Saturday 29 September 2012

BAM.... well, actually it would be more accurate to say SLAM.

So after the saga of FifIII and having Paul back to help with the morning. I was delighted to take the girls to school on Friday to end the Egg Traumas. Phoebe ran on ahead with FifIII whilst I got Clara out of the car and collecting all the various bags required for a day at school. All was going so well until I closed the back door.... alas my little finger was still in it.

Now I am not a wuss, I have had 2 children with minimum of pain relief and can cope with stubbing a toe without requiring copious amounts of swearing. But I screamed... loudly. Probably not helped by Clara's one and only comment on the situation of:

"You shouldn't have done that Mummy."

No shit sherlock.... I think that wins the prize for understatement! Anyway, naturally no bugger came to help me and so I got my finger out and cradling my hand Clara and I headed in through the gates. As we walked past the teacher outside I literally couldn't hold in the tears any longer and burst into floods on poor Ms H! They were awesome though, took over getting Clara to class for me and got me an ice pack for my hand (which was rather impressively swollen by this point!) then went to make sure the girls had settled ok for me. I managed to drive home one handed and took myself up to the walk in centre where the nurse looked at it, checked I could bend it and declared it Not Broken. Phew. Of course they had no plasters to dress the cuts for me so I staggered back home to dress it myself and gobble many many painkillers. Currently I have splinted it to my ring finger to help support it as it is still flipping painful!

The upside was that the mahoosive amount of pain I was (am still) in allowed me to let out all the emotions from the week. Poor Mum got to field a sobbing phone call from me. The fact that Phoebe's ASD has been confirmed really hit home and the sore finger was just the straw that broke the camel's back I guess. Whilst it is what I wanted, I think a part of me would have liked to have been proved wrong. Having to admit something isn't right with your child is a really really hard thing to do and having a Doctor confirm that something isn't right always comes as a shock.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to change anything and I am still relieved things have been confirmed. It is going to make Phoebe's life so much easier in the long run. But she is still my baby and always will be and I want life to be as fab as it can be and this is a hurdle she will have to manage all her life. People will try and judge her on her problems and I know that some people won't be able to see past the quirks to see the awesome child she really is!

Oh. And adding insult to (did I mention painful) injury Fifi has come home from the weekend.... hmph!

Thursday 27 September 2012

FifIII

After last nights squish-a-rama drama I confessed to Phoebe this morning. Well I say confessed... I mean of course I blamed the dog (ha, like you wouldn't?!). So after school Phoebe, Clara, Jasper and I walked down to the market and purchased 18 eggs. 1 new Fifi and 17 "just in case".

We got home and whilst the girls had tea I hardboiled and decorated (in exactly the same way as the last ones...) Fifi the third. Seal of approval was made and when it was bed time she was lovingly placed in her handbag bed whilst we read the last chapter of Treasure Island to Jasper. Jasper got bored and vanished half way through but we kept going and were relieved to find out that all ended well and Jim got home safe and sound.

Then we noticed.... No FifIII. She wasn't in her bed, she wasn't on the floor.... where could she be? Where was Jasper... he was very quiet and not nicknamed Klepto the wonderdog for nothing. A quick investigation of his bed revealed a, thankfully still intact, FifIII.

Thankfully Phoebe found this all very funny and FifIII was tucked back into her handbag bed and put in the drawer!

I am sure the Yr 2 teachers thought this would be a nice, easy, fun project and not one that would cause a large amount of stress to all the poor parents!

Wednesday 26 September 2012

More adventures of Fifi.

Today Fifi2 survived going to school. Then she had a nap and then she went swimming with Phoebe. Where she witnessed Clara swim at least 10M for the first time. Then she had a little ride home in my handbag and over the course of the evening going squished.

Shit.

I am out of eggs and the shops are now closed.

Double Shit.

I am a bad bad bad bad Mummy.

The Egg-citing adventures of Fifi.

I pick Phoebe & Clara up from school last night and Phoebe presents me with a letter and shows me an egg with a face on it:


Said egg is called Fifi. And Phoebe has to look after it and write a diary for a week. Hmmmm.

Last night it got caught in the rain and it's face washed off. We couldn't go home for emergency repairs alas as we had to go to Ballet much to Phoebe's distress. I told her that Fifi must have gotten car sick and that is why she was so pale (nothing like parenting to teach you to think on your feet!). Fifi then watches as Phoebe plays "adventures" with her two buddies R & J while Clara has her ballet lesson. When it is time for Phoebe to go to her lesson she takes Fifi with her and Miss Penny very kindly gives Fifi a bit of a make over. All well and good tra la la la la. Then... Oh My Gods... then Phoebe tells Clara she can carry Fifi out to the car. Hands up if you can guess what happened next:

SPLAT!

Thankfully Phoebe is skipping ahead with Jasper so I swear Clara to secrecy on pain of removal of all things pink from her universe and scoop up the remains of Fifi and stash her in the boot so she can be "safe" in my coat. We then swing by Fat Rons for their tea (oh shoot me, it's once a week and after at least 45 mins of dancing!). I ring Paul and ask him to hard boil me an egg whilst I run in and grab the food. The girls stay waiting with the dog and I then stash the food with Fifi in the boot.

When we get home the girls are allowed a Big Treat of eating in the living room and we shut ourselves, the dog, the broken egg I have secreted back into the house, the newly hard boiled egg and my entire art box. I then set about putting Fifi back together so I can copy Miss Penny's beautiful handiwork onto the new blank egg. I succeed with reasonable success and then when the new improved Fifi2 is bought up to bed Phoebe is none the wiser (and I am in need of a stiff drink!).

Fifi2 spent the night in a mock retro clip handbag lined with a flannel and a hankie as a sheet and went off to school with Phoebe today. Tonight we will be walking the dog, watching Willy Fog (the cartoon from the 80s) and then going to our swimming lesson with Fifi2. I don't want to think about having to make Fifi3. Mostly as I am on my own tonight and we are out of eggs....

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Breathing Out.

Oh I have been a naughty naughty blogger haven't I. Whoopsy! But in defence life got hectic FAST.

So let's see my last post was about getting a dog. Said dog is now sat in my living room aged 16 weeks and is currently chewing a dog on a lead toy that he probably shouldn't be chewing but at least it isn't a table leg! He is white and black, lots of fun and is called Jasper (or Klepto the Wonderdog depending on how much is missing):


He is also the most gorgeous dog in creation naturally and he loves ME best!

We started Puppy School last week and he is a total smarty pants swot who will do anything if there is cheese at the end of it. And I did a PAWS course in August this year so we could train him to help out with Phoebe when she gets whizzy.

On the subject of Phoebe getting whizzy. Today we had our initial assessment with CAMHS and they have concluded that she is, indeed, on the spectrum. Right now I am mostly relieved that we weren't seeing things or imagining things. The full weight of the implications will hit me in time I am sure but I am determined to keep looking at all this as a positive thing because it is going to be an invaluable tool for us and we are all going to benefit from it. Phoebe remains non the wiser about it and was mostly thrilled that she got to sit in a room with toys all to herself and she got chocolate. Until we have a formal diagnosis we are planning on keeping it that way.

I do have massive thanks to do for my friend Karen who shared a fab report on her lovely boy which helped me write a similar one on Phoebe and then checking it over for me to make sure it read well. To MyBecky for her lovely report on Phoebe as a Pre-Schooler, Miss B & Miss M for their report on Phoebe the school child and Miss Penny for her report on Phoebe at ballet. Without all of these things and their unfailing support of both Phoebe and myself I am not sure we would have been able to be so conclusive. And, without wishing this to sound like an Oscar speech but not wanting to miss anybody out. I also want to thank Jane and Mike for being fabulous trail blazers for us. Seeing how ace Lexi is and how you have worked his ASD into life has been hugely inspiring and given us confidence in seeking help for Phoebe. All of our parents for being their usual supportive loving selves and Emma for standing by us and letting me rant when I need to!

We have a long road ahead still but with the constant love, help and support I know things are going to be OK. And really you couldn't ask for more! We feel we can breathe out a bit now, we aren't holding our breaths waiting for now. What ever happens, what ever the diagnosis we will get there.