Thurston has fled the nest

The summer holidays didn’t really leave me with any time for keeping up to date with the blog so there’s lots of stuff to catch up on. The main piece of news is that Thurston is now a fully functioning full-time school boy!
Back in September we went shopping for school uniform which was a trial in itself as Thurston is roughly the size of a small 2 year old. All his uniform, satchel and lunchbox was ready to go, I just wasn’t entirely convinced that he was! After having 6 weeks away from nursery, it would be fair to say that Thurston had completely forgotten that he ever had to do anything independent from me! To be honest, he’d been a bit of a pain for a lot of the summer. He was fantastic when we kept busy, but the fluctuating weather meant that a lot of the time was spent indoors which was fairly stressful. By the time the new term started, I was more than ready to share the load!

However, the logistics of Thurston starting school were complicated to say the least. My two older children already attend two separate schools due to their ages. Louis is already at junior school and Zeke is in his last year of infant school. I looked into sending Thurston to Zeke’s school but they were very uncooperative when it came to his special needs, and made me feel like it would be a hassle for them to have him. Considering the school where he attended nursery were practically biting my hand off to take him, it seemed like a no-brainer where he should go. I’m not willing to compromise on the way he needs to be looked after and I decided to send him to the school where he was wanted. This meant that I now had the challenge of getting 3 children to 3 schools by 8:50am every day. Thurston’s school is a 35 minute walk away or a 6-7 minute drive plus finding a parking space. I do not drive as yet, however even if I did, it is actually not even possible to do all 3 kids in the car. I recently found this out when Alex had a stomach bug and my mum (my lovely contingency plan) had food poisoning on the same day. My lovely dad stepped in to help but didn’t know where each child’s classroom was so he drove me around to pick them up. Zeke finishes at 3pm, so we got him, hopped in the car and went to get Thurston who finishes at 3:10pm. I was 4 minutes late which was enough to send him into a whack-attack and by the time I arrived he was laying on the floor blubbing away, and his teachers looked fairly bedraggled too! I strapped him into the car seat and got back into the car to drive back and get Louis who finished at 3:15pm so he was the last child in the entire school waiting for a parent. I didn’t feel quite as bad about that as Louis loves a drama and a spot of guilt-tripping, so he was quite thrilled with the turn of events!!

All of this proved to me what I already knew, that the school run for our family is literally impossible for one person, it is a 2 man job. I don’t like to rely on family help as they are my kids and I want to do things myself as much as possible. I call my family when I’m stuck and need a hand, but I didn’t want them to be in charge of school runs and childcare on a daily basis. Alex therefore has had to take a cut in his hours and now works 9:30-2:30 so that he can take and collect Thurston every day. Obviously, this means even less money, which is tricky, but for us, it really is the only option. I have had people in the past make snide comments about me receiving Carer’s Allowance and Thurston receiving DLA, but I think people often don’t realise the financial sacrifices that need to be made to ensure a kid with special needs gets the care that they need. I would have loved nothing more than to take my kids to school together and say goodbye at the school gates like the other mums, but Thurston’s needs had to take priority, which means that we have lost a significant amount of earnings, as well as me losing out on important parts of Thurston’s life.

It is lovely for Alex to take Thurston to school and pick him up every day, but I do feel a bit detached from him now. I was so used to doing absolutely everything for him and now, I don’t even do the basics anymore. He even has his Speech Therapist go to school, so his one-to-one is doing his therapy with him. I know I sound like a crazy, over-protective mum, but I’m honestly a little bit jealous of his one-to-one!! He does things for her, he has never done for me. She said he can spell his name in magnets, she even got him to make a pizza! He has recently started talking in little sentences every so often, and people are telling me how well he must be doing at school to have come on so quickly. What about the 4 years I was taking him to 3 therapy appointments every week and taking him to Makaton courses???! Don’t I deserve even a tiny scrap of credit?! The final straw came the other day when I said to him “do you love mummy?” (usually greeted with a firm “oh yes”) only to be slapped in the face with “no, I love Mrs W!”. That one hurt.

I have become secretly pleased and ever so slightly smug when Thurston has little acts of defiance at school. Most mums would be happy to hear that their child has learnt 3 phonics sounds especially a child with special needs. However, I have become so warped with the situation that I am much happier when I hear that he has thrown a big tub of magnets over the carpet or has done a massive fart while they have story time. They are small but significant victories for me!

Of course, in my right mind, I am absolutely thrilled that Thurston has settled in so well to his new school, and the transition was a hell of a lot smoother than I had anticipated. The school could not be more helpful or understanding of  Thurston and his needs, and are actually managing to give him an education at the same time as covering his care and social needs, which is remarkable. It is the best school we could have chosen for him and I know he will do well there, and that it was worth all the financial and emotional sacrifices. It would just be nice if every once in a while he had a little cry that he missed me, just for my mum-ego!!

 

Thurston loves his robots!!

I really love a new bag. It doesn’t matter whether it is a lovely handbag, a new suitcase, a purse or even a crisp new canvas shopping bag. There’s something really satisfying about using a new bag. My children are all just like me. They love nothing more than to get a new bag and fill it with all of their favourite treasured possessions. With 3 boys, finding nice bags can be a challenge, and more often than not, backpacks either come covered in tacky cartoon characters like Ben 10 or plastered with footballs. I like the kids to have things that are a lit bit more child-like and unique.

With Thurston starting school, there was a whole new bag-finding opportunity. The lovely people over at Pink Lining sent Thurston the most beautiful and adorable Robbie the Robot Picture Rucksack. I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect bag for Thurston to start school life with. The backpack is shaped like the classic school satchel, but with 2 straps so that it can be worn on the back which makes it much easier for little Thurston.

One of the best features of this backpack is the picture window. There is a clear plastic window on the front of the bag which can be used to keep a name label in so that kids know it is their bag, or to proudly display their latest masterpiece of art that they have worked on at school that day. Because of Thurston’s Autism, I was worried he was going to struggle to identify his bags in amongst all the other childrens’ bags at school. However, the Pink Lining Picture Backpack is so unique and gorgeous that it will be easy to spot in a crowd, and if he still struggles, he will be able to see his picture and name in the picture window.

The Pink Lining products are beautiful quality and Thurston is really lucky to have such a lovely gift from them. It suits him so well and the pattern is classic and cute. The bag opens and closes using velcro which is easy for little hands to master. There is a mesh pocket on the inside to help organise school things. The front of the bag is made from 100% cotton poplin EVA laminate which is  simple to wipe-clean with a damp cloth, which will keep it looking lovely and fresh, and good as new.

I couldn’t be happier with his fab little backpack and it makes me excited to think off him toddling off to school in a couple of weeks with these little robots on his back to keep him company!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

www.pinklining.co.uk

Special stuff for school

As usual the Summer holidays are flying by much too fast for me to keep up and I am starting to focus my attention on making sure I get all the ‘back to school’ stuff sorted fairly early on to avoid disappointment/stressful last minute shopping trips!

Something I was envious of at the school gates last year was children that had personalised bags and lunchboxes. I’ve never been good with sewing on labels or keeping things neat. I buy a laundry marker every September and try to squeeze their names on to their stuff wherever I can scrawl it. This inevitably ends in the ink bleeding so that the writing is unreadable and then I feel awkward whenever the teacher comes out to give another ‘please make sure that all items are clearly labelled’ speech, knowing full well that it is probably aimed at me!

This year I am much more on top of things thanks to an amazing internet company called Stuck On You. The very friendly people there offered me the chance to order some amazing Back To School goodies for the kids to get them all excited for the new term, and to help me feel more organised! Louis and Zeke (8 & 5) were really eager to help pick out their own items and joined me in checking out the website which was really easy to use and had a massive amount of choice and options. The boys also helped me to choose a couple of items for Thurston for his first term at Primary school.

As Thurston has Autism, he is a long way off reading and so I think that these personalised items really help him to memorise what his name looks like without having to read it. The fact that his name appears alongside a little picture helps too as I can ask him to find his ‘fox lunchbox’ or ‘boat bag’.

Louis has been asking for a new school bag for a long time and in particular was hoping to get a messenger style bag to wear across his body. He chose a navy blue Book Bag with a London Bus design (http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/kids-backpack-lunchboxes/book-bags.html). It is made of durable canvas fabric which is great as Louis does like to carry around the entire contents of Paperchase, and is lined with lovely blue stripy fabric which is easy to wipe clean.

Zeke wanted a new backpack instead of his old school logo book bag which was falling apart at the seams. He decided on a red Backpack with a Zzzap Alien on the front (http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/kids-backpack-lunchboxes/backpacks.html). The backpack is amazing and so much better than anything you could buy in the shops. It is really quite big and has a total of  7 pockets in different shapes and sizes, so Zeke will be able to fit anything he could ever need in there and keep all his art and homework safe. The red is lovely and bright, and the red stripy fabric on the inside is really sweet. The quality of the backpack is fantastic and Zeke is over the moon with it.

For Thurston, I ordered a few practical items that he needs for school. First of all, the all-important lunchbox! I chose him a lovely red Lunchbox with a cute Woodland Fox design above his name (http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/kids-backpack-lunchboxes/lunchboxes.html) . I think this will be really easy for him to spot. The lunchbox has a brilliant reflective, water resistant lining which will also keep his lunch cool until he is ready to eat it. It has a mesh pocket inside and an extra pocket on the front which is ideal for a napkin! He also needed a bag for his PE kit and so I ordered the navy blue Library Bag with the Pirate ship design (http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/kids-backpack-lunchboxes/library-bags.html) . The drawstring bag is perfect for PE as it is easy to open and close and big enough for his kit and trainers.

I have also finally ordered some name labels which I am really excited to use. No more laundry marker scribble for me! Thurston has an Artist Series pack of Clothing Labels which includes 55 personalised iron-on labels in various sizes, colours and designs. I chose the Zzzap Alien theme which is adorable (http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/name-labels-kids-school/artist-series/artist-series-name-labels/artist-series-name-labels.html), and I can’t wait to iron them all on when I have bought all of his little uniform.

I cannot recommend Stuck On You highly enough. The items we received are really top quality and the kids were thrilled when they opened the parcel full of goodies. This is a great start to my ‘back to school’ shopping and I’m really looking forward to September and walking them to school with their lovely personalised bags!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk (ps. I just went on the site and they currently have free postage!)

Home page – http://www.stuckonyou.co.uk/

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Sweet Dreams

As I’ve probably mentioned far too many times on this blog, Thurston is not a huge fan of sleep. We are always looking for new ideas and helpful hints to try and convince him to take a trip to the land of nod. We will try anything!

I was really excited when we were sent a Ewan the Dream Sheep from www.sweetdreamers.co.uk as I’d heard some really great things about him from some other mums. We have been through a lot of toys in our house over the last 8 years that play lullabies or have glowing lights. My kids call them Fimbles as the first one we had was a Florrie from The Fimbles! The ‘Fimbles’ we’ve tried have always been a bit disappointing in one way or another. I’ve found 3 main problems with most of them. Firstly, the songs can be loud and end up stimulating the child and actually waking them up rather than helping them drift off. Secondly, the sounds last for a few minutes only, before switching off, so just as your little one is falling asleep, the lack of sound wakes them up and you are back to square one. Lastly, the ones I have had, you have to give a great big nudge in the middle to turn them on which is hard to do without waking up a light sleeper.

When Ewan arrived, all 3 kids were eager to give him a try and Zeke (middle child!) was in love with him at once. Ewan is a lovely round, fluffy sheep who is perfect for cuddling and comforting making him a really lovely night-time pal! He has a soothing pink glow which is not bright at all so does not distract children trying to get to sleep.

Ewan has 4 different sound options which are easy to choose just by clicking on a tiny button on his feet, so the kids are not disturbed by me fumbling round in the dark trying to get it to work! There are soothing womb and heartbeat sounds which I’m sure would be great for a new baby as it sounds very reassuring. There is also a vaccuum cleaner option which I know can be a lifesaver for agitated small babies. The harp music is really relaxing and peaceful, and makes a lovely sleepy atmosphere in the children’s room. My favourite of all the sound options has to be the rain. What could be more relaxing and cosy than the sound of raindrops while you are snoozing?!

Of course, Thurston’s sleep disorder is part of his Autism and so he is a very tough nut to crack when it comes to getting a full night’s sleep. Although I can’t say that Ewan helps him to get to sleep, I can say that having Ewan in the bedroom playing his lovely harp music has really helped Thurston to feel calmer. His big brother Zeke is in charge of Ewan, and is incredibly skilled at pressing the button as soon as anyone in the room stirs. This has been really great for Thurston and he wakes up slower and less upset which buys me an extra 5 minutes in bed each time, which when you are incredibly sleep deprived is invaluable.

For either of my other 2 children, I can honestly say that Ewan the Dream Sheep would have had them snoring away in minutes, no problem. In fact that is exactly what he does for Zeke (5). With Ewan’s help, Thurston is a little bit calmer and more relaxed in the night which is so helpful to me as it is much easier to look after a happy child in the night than a grumpy one, so thank you Ewan!!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

www.sweetdreamers.co.uk

Pixie Police

I have a real love for soft baby blankets. Those lovely silky-soft cotton or jersey blankets that just tuck into the car seat or pram to keep the baby all cosy and warm. The only problem is that I don’t have a baby anymore and although I have about 12 of those lovely cotton blankets, none of them even cover the length of my toddler, let alone make him feel cosy!

Luckily, at least one company has finally cottoned (!) on to the fact that we need these blankets for longer than babyhood and have made a beautiful big blanket which I am in love with. Pixie Dixie www.pixiedixie.co.uk makes a gorgeous 100% cotton jersey double thickness blanket which at 120cm x 120cm is fantastic for toddlers.

The blanket we have is white with blue trim with gorgeous little winking policemen scattered all over it. It’s such an unusual and quirky design and looks adorable on Thurston’s little white bed.

Thurston has had the Pixie Dixie Police blanket as his bed blanket several times this Summer and it is so brilliant. It has all the comfort you need from a cosy blanket but it is so lightweight and breathable that he hasn’t been at all hot or sweaty despite the humid temperatures we have been having.

Pixie Dixie also make these blankets in Guards and Bus patterns which are equally delightful, but I think our Policemen one is the best!! We love it!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

www.pixiedixie.co.uk

Learning with play

We are a couple of weeks into the Summer holidays now and the rainy weather means that we are stuck indoors more than we would like. To entertain the children between the Olympics and the occasional trip to the beach, I have been relying on our collection of toys and games to keep us occupied. All of the kids obviously have their favourite TV and movie characters and so a lot of our toy space is taken up with Toy Story toys and Disney Cars. However lovely those toys are, they tend to become more of a collection than a plaything and I have been encouraging the children to play more and more with ‘proper’ toys. As far as I’m concerned, the best place by far for perfect toys is the Early Learning Centre.

 

My eldest child is 8 years old and so we have a fairly extensive range of ELC toys that we’ve accumulated over the years. One of the lovely things about them is the classic design. Louis’s old toddler toys don’t look at all out of place with the bits that we bought from ELC just last week. As well as encouraging the kids to play nicely together with their toys, I want to try and help Thurston to learn some important skills through play ready for his start at school in September.

ELC kindly sent us an amazing bundle of toys and art supplies, all chosen with helping Thurston with his creative and imagination skills which is something he really struggles with as a result of his Autism. Thurston tends to have a very literal way of thinking and his play generally involves lining things up or games which pop up and give immediate gratification. I wanted to push him to explore other ways of playing.

Firstly, I wanted to help him to enjoy art and crafts. Having attended a ‘school starters’ group recently where Thurston was supposed to join in with a group art project, I knew this wouldn’t be straightforward. He clung to me at the very sight of paint and PVA glue, and became very distressed at any mess that got on to him or felt sticky on his clothes. He needs a more gentle approach to arts and crafts and the ELC Mini Artist range is ideal for this. In our Mini Artist bundle was the My First Scribbler, My First Messy Mat, My First Aquamagic Mat, My First Load & Stamp Dough Set, My First Brushes and My First Chalks. The brushes and chalks have fantastic chunky handles which make them ideal for kids who are still learning their fine motor skills. Thurston has a ‘grab hold’ still and so it is much easier for him to make pictures with this range than other ranges, which means that his confidence is growing as he sees the results of his work!

My First Scribbler and My First Aquamagic Mat are great options to introduce children into art and craft in a mess-free way if they are nervous of new textures. Thurston found this really reassuring, especially with the scribbler and has really enjoyed stamping the animal footprints on the screen without the risk of getting sticky. Although I do also encourage messy play, sometimes it is difficult at home especially with an Autistic child as he doesn’t understand why sometimes he can make mess and others he can’t. The Aquamagic mat is a great alternative, as it has that ‘messy’ feel but the water loaded pen won’t do any damage to the house!

Thurston really enjoyed playing with the dough set and it helped us to play together too. He was initially nervous of the texture of the dough and so I sat behind him and guided his hands for reassurance. This is something I learned on our Earlybird course and it really does help to show children that things aren’t scary and reduces their fear of new things.

Another thing I have been very keen to help Thurston develop is his imaginative skills. Until recently, Thurston hasn’t showed any interest in imaginative play and I expected it to stay that way for a long time. However, I bought him the ELC Complete Baking Set for Christmas, and having ignored it for 5/6 months, it is suddenly one of his favourite toys. He loves the feel of the blender whizzing around and pops the cakes in the cases for us to have a tea party. ELC sent us 2 toy barbecues to try and help him expand his imagination, and it’s really grabbed his attention and inspired him to cook and grill for the whole family. The Sizzlin Barbecue is a really bright fun toy with lots of food and tools, and it also lights up and makes sizzling noises while you cook which Thurston loves to mimic. It also has folding legs which makes it really compact for storage. The Wooden Barbecue is really sweet and looks lovely. It has a wooden layer of coals, a grill and a spinning rotisserie for all your spit roasting needs! Thurston loves to turn the rotisserie with the wooden sausages!

Thurston has a real flair for numbers and letters and the Magnetic Play Centre that ELC send us has really helped him learn some new words. His absolute favourite thing to do is spell “20th FOX” with magnets. I think this is because of the symbol at the end of The Simpsons! He also loves to spell out CBBC!  It makes him so happy to stand back and look at what he has spelled out. Obviously, his handwriting is going to be a long time in coming, and so magnets are a great form of communication for him in the meantime!

Something which has had a key role in Thurston’s learning, especially in his speech therapy sessions is the toy post box. ELC sent me their Pop it in the Post game and the kids have all loved playing with it. There is so many ways to play with this game. You can use it to learn matching, to help fine motor skills, to learn colours, identify animals. I mostly use it to encourage Thurston’s listening skills. I ask him if he can find a certain animal and he looks for the letter with the corresponding animal and pops it in the post! It’s really simple but effective.

My absolute favourite thing about ELC has got to be the Happyland range! This little world of adorable figures, buildings and vehicles is one of the only things that my children can play with happily together. We’ve got a lovely collection of Happyland toys now and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon! Thurston was sent the lovely Happyland London Bus which has been a real hit. It is currently being driven by the Queen, with Santa and a pirate as passengers! Happyland really does inspire Thurston to use his imagination which is so wonderful. A few days ago, I saw him making 2 of the figures have a conversation. It may not have been real words, but it was an amazing breakthrough for him.

Early Learning Centre has such a brilliant range of toys and games that are really great at inspiring little imaginations and creative sparks. I can’t imagine motherhood without it!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

Unpredictable Weather

The boys have been on holiday from school for just over a week now and the weather has been unpredictable at best. We have gone from blistering heat and sunshine to monsoon-like rain and thunderstorms in a matter of moments. One minute the children are playing in the garden on the swing and slide and the next they are hot-footing it indoors to snuggle under a duvet.

This type of weather really causes a dilemma in how to dress them for a day out. It’s fairly impossible to plan for all eventualities of British weather in one kids’ outfit so I think the key is layering. One online company who are very understanding of the British weather is Boden . They have a beautiful range of kidswear at mini Boden which is really great looking but also really useful.

Thurston was very lucky to be sent one of their Towelling Hoodies in Ocean Skull. The outside of the hoody is 85% cotton and the inside is lovely and soft made of 100% cotton. The Towelling Hoody is a really useful piece of clothing as it is a great cover up at the beach or after the swimming pool, without being too hot and sweaty for the summer months. The towelling fabric is really lightweight and comfortable and the hood is really useful particularly for kids like mine who are very anti-hats!

This hoody has been brilliantly useful for playing in the garden in the evening or wearing on the stroll home from the beach. It’s also been really handy on those days where the weather is not particularly warm but too warm to wear a normal hoody or jumper. Thurston has found this hoody to be really comforting and cosy when he has started to felt cold which has meant that we have been able to squeeze a few more minutes out of an outing or just being outside, whereas usually he would have become upset and we would have had to cut our day short.

This Towelling Hoody is a really versatile item that gets loads of wear over the warmer months but is also perfect for layering up during the cold months of the year too. You can’t go wrong really. There are loads more gorgeous pieces in their new Autumn range on the website so that is definitely worth a browse. I’m really hoping I can get Thurston this Duffle Coat for when he starts school in the Autumn!  The kids will end up looking better than I do!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

Summer and Broccoli

Last Friday, my very nice husband Alex (here is his blog www.neveranythingon.wordpress.com) turned 32. Last year when he turned 31, he had come out of hospital a day earlier from his 1st spinal surgery. Since then he has had a day surgery steroid epidural, and this January, he had a major operation to fuse his spine with various pieces of metal and donated bone. I’m so happy with how well he’s done from last birthday to this birthday, he really deserves some recognition for being able to keep smiling, hardly ever complaining and most of all, managing to still do as much as possible with all of the children while he was in so much pain. I’m not sure I could have done it! We celebrated with an Olympic themed party, the opening ceremony, an Indian takeaway and a very large homemade chocolate cake (recipe from The Primrose Bakery Cookbook!). Luckily, Thurston slept through the whole thing so we had a lovely time with the older children which was much needed.

The whole time Alex was laid up with his back, he had been planning to have a tattoo done of the Eiffel Tower. It means such a lot to us as we spent our honeymoon in Paris almost 7 years ago, and it was one of the only holidays we had as a couple without children. The other one was a completely bizarre trip to Cologne in Germany with a very strange family!! Paris was incredible and has such lovely memories for us, I’m hoping to take the children there next year when I (reluctantly) turn 30! A couple of weeks ago, Alex finally had his tattoo done. He booked in with our good friend Dan Frye in his amazing tattoo studio in Margate (www.signsoftime.co.uk), and he did a fantastic job! I took the kids for lunch with some more lovely friends and my sister while he had it done, and he looked so happy when he came and joined us. It might sound silly to be so excited over a tattoo, but when you’ve been forced to be in pain and have some fairly gruesome scars to show for it, I think it’s a really great feeling when you can finally choose what you actually want on your body!

Since it is now the Summer holidays, we have been fairly busy, since every mum knows that the key to surviving the school holidays is “DO NOT STAY IN THE HOUSE!”. I took the children to the brand new Tracey Emin exhibition at the Turner Contemporary in Margate which we completely loved. I am a massive Tracey Emin fan anyway being a Margate-girl myself and it is so exciting that she has put together this exhibition just for our little town. Thurston actually slept the entire time which was a bit disappointing as he has enjoyed all our previous trips to the gallery. I know a lot of people get very nervous about taking Autistic children to art galleries or museums, but I would strongly encourage people to give it a try, as you might be pleasantly surprised. Thurston likes any exhibits with video installations, and was really interested in Turner’s paintings of volcanoes and even commented that they looked “hot”! A lot of galleries and museums are free entry or simply ask for a donation, so you are not losing anything by giving it a go.

Since we do live by the seaside, a lot of our Summer holidays is based on the beach. From June until September, my house is covered with a layer of sand that I never seem to be able to get rid of completely! At the moment, I would have to admit that going to the beach is not something I am very confident with doing by myself just yet. Thurston is completely inspired by the beach which is wonderful, but also means that he will see that he has complete freedom and no boundaries, and make a run for it, whether it is to the next beach on the coastline or through the water to France. He takes up so much of my energy and attention at the beach that it makes it really difficult for me to focus on my other 2 children. In the school holidays, I do struggle with a little bit of guilt at not being able to divide my time fairly among them and I think they must find it very frustrating too. Luckily for me, last week a friend of mine was renting a beach hut near my house with her family and invited me to join them for a day. I took the kids down by myself as Alex was working, and I’m so glad I did as the kids had the best time. We dumped our stuff at the hut and the kids made a beeline straight for the unusually warm water. Thurston was in his element splashing in the water and was so brave walking into water as deep as his chest. Louis and Zeke played with my friends’ children and their Dad who was so incredibly helpful pulling them around in an inflatable boat singing the theme song from “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”. Thurston even sat in the boat for a while, and was so delighted, I wish I could have captured the look on his little face. The children were so well looked after that I felt more than happy leaving them to play while I went back to the hut to warm Thurston up. It was a perfect Summery day!

Even though it is the holidays, Thurston’s therapy is still ongoing. He graduated his little ‘school starters’ group which was brilliant, and really helpful for him. He is now on a 6 week block of speech therapy to try and start him on some new techniques that he will continue with when he starts school in September. He was a little bit frustrated at the first appointment last week as Louis and Zeke had to come with us and were allowed to play in the playground of the Child Development Centre while he was hard at work. He did really well though and worked very hard. His ability to focus on a task has improved so much over the last year and he sat for 20 minutes without sitting on my lap. It’s still quite hard to see him struggle with concepts that come so naturally to most children. Every single aspect of language needs to be taught to him manually and at the moment, it does seem like an enormous task. The new technique involves colour coding the type of word to try to eventually enable him to have a proper conversation. It uses visual aids which are colour coded eg. pink for a person, green for a describing word, blue for a thing etc. It seems quite complicated at the moment, but hopefully he will get the hang of it and we will soon be able to have a chat! Once his session had finished, I sent him to the playground with his Dad and brothers while i sorted out some paperwork. I helped the assistant to compile a “manual” about Thurston to tell anyone who comes into contact with him at school all about his likes and dislikes and how to talk to him. It made me realise how much of an advocate I am for Thurston, and how much more involved in his school life I will need to be to find out how he is doing. One of the best parts of kids starting school is when they tell you what they have been up to (once they have stopped telling you they can’t remember or that it was boring and they did nothing all day!). It does make me incredibly sad to think that I won’t have that with Thurston and I will have to rely on what the teachers and assistants tell me instead. This is particularly worrying now that he has learned to tell me to “shutup”. Whenever he doesn’t want to talk to me (or wants to make everyone laugh) he yells “shutup, shutup mummy shutup”. I can just picture it now when we are leaving school “did you have a nice day Thurston?” “shutup mummy!”.

Another delightful habit the boys have taught him is to make a fart noise whenever they ask him what noise his bottom makes. Aren’t boys great? They have clearly cottoned on to the fact that you can make Thurston say whatever you want and he is now their own personal parrot, ready to amuse them whenever they are bored. Mind you, I suppose it is some way to compensating them for all the times he has whacked them on the head or smashed their toys. This last fortnight, Thurston has also taken to carrying a large head of raw broccoli wherever he goes. Thurston has never been attached to a particular toy or cuddly animal but “Broccoli” is now a firm best friend and they cannot be parted. At first he was satisfied with toy vegetables until he came to the supermarket with us and realised that actual vegetables were much more realistic! After screaming for 2 aisles after the fruit & veg section for “Broccoli”, I made Alex turn back to go and get some in the hope that this was the start of a healthy eating initiative. He held “Broccoli” all the way round the supermarket and was catatonic when I broke the news that the cashier would need to scan it. Since then, “Broccoli” has been everywhere with us. He eats breakfast with “Broccoli”, watches TV with “Broccoli”, takes “Broccoli” in the garden, cuddles “Broccoli”, packs “Broccoli” in a little lunchbox to keep him safe. After about a week, “Broccoli” began to turn yellow and fall apart and generally looked pretty grim. I tried to entice Thurston with a possible new friend “Onion” but he was having none of it. A fresh “Broccoli” was bought and secretly swapped overnight and now “Broccoli” has had a lovely makeover and looks beautiful. I wonder how long I will keep having to buy replacement broccolis for………

 

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

Pop!!

Thurston has been having some kind of therapy since he was 6 months old whether it was speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, messy play therapy. He hasn’t always been a fan of therapy and sometimes he is definitely not in the mood for it, but if there is one thing at the Child Development Centre that is guaranteed to make him smile it is the Galt Frog in a Box!

The Frog in a Box toy is a classic Jack in the box style toy and it never fails to make Thurston laugh. He absolutely loves the element of surprise and despite the fact that he has played with it weekly for the last 3 1/2 years, he is always surprised when the frog leaps out of the flowery box! The Frog in a Box has had a really useful place in Thurston’s learning, particularly in his Speech Therapy sessions. At first, it was used to encourage him to join in with conversation “ready……..steady………..” and Thurston eventually felt brave enough to shout “…….GO!”. Then the little froggy helped Thurston to ask questions “where frog?” “frog where are you?”. His speech therapist moved on to attaching visual images to the frog to encourage Thurston to talk about verbs. “What has frog got?……Frog got drawing”. If there is one toy that helps Thurston with his confidence in speaking, it is the gorgeous Frog in a Box.

Galt very kindly sent Thurston his very own Frog in a Box recently and he was so pleased to finally have it at home. The one that he uses at the Child Development Centre is clearly used frequently by lots of children, and until we got our own one, I hadn’t realised quite how much the spring must’ve gone in the other one. We lifted the flowery lid of the box and the frog lept the whole length of our lounge which was hilarious to all 3 boys! Frog in a Box really encourages the children to all play together which is really lovely to see. As it is such a simple game, the boys are really great at playing it with Thurston and he thoroughly enjoys this interaction. He is still a bit nervous to lift the lid himself and so is happy to hand it over to Louis and Zeke so that he can watch the Frog bounce up in the air!

As well as the Frog in a Box, Galt sent Thurston a new toy to try. He got the Pop-Up Toy which is a really sweet, old-fasioned wooden toy with 4 little bouncing pegs to play with. The Pop-Up Toy was in instant favourite in our house as Thurston loves to bounce things and make things pop up! This sensory feedback is really important to Autistic children as it teaches them cause & effect, and this particular toy is great for practicing fine motor skills too. The Pop-Up Toy is perfect for encouraging hand-eye coordination which is great for Thurston as he struggles with staying focussed on a task and ends up being easily distracted. Thurston loves organising the little pegs into the correct coloured hole and it has been brilliant at teaching him his colours.

For educational toys that encourage kids to play old-fashioned games together, you cannot go wrong with Galt Toys. They are fantastic quality and will last through several children. The toys we received really helped my 3 kids to play together happily which is often quite difficult to achieve. We will carry on loving these toys for a long time!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

www.galttoys.com

@Galttoys (Twitter)

Boys

I have 3 boys and people often comment telling me what a ‘shame’ it is that I don’t get to dress up a girl in dresses and the like. I have to say, this has never been a problem for me. I really love dressing my little boys and have tried really hard to find clothes that are comfortable and stylish for them without them looking like mini-men or being covered in too many cartoon characters. Obviously, being kids, they do like the odd Muppets/Peppa Pig t-shirt, but for the most part, they take their appearance very seriously and are very style conscious considering that they are 8, 6 & 4!

Due to Thurston’s sensitive skin and hypersensitivities, i do try where possible to dress him in organic clothing to avoid any flare-ups. I’ve found a fantastic website for really wearable organic kidswear www.boysandgirlsshop.com. The people at Boys & Girls are incredibly helpful and generous and offered my boys the chance to choose an outfit each from their website. It was quite challenging as they found it hard to narrow it down to 2 items each, Louis and Zeke wanted to order the whole range. They were also keen to choose individual outfits and not have anything matching!

My boys all have very different personalities and styles and so they ended up with 3 very different outfits which suited their needs. The package arrived quickly and came in lovely brown paper packaging which I love. It feels so much more special than that horrible plastic packing stuff. The kids are so thrilled with their new outifts.

First up Zeke went with a really comfortable sporty joggers (boys grey marl sporty track pant) and a gorgeous classic stripy top (aqua stripe skinny grandad top). The joggers are a great quality thick 100% organic cotton. Zeke has been fairly inseperable from them ever since they arrived. He is a very active kid who is always busy so these were a great choice for him. He has worn them to a theme park, the beach, the park and even on a school coach trip. They wash brilliantly and still look brand new. The little aqua skinny top is so gorgeous. The colour is bright and vibrant and looks fantastic on Zeke. Even though it is a long sleeve t-shirt, it looks really smart on Zeke and is really perfect for going out for dinner or to a party, as well as all the usual kid activities. Zeke is a poser and loves to put on a fashion show, he was thrilled with his package from Boys & Girls Shop and had a fabulous time road-testing his outfit!

When Louis was choosing his outift, I was pretty jealous. He went with a Bright As Day Swaeat Top which is so cool that I wanted it for myself! It’s a super-comfy gorgeous sweatshirt made of 100% organic loopback sweat. Louis chose some Green Skate Shorts to go with it which are really lovely too. They are quite long shorts which look great on Louis as he has supper-skinny legs! Louis’s outift looks amazing on him and he is in love with both items!

Thurston didn’t really want to look at the website with us because he was too busy building a Megabloks tower, so I took the liberty of choosing his for him! I went with another pair of shorts, the Aqua Scooting Shorts. The t-shirt I chose for him was my favourite item from the website, the Multi 70′s Badge Print Tee. As well as being 100% organic like all the other items, this tee is also Fairtrade which is really important to our family. I always like it when t-shirts are skinny fit instead of baggy as Thurston is so tiny that he is often swamped by baggy t shirts. He looks so cool in his Boys & Girls outfit and wore his t shirt on his birthday. It suits him perfectly and fits him perfectly, I couldn’t be more pleased with it. As he is another skinny boy, I love the length of the Scooting shorts which look awesome on him. The waistband is also really soft and stretchy so he is happy to wear them all day.

Me and the boys are so happy with their lovely outfits from Boys & Girls Shop and we’ll definitely be buying more from them in the future. The staff are really friendly and helpful, and the quality of the clothes is amazing. I think everyone should go and have a look on the website, you’re going to love it!

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

www.boysandgirlsshop.com

@boysgirlsshop (Twitter)