Twenty-Ten

Ironically, after reading this article yesterday on the importance of imaginative play the Rs engaged in such play for hours while I stood by ready and waiting to begin our day. Every so often I’d try to break into their world to suggest activities such as getting dressed, eating, going out etc and while they’d both stop what they were doing to answer me almost as soon as they’d finished speaking the confines of reality would once again disolve around them taking me with it. They spent the morning in just their underwear playing Nanny and Grandads (one of their favourites), LazyTown, Doctors (which involved giving me playing cards aka money in exchange for cars aka medicine in order to make each other better). They also went to the fair and rode various things (like a laundry basket and a cot mattress) down the stairs. When I offered lunch they looked at me like I was completely mad. Eventually I had to drag them back into reality so that we could take ourselves to the post office where they had five pence each for sweets and melted the hearts of other customers as Ms R carefully helped Master R choose and count his sweets.

We fetched my Mum from work and went in for a chat. Mum did a far better job of explaining about people with severe learning disabilities in words that we could all understand. Ms R asked if she could meet some of them and my Mum said that if she could organise it then Ms R could talk to the ones who talk and Ms R said she would talk to the ones who couldn’t talk as well.

We left Master R with Mum to visit Nana and Ms R requested that her and I went for a bike ride. It was cold and a bit windy but Ms R still enjoys sitting on the back and surprisingly we manage to chat while I cycle. It’s good exercise for me. When we collected Master R he was happy to see us but didn’t think he’d done anything despite Mum telling us that they’d done loads.

They were both exhausted by bedtime and fell asleep almost instantly.

The Rs joined me in bed this morning and Ms R wanted me to read ‘The Snowman’ by Raymond Briggs, as it doesn’t have any words in it I suggested she ‘read’ it to me from the pictures, which she did. After she finished I thanked her and said it was nice to be read to instead of always being the reader so she said she’d read me another book, she came back a moment later with Peter and Jane 2a and read it to me fluently even putting on a cross voice when Pat the Dog was trying to get the fish. I was really surprised and other than asking after a couple of words she new them all. She was reading it fast enough that often the sentence would unravel without her realising she’d read a new word, then at the end of the page she’d go back and ask if that new word said what she thought it did.

Grandparents day.

Master R seriously needed a hair wash and de-matting, for a while I thought I might even have to cut a chunk of his hair off. In the bath he floated with my hands barely supporting him and when I gently lowered my hands he remained floating. He wanted to stay in and try on his own when I got out but lifted his legs up and his head went under.

Ms R wrote ‘Grandma and Great Grandad’ at the top of a piece of paper and then drew them underneath with lots of presents. She folded the paper in half and wrote ‘To Grandma and Great Grandad from [her name]’ and then placed it in an envelope and wrote on that too. It was all very neat and she’s started writing lower case ds now, it seems she’s moving to lower case letters one at a time. I’ve also noticed how straight her writing is getting despite never having written on lines, I suppose if you’ve never had lines to write on then you never learn to rely on them. I struggle to write straight without lined paper. It was very good writing and drawing and my grandparents were suitably impressed. Grandad commented that she was doing really well and that she’ll have a head start when she starts school. He and Master R played ball again loads.

We went to my parents house for lunch. Sometimes they’re hungry and we all have lunch, sometimes it doesn’t occur to them until the children ask. Master R completely and accurately relayed the whole floating story to my Mum and she said it was the first time that he’s told her a whole long story about something that has happened to him. Ms R played on the Thomas website while my Master R helped my Dad to unload the dishwasher for which Dad gave him twenty pence for. Ms R raced in and asked for some money too but was disappointed with twenty pence so he exchanged it ten two pences. Even though after a bit of counting and working out she realised that it was still the same amount she felt that she had done well. Master R also exchanged his for two pence pieces as well which meant for the rest of the day they were jingling and dropping money.

We dropped Mum off at work and as we were early and all the children were still at school we went in for ten minutes. The Rs had a quick play in the soft play room and then laid on the heated water bed admiring the twinkly lights in the sensory room. If you were a child with special needs and you had to live in an institution then that would be a very nice place to live. On the way home Ms R was asking why she couldn’t live there and I was trying to explain about children with severe learning disabilities but probably wasn’t doing a great job.

We visited a school friend after school hours for games of hide-and-seek and cups of coffee. Home ed wasn’t really mentioned but school was, it seems that where you buy uniform is an important factor and that even in Year 1 body image is a concern. The time flew by and our intended hour turned into two.

We can’t for the life of us think of what to get Master R for his birthday. Our garden isn’t big enough for outside toys, he has use of Ms Rs outgrown scooter and bike on the rare occasions that we go round to the garages and his room is full of toys which get very little use so Daddy and I have agreed to get him a kitten. It is something that he will hugely appreciate as he is mad about cats and it marks an important milestone in our family home life. It’s the first time in the five years that we’ve been back in England and been a family that we have felt settled enough to get a pet.

Oh we did so much today.

We visited the little (soon to be not anymore) post office to post a letter and buy penny sweets. As I was queueing to post the letter Ms R helped Master R with sweet counting, not sure why but she told him before he paid that he might have change and he did. It was lucky really because she overspent by a penny and when the lady told her Ms R just froze on the spot looking mortified. Thankfully Master R raced over with one of his pennies.

For some reason the conversation on the way to home ed group turned (once again) towards marriage and babies. Ms R really wants to marry one of her cousins because she doesn’t want to marry any of the boys that we know and she really really doesn’t want to marry a stranger. I explained that in mine and Daddys case we started out as friends and just got more and more friendly until we ended up married which seemed to reassure her. She then decided that there was a female friend she’d be happy to marry but wanted to know if she’d be able to have babies if she married a lady so I explained that she probably would be able to have babies but would require the help of a man. Master R then wanted to know if he married the said friends brother if he’d still be able to have babies. I explained to him (once again!) that he’d need a lady to grow his baby for him and he said that maybe Nanny would do it as she was good at growing things. I don’t know why or how we get into these conversations and I really try not to offer fuel for more questions when answering them. Whatever next?

The home ed group was good, we all played with playdoh for a bit and then went into the hall for a drama session. Both the Rs seemed quite into it but I needed the toilet and took the opportunity to make an important phonecall, Ms R couldn’t stay in without me. She wanted to do the drama but needed me to be in there with her. She knows the venue and the adults and the children yet still she couldn’t join in without me being there too. It’s perfectly inline with who she is and wasn’t unexpected although as she now appears so confident in so many areas I half thought she’d stay. Master R did stay for a while but when he noticed that we’d left he came to make sure he wasn’t missing out.

After the group we popped by to see my Dad, he was very welcoming and chatted to the children. Ms R found a scratch card and was looking at it with him and telling him how much he could have won if he’d got three of other things reading numbers like twenty pounds and seventy pounds and knowing that seventy was more than twenty which isn’t something we’ve done heaps of. She then settled down with a piece of paper and pen and wrote Mummy and her name underneath, then she told me how many letters her name had, how many mine had and how many they were different by. I’m guessing that seeing her do this sort of stuff is very reassuring for my Dad that she isn’t missing out educationally by not going to school and I just love that she does it in front of him. If there’s anyone in the world I want to impress then it’s my Dad.

We left Dad for the library to return most of many books. I try to set a one book rule but they always find another and another that they just have to have. We seem to be choosing quite well lately. Master R chose Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen which I absolutely fell in love with, it was so sweet that I was struggling to keep my voice steady as I read it and I’m not usually such a softy! Together we chose a childrens non-fiction book about foxes which we all enjoyed, it sort of backs up what we’re reading about in The Children of Cherry Tree Farm and will hopefully reassure Ms R that foxes don’t eat people. I picked a first experiences book about visiting the dentist in the hope that it will encourage Master R to open his mouth next time we go and he was very interested in that and there were a couple of other books which we haven’t read yet.