What Has Made Me Cheerful This Week

A busy week has meant that I am a little later than normal thinking about the positives of our week.  But of course that has meant there has been a multitude of items to choose from. 

 

Reasons to be Cheerful is this week being hosted by the wonderful Mama Owl as Mummy from the Heart is with ONE Mums in Ethiopia - so if your week needs shouting about join in the blog hop with her.

 

This week this is what has made me cheerful :

 

* I am amongst a multitude of pregnant ladies at the moment and this week one arrived safe and well.  Mummy, Daddy, Big Sister and Baby Girl J.A are all doing well and I can not wait to go Baby Girl clothes shopping (any opportunity when you live in a house of boys).

 

* J2 and I had a lovely trip to our local Zoo (Gold Cards were definitely worth it) with one of my oldest friends from school, his sister and her son for whom we were celebrating his second birthday.  Many laughs were had and the boys played so well together.  They were both asleep before we left the car park at the end of the day.

 

* We had a wonderful piece of post arrive saying that we can get a power pack for J1's wheelchair.  This will make a huge difference and make our sea front walks possible again and Zoo trips available even when it can only be mum and I that can go.  This opens up a lot of opportunities to get J1 out and about more.

 

* We attended a wonderful Harvest Festival service with J1's school.  A sure sign of Autumn.

 

* I submitted a piece of writing to a very positive response and have been asked for another.  I have also been asked to guest post for a parenting website, all very exciting.

 

* Potty training is continuing with J2 and this week has been more good days than bad.

Special Saturday : The Special Needs Part of Our Life

This weeks #Special Saturday theme is to just generally sum up what is going on in your own world this week.  This is a good time to think about this because it is the last week of J1's school year.  Just yesterday we went on a fantastic school trip to Colchester Zoo.

Colchester Zoo is very accessible for those with wheelchairs apart from a very few areas, which do have large, steep gradient hills to get up and down.  However because there was a lot of volunteers we managed to overcome these.  I would like to think about getting an annual pass for the Zoo next year, when J2 is three.  Therefore I think that we are going to have to have a meeting with our wheelchair clinic about the possibility of getting some sort of motorised help for the chair. 

This will also help with another problem we are now facing.  Although  we are extremely lucky to live by the sea, you can only access the lower sea promenade by significant hills.  I am no longer able to get J1 up and down these on my own.  To be honest even if both my mum and I push we struggle.  This is very frustrating for all concerned, especially with the Summer Holidays imminent.

I am very much hoping that we do not have obstacles put in our way when we make this request.  J1 has recently been weighed and measured (height) and he is on a par with an 11 year old.  J1 is actually eight.  Not being a particularly big person myself, it is hard to accept that I am unable to even take my son for a walk and ice cream along the sea wall by which we live.

As I mentioned, it is the end of the school year for J1.  It has been a very different year for him as he went into a new class.  We were worried about how he would cope.  However, after only a short few weeks he had settled in well.  The class has been good for J1 in a lot of ways.  It has really helped his character to build.  He is developing his own sense of humour and is no longer so timid of other mobile children his age.  Up to this point he would meltdown if another child his age even said 'Hello'.

J1 does require a vast quantity of physiotherapy everyday however and there has been a few issues regarding this throughout the year.  I think it is always something that I am going to have to keep a very close on eye and reiterate constantly to all those involved with his care.  J1 can not move his own limbs with any real control.  Thus we have to ensure that we do this for him.  Can you imagine being set in one position for any length of time.  Think about how many times you shift position on the sofa, or in the car or in bed.  Remember that discomfort you feel if you wake up after a long sleep and go to stretch your leg?  That is a constant threat for J1, moreso because of the metal plates he has in his hips.

Another challenge we are now starting for face as J1 is getting older is his awareness.  This is not a bad thing by any means, it means his comprehension abilities are developing which is fantastic.  But, the negative side to this is he is also becoming aware of all the things he can not do.  He no longer wants to walk to the park with his brother.  He doesn't want to go out in the garden when the other children play on the trampoline.  He doesn't want to sit and have a drink with mummy in the local indoor play area while all the other children run around screaming and having fun.  He doesn't want to sit and have an ice cream while everyone else goes on the rides at the pier.  Who can blame him?

Luckily we have found a brilliant centre, quite local, that has some sensory rooms that he can enjoy.  This is great for rainy days (and there are plenty of those at the moment).  But other little activities that up to last year we could just about do (a few rides on the pier, getting him in the small gap on the trampoline) are no longer a viable option.

Therefore, it's time to spend this week thinking outside of the box and doing some research for fun things we can do over the six weeks break.  We have got a 'wheelchair bike' demo in August, with the hope that we will be able to obtain one soon.  J1 keeps asking to go for a bike ride, and absolutely adored it when we hired one on our recent trip.  Hearing him giggle uncontrollably, like other children do in the park or on the rides or on the trampoline - priceless.

I am also looking into the possibility of getting a wheelchair swing for the garden.  He thoroughly enjoys the one at school and would love to be able to take him in the garden to join in, every single day that we possibly can.  He deserves that.

In summary a lot of development is happening in our Special Needs part of life.  We have lots of calls to make, research to do and options to look at as everyday our wonderful little boy 'Grows Up'.

Join in Special Saturday by linking up on Facebook, Tweeting using the #Special Saturday, writing posts / note / odes.  Anything you want to do to help raise awareness of living with Special Needs and how amazing, challenging and rewarding it is.

We're Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

As previously mentioned in past blogs J2 turned 2 this week.  Many people fear their child turning 2, but considering J2 has been having 'The Terrible Two's' syndrome since he was about 9 months old, for me it was no scary matter.

J2 looking not so scary...

Having secured the knowledge that The Hubby would be able to 'work away from the office' I set about thinking about a suitable birthday activity for J2 to indulge in.  As it was Thursday we would be dropping J1 to school and then would have about 5 hours to spoil J2 with some one to one time. 

I sometimes have a hard time separating myself from my J1 thinking, of places we can not really go to, or avoiding activities / places that might 'upset' a sensitive child.  I have to remind myself that J2 is fully able bodied and a typical 2 year old who wants to charge around and have pure and carefree fun thus we can go and do all those things that I so desperately wanted to be able to do with J1 for all those years.

Although we try not to impose restrictions on what we do with J2, we try and make the weekends 'family time' and sniff out activities that we can all enjoy, and sadly, that means that a lot of places that J2 could enjoy we rule out because J1 won't.  And sometimes that just isn't fair to J2.  I do not say that in any way complaining, as J1 is getting older, his sensitivity issues are getting much better and we can not go to places that at one time I would never have dreamt we could (because of noise for example) but I have just got so used to not being able to do run of the mill things, and having to think / find J1 suitable trips etc that I sometimes forget that I can do all of those things for J2, and more importantly, should. 

So I decided that a trip to Colchester Zoo would be ideal for J2.  I know that it is big, but not too big, it has fantastic indoor and outdoor play areas as well as the vast array of animals and they are forever improving and extending enclosures, so it really does feel like your money is going back into the good of the Zoo.  Plus it is only a relatively short drive and I hadn't been there for years (the last trip had been an attempt at taking a very young J1 and he created hell most of the way round...).  After the beginning of the week gave us appalling weather, it was up in the air until the last minute as to whether would go, but fortunately Thursday dawned bright and dry, if somewhat chilly.

I can confidently say J2 absolutely adored it.  We could let him out of the buggy to run his little legs off for most of the day, as being a week day in term time it wasn't too busy.  In fact it was ideal, most of the other patrons also had toddlers running riot so we were like one big 'knowing and sympathetic' group.

I think J2's favourite part of the day was visiting the penguins, we could barely drag him away.

Followed by the playground...

But the biggest bonus of the day (for me) was discovering some brilliant baby changing facilities (including baby changing in the male toilets too) and (cue exciting music) they have an 'Adult Changing Facility'.  This is like finding the 'Golden Ticket' to us.  So we will be going back soon with J1 in attendance, as I think he would also really enjoy it now, and if that goes well Gold Passes might feature in their Christmas presents this year.