A new toy

Tabitha has been playing around on my iPhone for a while now. She can operate it really well, navigating the screens, looking for her favourite apps, and opening them. Until recently though, she couldn't operate the home button, as it was too hard for her fingers to press. She can now do it without a problem.

A while ago, Chris go himself an iPad. Tabitha has remained totally in the dark about this new device, until two night ago, when Chris and Ellie wanted to watch something on TV and they wanted her to be quiet. Chris got out the iPad and showed it to her and loaded her favourite app onto it. This is the result. Pretty impressive I think :-)

The only problem now is that Tabitha now knows what this device is, and so she demands to play on it all the time! Poor Daddy has lost his iPad.

Other Children

Tabitha is repeating her Reception year at school. As such, she has restarted the year in September with a class of children who are all a year younger than her, but most of whom are developmentally way above her level. They don't seem to notice though, and are all just very tolerant of her.

Today, one of the little boys had a birthday party, and we went along. While the children were eating their lunch, one of the other boys started to talk to me about Tabitha. I wanted to share our conversation.

Boy: I'm 5 you know
Me: Are you? That's big isn't it, Tabitha is 5 as well.
Boy: Tabitha is very small isn't she.
Me: Yes, she is quite small.
Boy: I have a brother, and he's 2, and Tabitha is about the same size as him.
Me: Is she?
Boy: When is Tabitha's birthday?
Me: January
Boy: The thing is, with her being so small, it's not a problem while she's 5, but when she's 6.....

I wonder how he wanted to finish the sentance? How sweet is that though, a little boy, not noticing that she doesn't eat or drink, not commenting on her lack of speech, just worrying about how big she'll be when she's 6. I thought he was very cute.

Convention Time

A lot of blogs I follow are compiled by Stampin' Up! demonstrators. At the minute, the European Convention is taking place, and this year its in the UK, so most of them are there, including my friend Karen. I can't wait for everyone to get home and start blogging so I can see what they have all been up to!

Good Friends

My very good friend Judith had her birthday yesterday. Last year, I was very bad, and didn't make her a card :( This year I was determined to get my act together. This is what I made.

Judith is an avid car boot sale buyer. There is a large boot sale that is held weekly, very close to us, and she goes as often as she can with a very strict limit on how much she can spend. I couldn't come up with any ideas for a gift that she would really like, so I made the small envelope in the matching DSP to the card, so I could put some cash in for her to use the next time she goes booting. I'm pleased to say she loved her card and the idea.

As for now, I am on here doing this instead of completing the mountain of paperwork that is slowly but surely growing dangerously close to crisis point. Now, where can I find a pen......

The place that I live

We are extremely fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the country, and I thought I'd share it with you. Yesterday, I decided to walk the dog out to one of the local hills, and climb to the top to see the view. We did really well, but because I had a time limit on how long we could be out for, as I had to go and collect my gorgeous girls from school, we fell just short of the top of the hill. In fact, we got this close.

Next time I do this trip, I must remember to leave more time. Anyway, from here, this is what I could see.The first picture shows just how steep this hill is!

Anyway, this walking the dog, combined with some healthy eating and patience, means that I can now report that I have lost a stone in weight. Yey! Go me! Lots more to go, but this milestone means a lot. I am now 5lbs heavier than when I went back to work after having Ellie, and following a well known plan, I made it back to a healthy weight in about 3.5 months then. I can see it happening again now, which is great considering that at my heaviest, I couldn't see how I was ever going to lose all that weight. There is nothing so satisfying as getting back into clothes you used to love, and couldn't bear to throw away just because you got bigger. And I am planning a wardrobe change when I am at my target weight. I keep seeing some lovely clothes around at the minute, and I can't wait to be able to go shopping for new things. There is much work to be done in the mean time though, and still a long journey ahead, but in tiny steps, I am getting there.

Realisations

Being the parent of a special needs child is a complicated job. Not only do you have to deal with the numerous 'professionals' interested in your child, you have to meet a whole bunch of needs you never imagined, and for a lot longer than you could ever have believed. Tabitha is now a couple of months away from being 6, and it's bringing home to me just how delayed and severe her needs really are. She is still doubly incontinent. She is non-verbal. Her communication skills are restricted to a few signs, that she will only use when she is prompted to, not spontaneously. She has little or no understanding of other people's needs. In effect, we are living with a petulant toddler, who is 6 years old, and is showing no sign of developing rapidly to try and catch up with her peers.

It is hard not to look ahead and panic about what the future may hold for us. It is looking very unlikely that Tabitha will ever be independant and as much as being a parent is always a full time post, it's hard to know that in our case, it will be full time, for the rest of our lives with no break. We all love our children, but to know they will never leave you because they can't, and that no matter how things go for you in the future, there will always be a fully dependant child to worry about is one hell of a responsibility.

Birthdays!

Today was my nephew's birthday. He is now 3, and getting to be a grown up little boy. I made him a card and some tags to go on his presents. Here they are.

We spent the day at my Mum's house with the birthday boy, and little Rosie, my niece and had a lovely time. Ellie loved playing with Alfie and Chantelle (my mum's little girl), and Tabitha roamed around doing what she does. It was very good to be out of the house though, as the girls need a lot less entertaining when they are somewhere different.

Then, when I got home I found this.

A fabulous new Stampin' Up! set that I bought second hand on eBay. Called Terrific Tags, and will go brilliantly with my punches. Can't wait for a chance to use them!