New speech therapist

Boy Lacer was discharged from the hospital speech therapist a while ago and we’d been waiting for an appointment with the community speech therapist. We had an appointment at the beginning of this month but that got cancelled and replaced with one today (during sacred playgroup time, grrrhhh). So it was no playgroup today and a long walk instead, as ironically the community speech therapist is further away than the hospital speech therapist. We could have got the bus part of the way there, but I don’t know about anyone else but I hate getting the bus when I have to be somewhere at a certain time, I’d much rather walk all the way (where it’s a walkable, if long distance) than risk the bus not turning up.

Anyway we got our appointment, the speech therapist did her own assessment; Boy Lacer has apparently got a good attention span, a good vocabulary but does not speak clearly, I could have told her those three things when we walked in. Anyway, she gave lots of advice, to which, for every single piece I nodded and she goes “You do that already don’t you?”, “Yes”. I’m not being smug here, it’s just that Boy Lacer has been in the system for a very long time and I’ve heard the same pieces of advice, over and over again (and yes those pieces of advice have worked, which is why he has a good vocabulary – that and his love of books, speech therapist goes, “Why don’t you try him with very simple picture books?”. Me “Actually, he’s on things like The Gruffalo now, I should of mentioned Charlie and Lola, he can read the story from the pictures of those now). Anyway, the scheme of things, according to the speech therapist, is that Boy Lacer needs to work on his social communication skills and he will be put on the waiting list for a social communication group, however before he is put on the waiting list for the group, I have to attend a parent workshop, where I suspect I’ll be hearing the same stuff I’ve been hearing for the last two plus years, so I’m on the waiting list for that now. Those workshops are probably great for the parents of the newly diagnosed, the ones that didn’t go through the hospital speech therapy department first, but for me? So goodness knows how long all this ‘waiting’ is going to take, I strongly suspect Boy Lacer will be in nursery before a place at the social communication group comes up and that’s the thing, the nursery he is very, very likely to be going to, has a very strong record on social communication work with kids with social communication needs, so it almost puts speech therapy out of the system doesn’t it? What I really feel is more urgent, is Boy Lacer’s lack of clarity in his speech, in that Boy Lacer has a ‘babyish’ tone of voice that can sometimes be hard to understand. To paraphrase the speech therapist though “That would be worked on after the social communication work”. I think being able to be understood, is a very important part of social communication in itself and if his speech patterns improved he may be able to interact with his peers more, I know of course that’s not the only thing holding him back but I think some improvements would help. However, I do remember having speech therapy when I was a kid (5) and the sort of exercises they give you to help improve pronunciation, I doubt Boy Lacer would be able to follow them.

Anyway one interesting thing did happen today, we were in the shop after school, queuing up to pay, this small kid walked in, recognised Boy Lacer and called out his name and said hello. So I guess it was a kid from playgroup. I’m used to Girl Lacer being recognised where ever we go (she seems to have her five year old fingers in every five year old network going) but that was the first time any other kid has called out to Boy Lacer by his name. Could have knocked me down with a feather.

The Sunday Salon – Inkheart and Pippi Longstocking

After pondering last week whether I should be buying any more books, considering that I’d read all my good books and I was only left with the books it turns out I didn’t really want to read in my to-be-read pile. I did cave in and I brought three books from the 3 for 2 pile in the kids section in Waterstones (on the argument that as a wannabe children’s writer, I should really be reading more children’s literature). 

One of those three books was Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, now I’d been looking forward to Inkheart and did toy with the idea of buying the other two as well as part of my 3 for 2 pile, because I do like finding a good author and then gorging on their whole back catalogue but I’m now glad I controlled myself, because to be honest I’m not particularly overly enjoying Inkheart, which is disappointing. Something feels off with the characterisation of the main character Meggie, whilst the other (adult) characters seem more realistic, she says things which doesn’t seem quite right. I don’t know, maybe I’m loosing touch with my inner twelve year old (which would be worrying for a childrens writer). And it was only from about 70 pages in did I reach the end of a chapter and feel a stirring of curiousty about what happens next.

The other book I’m reading at the moment is Pippi Longstocking, the beautiful Lauren Child version

Not part of my 3 for 2 deal, I had received this one from my sister for my birthday back in January. I’m reading it with Girl Lacer and this book has the honour of being the first chapter book that has graced our bedtimes (previously Girl Lacer (5) was just being read picture books). Girl Lacer is loving it and so am I, we read a chapter at a time, although she wasn’t as keen on the first half of the last chapter we read, the one where Pippi is sitting on a gate eating pears and tells a long tale about a Chinese man with big ears, however is soon got exciting again once Pippi, Tommy and Annika started climbing trees!

Muffins masquerading as healthy and um muffins

I made apricot and bran muffins from Tana Ramsay’s Family Kitchen this afternoon. At first glance they sound really healthy with the dried apricot and the bran but they’ve got a whole packet of butter in. They also, despite my best efforts at ignoring the instructions, required the use of my electric whisk and I much prefer mixing muffins by hand as they’re far lighter and fluffier as there’s less risk of over mixing.

Anyway I put them in the oven and an extra five minutes over cooking time later, they came out literally swimming in butter at the bottom of the muffin tins. It had leached out of the muffin cases. So I think I could have safely cut the butter by about a third. They also weren’t as risen as normal muffins, which I think was over mixing by my electric whisk. However, they’re rather nice, very moist (obviously, with all that butter), slightly chewy and with a sweet almost toffee-ish taste. Mr. Lacer wasn’t too keen on them, he said they were missing something, probably blueberries, as he’s a one track muffin man. The kids aren’t having any until after tea and I’ve eaten two.

The recipe is here, about half way down the page. I’ve noticed Ramsay’s recipe for cheese and ham muffins is on that page to (just below the apricot muffins), now those can be recommended whilst they’re still warm but they get a bit dense and greasy when cold.

Long, cold day

Girl Lacer has a playdate after school today, so I won’t see her till 6pm, which is soooo odd. Not having the afternoon school run to consider makes the day ahead feel very long and stretched out. I hope she’s ok, normally I wouldn’t be at all bothered about her on a playdate, but this time I’ve sort of ‘loaned her out’ to a mum who’s little boy is having trouble making friends. They’re an artistic family though, so Girl Lacer will love that.

I’ve been worrying that I haven’t been ‘scheduling’ enough playdates, as I suspect some of Girl Lacer’s classmates go on far more but I must try and remember that this is not about copying the Joneses and I do firmly believe that an over-scheduled child is a tired child and a tired child is a cranky child and I have enough crankiness around here as it is! Doesn’t help that Girl Lacer is a little under the weather but I’m beginning to suspect it’s allergic rhinitis, it’s virtually inevitable that she’s going to get it at some point, just like it’s virtually inevitable that she’s going to wear glasses.

So what have me and Boy Lacer been doing in our long day? First thing it was the post office, to post my 17 ATCs, however I hadn’t finished addressing and sealing the envelopes, so instead of briefly popping home after school to finish them prior to going to the post office, sitting in a cold field for half an hour whilst I finished was actually preferable to having to get Boy Lacer into and then out of the house again. Posting the ATCs turned out to be shockingly expensive, I was hoping they’d be the standard minimum postage of what (trying to remember what I’ve paid before) around 56p each, but putting the extra ATC in, even though it’s only a playing card size piece of watercolour paper put the price up to 81p and times that by seventeen. So I won’t be doing big ATC swops again, not unless they’re all this country! 

After that it was back to John Lewis to finish buying the fabric for my lap quilt, it’s going to be two shades of green, a blue blotty type fabric, the herb fabric and a small print floral fabric. Really looking forward to making it, it’s basically straight lines with the sewing machine and I think I can do that now!

A spot of shopping and a spot of tap

After this morning’s good news I decided after playgroup that some shopping was in order. There’s mid season sales on at the moment and you know what? I didn’t fancy buying anything, there were a few ‘nearlies’ but I’ve got so out of the practice of buying clothes, I just can’t buy anymore unless I am totally and utterly in love with it. I then went onto the book shop and didn’t even buy anything there, I did have a handful of 3 for 2s (and was wondering at the number of adult fiction books around that seem to have a child as the main character) but I’d hit the 3 for 2s recently when I ran out of stuff to read and I’m still reading through them (and for the record I’m currently reading Inkheart, very, very slowly, it’s all very ‘read one chapter and think that’s all well and good and then put the book down and do something else’). I then went on to John Lewis’ haberdashery, had a brief stroll around the wool, which Boy Lacer wasn’t keen about and he kept on pointing towards the fabric, which actually was what I was there for. I’d been recently gutted that some lovely Japanese style fabric, that I’d been eyeing up for ages but couldn’t justify had sold out (obviously everyone else thought it was lovely to) and I’d been eyeing up another lovely fabric and I was worried it was going to go the same way. So I brought some of that, it has a herb pattern and I’m thinking of having a go at quilting, so I then thought I’d better buy some fabric to go with it, so I brought two different plain shades of green. I also brought two Amy Butler fabrics for recovering some cushions (a justifiable expense, you should see our current ones), I love Amy Butler fabrics, they’re the sort of thing you’ll look at in ten years and go “oh my god did I really have cushions in that fabric?” i.e. completely and utterly not boring. I chose two fabrics that clashed but matched at the same time if you know what I mean (sorry no photos, phone battery dead). Anyway back to the herb fabric, I’m discovering the joys of buying fabric ‘just because’, I’ve now got the pleasure of finding the perfect project for it, although I had the idea of quilting in the shop, I didn’t know exactly what. Anyway, I’ve been flicking through my craft books and found the perfect lap quilt in Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules, with the herb fabric and the two shades of green, I don’t have quite enough, so I’ve have to go back and get some more, which will be interesting at the herb fabric is such a definite pattern, I’m not quite sure what would go, maybe a plain sky blue, mmmm.

Anyway, I also managed to succeed to spend money in Early Learning Centre, getting a couple of garden toys for the kids’ Easter presents (we do garden toys for Easter, as being both Autumn born, they would never otherwise have garden toys). A multi football goal thingy that doubles as a basketball hoop, skittles set and bean bag throwing thing, it says 2 – 4 on the box and yes it’s another attempt at a toy to help Boy Lacer’s mobility but I think Girl Lacer will like it to and I also got this inflatable pirate play thing, which you put water in, not a paddling pool or anything, more something you sail your toy boats in, it looks rather cool but then again I’m a sucker for pirate toys, I obviously didn’t have enough when I was a kid.

So, after finally managing to spend some money, it was back off home for half an hour and then back out again to collect Girl Lacer. I’ll have to admit here to using hobnobs as bribery to get Boy Lacer out of the house a second time, he does not like getting ready to go out of the house and to do so, so quickly after coming back in, I knew it’d be a bit much.

Then onto tap, I’d completely forgotten that this week was the last lesson of term and we get to watch the last lesson. So I had to take the requisite photos on a camera phone with dying battery. It was good to see that tap is getting a little more complex, although it’s still a herd of five year old elephants!

We got DLA, hooray!

We got a nice surprise this morning, a nice sum of money had popped up on Mr. Lacer’s banking text message, which we initially didn’t have a clue where it came from (money so usually draaaains out). So, a quick ring to the bank and it was from the Department of Work and Pensions and as the only thing we’re remotely expecting from them is possibly the DLA, it must be that! We still haven’t got a letter but from the maths about the amount of back pay they owe us, I think Boy Lacer got awarded just the lower level of the care component, so no applying for the carer’s allowance unfortunately but we will be reapplying when he turns 5, as by then we can apply for the lower rate mobility component, which I am sure he must qualify for and we’ll get the care component reassessed then to, as by then it’s going to be far easier to argue that he requires extra care beyond that of an average five year old because that was always the problem, arguing that Boy Lacer as a three year old requires extra care, which for us is mostly supervision but also quite a high level of personal care to, in washing him and getting him dressed. Obviously all three year olds require a high level of supervision and need help washing and getting dressed, so it was hard to argue that we had to go beyond that (which we do have to do, Boy Lacer is in a particularly disruptive mood at the moment and getting him dressed can almost seem literally like a fight, it makes me worry what it’ll be like if he still has issues about dressing when he’s bigger).

It does mean that we can apply for our borough’s carers card though, which will make a big difference for family days out, which are currently very few and far between, as we can’t really afford them. The card will mean I’ll be able to get in free as a carer, something I’ve had real issues with over the last year or so. Days out with Boy Lacer are very hard work and his level of care that he needs goes up three-fold and although I don’t begrudge the extra work and stress involved when we go out on a day trip, I do bedrudge having to pay the adult entry fee for me to get in to where ever we’re going when I know personally that I’m not going to benefit that much, if at all from the attraction. I’m thinking in particular here about Legoland, Mr. Lacer and Girl Lacer actually have a season ticket (which we brought late last season after saving up Tesco clubcard vouchers) but me and Boy Lacer had to still obviously pay to get in. Now Boy Lacer does like Legoland, in a kind of obsessive way, in that he can sit or stand and watch the little vehicles move round Miniland for hours (if I let him) but last time that involved him getting into a fight and then having a fully laying down on the floor in the middle of a narrow crowded path tantrum afterwards. He also won’t go on any of the rides. So last time, after the fight and the tantrum and I’d pushed him screaming away from Miniland in his pushchair (after I’d struggled to get him in it), we spent the rest of the time walking miserably round Legoland whilst Mr. Lacer and Girl Lacer went on all the rides. We have agreed next time that Mr. Lacer will take some turns wandering around Legoland and not going on any of the rides with Boy Lacer, whilst I go on a few rides with Girl Lacer (the problem was partly last time, the park was crowded and they only had a chance to go on a few rides and they were roller coasters which I’m not a big fan of). So anyway, during this fairly miserable episode in Legoland, I really begrudged paying the £35 entrance fee, so at least next time I won’t have to do that.

Other than that, I think a term’s worth of sessions at Tumbletots might be in order (one of the younger less structured classes), as that would really help with Boy Lacer’s mobility. We had looked at Tumbletots before but it was prohibitively expensive, sadly with the wait we’ve had we’ve only got time for just a term as the term after that he’ll hopefully be starting nursery and just that will tire him out, so no activities then. May also look at swimming lessons though, we’d also ruled that out because of cost. So all good things (although Boy Lacer, the boy who refuses to even sit in his bath and spends the entire bath time screaming, would not say that about the prospect of swimming lessons).

So all in all I’m just sitting here pretty amazed. After the initial rejection of our application, I was convinced that the next stage that we were currently on (which is basically writing a letter saying that we don’t agree with their decision, restating your claims and sending any extra information you may have) was just a formality, a step toward an inevitable tribunal (which is the final stage of the appeal process). I was convinced that they were going to say no again and that we would have to go to the tribunal. So it was all a bit of a shock. I think the letter I sent from Boy Lacer’s occupational therapist really helped, it was actually a copy of a letter to Boy Lacer’s playgroup / nursery, listing all the activities they needed to do with Boy Lacer to help him develop but as we’re meant to be doing the activities to, I thought it was a good example of the extra level of care and I think that really did help.

Lots of ATCs

I’m still doing ATCs, I’ve just finished a big one, which I used as an excuse to continue working on my cartoon drawing. It was for 17 partners and as it seems to be the (nice) practice to put extra things in the envelopes and I don’t have the extra things (my craft stash isn’t that big), so I thought I’d do an extra ATC for each person, so 34 ATCs then. Click on the thumbnails below if you want to see them in more detail.