Cat Girl some coping strategies when it all gets a bit much. I really think that this could work so looking forward to seeing it in action. The assessment will then feed into the next review.  During the meeting Boy Wonder became very stressed as I was no longer keeping him occupied and shouted, slammed doors and became quite demanding. He settled after a while and we continued. He then went to watch TV and became very excited about the next space mission to Mars! He is up and down like a yo-yo!!

After lunch we took Cat Girl to her Doctors appointment where she was referred to the hospital for tests due to ongoing stomach cramps and constipation. She was also prescribed chocolate movicol, sounds lovely! Lets hope it offers some relief. We then went over to the pharmacy to get the new medication that is now on order ( obviously not much call for it!) and to pick up Boy Wonder 's altered medication which wasn't ready. Oh well back tomorrow!

Boy Wonder then went to Art Therapy and finished off his Halloween bat which is pretty remarkable. I will post a picture later on the Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Autism-The-Life-of-a-Superhero/559661697404852

Cat Girl went off to Jiu Jitsu and I handed over parental responsibility to Super Man in the car park so that I could dash off to work to do payroll.

Boy Wonder rang me a little later into the evening asking when I would be home? I explained that I couldn't give an exact time but I would be as quick as possible. I arrived home at 11.30pm and he was sat up in bed waiting for me! It's like having a possessive husband sometimes!! I encouraged him to go to sleep and he then spent the next half an hour singing lullabies to dolphin. Beautiful !

Side Affects

Boy Wonder woke this morning at a reasonable hour and looked physically brighter. He was however, very full on and all over the place with his mood. Luckily we had a bit of time to get things together this morning before going to his new holiday club. It took an age to get him ready and then disaster struck!

Boy Wonder had run upstairs to get his new drink bottle that he had for his birthday and became distracted. I shouted him to come back downstairs so he came running and threw his bottle down the stairs and it cracked. There was a lot of crying and anger and demanding that I bought him a new one. I explained that what he did wasn't an accident so he would need to buy himself one. He became more upset saying that it wouldn't be the same. He cried a lot and then through tears said 'I am going to kill myself, I want to die.' I went over to him and hugged him and he cried for a long time. I then explained to him that his action broke the bottle so he needed to take responsibility. Boy Wonder responded by saying that if he bought another one, it wouldn't be a present anymore. I agreed with him that if he helped me do a job then I would buy one for him. He agreed and went and gave the rabbits food and water and collected the eggs. The emotion started to disperse through being distracted and we collected our stuff and went to his club.

On the way to the club I asked him how he was feeling and he replied by saying that he wasn't sure. I asked him if he really felt that he needed to kill himself and he said no, he was just very upset. When we got to the club I spoke to his 1:1 worker about this morning and asked her to keep an eye on him, more so because of his unsettled mood. She asked if there was a reason for low erratic mood and I explained that it was likely to be the after affects of the general anaesthetic from yesterday.

On picking Boy Wonder up later he seemed a lot bright and his worker reported that he had been very busy and 'hadn't shut up all day!' This is fairly typical for Boy Wonder but it wasn't until later that I realised how intense with it he had been.

We arrived home, ate tea quickly with the returning Cat Girl who had been with Grand parents and Super Man and went off to the theatre. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl 's cousin was in a production there and Boy Wonder was especially keen as he rarely gets to watch such performances as he is usually in them.

It was very busy when we arrived and BoyWonder reacted immediately to this by getting higher and higher! We went to sit down ready for the performance and he just couldn't sit still. As the performance started he kept trying to point out his cousin and wanted to know exactly where she was at each time. He sang loudly to the songs, danced in his seat and generally enjoyed it in his own way. The show was very long and went on for an hour and a half before the interval and then another hour and a half in the second half. We decided to leave in the interval and Boy Wonder seemed immensely relieved by this. We met their cousin at the stage door and congratulated her on her performance and walked back to the car together.

Boy Wonder struggled to settle tonight, up and down the stairs like a yo yo. He finally went to sleep about midnight.

The day of the MRI scan

The clocks went back in the early hours which gave us an extra hour in bed. I have never really seen the point to this before but today it really helped! Boy Wonder couldn't have anything to eat after 7.30am due to having a general anaesthetic for his MRI scan. At least this meant that it was really 8.30am when he had to have breakfast by which was more achievable.

He got up and had a shower and spent time checking his clothes to ensure that there was no metal bits on them. ( This was an instruction in the letter.) Boy Wonder then spoke to Dolphin about what was going to happen at the hospital. Dolphin was the nominated teddy for the trip.

Before leaving I washed and straightened Cat Girl's hair for her party this afternoon and instructed Super Man NOT to put her trainers on with her party dress  when getting her changed later. We then got our stuff together and left for the hospital.

In the car on the way Boy Wonder rang his best friend and told him where he was going. His friend must have asked him what the scan was for so he told him. ' it's to check where the autism is in my body.' Maybe one day Son, we are not quite that advanced yet! His best friend then told him that he was having his party at Spy Quest to which Boy Wonder shouted 'awesome !' Obviously very pleased. He then rang Super Gran and wished her a happy birthday in his best singing voice . When he came off the phone I asked her what she was doing for her birthday, he said 'shopping! Why ever would she want to do that?!'

As we travelled to the hospital Boy Wonder went a bit quiet. I asked him if he was alright and understood what would be happening? He thought about it and said ' I don't understand why they are putting me to sleep, I had a nap earlier.' I explained that he needed to be very still in the scanner so they put children to sleep to keep them still. 'Oh.' He said and that was that.

We arrived at the hospital and got checked in. Boy Wonder was more interested in playing with his DS and found the whole process quite inconvenient. Due to him being the oldest child on the list he was last. I explained to the anaesthetist that he may struggle with a three hour wait and he just said that it was okay as he would just give him a pre med! That's okay then! A little narked at his flippant tone but that was the only option.

Luckily Boy Wonder coped well. It was a quiet waiting area with lots of toys which he organised. He also played 'rescue' in the soft play area with his dolphin.  The smaller children all became quite restless as they were starving. This didn't seem to bother Boy Wonder, he didn't seem to feel hungry.

Finally he was called so we walked down to the X-ray suite and he lay on the bed. He was given a Where's Wally book to look at whilst they anaesthetised him. It was very quick and he turned off like a light.  It's very odd seeing Boy Wonder still and quiet, almost eery. I now had an hour or so to wait so went in search of food!! However it was Sunday service and both cafes were shut.  The best on offer was a vending machine with a blueberry muffin and a can of coke!

I went back to the recovery suite and waited and waited and waited. Finally he came back and was brought round. He looked awful and very disorientated. As he started to come round he complained of feeling dizzy and having a headache. He was given a drink and soon after, some toast. He struggled to get the toast into his mouth as he kept missing. After about 20 minutes they got him up to walk and he staggered around like a drunk but apparently that was good enough for him to go home. He had his cannula removed and obs taken and off we went. He looked dreadfully pale and was quite wobbly but I suppose this was to be expected to a point.

We got into the car and headed for home. Half way into the journey Boy Wonder was very sick, absolutely everything that he had just eaten and drank came up!  This seemed to go on forever and when I finally managed to stop at the side of the road he was absolutely covered. We continued home and got him cleaned up. He didn't look well at all but then started to get some colour back in his cheeks. He asked me when he would become a normal person again?  Is there any such thing?!

Throughout the evening Boy Wonder continued to improve and ate some tea. Hopefully he will sleep it off tonight.

Mixed Bag

This morning awoke a boy of mixed emotions, high and happy with an emotional undertone. We got ready and Superman took him to dance. They were going shopping afterwards for my birthday present so Cat Girl also went with them. She wanted to buy me some make up! Boy Wonder started to become preoccupied with age and asked lots of questions about how old I would be m, how old Daddy is etc.

Whilst they were out I tidied up and arranged the soft play activity for the afternoon. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl wanted to go to the new one at the football ground.  When they got back we had lunch and left for the soft play. The friends we were meeting were running late and Boy Wonder became quite anxious, pacing up and down, looking through the window.  At last they arrived so he and his friend went to play football on the mini soft play pitch.

Apart from the odd break for a drink and a snack, the boys played continuously a football. Boy Wonder was very unforgiving as he tackled everyone to get the ball. No wonder he gets 'man of the match' so often, he has no fear!

This evening we had visits from two sets of grandparents, the first being a birthday celebration, happy birthday Super Gran!! And the second a routine visit. Boy Wonder became noticeably subdued this evening. He wet himself on the sofa and cried a lot when he couldn't get his Laptop to work.

When all visitors had gone, he and Superman watchdog Atlantis. He really wasn't tired at all so we asked him to go to bed and try. At 11pm he was still wide awake. He read goodnight stories to his dolphin and tried to get to sleep.

Boy Wonder has an MRI scan tomorrow so needs to be up early for breakfast. Thank goodness the clocks go back tomorrow. Need that extra hour! 

Busy, crazy!!

The past couple of days have been manic in lots of ways, hence the need to role them into one blog. Boy Wonder has been very high in mood and all over the place. He has needed a lot of help to  the basics of washing and dressing, getting him to sit still long enough to eat and generally function. This has also spilled into school quite a bit where Boy Wonder has needed a fair bit of support to calm him down.

We were informed that due to a set of circumstances, Boy Wonder had been allowed to leave alone after school twice this week and picked up in the playground by a his friend's parents who brought back into school. This is usual practice for juniors to leave without parents but because of Boy Wonder's history of impulsive running into roads/ cars, it was agreed that he would stay with the teacher until collected. Quite worrying especially as he had been so high, however it has been looked into and sorted now.

Last night we had the school party tea / disco. This was Superman's first disco and of course Cat Girl's who dressed up as a cat! It was very loud, very busy and lots of fun. They both enjoyed it a lot, however it started to take its toll on Boy Wonder and he started to get upset and angry over the slightest things. Superman took them home at the end whilst I stayed behind to clear up. Boy Wonder   threw himself on the floor and started to shout. We got him to the door, opened it and he bolted. Superman went after him with Cat Girl in tow and got him into the car. By the time I arrived home he had settled and finally went to sleep at 11.30pm.

This morning we spoke about an incident that happened at the disco last night where he and a couple of other boys were told off for writing rude words on the drawing table cloth. Boy Wonder stated that he had started it. I asked him to explain. He stated that he had been saying 'bloody' because he was describing his vampire fangs that he was wearing as part of his costume. Another boy said that he was swearing and started to write down lots of swear words on the paper. I suggested that he told his teacher this when he got to school but he worried that he would forget so he wrote a letter instead. Boys!

The group that went high wiring for Boy Wonder's birthday took their certificates into assembly this morning and showed some photos of their day. Cat Girl decided that she needed the toilet half way through so I had to get the teacher's attention to take her.

Boy Wonder had a quiet evening and looks really tired. However he is still awake at the moment reading a Top Gear magazine. We now at least have half term to chill!

Wandering......

Despite another late night, Boy Wonder was up early this morning and jumping about like a bean. We fought to get ready for school, today Boy Wonder preferred to watch his tv instead!

We got to school and unloaded the bags. It had stopped raining so they ran around for ten minutes before the bell went.

On picking them up after school I found Boy Wonder with very sensible friend which was a bit odd, she later told me that he was in the play ground alone and so brought him back inside. Although juniors are aloud to leave school alone, we had agreed with the school that Boy Wonder wouldn't be aloud to leave due to his impulsivity and possible anxious state which had historically led to him running into traffic.

We arrived home and got ready for music theatre and Jiu Jitsu. They had a picnic in the car on the way. They both had good sessions and then we went back home to meet a new sessional worker for Boy Wonder. He is a mountain biker and supports Chesterfield FC so I think he will fit in well!

Boy Wonder watched Wolf Blood and then went up to bed about 10pm . He had remained high and giddy throughout the day which was also commented on by his teacher today too. Hopefully he will settle soon.

We don't 'do' autism

Once in bed, Boy Wonder actually slept in his high sleeper without accident or incident! It was a little difficult to get him up this morning though as its practically impossible to get to him !

Once up, he had a shower and got dressed. Pretty much the same as yesterday, Boy Wonder struggled to focus and stay on task. It was another rushed breakfast before leaving for school.

We had a meeting at school today with Autism Outreach. She spoke about getting the social skills group started and what particular areas did we think needed to be considered? Face expressions, tone of voice, volume of voice, literal interpretation and alternative meanings, jokes, gestures, sarcasm, friendship skills and so on. Yes, that just about covers it! We also spoke about occupational therapy or the lack of it as the referral was rejected due to Boy Wonder being autistic. They don't do autism! I spoke to the O.T services about how we would get Boy Wonder and assessment for his sensory difficulties and was told to ' google' it and go private. Nice! Finally we spoke about anxiety and how this presents in school. We agreed that it is becoming more obvious now and that Boy Wonder is using regular toilet trips to enable him to have time out to process information. His spontaneous sing and echoing is also more problematic than initially suggested. ( I think maybe it is wearing a bit thin although his teacher is very clear that he is not aware of what he is doing.)

After this meeting, I went home to de clutter Boy Wonder's bedroom. The aim was to get rid of  lots of bits- teddies, games, small bits. He never touched any of it , just collected!   It now looks a lot tidier and typically like a big boy room. ( a geek pad!)

The second meeting of the day was parents evening at school. First up was Cat Girl. Basically she is an absolute pleasure and can get anyone to do anything with her smile! She knows her own mind and is enjoying her school work, with excellent words and sounds skills. We spoke about the impact of Boy Wonder on her and the positive play sessions that she will soon have at home to help her with some of the stuff that she has to contend with. Her teacher said that although she is aware of how Boy Wonder's condition can affect Cat Girl, she felt that this had started to settle at present and that Cat Girl was enjoying school.

Next up was Boy Wonder's turn. In all honesty we speak a lot about his needs and problems in school but rarely focus on academics. We spoke about where his assessed level is at which is way above average. However there is a dip when it comes to creative writing, fictional reading and comprehension.   These areas are just not going to come easy which of course they wouldn't. His teacher spoke about different strategies that could be used for supporting with this need.

Boy Wonder went to Jiu Jitsu straight after. Cat Girl and I went home.  We read books, played sweetie bingo and chilled.

Boy Wonder and Cat Girl went to bed and watched TV. Boy Wonder played on his DS.

Talk, talk, talk

Monday morning blues this morning. I ended up nagging at Boy Wonder to get up and used football practice after school to coax him. He showered and I helped him to get dressed. By the time we got downstairs it was 8.15am!

We got to school and spoke to his teacher about his morning art therapy session which is usually in the afternoon. We also spoke about the madness of the weekend and how well the children had done in the high wire.

I received a message to say that football was cancelled so arranged for him to join after school club with Cat Girl instead. He probably won't be too happy about that.

I picked them up from the club and we went to swimming lessons. Boy Wonder shot me a look of anger and them proceeded to talk at me intensely about everything and anything. He was clearly not processing too well and was questioning everything that I said and did. They had a quick snack when we arrived at the leisure centre and then Boy Wonder asked to go into the pool before his lesson. ' please do!' I said, my ears could then have a rest!

Cat Girl went in for her lesson and Boy Wonder dispersed some energy in the pool. He spent 15 minutes in the shower before his lesson and then he went in. Lots of lengths completed today and butterfly stroke practised. He started to look quite tired towards the end. At the end of the lesson he got out and had a second lengthily shower before getting dressed and heading home.

When we arrived home,Super Man had built Boy Wonder's new loft bed. Although Boy Wonder has wanted this bed for ages, he looked at it, studied it and didn't seem overly sure about it. It does considerably change the look of his room so it is likely to take him a bit if time to get used to it. Lets just hope he can sleep in it without too many difficulties - I.e. falling out!!

Boy Wonder settled down and watched Robin Hood before going to bed.
 

Day of Rest.

Today has been a day of rest, well in comparison to yesterday anyway! Boy Wonder played with the boy next door this morning and then finished his water project. He decided on doing a power point on. ' Mammals of the Atlantic Ocean.' He seemed to be more interested in the actual power point set up than the content of the project and so required considerable support to get his information structured.

After lunch we went over to the sports store for Boy Wonder to buy a football net with his birthday money.  Super Man had explained to him the type of net that he needed ( an all weather, durable one with plastic tubing.) We arrived at the shop and Cat Girl immediately found a pink football that she had to have. Boy Wonder went straight off in search for his football net and I followed. However, rather than going to the obvious part of the store, he found a shop assistant and explained to him in intricate detail what he required. The shop assistant took him over the nets and showed him the one that he needed. Boy Wonder then went through all the other types of football net and detailed their inadequacies. The shop assistant looked at him, looked at me and smiled. We went off to find Super Man as Boy Wonder said that he needed him to check it out before buying it. ( or rather that he needed someone to carry it!) Super Man took it to the till and Boy Wonder got out his wallet and slowly counted out his money and waited for his change. On the way home, Boy Wonder used the confined space of the car to negotiate the immediate building of the football net as soon as we got home.

Cat Girl decided to do some writing when we arrived home and was asking Boy Wonder how to spell words like 'trousers.' Boy Wonder started going through the letters, giving examples  such as ' S  for scientific and E for estuary.' Cat Girl gave him a look and then asked me to tell her again. She has fabulous writing for a 4 year old.

Boy Wonder went out to play football with the boy next door once his net was built. It started to rain quite heavily so they came inside and played chess instead.  This evening he settled down in the lounge as he had started to become quite stressy. It seemed to comfort him and he was asleep by 9 pm .

Extreme Adrenalin !!

A busy, busy day starting with dance for Boy Wonder and a car valet for Super Man and Cat Girl. I stayed behind to get ready for this afternoon.

I went to pick up some children for the party ( not just random children, the invited ones!) and we set off for Aerial Extreme.

 Now we are used to a mixture of emotions in this house, usually following each other in quick succession, but I wasn't prepared for this! The kids were all fantastic. They laughed, they cried and pulled together to get each other through. It was fabulous. The adults stood underneath shouting encouragement and taking photos. The kids gave it their all and then some. I would be lieing though if I said Boy Wonder was in the thick of it encouraging his friends, he was off in front! He didn't really grasp the emotions from some of the others and probably didn't even realise that he was off the ground most of the time! However he did start to cry when one of the other boys was crying which we found a bit odd ( not like Boy Wonder.) He said later on that this boy had ' freaked him out.'  They all got certificates at the end which were well deserved. We then went to MacDonalds for tea.

One of Boy Wonder's friends, mum made him a cake. She offered to do this last night and how she produced something so fabulous in the space of a few hours was incredible. It was a Chesterfield F.C cake and cupcakes and Boy Wonder loved it.  We asked the staff if we could light the candles which they agreed as long as they were blown out quickly, due to the very sensitive fire alarm. ( they said that Jesse J was at the arena tonight so couldn't afford an evacuation. No pressure then!) and then it all went a bit  wrong! This wonderful cake had a sparkly candle on it. I decided that it was best not to light it but was then persuaded by Super Man and a very sensible friend that it would be fine. I lit it and WOW! It was a mini firework not a candle at all! I shouted at Boy Wonder to blow it out and it got bigger! Boy Wonder's Uncle came rushing in, grabbed the offending object and ran outside with it ! He looked like he was running with the Olympic torch. Super Man and very sensible friend were unable to help due to rolling around with laughter! How that fire alarm wasn't triggered I don't know. Meanwhile Uncle was still outside with a mini firework and had to resort in putting it out in his cup of tea.  After the excitement we cut the cake which was beautiful and handed out the party bags. We then headed off home with lots of very tired looking children, except for Boy Wonder who was very high!

This evening Boy Wonder played with his presents and then settled down to watch Atlantis. He seems to have enjoyed his day!

Happy Birthday Boy Wonder!

The sleep is becoming less and less, Boy Wonder is getting higher and higher and the parents are exhausted!! We are used to sleep deprivation as Boy Wonder has never slept very well but this week he has taken it to a while new level!

We woke up a little late this morning after all the night time 'activity!' Boy Wonder opened his presents and got ready for school so that he had time to play. He hasn't got ready that quickly in a long time. It was a different story actually getting to school as he wanted to stay at home and play with his presents.

I stayed for some of the assembly this morning as they do the birthdays first. Boy Wonder got up and what isvusually a simple procedure turned into a very long, drawn out and painfully embarrassing process. The head teacher asked him what he had for his birthday? Boy Wonder reeled off a lengthily list. As he got to the end he said ' I have also had a very, very, very expensive car. ' I started to cringe, he continued. ' it's a very expensive Bugati Veron SS model. It's very, very expensive!' At this point the parent audience start to look at me. The ones that know Boy Wonder and his quirks just smile knowingly. The less familiar audience are clearly thinking ' spoilt brat!'  We sing happy birthday and clap and then I sneak out to go to work.

Super Man picked them up from after school club and I met them at home just in time for family coming over for birthday cake. It was a lively evening with six children running around playing dress up. Boy Wonder became higher and higher, throwing himself at his uncle whilst play fighting, narrowly missing the wall with his head. As people started to leave he ran outside and climbed onto the picnic table, jumping and dancing about. I got him down as  he didn't seem safe and took him inside. He took a while to calm but when the visitors had all gone he started to settle.  He is now playing FIFA on his new D.S

Another Long Night.....

Boy Wonder slept well last night and had to be woken this morning. It was like releasing a coiled spring as once awake he was bouncing off of the walls! I battled with him to get showered and dressed and downstairs. We had breakfast and went to school.

Boy Wonder bounced through the school gates and ran into his classroom. He stopped suddenly as he saw that it wasn't his usual teacher but a supply teacher. His eyes filled with tears and he walked away. The teaching assistant noticed his reaction and asked me if he was okay? I explained that he was unaware that he would be having a supply teacher this morning and he is usually prewarned. She offered to speak to him and explain when he came back in and I went to find where he went to.

I found him in the hall and explained that his teacher had forgotten to tell him but the T .A was going to talk to him about it during his morning 1:1 time. Boy Wonder seemed okay ( ish) with this.

Super Man went to the Harvest Festival at school this afternoon. He said that Cat Girl's class song was lovely and that Boy Wonder did really well reading out a poem. After school Super Man took him to dance and then I met them at home for tea.

This evening Boy Wonder insisted on settling down early so that he could wake up at 6am for his birthday. However at 11pm he was still wide awake , jumping around his room! I have joined him in his room now in an attempt to get him to sleep ! Another long night .....

Sleep at Last !

Tired? Yes. Fell to sleep before midnight? No. Boy Wonder is starting to look a little tired! I woke him up this morning to get ready for school and was meet with  'raarrgghh!' Type noises.

I spoke with his teacher this morning about his general low mood (again) as we are becoming quite concerned about it. She said that he seemed happy in class but would observe for changes.

I was a little late picking them up today as it was raining heavily so everyone brought their cars to pick up the children and there was nowhere to park. When I got into school, Boy Wonder and Cat Girl were sat waiting with the teachers. Boy Wonder was about to rant at me so I filled his hands with harvest festival donations and sent him off to the hall.

We got into the car and he started getting worked up. It wasn't clear why but it was obvious that he wasn't happy. We arrived home to have tea and get changed for drama. Boy Wonder watched the Iplayer whilst having tea and then got changed and we went to drama.

He was very shouty in the car about his phone and not being able to send messages or FaceTime. I explained that we would try and sort it soon but he wasn't happy and started to cry. He is very emotional this week and every thing seems to be a crisis.

Super Man picked him up from drama and said that he seemed excitable in the car and had been told off at school for being too excitable about his birthday. His home school diary stated that he was very lively and giddy throughout the day and needed several reminders.

This evening Boy Wonder watched Horrible Histories and fell up sleep at 9pm! Wonderful, sleep at last!

Birthday Worries.

Last night was a late, late one. Boy Wonder became more and more stressed and seemed very low. I asked him if he wanted to talk and persevered for quite some time. He eventually told me that he was worried about his birthday and nobody getting him any presents, not being able to sit next to everyone at his birthday party as he only has two sides and various other things birthday related. It's amazing how anxious he has become over his birthday. A regular kid would just be excited  :-(.

This morning. Boy Wonder woke up in a negative frame of mind. He protested that he hated school for quite some time. He then started to calm down as he went in the shower. We got ready for school and headed off. I spoke with his teacher about his frame of mind and asked her to keep an eye on him.  Boy Wonder also asked me to speak to her about his reading level and to move up as he had read all of the books at his current level. A good enough reason as any I suppose!

After school, Boy Wonder went to science club and Cat Girl was meant to go to cooking club. At 3.30 I got a phone call from school to ask me what I wanted them to do with her as she had flatly refused to attend the club. Stroppy little madam! I suggested that they take her to the after school club and I would collect her from there. Cat Girl was happy with this as she was wanting to be there all along!

I picked them both up and got in the car to take Boy Wonder to his piano lesson. He appeared very stressed and started shouting at Cat Girl who was saying silly stories about her kitten. I asked him to settle down to which he said that she was lying and it had to stop. I persuaded Cat Girl to look at her Where's Wally book and Told Boy Wonder that his behaviour was not acceptable. He became upset and started hitting the seat.  When we got to piano he went off for his lesson and returned in a calmer mood. His tutor reported that he had done well and that things were really starting to 'click.' He had shown Boy Wonder the inside of the piano and how it worked. Boy Wonder then immediately  picked up note length , something that the tutor had been attempting to teach for weeks!

This evening the boys watched football , Cat Girl went to bed to watch her programmes and I did some work.  Boy Wonder got very carried away with the match and shouted at the TV for the full 90 minutes! When England scored he wrote the score in massive letters on both of his arms and ran around the house chanting. That will be extra time in the shower tomorrow! After the match we coaxed him to bed to attempt to settle down. He looks so tired so hopefully he will nod off soon.

It's Precipitating!!

Boy Wonder stayed up until late rebuilding his police helicopter and although was getting quite stressed with it, persevered and completed the build. He then went up to bed and started playing on Mine Craft. It was late when he finally  got to sleep. 

This morning he was up fairly early and back on Mine Craft. It took some time to get him into the shower and ready for school.  Once downstairs Boy Wonder started to get quite high and silly. It was raining heavily outside and he seemed very taken by this, repeating over that it was precipitating! 

Boy Wonder had his second art therapy session today and came home with his clay cat that he made last week. Although school reported that he seemed okay when he returned, he was very quiet this evening and wouldn't talk about he session at all. We returned home after football and he played outside until it was time to go swimming.

Super Man took Boy Wonder and Cat Girl swimming whilst I went to the supermarket to get wrapping paper, birthday cake and other bits and bobs for the birthday boy. Feeling a little more organised now!

I met them from swimming and after Boy Wonder 's lengthily shower we headed home for tea. 

This evening Boy Wonder settled in dining room, playing on his iPhone, not wanting to go upstairs alone. He appeared quite stressy still and not interacting with us at all really . Hopefully he will be a bit more settled in the morning. 

A Literal Kind of Day!

We attempted to have a nice relaxing Sunday morning doing some baking, playing and odd jobs. We had planned to go to a soft play centre with friends this afternoon to disperse some energy so a nice easy start to the day was looking good.

Cat Girl started to play with her Sylvanian Family, Boy Wonder wanted to join in but struggled somewhat with her story line. I was baking so ended up becoming the 'story teller' to enable him to join in. Like a typical 4 year old, Cat Girl kept altering the story to include some random act. Boy Wonder didn't like this and on several occasions attempted to escape the 'game.' I kept reasoning everything through with him until Cat Girl insisted on having an extra character in the car to go on holiday but there wasn't enough seats. Boy Wonder couldn't accept this but the more resistant he became the more determined she became which resulted in her shouting ' I will walk with him on holiday then!' Absolutely not was the gist of the response! Boy Wonder had lasted a full 15 minutes but enough was enough!  He went into the other room and watched 'Horrible Histories.'

I continued with the bread cobs and quiche and then called Boy Wonder and Cat Girl in to bake their cakes. Boy Wonder made chocolate orange muffins with 'Halloween' icing. He made these all by himself. He has been able to make cake mix on his own for quite a while now and add in various flavours. Cat Girl needed a bit of help still but enjoyed making buns with pink fairy dust icing. Apparently they make you fly! Boy Wonder wasn't convinced!

After baking we had home made cobs for lunch and then went off to soft play. Even though it was raining it wasn't too busy. They all played well and it went very quickly. We were going to the Grand Parents for dinner so left just after 4pm, picked up a fresh cream cake that we had baked earlier and a bottle of homemade blackberry wine and made our way to their house.

We had a lovely evening and ate a lot of very nice food and the wine was excellent. Boy Wonder seemed quiet yet tetchy and after dinner spent the following hour in the shoe cupboard reading a joke book. He asked that we knock on the shoe cupboard door to be told a joke. This went on for quite a while but it was blatantly obvious that he really didn't understand the jokes at all. Super Gran asked him if he wanted to borrow the book? ' No ' he said.

We arrived home about  7.30pm and Boy Wonder set about rebuilding some Lego. He was clearly tired and probably not in the best frame of mind for this but he was determined and so he ploughed on regardless! As it got to 9pm I coaxed him to bed in attempt to get him to settle down.

A day of building!

Up bright and early this morning after a reasonably early night. Boy Wonder was very proud of himself for getting up early, we didn't share his joy!

Boy Wonder went off to dance in an excited mood. He was going out with his worker after to watch One  Direction at the cinema. This meant that Cat Girl and I could go off to do a bit of girlie shopping. Firstly we went to get her some wellies, winter coat, hat and gloves, all in pink! We then went over to the Dolls House shop. This place was wonderful, Cat Girl was in her element and particularly liked the junior houses that were brightly painted with chunky furniture. She bought a treasure chest, a pink Christmas stocking, some food and a Christmas pudding. A bit of a random selection.

Later we went shopping to buy Boy Wonder a new bed and some storage units. Boy Wonder was still out at the cinema and Cat Girl opted to stay with Grandparents so it was just Super Man and I. The bed that was meant to be coming back into stock last Thursday was now out of stock until the end of November! We bought a couple of storage units instead and due to a power cut at the shop it took ages to get out and even longer to get out of the car park!

Back at home we got to work on building units, setting up Cat Girl's Sylvanian Family and rebuilding  Boy Wonder's Lego. Boy Wonder returned first, appeared quite stressed although he said that he had a good time. For about an hour he stomped about, slammed a few doors and shouted. He wouldn't / couldn't enlighten us as to what was the matter but did say that he felt a bit tired.

Cat Girl returned with the Grand Parents, we had tea and Boy Wonder spent an hour on the Wii singing musicals. He seemed quite a bit calmer after this. He helped to build some Lego before watching Atlantis and going to bed.

You Did Ask!

Boy Wonder was still up when we went to bed. He was playing a game on the lap top which consisted of putting coins on a plate out of a jar, very odd and repeatative.

Up and fairly organised this morning we went to school and I stayed for assembly. One of them was getting a star award today but I didn't know which one. Boy Wonder took his stage 5 swimming certificate in to show and Cat Girl took her 5 metre swimming certificate in also. Cat Girl was first up and explained about her 'froggy legs' that she needed to do and the swimming on her back.  When it was Boy Wonder's turn he too was asked what he had to do to achieve the award. He turned the certificate over and read the very long list of requirements and their descriptions. The teacher attempted to cut in and divert him but this was not to be and he carried on and on and on!!  It was Boy Wonder that also achieved the Star Award for - showing an excellent understanding of how to make different shaped nets for a cube. He then described this in great detail but I am none the wiser! Finally Cat Girl got chosen for the second time to sit on the Golden Table at dinner time. Between them they made up most of the assembly!

 Boy Wonder came home from school with homework to write a poem on his favourite things, not one that I'm looking forward to I have to say. The tasks that require lots of imagination and abstract thinking are not really his 'thing!' He was very tired looking this evening and quite stressy. He didn't want to go to bed but I managed to coax him there to watch football.  He started shouting 'England, England!' Loudly and repeatedly for most of the first half. However, when I went to check on him ( due to it going quiet) he was fast asleep ! (And its not even 10pm!)

Positive Play

Boy Wonder had his usual night / usual morning. He went to school with a 'bee in his bonnet' about Cat Girl insisting on playing with him at play time and him not wanting her to. I spoke to both teachers about this as I didn't want it to become an issue.

We had a TAC meeting today at the school which due to the lack of attendees was minuted as a interim meeting and the TAC was rearranged. However it was a good opportunity for Boy Wonder's sessional worker and teacher to have a good discussion about his presentation in he classroom, in particular the operatics and frequent toilet trips. We were also offered some Positive Play sessions at home for Boy Wonder and Cat Girl to help Boy Wonder to learn acceptable play skills. Cat Girl is also going to have some individual sessions to give her an outlet.

We arrived home after dance which went reasonably well with less stress than previous weeks. The Educational Psychologist's report greeted us when we arrived home. It was 6 pages of blatant disregard for Boy Wonder's needs. Come on Mr E.P it really isn't so difficult !!

This evening Boy Wonder played with the boy next door, they had tea and played 'dens.'  Boy Wonder was very tetchy this evening , lots of questions, up and down, difficult to settle. He does seem tired however so hopefully he will fall to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Roman Paint.

I think I must have fell to sleep first last night. Boy Wonder was up and down like a yo-yo, toilet, drink, biscuit, book .....

I woke him up this morning and put him in the shower. Once awake he was giddy and hyper, running around the upstairs with a towel shouting that he was a Roman!   The kittens had been very sick over night so it took some time to clean this up. Breakfast club wasn't looking very hopeful again!

We arrived at Breakfast Club at 8.30. All of ten minutes before school started. Quite possibly not worth it, especially as one man on my course did not arrive until 9.15! Oh well, last day today.

Grandad picked them up from school and took Boy Wonder to drama. Super Man picked him up after so it gave me chance to medicate the kittens and spend time with Cat Girl, reading and playing word games.

When Boy Wonder returned home he was still really high and giddy.  He played with the boy next door loudly and full on. He then went up to his room and on seeing a paint brush decided he wanted to paint.  He hasn't any paint in his room ( for obvious reasons!) so decided to make it like the Romans do ! Basically this is dust mixed with blood.  I advised that maybe he should use coloured chalk instead mixed with water? He tried this but it wasn't successful so moved on to making invisible ink. He stated that he couldn't reveal how he did this as it was top secret.

Most kids would be asleep by now, Boy Wonder is inventing!

This is the link to our Facebook page :-)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Autism-The-Life-of-a-Superhero/559661697404852

Mini Designer.

It would appear that we have a mini designer in our midst. Like Father like Son! Boy Wonder came downstairs last night with a drawing of his bedroom done on his laptop. We were very impressed to say the least.  Unfortunately this resulted in a late night but nothing new there. 

The morning routine was a little different as I had a two day first aid refresher to attend. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl were booked into breakfast club. This meant that we had to get up earlier and get out of the house 20 minutes earlier. Doesn't sound too difficult but in this house, a near impossible task! 

We got to breakfast club at 8.30am which was ten minutes before school started, however I managed to get to the course just on time.  The instructor was a first aid veteran, full of stories and a bit of a rambler.  I made the mistake of telling that I am a trainer as part of my role so he scrutinised everything I did! He also has an autistic grandson - you can sort of guess how the day went! 

I picked Boy Wonder and Cat Girl up from school. Cat Girl seemed to have a good day ( no accidents ) and she made pizza which she enjoyed.  Boy Wonder seemed to have spent the day in the toilets and searching for his fleece.  His teacher said that he had been up and down most of the day and was quite preoccupied by losing his fleece. He had also head butted the railings somehow! 

We went to piano. The new seating arrangements in the car seemed to help tonight as Boy Wonder was quite stressy, banging the seats and holding his ears, rocking. He enjoyed piano and came home and played with the boy next door in the garden until it got dark. 

Boy Wonder was still quite unsettled when settling down, even the bake off didn't seem to do the trick tonight. He went upstairs and watched more Horrible Histories on Iplayer.     

Art Therapy Saviour!

A crazy start to the day, consisting of impossible to wake Boy Wonder, skittish and high once awake, calling for a long shower! When finally downstairs he went into panic mode regarding homework ( not due in for a week) and other 'stuff.'

We arrived at school in a frazzled state where Cat Girl decided to hang off of Boy Wonder and refuse to let go. He was becoming increasingly frustrated and she clearly wasn't bothered. I prised her off of him and we had a 'chat.'

Boy Wonder attended his first art therapy session today and seemed to really enjoy it. He said that he made a model of his kitten and a football flag with his team on it. They also talked a bit. He had gone back to school after the session for football club and consequently won ' Man of the Match'  for excellent defending.

When I picked him up, although excited about winning the trophy he was really quite calm. He was able to talk about bits of his day without any show of anxiety, He said that he really liked the art therapy man and had enjoyed himself. Even when we picked Cat Girl up, she was reported to have had three wet accidents, he never said a word.

We got home and they had tea. Boy Wonder put Horrible Histories on and Cat Girl had a paddy. She hit Boy Wonder and his kitten! I spoke with her about this being wrong and she immediately said sorry. Getting a little concerned about her hitting out. I think maybe she sees it as an okay thing to do

Swimming went well except for blocked drains in the showers that smelt a lot!! Boy Wonder was in his new group tonight and was very pleased as his friend was in the same group. ( a boy that was in his previous group that got moved up before him.) lots more swimming tonight, it wore me out just watching him!

This evening Boy Wonder watched more Horrible Histories whilst having supper. He then went up to bed and decided to draw out his new bedroom design. This should be interesting!
   

Tickets Please!

A busy day today starting with digging up potatoes and carrots harvesting the corn. Boy Wonder insisted that he needed a combine harvester, even though there was only eight plants! The ground was a bit soggy which made it hard work so after an hour or so Boy Wonder went inside for a shower. He then watched Horrible Histories until Cat Girl came home from her swimming lesson.

We had a bit of lunch and then went out to a park with friends. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl took their scooters as did the friends we met up with. The park was very busy and Boy Wonder flitted from activity to activity. He and his friend went on the skate park and played with the bigger kids on the ramps. It was more luck than judgement that he stayed upright and without injury but he seemed to have a good time.

For tea we went to a pizza place. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and hungry.  The restaurant was very echoey and this appeared to work Boy Wonder up. He became very fidgety and was up and down like a yo yo!  It was a good evening however and Boy Wonder seemed to enjoy it more than be hindered by it.

We arrived home and watched Spider-Man before bedtime. Boy Wonder decided to make it a more formal cinema night with tickets and allocated seating, not forgetting the popcorn! It was all very proper !

It was late after the film so Boy Wonder went up to bed for half an hour on Mine Craft before going to sleep .

Rocking Chair = Granny?

It was past midnight before Boy Wonder finally fell to sleep, however he was up again by 7.30! He was very high and demanding but played reasonably well. We spoke to Boy Wonder, asking him how he thinks he can calm himself down when he is anxious, giving him examples of the previous week. He said that he would do press ups and sit ups as this helped him because it was heavy on his arms. He then demonstrated this! I think he has a point and we agreed that this could be part of the morning routine, however is too controlled to use in near meltdown.

We talked about getting a rocking chair and showed Boy Wonder some pictures. Initially he wasn't keen and said that they were for Grannies. We decided that the best way would be to show him some so made plans to go to Ikea after dance. 

After making a den at the bottom of the stairs, boy Wonder and Cat Girl got ready and had breakfast. Boy Wonder went to dance whilst Cat Girl and I went to get the car valeted. Although they did a lovely job, I think they must have used a full can of polish inside as everything was really slippy including the steering wheel!

We went home, had lunch and went to Ikea. Although we had a very definite idea of what we wanted we became distracted and ended up picking Boy Wonder a long awaited captain bed and furniture to go with it. Super Man got the measurements and details and is planning the design whilst we wait for the bed to come back into stock next week. We then went to try out the  rocking chairs and Boy Wonder gave the chosen one a vigorous rocking test.  The chair is also quite wide so will allow for the firm hold technique if needed. It looks like it will take a good  pounding as well so we are hopeful! 

Ikea was very busy and Boy Wonder was getting stressed, Cat Girl was also getting a bit restless. Super Man put them on the flat pack trolley and wheeled them through to the check out. Eventually we got out and after packing the car headed for a brief trip to the supermarket before going home. 

Super man built the rocking chair when we got home whilst Boy Wonder played on the Wii. We had dinner and he played with the boy next door for the rest of the evening.  He then settled down in his rocking chair and watched Atlantis.  A reasonably stress free day !!

Strategies.....

Lots of talking to people today about anxiety, impulsivity, impact on sibling and responsibilities. Always very interesting that as parents we work tirelessly to manage situations, safe guard our children and do the best we can, yet we are still expected to do more. And we will always do more, we will do whatever it takes. However  it all seems so heavily weighted against us at times and when the anxiety is born out of a source that you have no control over, it is often in vain.

To manage meltdowns when coming out of school we have been advised to collect the children separately, use staged intervention, I.e insist on calm before leaving school, reaffirm before getting in the car and again before driving off. Stop the car if anxiety starts to escalate and wait for calm and so on till we get home. We then isolate Boy Wonder and use a controlled method of anxiety reduction with him.

We completely understand the logic of these strategies and can understand how they could work if the child has any control of their emotions. Boy Wonder holds his anxiety in during the school day and then due to the build up he loses control so quickly at the end of the day. The staged technique may work on occasional days where his anxiety is not so high but how can it possibly work when a child is not in control of their emotions and is in meltdown?

We have agreed to try some elements of this. Where possible we will try the staged approach to leaving school, however we will not be waiting outside of the car until he is calm as he is highly likely to bolt and run into the road. We are going to alter the seating in the car to put more space between the children and we are going to develop a method to positively reduce anxiety in the home. ( a project for the weekend) . Watch this space!

So that was the bulk of the conversations today, except that the Psychiatrist has confirmed that she has spoken with the EducationalPsychologist and stated that in her opinion, Boy Wonder does need support in school to reduce his anxiety. She has said this numerous times in her reports but has now also rang him up to reiterate her opinion!  Oh and as we are hitting a brick wall with Occupational Therapy, Boy Wonder is being referred to a Hearing Consultant who specialises in hypersensitive hearing.

So things are happening on the medical side of things but as for the educational side, it is all looking a bit woeful.  We have a meeting next week that is likely to have a poor attendance due to the date and time not being distributed but nether the less we will attend and do our bit.

Today Boy Wonder has been very excited as he was going to his friend's house after school to have tea and watch a movie. He seemed to have a great time and wants to go again!!

He is still up watching the Iplayer, unable to settle and I am sat in bed writing the blog, eating chocolate trifle . Well it is nearly the weekend!  

Runaway Attempt!!

A late night at work meant that didn't get time to blog last night. Yesterday was slightly more settled in some ways. Boy Wonder was still being very intense with his questions and seemed generally on edge. His teacher said that his spontaneous singing and use of fiddles had increased somewhat too.

After school we went to dance. I was dreading this after yesterday but he walked in with less fuss. However he insisted in going in alone which is always worrying! I made the excuse that Cat Girl needed the loo ( as she had had another accident today) so had to go on but wouldn't go to his room with him .I loitered around know that he would try something and a minute later was back down the stairs insisting that  he needed the toilet with his teacher behind him. She saw me and went back to teaching as I said that I would bring him up after. This was easier said than done as be attempted to run! I finally coaxed him back to his class and waited down stairs with Cat Girl doing her spellings whilst he danced.

At the end of dance,although he had worked well, he wasn't happy.We had agreed to go to MacDonalds later for a treat so I nipped them off there and this seemed to divert him a little.

Once home I got 'the call' and needed to go into work. Super Man took over and got them ready for bed. Boy Wonder had a bath and ended up asleep by 9.30 which was good! 

Is that a Rhetorical Question?

It was a crazy morning this morning. It was raining a lot, I lost my door keys, broke the door handle and Boy Wonder interrogated me on the possible location of the keys and the dangers of leaving the door unlocked! I tried to explain that if I knew the location of the keys then they wouldn't be lost, this just confused him more and led to more questions. I did end up pleading with him to stop asking so many questions and explained that not everything I said required a response. He stopped, looked very thoughtful and said 'You mean that you are asking rhetorical questions?' ' exactly 'I said. ' Do you know what that means ?' 'Yes,' said Boy Wonder, ' It means asking questions that don't require an answer. Pointless really!'

We got to school looking like drowned rats. I briefly explained that Boy Wonder may not be too happy about me leaving the door unlocked to come to school but to reassure him as necessary that I will be going straight home to deal with it. And indeed I did. Our Wednesday angel was there when I got back so we managed to sort it quickly.

Whilst at work I received a call from school saying that Cat Girl had, had a little accident and needed some more clothes. It was an hour before the end of the day so Grandad helped me out by nipping over to school with some spare bits. When I got to school I spoke to her teacher about the accident and explained that Cat Girl tends to have accidents when Boy Wonder's anxiety levels are high, which they have been, especially this week. Cat Girl confirmed this later when were alone, saying that when Boy Wonder is sad and shouting at her, this made her unhappy. We had a chat about why he does this and she seemed happier afterwards. Bless her heart.

Boy Wonder was clearly tense when I picked him up from school. He didn't bring his home, school diary home so there was no clue as to why. He complained of tummy ache and kept hitting his hands on his head and covering his ears, saying that it was too noisy. He shouted and kicked and thrashed around in the car. I encouraged him to go to drama club but only to talk to them about him being too ill to stay. Throughout the journey he shouted and made loud growling noises at Cat Girl.

Once at drama, the staff helped immensely by talking to Boy Wonder and he agreed to stay as long as they rang me if he felt more unwell. He spent the first half an hour doing 'jobs' with the staff and then they slowly introduced him to the session. By the time that Cat Girl and I returned to drama, Boy Wonder seemed a little more settled but it was clear that it wouldn't take much to set him off again

We got into the car and he immediately started to shout and cry. Not clear why, I reassured him and drove home, attempting to distract him with Starlight Express. It's days like this that travelling in the car whilst Boy Wonder is at full throttle, is worrying.  There really is no option as most of the time we are travelling from school to home  or vice versa. Seriously considering putting the back seats up in the car to provide extra support .

This evening Boy Wonder sat quietly watching Horrible Histories and News-round and looked very tired. By 8.30pm he was asleep. I don't think I will be far behind him.!

Opera Anyone?!

This morning awoke a more settled Boy Wonder. He showered, dressed then used the new Aqua Fresh teeth cleaning app with Cat Girl to clean their teeth to. Hopefully the novelty will last a while as getting him to clean his teeth is really hard work!

We got to school and I spoke to the teacher about yesterday briefly and explained that although he was looking forward to the religious education themed day today that it may be worth being vigilant about him getting obsessive over the theme, especially because he has taken to reading the bible again at home. In particular the Moses story. Boy Wonder has a history of anxiety build up relating to   the bible and what he perceives to be death related themes.

I met with Boy Wonder's teacher after school to review his IEP. We spoke about the targets which are  emotional / social based rather than academic. We talked about Boy Wonder's anxiety levels and how this manifested through headaches and tummy aches. She also enlightened me into the fact that Boy Wonder has taken to spontaneous operatic style singing in the classroom as well as equally spontaneous echoing of phrases that she says. Of course I didn't laugh, just smiled!  We spoke about his work station maybe being a bit too big and intrusive now and that he should guide on whether he needs it it not. The teacher is also going to speak to him about making a smaller work station.  We agreed to try a star and a wish style home school diary which is basically ' what I did well and what I would have like to have changed.' This is likely to be a slow but sure tool but we agreed that we need Boy Wonder to start to try and tell us things and give him as many opportunities as we can to attempt this. 

Before we left his teacher explained to him about the star and a wish book and he volunteered that he had really enjoyed the R.E day and that he wished that they could do more about bible stories. We shared a glance and winced a little. Cat Girl had a little accident before we left school which Boy Wonder reacted to quite harshly. His teacher managed him well and saw how cutting and unjust he can be with Cat Girl over something quite simple and 'normal ' for a four year old. 

This evening Boy Wonder went to piano and did really well, however did seem fairly worked up, perhaps about the IEP meeting and the little Cat Girl accident. We went to a shop after where Boy Wonder wanted to buy a toy that his friend had. He knew the part of the name of it but that was it, making it impossible to find. He decided on a remote control helicopter instead which a customer in the shop advised on the best model as some are practically impossible to fly! Cat Girl bought a little doll and a cat set ( surprise surprise) and we came home.

Before bed Super Man and Boy Wonder played with the helicopter. Super Man enjoying it a bit too much, the big kid! It was a nice Father, Son moment and Boy Wonder felt pleased with himself for getting it to fly and move around. When it ran out of charge, he settled down to watch the bake off programme before bed.