Tuesday 31st July – CAMHS

Well, the appointment we’d been waiting for for over 7 months took place today, our CAMHS appointment for D.

The hospital looked a lovely old Victorian building and then we followed the signs to CAMHS to a pre-fab hut!

The walls were full of info sheets about autism, ADHD (I didn’t realise that Jamie Oliver had ADHD for example) and SALT info. Plenty to look at whilst we were waiting!

D did some drawing in the waiting room:

The appointment itself went well, we expressed our concerns around D’s increased anxieties and D answered questions when prompted about why she doesn’t like strangers around when we’re out and how she feels when she’s cross.

(I did get the impression from the questions asked (and there were loads) that they were looking for somewhere to lay the anxiety/autism blame. Rather than just accepting this is how our lovely girl is.)

We’ve got some “Goals”, “Identified Risks” and agreed actions after I’ve been on the Early Bird Plus course.
They’re sending a copy to school, at our request, too. I don’t think either Hubbie or I particularly feel any different after today, I guess that will change once the strategy work starts but at least we’re in “the system” now.

They were very impressed with D’s drawings and how she tidied the toys away (ummm she doesn’t do that at home! Lol):
Bunny was there:

D on a giraffe:

All relieved to come out, albeit in the rain. Hubbie & D walked together for a bit back to the station, hand in hand, they’ve never done that before (awwwww):

All glad to be home, that’s 2 out of the 3 “D” appointments ticked off for the holidays 😃.

Time for T’s Olym-pigs update:

Olympigs – day 4 – Chomp of war
Today was the Chomp of war and again a guinea pig did not join …… Zippy.
Before yesterday, Zippy had won gold and today he could not get it back. Mum put some grapes in, and from the start, the event began. Bungle looked to have sealed the gold medal, but George snatched it back and won back – to – back golds. With two golds and two silvers, George is getting closer to the Olympigs title. Zippy and Bungle are tied, but George is just clear……
Results and rankings:
George 10pts 2 gold and 2 silvers
Zippy 8pts 1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze
Bungle 8pts 1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.
Tomorrow’s event is:
Who can go through the tunnel the quickest?

London 2012:
Today, while in Wokingham I (if I am not mistaken) saw the Olympic medals: gold, silver and bronze hanging from a jewellery shop.
Tonight, I’ll be watching the Swimming relays and a few other Swimming events with Dad.

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Ladybirds update:
The remaining ladybirds-to-be have pupa-ted, I’ve counted 7 (so potentially 18 have been eaten)!

This is a close-up of one, very difficult to get a picture as the majority are tucked under the zip:

So, it’s gone ok today, hope everyone else’s has too, comments/RTs as ever welcomed, thanks for reading Jx 😘

Monday 30th July – “Olym-pigs” day 3

Over to our roving reporter, T aka Mr Pick:

Olympigs- day 3
Today was the third day of the Olympigs with another disqualification but this time going to Bungle. It was “who could reach the highest up the cage for a carrot piece”. At the start, Bungle stepped onto the green step and then competed which then he was disqualified.
Zippy was looking to defend the gold medal but lost it when George was second highest when Bungle was disqualified so he got the gold to defend, leaving Zippy to silver and Bungle with bronze.
Here are the results:
George 7pts 1gold, 2 silver
Zippy 6pts 1 gold, 1 Silver 1 bronze
Bungle 5pts 1gold, 2 bronze.

London 2012:
I watched Team GB against UAE last night with Dad. They won 3:1. Team GB need to avoid loosing against Uruguay to qualify for the quarter finals. We switched over to see Rebecca Adlington win her bronze medal.

Here are some Olympig pictures:

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T is really enjoying doing his little blog update and the league tables. He’s extremely stern on disqualification for unsporting behaviour – Bungle take note!

We’ve had a very busy but productive day. This morning was full of phone admin for both Hubbie’s work and the football team he coaches, shopping delivery with all that entailing and a child coming to play for a couple of hours. Phew! It was all calm by lunchtime but by mid morning D was seeking solitude in the day bed with a cover over her, poor thing.

T had his eye test this afternoon, D was very relaxed about it because she knew it wasn’t her test! This is T whilst we were waiting, testing us both on the chart:

D’s glasses have made such a difference, she read all the rows with ease. She enjoyed watching T have his eye test. It only took about 15 minutes and it was very hard not to compare the two tests in two weeks – today’s was sailed through, last week’s with the sensory difficulties and anxieties that autism brings.

As we were near to a shoe shop and it, more importantly, wasn’t busy, I thought we’d get their feet measured. Last time, D was half a shoe size larger than T, this has increased to a whole shoe size, despite the fact she is 18 months younger (also taller too).

Having a child who looks older than her actual years but is emotionally much younger, brings so many concerns for the future, but it’s focussing on day-to-day and trying not to think about that too much I guess.

The big appointment tomorrow (CAMHS), luckily today has been too full on to think about it too much. Not going with any previous experience of them or any expectations, which is probably best. Main focus will be keeping D calm on the way (a train ride to an unfamiliar place away).

So that’s our day, hope everyone’s had a good one, comments/RTs as ever welcomed, thanks for reading Jx 😘

Sunday 29th July – “Olym-pigs day 2″

Over to T for details of today’s event:

On day 2 of the Olympigs, Zippy grabbed the gold in “who can eat the cucumber the fastest” . After he had a slow start to it, Zippy switched on his power button (just kidding) and zoomed to bag top spot.
Bungle looked likely to bag two golds in two days, but a slow finish cost him gold and silver to get bronze.
Meanwhile, George was speeding to gold, but got two silvers in two days because Zippy charged to gold to deny George a first gold. Here are the results: (3 points for golds, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze).
Rankings:
Zippy 4pts 1 gold and 1 bronze.
George 4pts 2 silvers.
Bungle 4pts 1 gold and 1 bronze.
Tomorrow’s event will be “who can reach the highest for the carrot stick”.

London 2012:
I am loving the Olympics because of the football, basketball and more events especially the medal events.
The medal events have been the most exciting because obviously the athletes have been competing for the medals.

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T is so into London 2012, he’s constantly reading his official programme, he’s got his cards and we’ve starting collecting the coins too (those individual event 50p coins that are not 50p!). They’ve starting selling them in Waitrose by the tills so pester power opportunities aplenty.

Waitrose is also selling “Fifty Shades of Grey”…with the cookbooks! Steamy…

I guess today hasn’t gone too badly, D has been a bit miffed at the amount of sport on the TV so it’s been rationed to a couple of events today and we’ve all had a go on “wii party” instead. There is a competitive element on most of the games but we’ve had D do the games she’s good at, same with T so it’s been a group effort under an individual Mii.

Whenever you ask D about school, she has a stock answer “I have a new teacher in September, her name is xxx and we will be in a class with new and old friends” and “I have six weeks holiday until September”. These are the exact words used on her social story she brought home. She asked me tonight if it was school tomorrow and I explained it was 5 weeks left until school and she did seem happy with that.

It just reinforces the problem that whilst you can ask her a question and she will reply with the correct answer (ie. school), the understanding is not always there as to the length of time until that event happens. Events that happen yesterday – for example – are described as a “hundred million weeks ago”.

I presume the only way I can help to reinforce the time concept is via PECs and calendars, any suggestions would really be welcomed, thanks.

Ladybird update:
There does seem to be pupa activity. Some have gone to the top of the area and curled up. It’s impossible to get a picture as they are right under the zip and if I opened the zip, the (very) few that are left would get damaged. We started off with 25 little insects, I think we must have maybe 8 (?) now. It’s definitely a “survival of the fittest” experience.

So, that’s our day, it’s been a bit up and down but that’s to be expected, hope everyone’s had a good day, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘

Saturday 28th July – first “Olym-pig” event

The Olympigs- day 2- The sprint:
The Olympigs started today at 1:50pm in the sprint arena.
As the piggies geared up for the race, they came to the starting line and got ready. Zippy was disqualified for a false start in the sprint, meaning he’d get the bronze medal at the end of the race.
So now only Bungle and George were left…..
The starting flag rose into the air like a bird taking flight.
George had the advantage as he sprinted sniffing out the carrot at the end but in the last 90 cm, Bungle charged up and sprinted to the finish line before George. At the end they got given their medals. George is now 2nd overall in the rankings with Zippy third. But Bungle is 1st in the rankings going into the “who can eat the cucumber the fastest?” race.
London 2012:
I watched the opening ceremony last night, it was amazing!
I could not believe my eyes, the teams came in and how many decorations came down on Team Great Britain? Millions. Usain Bolt was there, so was every awesome athlete you could imagine!

Gold medal for Bungle, silver for George. Back to their cage for treats and a rest before tomorrow’s event.
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Back to our day…
Which started VERY early, 5am to be precise. I was woken up by the sound of D crying by the side of the bed because she couldn’t find her glasses. She doesn’t wake me up if she needs me, but waits for me to wake up and see her there! Sometimes it’s a shadow looming in the darkness that wakes me, sometimes it’s her tears, bless her. We found the glasses (where they were meant to be) and she eventually settled.

Because of her early start I took her with me when I had my nails done this morning 💅 – I would have probably taken her anyway, rather than come home to a virtual battlefield and a stressed Hubbie. D had her playmobil and Bunny and for most of the time played on my phone, but she was ever sensitive to every unfamiliar noise associated with a beauty salon and eventually ended up on my lap. I needed Mr Tickle arms and the manicurist was so patient, thank goodness.

By the time that was finished it was busy at the shops. D walked alongside for a bit but was then much happier in her buggy. She noticed other children staring at her today and thought it “was rude”, I always tell her they’re staring because she’s so gorgeous but it might be appropriate (after we’ve got CAMHS out of the way on Tuesday) to start explaining things to her. I’ve always resisted presenting her with this “label” but I think it might be time.

We all watched the (mens) beach volleyball this afternoon and it seemed to be universally popular. T thought it was hilarious when one man fell over and I quipped “eat sand!”, D didn’t and promptly spent the next few moments telling me that sand wasn’t for eating and I shouldn’t have said that. Absolutely right of course 😳

We (D & I) haven’t got around to watching the Opening Ceremony yet, I don’t honestly know if she’ll enjoy it, apart from the “Mr Bean” moment, it might not make much sense to her. Maybe we’ll have a look tomorrow.

I have noticed today two major benefits to her wearing her glasses – she’s now longer screwing up her eyes when watching TV and, more importantly, she is definitely making more eye contact when speaking. I thought it was a fluke at first but yes, there is an improvement.

Hoping for a better night tonight (sleep-wise) and I hope everyone’s had a good day. It was noticeable when we left the house at 830am how few cars/people there were around, the viewing figures for last night’s Opening Ceremony must have been unbelievable.

Thanks for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘

Friday 27th July – “Olym-pigs” opening ceremony

*trumpet fanfare* …..

Olym-pigs Opening Ceremony and the countdown:
(over to our roving reporter, T)

Today we had the opening ceremony of the Olympigs with only one day to go until it really gets started.
At the start of it we put two union jack flags on each side of the cage, then putting our logo in the middle of the opened cage.
It was a short one, but at least we had one.
London 2012:
For the Olympics today we had a go at the new game: Thumb- pics where you do certain events to be a champion.
I’ve also read the Olympic programme today as well.
We also spotted a lot of flags for the Olympics today while going up to the shops.
Me and Dad are also going to watch the opening ceremony tonight (well at least some of it).

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Well done to T, he’s so excited about London 2012, Hubbie bought home the official programme last night (£10 *cough*) and T has been reading through it today. For a stats-boy like him, it’s brilliant. Detailing all the sports, their venues and 2008 gold medal winners, all well as “ones to watch”. He’s 9.5yrs so this Games will be one he’ll remember and tell his children/grandchildren about.

We are planning some “events” for the piggies but it depends how co-operative they are and how warm it is. Fruit snacks as an incentive!

As T mentioned, we did pop up to the shops today, it was really busy and there were a few stares and “why is she in that buggy? She’s not a baby”. Now, if the parents bothered to make eye contact with me, I would produce a leaflet about autism from my bag but they don’t, they scuttle away with their children, leaving me sad and a bit cross.

Pleased to say that D popped her glasses on as soon as she got up this morning (6.15am again D, it’s the holidays!) and she even insisted on taking her glasses case with her when we went out, in case her glasses needed a clean. We did ask about prescription sunglasses for her…Blimey they’re expensive!! I think we’ll stick to a sun hat & her existing ones!

This is what she’s been doing for a great deal of the afternoon:

Transferring Hama beads from container to bowl and back again, either using a spoon or her fingers. Enjoying that sensory effect of the noise and the feel of the beads. Bunny as ever close by.

Keeping in with routine, she won’t be watch the opening ceremony tonight. It’s on too late and it means T & Hubbie can do their “boys night in” bit, complete with snacks etc. I will record it for her and we’ll watch it at some point.

I hope everyone’s had a good day. Thanks for reading. Comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘

Thursday 26th July

Thank you SO much to everyone who’s taken the time to read and comment on my T’s first ever blog post – see “The Olym-pigs”. He’s been quietly pleased everytime comments have come in and I hope he’ll do a little segment every day during London 2012, whether it be through his eyes or our Olym-Pigs!

We had our own mini torch relay today, all orchestrated by T – the map, the logo everything. The small torches (which don’t contain any gas & therefore no harm to the piggies/children were made by Corgi & we got ours from Amazon but I know John Lewis also do them). Here are the pictures:

Our Olym-Pig logo:

Our route for the “torch relay”:

T & D ready to go & their torches touching mid-way:

Bungle was a torch carrier too:

And, the finish:

Whoever wasn’t running did the flag-waving and cheering, lots of fun! D joined in very well and they both have their torches in their “medal shelves”.

After all that excitement and out-of-routine activity, D has been very up and down for the rest of the day. Very sensitive, very prone to suddenly taking herself off, preferring to be close to me (which is very much the norm this week). Her day started early this morning, watching Annoying Orange (and it is!) on YouTube and by mid afternoon, she’d found Epic Mickey with a German soundtrack. Nothing wrong with that but, with her amazing memory and echolalia (repeating learnt script), it could make the next few days interesting!

The lovely optician dropped D’s glasses off this afternoon:

She’s worn them ever since. He chose a lovely case for them too, which she approved off. He really appreciated his thank-you picture as well!

My task is going to be ensuring that she wears them and we’re going on a prescription sunglasses hunt tomorrow too. It should be much easier now we have a prescription for her, no more eye tests needed – for the next six months anyway.

My last images tonight are two that the Autism All Stars Foundation sent me, I think they’re a really useful tool. The images are also on my timeline, but I’d you’d like me to send them out again, please tweet me (@AutismMumma).

I was clearing out my “spam” comments folder today and some of the comments were really offensive. I don’t know why people take it upon themselves to do that, thank goodness for filters. One of them though made me think, they thought my blog titles (i.e. just the date) were boring, well … I have thought that myself but it is a daily diary blog. So, I can’t think of anything else to call it.

Anyway, that’s us. An up and down day but that was to be expected. Umm…comments/RTs as ever welcomed! Thanks for reading (and T’s post earlier) Jx 😘

The “Olym-pigs” torch relay – Guest Author 9year old T

The “Olym-pigs” torch relay – by our roving reporter T

The “Olym- pigs” torch relay started today and ended today.
The relay passed by different sections of our house with our guinea pig torch bearer (Bungle) ending an awesome event for guinea pigs. The relay started in our downstairs hall ending at the same place.

It took around a few minutes to complete until we finished the relay, one day before the main event starts. Meanwhile, the other guinea pigs (George and Zippy) both had a part SQUEAKING!

The guinea pigs are at the moment training for the event, with the Gold medal meal (Banana), the Silver medal meal ( Cucumber) and the Bronze medal meal (Carrot) gleaming in their eyes.

The10m gold is looking likely for gold for Zippy.

The crawling up the cage event is looking likely for gold for George.

The sprint event is looking likely for gold for Bungle.

Anyway here’s Bungle carrying the torch…….

(this is T’s first blog, he’s going to be adding to the daily blog with a 9year old/guinea pigs’ view on the London 2012 games. I’m sure he’d love comments! Thanks Jx 😘)

Wednesday 25th July

This time next week we’ll be in August and the Olympics (shush, don’t mention the “O” word) will be in full swing. We have our own little homage to the Olympics (shush) starting tomorrow😃

On the whole it’s been another “okay” day, I had thought D would really struggle without the rigidity of school, but the fact that we have had fewer children around and it’s therefore less busy, has really helped her I think. We ventured out to the shops – I’ve been suffering Costa mocha withdrawal
symptoms! – and it was literally D in her buggy, shop 1, quick look in shop 2 and then Costa! We went early and amazingly the back part of the coffee shop – which is normally full of buggies and little children – was completely free. So D (and T) were totally relaxed, wearing down the battery on my phone and playing “one potato, two potato”:

We had a whole variety of her small farm animals accompany us, plus two books, plus Bunny and she very rarely wants to use a bag, preferring instead to carry them all – security I guess.

Things were slightly busier at home this pm, with T full of beans and lots of energy to burn. D got hit in the face by a ball and it took her a long time to calm down and she has been quite temperamental since (not surprisingly).

Hubbie has mostly borne the brunt of it, she will be absolutely lovely with me and then he’ll say something – a quip which she doesn’t get – and then she’ll turn on him.

She’s settling happily now – phew – after all that and has told us that she doesn’t sleep, she stays awake ALL night working (drawing) – well, until the melatonin kicks in D!

Ladybird update – day 13:

No, they don’t look like that yet but they have grown bigger:

It’s impossible to count them but I don’t think we have 25, which means their cannabalistic instincts have come out. We have been looking in the garden for greenfly but there hasn’t been any around. I presume they will start to pupate soon (well, those that are left!)

That’s us, I hope everyone’s had a good day, comments/RTs as ever welcomed, thanks for reading Jx 😘

Tuesday 24th July

Shall I answer the question first? Yes, D did need glasses, she’s short-sighted. She’s chosen a very pretty pink frame and they should be ready Friday. The wonderful optician might even drop them round as it was a 40 minute walk there and a slower walk back.

She’s done a thank-you picture in anticipation. This is D in her new glasses (and very big feet!):

The optician was wonderful and used to SN children. Completely different from our SpecSavers experience. Very calm atmosphere, happy for her to stay in her buggy, very relaxed way of doing the tests. I was amazed at the choice on the NHS too. She’ll go back in 6 months for a re-test. If you’re in Berkshire, I can’t recommend this optician enough!

I was so pleased and proud of her (and T for sitting there quietly too), we’d had a few anxieties this morning. I guess because she didn’t know what to expect but she was calm by the time we left.

This is D just about to leave “Have Bunny, will travel”!

And her waiting very patiently and relaxed in the reception area.

Of course, the biggie is the CAMHS appointment next Tuesday. I’ve spread them out purposefully to allow enough time to talk with her about what each appointment will entail. Gently starting discussing it this afternoon and try and have a short chat about it every day.

She’s been in great form this afternoon, playing play golf with T (taking chunks out of the garden), think they’re both pleased that one appointment is out of the way!

Relieved that my leg withstood the walk in the heat too – it didn’t have much choice, no direct public transport – it finally seems to have accepted the antibiotics, phew!

So, that’s us. A better day than expected but with the anticipated result. Hope everyone’s had a good day. Comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘

Monday 23rd July

The first day of the school holidays and it’s generally gone ok *grins*.

D has been able to play in the paddling pool – that we’re now allowed to fill – and she’s been very relaxed, sticking close to me.

She has had a couple of spells of doing what-she-used-to-do – walking up and down/round toys on the floor continuously with a blank look on her face. It used to be quite upsetting to watch her doing that, being completely zoned out when she was doing it, but I know now to wait until she’s “come back” and then ask her how she is. In today’s cases, she was “thinking about ice”!

She’s been open to preparation for her trip to the optician tomorrow, she’s very adamant she doesn’t need glasses “as I can read fine” and she can for sure, it’s combating that “pin-hole vision” that she uses at times when watching TV/looking at the board at school. Lots of reassurance given that the optician (who was recommended by the hospital as being very good with SN children) will be a nice, calm, patient man (hope so). Guess I will know for definite one way or the other re glasses tomorrow.

T has had a good day too, reading as much as he can about the Olympics (whoops I’m not allowed to write that word!) and being in the pool with his sister. I hope his Match magazine arrives before we have to leave tomorrow, otherwise there may be sulks!

Hope everyone’s had a good day, thanks for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘