Archie has decided he wants to be a space shuttle driver when he grows up and Ben is going to be a police car driver. Oh great.
Given that he'll probably end up around the 4ft mark I'm kind of hoping that he'll be changing his future career every week and will eventually settle on wanting to be something that he can be, rather than something that you have to be ultra fit and probably a certain height to do...
We might have to spend the rest of his childhood avoiding a trip to Cape Canaveral in case that fuels his enthusiasm for the job even more.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Bouncy castles
We went to a fabulous children's party on Sunday, the children loved it and I had a nice relax with a few glasses of red wine whilst chatting.
It was interesting to see how far Archie has come in the last year or so. A year ago he wouldn't have strayed away from either Mike or myself, if a child had approached him he probably would have cried and he would never ever have wanted to go on a bouncy castle if anyone else was on there.
Now it's a completely different ball game. Half the time he was off chatting to other people and mingling with other children, the other half of the time all he wanted to do was go on the bouncy castle and he didn't care how many children were on there.
Of course this leap of confidence is brilliant but poses a dilemma because half the posts I read on the SED/Kniest mailing list I belong to are about neck instability and children needing fusions of the neck bones to increase its stability.
An unstable neck is not a good thing. If something goes wrong at that level... it doesn't bear thinking about really. It just comes back to that balancing act - wanting Archie to have a normal life, doing what his peers and his younger brother are doing, and not wanting him to injure himself.
I often try to be a laid back parent and it's normally only after the event that I go into a 'oh my god what if XX had happened'.
Since the party Ben has also started trying to do head over heels, he obviously saw another child do it... now if Archie tries to get into that activity I really will need more than a few glasses of red wine.
It was interesting to see how far Archie has come in the last year or so. A year ago he wouldn't have strayed away from either Mike or myself, if a child had approached him he probably would have cried and he would never ever have wanted to go on a bouncy castle if anyone else was on there.
Now it's a completely different ball game. Half the time he was off chatting to other people and mingling with other children, the other half of the time all he wanted to do was go on the bouncy castle and he didn't care how many children were on there.
Of course this leap of confidence is brilliant but poses a dilemma because half the posts I read on the SED/Kniest mailing list I belong to are about neck instability and children needing fusions of the neck bones to increase its stability.
An unstable neck is not a good thing. If something goes wrong at that level... it doesn't bear thinking about really. It just comes back to that balancing act - wanting Archie to have a normal life, doing what his peers and his younger brother are doing, and not wanting him to injure himself.
I often try to be a laid back parent and it's normally only after the event that I go into a 'oh my god what if XX had happened'.
Since the party Ben has also started trying to do head over heels, he obviously saw another child do it... now if Archie tries to get into that activity I really will need more than a few glasses of red wine.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
New 'Rough Guide to Accessible Britain' available now
After reviewing the first edition of the 'Rough Guide to Accessible Britain' for OUCH last year, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/the_rough_guide_toaccessible_britain_review.shtml I was asked to write a couple of reviews for the second edition.
So 'en famille' we checked out the Abbotsbury Swannery and Sherborne Castles, both in Dorset. The Castles are more of a 'grown up attraction' but the boys thoroughly enjoyed the very accessible swannery - seeing the multitude of birds at close range, wandering along very flat paths and swinging on the rope by the 'bouncing bomb'...
The guide is even bigger and better than last year and is available from http://www.accessibleguide.co.uk/ - it's free to blue badge holders. If you do get a copy check out the rather dinky photo of Archie and me on page 97!
So 'en famille' we checked out the Abbotsbury Swannery and Sherborne Castles, both in Dorset. The Castles are more of a 'grown up attraction' but the boys thoroughly enjoyed the very accessible swannery - seeing the multitude of birds at close range, wandering along very flat paths and swinging on the rope by the 'bouncing bomb'...
The guide is even bigger and better than last year and is available from http://www.accessibleguide.co.uk/ - it's free to blue badge holders. If you do get a copy check out the rather dinky photo of Archie and me on page 97!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Growing confidence and growing up
There are a lot of attributes we'd like our children to have but when you have a disabled child I think one quality you hope for is for them to have confidence.
Having just moved house again Archie has had to start at another new preschool. But thanks to having been at a superb preschool in Devon which built his confidence levels up no end he has just taken it right in his stride.
He wasn't at all fazed about being left with people he'd never met before in a new setting and actually complained about having to go home on the first day, and I don't think he hates being at home!
The great thing about being where we are now is that Ben is also able to go to preschool for three sessions/week even though he isn't quite 2 and 1/2 yet.
When I left them for that first session together I felt really happy because they were both happy to be left - that made me feel like I'd done something right - I'd managed to produce two children who had enough confidence to do their own thing and who had complete trust in me ie that I was going to come back for them as I told them I would. There wasn't a tear in sight - a far cry from the image I had had of leaving my children at a school for the first time I have to say!
Having just moved house again Archie has had to start at another new preschool. But thanks to having been at a superb preschool in Devon which built his confidence levels up no end he has just taken it right in his stride.
He wasn't at all fazed about being left with people he'd never met before in a new setting and actually complained about having to go home on the first day, and I don't think he hates being at home!
The great thing about being where we are now is that Ben is also able to go to preschool for three sessions/week even though he isn't quite 2 and 1/2 yet.
When I left them for that first session together I felt really happy because they were both happy to be left - that made me feel like I'd done something right - I'd managed to produce two children who had enough confidence to do their own thing and who had complete trust in me ie that I was going to come back for them as I told them I would. There wasn't a tear in sight - a far cry from the image I had had of leaving my children at a school for the first time I have to say!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Growing pains
Archie, my short statured son, is on a bit of a munchathon at the moment - I'm not sure whether it's a growth spurt or whether he has decided if he eats more that he'll grow more - an idea that might have been installed from reading the book 'Marvin Wanted More', about a sheep that wanted to be bigger so he ate and ate and ate. [In fact Marvin wasn't happy being gigantic but I think Archie has ignored the moral of the tale at this point]
He talks a lot about being bigger and about how other children are bigger than him. He also asks questions like "when do we stop growing?", "if I don't eat or drink anything I won't grow will I?"
Whilst I want to encourage him to eat I don't want to lie to him and say, if you eat all this you'll be 6ft tall when you are older. It would just be a lie. I guess the thing is to make sure he enjoys eating and doesn't worry too much about the outcome. But it feels inevitable that he's going to notice more and more that he's smaller than his peers - something I just can't remember feeling when I was young at all... maybe I was just a bit thick!
He talks a lot about being bigger and about how other children are bigger than him. He also asks questions like "when do we stop growing?", "if I don't eat or drink anything I won't grow will I?"
Whilst I want to encourage him to eat I don't want to lie to him and say, if you eat all this you'll be 6ft tall when you are older. It would just be a lie. I guess the thing is to make sure he enjoys eating and doesn't worry too much about the outcome. But it feels inevitable that he's going to notice more and more that he's smaller than his peers - something I just can't remember feeling when I was young at all... maybe I was just a bit thick!
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