Sunday 12th August – Olympigs is decided…

A mega exciting day for T, here he is:

Olympigs:
The olympigs ended today with a few surprises, with one of them being Bungle having to share his gold medal with George. Zippy flew away from the starting line and the clear tunnel was very popular! Zippy came a much needed first, with George second and Bungle third.
The overall end table is:
Bungle & George – joint Gold medal
Zippy – bronze

The course & a piggies eye view:

The end ceremony was George eating the props!

London 2012:
The Olympic games will come to a close tonight but the Paralympic games are still to come so Olympic & Paralympic fans can still get a taste of the action. I’m looking forward to watching the closing ceremony. Last night me & Dad watched some of the diving in the 10metre platform when Tom Daley won a bronze. I enjoyed watching Usain Bolt in the relay and Mo Farah winning another gold.

My day:
Today I went to Villa Park with Dad and some of my local team to the Community Shield. When we got there, we went into an Academy where we did warm-up exercises and at the end, we got a free programme, our match ticket and an access all areas lanyard. After that we did a parade around the pitch, waving a flag behind our team banner. I enjoyed watching the match, although Chelsea lost.
Here’s my flag and goodies:

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An exciting day for T, although he’s been to FA cup games before, he’d never been to a Community Shield game. He enjoyed the experience – as did Hubbie!

D and I has our girly shopping trip, which didn’t go brilliantly. The bus had diversions on the way there and back, turning a 15 minute trip into a 45 minute trip each way!

Town was extremely busy and D didn’t enjoy queuing. One shop assistant took us to another till (which turned out not to be working – aargh!) and we then had to go to another till, this was all too much for D…. Bolt time in John Lewis!

Lunch was very busy too and it was after that, that we nearly had another bolt situation. It was all getting too much for her. She started saying she didn’t want to be alive, she wanted to be in the bottom of the river (this was all said on the banks of the River Thames which runs through the shopping centre, so a bit concerning). To calm her down and take her focus off her anxieties, I gave her my finger to bite (usually calms her down), this is 5 minutes after…..ouch!

She calmed down after that and then we had the diverted bus home, she did very well, closing her eyes and relaxing in her buggy whilst other people were moaning about the length of time it took.

Colouring when we got home and she’s also added her comments onto her “artwork by D” blog.

So…a bit of an up & down day but it was to be expected really with the very busy shopping expedition etc.

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

Saturday 11th August – getting very close for the Olympigs…

Here’s T’s post:

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Today’s event was ‘who can eat cucumber the fastest’ and, today, the first medal was decided. It was really obvious if one was going to be decided,
it would be Zippy’s. He took the overall bronze while tomorrow, Bungle and George will battle it out for gold. George got a much needed 1st place today, a lower result would have seen every medal decided. Tomorrow, George will need to win, while he also hopes Bungle comes last, any other result would see Bungle take gold.
The results with one day to go:
Bungle 32 pts
George 31 pts
Zippy 27 pts. Bronze medalist
One day left….

London 2012:
I watched the football final today and it ended Brazil 1-2 Mexico! Brazil have never ever won an Olympic football tournament in their history, it’s the only honour they have never won. Anyway, Mo Farah will be running tonight at
7:30pm in the 5,000 metres. He could go home with two gold medals to his name. Only one day left….
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Winner George chomping his extra stick of victory cucumber:

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I had a lovely tweet today, it’s replicated below:
@larsthelucky: @AutismMumma a much as the #olympics has inspired nations. Your #olympigs has given smiles and laughs to special families :))

I’m always so grateful when my posts are read and I’ve really enjoyed T’s posts too, he’s got an enthusiasm and wit around his writing. Hubbie and I always say if he doesn’t end up a footballer, he’ll be a writer.

We’ve had another calm (ish) day today, *whispers “thank you”, D’s been very happy to play her Moon Dough, burying her small toys in there and setting them free. That and watching “Tom & Jerry”, at one point it was both showing on the Boomerang channel and on YouTube on my phone!

Days like this, when she’s calm, give us all a breather and we can “store up” reserves for when the days aren’t so good.

The day got made better by this:

A lovely surprise and the postman was quite curious as to why Waitrose were sending me a “special delivery letter”!

D and I will be heading from for a girly-shop tomorrow c/o John Lewis. She’s fascinated by the “gold cash” as she calls the vouchers! The menfolk are heading off to the Community Shield match between Chelsea & Manchester City, T’s club have a part to play in it, all very exciting!! Hopefully Hubbie will take some pictures that I’ll be able to post tomorrow.

So…that’s our day, a nice sunny Saturday. Tomorrow will probably be completely different but that’s life with D, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Comments/RTs as ever welcomed, thanks for reading Jx 😘

Friday 10th August – double Olympig event & a pool surprise!

Heeeeeeere’s T:

Today, was another big day for Zippy where he had to win a maximum of 1 event, and he did. As it continued to be a ‘no gold medal day’ for George, he is still just in with a chance with Zippy closing in. Today’s events were a Sprint and Speed apple eating. In the Sprint,
they had to sprint to apple which would set up the next event. Anyway, we had the sprint and it started, and just when we said GO Zippy was already nearly done!
(It was not a false start!!!) Zippy crossed the line first, the leader Bungle came second and George crossing last. Zippy got the all important 3 points. The table then was:
Bungle 28 points
George 26
Zippy 24 .
The speed eating was next and Bungle got the right points to make him clear by three points.
Bungle cruised to another victory, George another silver and Zippy another bronze.
Here is the table!:
Bungle 31 pts
George 28 pts
Zippy 25 pts.
The last weekend of this tournament awaits….

London 2012:
Usain Bolt is fast! Jamaica 1, 2 and 3. Me and Dad are watching athletics and men’s football tonight. Mum says that’s a surprise!

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That good day I was hoping for with D arrived today, a nice end to the week.

Our day started in the small hours with D bringing me in her ear defenders “in case Daddy snores”! She settled back to sleep after some bubble making in her room. She does seem to have a fascination with knowing that Hubbie’s snoring doesn’t keep me awake!

T & D have had loads of fun in the paddling pool – once I could work out which one hadn’t been clawed by this beastie (Bitsey):

Once they were in, D was absolutely loving the cold water from the hose, she’s always loved really really cold water! Her hair was getting so wet, she agreed to have a hairwash in the pool, rinse off with the hose etc. It must have been so cold and she always makes such a fuss in the bath… Maybe that’s the answer!!

Their free Babybel space hopper came today, loads of free stickers to personalise it:

And enough left over for D to make a picture of her “and Daddy looking cool”:

They’ve both enjoyed the space hopper!

So, a good day at last. I hope everyone’s had a good day and enjoyed the weather. Thanks for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcome Jx 😘

Thursday 9th August – Olympigs rest day & pipe cleaners

T’s blog is returning tomorrow, we’ve had quite a day with D etc and he had football training until late tonight.

So…..a rest day for the Olympigs, they’ll need it as two events tomorrow to catch up and a double London 2012 update from T.

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As indicated above, it’s been another up and down day with D. One minute she’s fine and then something will trigger and she’ll be off, generally up to her room or into the hall, by the front door where there’s an alcove.

At least the duplicate book arrived, which means they each have their own copy now.

This is what she’s been doing this afternoon, lining up and straightening pipe cleaners, all sorts of different sizes and colours.

She’s not been wanting anyone else to touch them and naturally they’ve headed upstairs with her.

This book arrived today too, D wasn’t in the mood for reading it (maybe tomorrow) but it’s really good, tells the story of how Wenlock and Mandeville got their names:

A happier D by nighttime routine, bubble blowing etc.

So..hoping tomorrow is a better day. Thanks for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘

Wednesday 8th August – Olympigs & art work

T’s update first:

Today’s event was who can sprint to the grass the fastest? and again Bungle got another gold medal to secure his lead as he battles for Olympigs gold. George, who has hardly won a bronze yet, got silver again! Zippy got bronze and only one point as he totals 21 points. He and George are chasing Bungle for gold, but Zippy can overtake Bungle if he wins the next three events and Bungle losses them all, which is hardly unlikely to happen.

So, the grass was dropped in, and to be fair, Bungle did have a head start on George, making him the eventual winner. Zippy did peak out several times, but couldn’t find a way past his two opponents until the end. With only 4 days left, Zippy can still just win gold. Now, here are the results:
Bungle 26 points.
George 25 points
Zippy 21 points

The upcoming events:
Timetable:
Tomorrow- Sprint
Friday- who can chew the dandelion leaf the quickest?
Saturday- Who can eat a large bit of cucumber quickest?
Sunday- Who can run through a tube the fastest?- Medal ceremony- Closing ceremony.

London 2012:
I know the Paralympic games haven’t started yet, but, I was asked today by Mum if I would like to go and see some events at the Paralympic games!!!
The ceremony’s, table tennis, football and I think a few more as well.
Anyway, I think we might be watching a few events tonight, maybe some Athletics and other events.

Freshly cut grass chompers:

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T’s right, I have been looking at Paralympic tickets today. I know he would absolutely love to go, it’s just weighing all the pros & cons up. I presume if you buy a ticket for one event, they turf you out of the seat as soon as that event has finished? Or maybe take them up for the Team GB victory parade? Not sure, need to really consider it all.

If you haven’t looked, I’ve put a post up of some of D’s pictures. She always does happy, positive pictures and I think the ones I’ve included reflect that 😃.

Our day has been Busy, with a capital B. We had a couple of children over to play and more bodies/more noise equaled more anxiety for D. She spent her time going from participating D to overloaded D to withdrawing from the play D.

We did enjoy some time at a field near us – which had been freshly mowed, so much long grass cuttings left over (which provided today’s Olympigs event!)

She felt relaxed enough after the children had gone home to do a wonderful drawing, I love the detail:

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

Tuesday 7th August – Olympigs obstacle course

A hilarious olympigs event today, over to T:

Well, today, was surely one of the funniest events for a while, and, again, George had to settle for bronze and second place in the table. Today’s event, (as I said on Sunday) was the Obstacle Course with several obstacles which were a duck toy, rugby ball and a tunnel which was a large plastic bottle (with no ends) and a usual tunnel.
We started with Bungle, and his time was like a new world record! He did it in a massive 00:03.06!!! With pure trickery and class, he wriggled his way through the obstacles.
Next was George, hoping to beat Bungle’s score. He did it in a disappointing 00:05.03, but, looking on the good side, he is only one point behind Bungle the leader.
Zippy, was next, and, he could be a surprise winner of this, and a time of 00:05.02 should help him.
Bungle got gold, Zippy got silver and George got bronze.
Here is the standings so far:
Bungle 23pts
George 22pts
Zippy 20pts.

London 2012
Great Britain are still in third place in the medal table with a remarkable 20 gold medals won in sports.
USA have over forty gold medals, most of them from the swimming.
Yesterday, Jason Kenny won gold medal in the men’s sprint in Cycling Track. We are the most successful Cycling Track team in this Olympics!
I wonder how hot it will be in Brazil in four years?

George & Bungle competing & a “spectator”!

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T was right, the obstacle course event was hilarious. I only just remembered we had to take pictures, it was so funny and all the while, Itsey was looking down intently! She won’t ever do anything, the most she has ever “caught” are wet leaves and one worm!

We popped into town today as we have children over to play next couple of days. D coped very well with the crowds, she stayed firmly in her “comfort zone”, her buggy but it’s hard to see groups of girls out shopping/just having fun and knowing that D probably won’t be a part of that. But she’s healthy and (for the most part) happy (setting aside those anxieties) and I am very grateful for that

Ladybug update:
Ummm to say that it’s been a bit of a disappointment is an understatement. We received 25 larvae in our pack and at the end of it, we had one “nice” ladybird and three “nasty” ones. So 21 or so had been chomped. Definitely a “survival of the fittest”, here’s the one remaining “nice” one:

So, that’s been our day, I hope everyone’s had a good day too, comments/RTs as ever welcomed. Thanks for reading Jx 😘

Monday 6th August – Olympigs and anxieties

Over to T:

Today’s event was “tunnelling out of hay”, and, when Zippy came third yesterday, He really needed a win today. Third would get him 16points, second : 17points and first: 18points. Any result would keep him behind, but, (if he came first) it would set himself up nicely to get 2nd spot tomorrow.
Once they were all in, we dropped hay in, and, we started using a stopwatch to keep track of the times. Just what he needed, Zippy tunnelled out of the hay in: 00:00.07 seconds!
Bungle tunnelled out in: 00:01.09 seconds, then George doing it in: 00:02.05 seconds. Zippy needed a win, and, got one to get 18 points. George claimed his 3rd bronze, Bungle claimed a silver, but, Zippy lit up the times, with less than a second to claim gold.
Here are the rankings:
George 21pts
Bungle 20 pts
Zippy 18pts.
Tomorrow, Bungle could retain top spot, leaving pressure on George to not get closed down by Zippy.

The schedule for the next two days:
August 7- Tuesday- Obstacle course,
August 8- Wednesday- Sprint.
Two more days of events that Zippy is good at, can he get top spot with two golds in two days…
But he needs to watch out, Bungle is coming as well…

London 2012:
Last night, I saw Usain Bolt shave 00:00.06 seconds of his Olympic record to get a time of: 00:09.63!
It was over in a flash, but, he did have rivalry from Yohan Blake and Justin Gatlin. They all took medals home, but, lucky Usain Bolt, he got given a Wenlock toy from Wenlock as they both did Bolt’s expression together. I was thinking Bolt could put his gold medal around Wenlock’s head when he goes to sleep!
Anyway, Blake took the silver and Gatlin took bronze, leaving
Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell missing out on medals!
But, Asafa Powell slowed down because it turned out, he had an injury, so he finished in 12 seconds.
Bolt could go home with 3 gold medals because he is going to do the 200 m and 4 by 100 m relay…..

Tunnelled out & chomping:

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T is really enjoying doing his write-ups on both the olympigs & London 2012 😃

T & D were both having a good day, playing outside with a toy story sports set we’d bought – badminton, rugby ball, frisbee and all for £6!

They were enjoying themselves until something went wrong and D scratched T’s chest really hard with her nails, left horrible claw-like marks.

It really brings things down when this happens – you’ve got one child who has been hurt by the other and one who is absolutely furious for some reason & that’s why it’s happened. Octopus arms needed.

She was calm enough later for us all to
watch “Willy Wonka”, she cackled away at the opening sequences with all the chocolate and the actions of the other children who won tickets gave us some talking points during our bedtime routine.

We also talked about her scratching T and she said it was because “he was fighting her down” so it does sound like a bit of brother-sister antics that got a bit out of hand. It’s a shame that D couldn’t say that at the time.

A new day tomorrow, we’ll see what that brings!

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

Sunday 5th August – Olympigs and a party

Today’s Olympigs & London 2012 update from T:

Today’s event was Weightlifting or in other words, lifting a tube with some hay in. Again, George winning gold for the fourth time in a row, he is turning into the dominance of the tournament, but, had to share the gold with Bungle, with AGAIN Zippy getting a bronze medal. We put a tube in with hay and straw in, and, right from the start, George started lifting, but Bungle caught up and tied with George for the gold, so they both got 3 points.
Here are the rankings and standings:
George 20pts
Bungle 18pts
Zippy 15pts.

George is getting closed down, but, Zippy can not be written off, he is only 3 points behind Bungle and is only 5 points behind George. The next two events are:
Tomorrow: tunnelling out of hay.
Tuesday: Obstacle course (if they don’t eat the obstacles)
The favourite for tomorrows event is:
Zippy
Then the favourite for Tuesdays event is:
Zippy.

London 2012:
Today, Andy Murray and Ben Ainsle have got golds today (as far as I know)!
We are getting very successful at getting golds, we have 16 of them!!
We are third in the medal table, behind China and the USA.
Team GB athletes are in the 100m final only two of them.
I would say Usain Bolt is going to win another gold medal tonight, with Yohan Blake getting silver and Tyson Gay getting bronze.

Bungle & George “weight-lifting”:

Zippy looking on.
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Our day:

Poor D did not sleep well last night, combination of an up & down day and noisy neighbours.

She did however wake up in very good form, saying it was a special day today because she was going to the birthday party. She was in her party dress by 10am, with wipes very close by!

The party was an optional pool party and then bouncy castle. She didn’t want to go in the pool so she had the bouncy castle & balloons virtually to herself for the first half hour.

There was another little girl there who was constantly trying to get into our bags/get in the buggy/take D’s shoes which upset her and she very publicly declared she wanted to go home.
This is when you’re torn between “well, you’re staying because it was nice that you were invited” and the wishes of your child. Some of her classmates arrived from the pool after that and she perked up – until one accidentally jumped on her foot.

She’s been happiest being next to me and we had a good game of balloon badminton, with D doing the little squeaks that the tennis players do.

When she hasn’t been upset, she’s enjoyed herself but to any onlooker, who didn’t know she has autism and anxieties, she would seem like a spoilt ill-mannered girl. She was very good at thanking the birthday boys (two downs syndrome brothers) and their mum for having her at the party, which is something.

Here’s some pictures:

Happy D at the start of the party:

Bouncing!

Playing balloon badminton:

As I mentioned earlier, we have been given the codes for an app, which is looking really really good, we had a little go on it today and I will write a post on it in the next few days. This is a picture of it:

Very interactive app, reading & understanding required of the questions and lots of options of lesson content etc.

Hoping for a better nights sleep forbD tonight and that any anxieties from today don’t manifest.

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

Tonight’s picture I found in a magazine & I thought the Queen looked the most animated I’ve ever seen her in a picture, makes me smile:

Saturday 4th August – olympigs and anxieties

T’s section first:

Today’s event was speed pepper eating
and today, George extended his lead at the top of the table with another gold medal. The pepper went in, and, George sped to it and started speed eating. Bungle came out seconds after George came out and started eating, but, was no match for George. Zippy, again, did not start, and again he had to settle for bronze, that only gave him a point to add to his 13.
Here’s the table:
George 17pts
Bungle 15pts
Zippy 14pts.

Zippy will have to hope that George comes last tomorrow and Monday to go one ahead of George, but, will be also one point ahead of Bungle to go first by a point. With still many events left, anything could happen…..

London 2012:
I’m really enjoying it when Great Britain are getting medals, it’s also fascinating when other nations are competing. Yesterday, Team GB won loads of medals getting lots of golds. We won the Cycling track x2 and Rowing x2. We also won a couple of Rowing golds and Cycling gold today, and we also should get a gold in the heptathlon, with Jessica Ennis winning.

The piggies waiting to start their event:

George in the lead:

Bungle couldn’t catch up:

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Our day:

It hasn’t been brilliant, to be honest. D has been very up and down again. One minute she’s a happy girl, the next full of anxieties.

We did have some “girlie” time when I painted her nails:

And then it all went wrong after one got smudged, she decided she’d repaint it, that ended up with way too much polish on which smudged even more …etc etc.

It was only during the evening routine that she told me what had been upsetting her – she wouldn’t or couldn’t during the day.

She had a bad dream last night, which was still upsetting her when she was telling me. All about an “evil Mumma” who was making her work hard doing writing. D managed to escape from the house and the TV (another one of her anxieties) and go to a hotel where she ate cake!

I know she was cross with all the “hats” I wore yesterday and presume that was the reason for the dream. So grateful that she can tell me this, even if it has taken until the evening.

After two up and down days, tomorrow has GOT to be better, yes?

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

Friday 3rd August

Here’s T with today’s Olympig event:

We had the “Dandelion leaf sprint” today. We waited until they were all in their house and then put the leaves in and called them! Bungle was first, swiftly followed George and then Zippy.
This means the table is:
George 16 points
Bungle 16 points
Zippy 14 points
All very tight and everything to play for!

London 2012:
I’m really enjoying watching the Olympics and playing on the “Mario & Sonic games”. Team GB are third in the table now. Dad and I are watching more swimming tonight, we watched the cycling earlier.

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It’s been a busy day together. T & D wanted to go and have a MaccyD and get the latest Happy Meal toy (Olympic mascot fencing) , which is a bit of a farce as they both only like the chips (!) so they have them & I have the nuggets. Way too much sensory overload in MaccyD so we ate them on a windy stretch by the canal!

It was very very busy in town, absolutely full of shoppers and tourists, well we are only half an hour from Paddington.

D got a bit stressed by the sheer volume of people and the amount of times my phone rang (see earlier post). We definitely seem to be having okay days and then a down day consecutively this week.

She does seem to be happier without the constrains of school but definitely still needing that routine. We have been testing an autism app this week which uses symbols as a communication tool and when we have used it, it has definitely helped (there will be a separate post on that next week)

The only place in town where both she and T really relaxed was the children’s section in Waterstones – no background music, very few customers and a quiet environment. They (eventually) chose a book each, there are so many books at home but they both love reading 😃

D let out some of her pent-up anxieties once we were back. Lots of shouting and stomping and extreme sensitivity.
She seemed better once that was out of the way and we ended the evening with lots of bubble blowing with a bubble wand and lots of cackling from D.

So…a quiet, calmer day needed tomorrow, before the excitement of the party on Sunday.

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

Poetry corner time:
I was sent a poem today by @MikeGargett and wanted to share it:
“Autism can make the world seem so odd,
Even naughty words like b***er or s*d.
Routine for some must be set in rock,
Over half a million in the autism flock.
They are not naughty or full of spite, and believe it or not very rarely bite.
Loose the stigma and look with an open mind, and you may find them so loving and kind.”