We Made It!

We made it!……………….. We actually made it!……………….

First day of the school holidays and I decide that we need to go to the shops. Shopping centres are something that we usually try to avoid with J, they usually lead to huge sensory overload and HUGE meltdowns. 

We started the planning yesterday and put together a small shopping list just for J, which obviously included a few of his favourite things and would hopefully give him something to concentrate on whilst at the shops. He asked to take his trolley so that he could put his shopping in it. I confirmed (although rather worried) that he could take it………………… the last time I took him to the shops with his trolley he attacked the checkout lady with it when she took things out of it to scan!

This morning didn’t start well, he had woken up a couple of times through the night (as usual *sigh*) and was in a tired/grumpy mood. He started his day by screaming and shouting for me, then had a “moment” regarding his breakfast and then his clothes. So the thought of going to the shopping centre with him was filling me with dread!

Finally ready to go after several exchanges over the toilet and shoes, he grabbed his trolley and had a brief run around on the drive with it before we left, (better to get some of that energy out before we got to the shops).

When we arrived at the shops we parked in our “usual” car park, (J always insists on parking on the roof), and off we went, my heart racing as fast as his trolley wheels! I wanted to go to the supermarket first, just in case we didn’t make it everywhere that we needed to, at least this way I would have the essentials………………… however J had other ideas. I thought I had been so clever giving him his own shopping list but what I had failed to put on the list was “Mummy’s shopping” and I had forgotten to put the items on his list in the order that I wanted to collect them. First on J’s list was Pokemon figures and so in order to avoid a meltdown (he got that look in his eye) we tottled off to the game shop first and then the Donut stand, (second on his list).

Then came the big test, the dreaded supermarket!! I’m sooooo proud of little man today. Not only did he “cope” with a sensory overloaded supermarket with only a few very minor “moments” and minimal touching and smelling of everything but he also managed to get his trolley around the supermarket and through the checkout with seriously injuring anyone………………. minor ankle bumps don’t count LOL

 

We decided to get the lift back to the car park and off we                                                    went…………………..             We had made it!

Well Done Little Man, I promise no more shopping for you this week

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A Friend

A friend is always there to support

Always there with you in your fort

No matter how hard the battle

Or how many chains you’ll rattle

A friend would always offer a hug

Not turn their back with a shoulder shrug

Shoulders are there to be cried upon

And always there to be relied upon

A friend would never turn you away

No matter what time of might or day

Together you’ll always laugh and cry

No matter how much time goes by

A friend will always open their door

Because that’s what friends are for

They’re always ready and willing to share

A friend is always there to care

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Friendship

Friendship, it’s a powerful word isn’t it?   It means different things to different people and of course people (including myself) have different types of friends. To me a friendship is a bond…….. it’s there to support and care without judgement, ok so you can’t agree on every single little thing but you respect and care about each other enough to understand that and move on.

Over the years, (I know I’m making myself sound old now right?), I’ve come to realise and understand that all friendships change over time, some for the better, some unfortunately take a turn for the worse. Moving to the other side of the world will test a friendship or two!

I met my best friend, SS, whilst at college, something just clicked with us right from the start and we’ve been friends ever since. SS is one of the most beautiful friends anyone could have. She’s the friend that I’d go to if I needed help, the one that I can always rely on, always there to offer support or even just a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on and when J was christened, the one who became J’s Godmother. I know that no matter what happens in life SS and I (and J) will always have each other to turn to………… SS if you’re reading this, we love you and are so lucky to have you in our lives x

When we first moved from the UK to Australia we found upon our return to the UK that we had lost a few friendships and since moving back to Australia early last year we’ve lost a few more. It’s hard work maintaining some friendships when you’re on the opposite sides of the world, it takes abit of effort on both parts and unfortunately sometimes that little bit of effort is a little more hard work than you’d thought it would be. It’s sad to think about but slowly over time these friendships that you’d once thought of as good friendships start to become “old friends”, that’s just life and the way it goes sometimes.

I have a fair few “friends” on Facebook but even as I look through my list of “friends” I can (and have) put them into different groups.

I have my “old friends”, people that I once had good friendships with, old school friends, work friends etc. These are friendships that I formed and welcomed (and wouldn’t be without) but as time has passed, life has gotten in the way and the strong friendships that we might have once had, have dwindled but we still touch base once in a while, say Hi and are “friends”.

I have my “online friends”, the blogging world has opened up a whole new world of friendships to me, one that I am so grateful for. Some of my “online friends” have become some of my most respected friends. There’s so much support offered by some, it’s beyond words what these people mean to me. You have restored my faith in human nature and helped me heaps, Thankyou x

I have my “friends”, people that I still have close/good friendships with, people that I have recently formed friendships with etc………Friends who I care about (ok I care about all my friends but I hope you understand what I mean by that), friends that I spend time with, in person or online, offer support to and receive support from and love having the occasional (when time and life permits), chat to.

And I have my closest friends, the people that know me inside and out, the people that would be there to answer a call, give a hug, (even a cyber one) etc at 3 am if I needed it and vice versa.  The friendships that will always be there, no matter what life throws at you.

My “close friends” group is an elite one and I don’t have too many, I’ve discovered over the years that unfortunately there aren’t too many in the world that you can truly trust. With all friendships there is a certain unspoken trust between you, a trust that you won’t be judged, a trust that you will be understood, respected, cared for, listened to and a trust that you can both be relied upon. Over the past couple of weeks some things have happened, (I won’t get into details), but the result of this has meant that I have started questioning some of my “friendships”. I’ve been let down hugely by someone that I had thought was a “close friend”, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve realised that we weren’t close friends. Close friends don’t treat each other this way and I’m now left wondering if we were ever “friends” at all, or if we were more  acquaintances. I really don’t know but I do know that it makes me sad to think that this could be true and has had me browsing through my “friends” deleting and reorganising my groups.

I know that all of my friendships have and do mean alot to me, each have and are so valuable in their own unique way and I wouldn’t be without any of them…………………………………and of course as some dwindle away one thing is always certain SS and I will always have each other

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Happiness is…………..

Happiness is………..

Waking up every morning to my son’s beautiful smile as he says “morning Mum!”

The sound of my Son giggling with his friends as they play

Watching my son create something with Daddy using his tools and toolbench

Seeing my son’s eyes light up when I say he can have an extra 10 minutes at bedtime

Feeling a cool breeze hit my face as I walk along a beach collecting shells and rocks with J

Watching my son peacefully asleep, all snug and wrapped up in his quilt

Playing snakes and ladders and letting J win just to see his face light up

When my Hubby surprises me on a cold morning with a hot cup of coffee in bed

Listening to J explain a long story and seeing the smile on his face when he can see in my eyes that I’ve listened to the whole thing

Enjoying a 3-way cuddle – Mummy, Daddy and J

So many different experiences but ultimately it’s being with my hubby and my son

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The Sun is Setting on Another Week – Silent Sunday

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Disney’s Alice In Wonderland Review and Giveaway

“I’m late, I’m late for a very important date!” ……… How many of you remember singing this over and over as a child, I know I do, in fact I can sometimes still be heard mumbling it to myself

I loved Alice In Wonderland as a child and I still love it know, in fact I love it so much that on a trip to Disneyworld I was one of very few adults queuing up to have my picture taken with Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Alice and of course the White Rabbit (Husband was little embarrassed)

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland has been restored to it full glory and released on Blu-Ray and DVD, 60th Anniversary Edition! I know it’s hard to believe that this wonderful movie was made 60 years ago!

It’s such a classic movie, full of fun, catchy tunes, imagination and for me lots of memories. I felt sure that J would also love it…………. Whilst he enjoyed watching the movie he also got quite confused with everything that happened in the movie and was very confused with “A very un-happy Birthday to you”, according to J “that’s a stupid song”

  

Overall he was very happy to watch the movie again so he obviously enjoyed it a little, his favourite characters were the Cheshire Cat, because “it had a big evil smile” and the Queen of Hearts, because “she was bossy and shouted lots”.

I loved watching it again, it brought back so many memories from my childhood. So how many memories have come flooding back to you looking at the pictures above?

The 60th Anniversary Blu Ray and DVD pack is out in shops now RRP $49.95 and contains lots of bonus features

Blu-ray Bonus Features:

Through the Keyhole: A Companion’s Guide to Wonderland.

Painting the Roses Red Interactive Game.

Disney View -Enhanced Viewing Experience.

Walt Disney Color TV Introduction (1959).

Reference Footage: Alice and the Doorknob.

Pencil Test: Alice Shrinks.

Reflections on Alice Featurette

Operation Wonderland (Now in Hi-Def!)

And much more!

DVD Bonus features:

Deleted Scene: Pig and Pepper

Reflections on Alice featurette

And much more!

I’m very happy to have one copy of this to giveaway to one lucky reader

To enter this giveaway simply leave a comment below telling me your favourite Alice in Wonderland Character and Why?

Bonus entry for tweeted this giveaway – please leave separate comment

Bonus entry for liking my facebook page here  - please leave a separate comment

Giveaway closes June 24th 2011

Good Luck

Winner will be chosen at random using random number selector

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of the DVD courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment via Digital Parents. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

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Who Knows?

Last night we had our first meeting this month for our Autism parent support group. It was an awesome night with a few new faces and lots of sharing.

One of the questions raised last night was whose children knew of their diagnosis……… not many others put their hand up but I was quick to raise mine. J is only 5 and I admit he probably is younger than most who are aware of their diagnosis but I feel we did the right thing telling him. J is an incredibly smart kid and started picking up on things that he did and other kids didn’t and vice versa and he asked why? I have always tried to teach J the importance of honesty by doing my best not to lie to him, ok he’s only 5 so I don’t always tell the WHOLE truth with him but I do my best……. for example 2 years ago he took me aback when he asked where babies come from I replied with “mummies tummies” (hah easy answer right?….. nope!), he then rolled his eyes at me and asked how they get in there?!?!?  Wasn’t expecting it and definitely wasn’t prepared but still managed to answer with “Daddy’s have a special seed that grows into a baby inside Mummy’s tummy”…….. *phew* that seemed to be enough for him and it was certainly enough for me! So you see kinda the truth but for a child. (if you get what I’m rambling on about lol)

Anyhow, back to the topic…………… When we first got our diagnosis, as you can probably imagine there was (and still is) a whole heap of different appointments to go to, with lots of different people at lots of different places…………… J did ask questions such as “why do we have to go here?” “Who’s this person?” and so on.   So we simply answered his questions.

Whilst answering his questions we told him that he has something called Aspergers and tried to explain some of what that meant. This included the positives and the negatives because let’s face it there are negatives too and he’ll (and we’ll) have to learn to deal with them too.  However we did all this in a very simple way because like I said he is incredibly smart but he’s also 5

We talked about how he was really good at remembering things and telling the truth. We talked about how he found it hard to take it in turns and to tell people how he feels. We talked about famous people who also had (or may have had) Autism and Aspergers and what they had done, (he related well to Bill Gates and Satoshi Tajiri (creator of Pokemon) because he loves computers). We read books together (and still do) such as Some Kids Have Autism and All Cats Have Aspergers Syndrome – both great books

I think and I hope that we’ve done a good job trying to explain Aspergers to him and I hope that by making him aware now he will grow and understand that Aspergers isn’t something to be ashamed of and that there is a reason why he does some of the things that he does. And I hope we can show him as he grows that Aspergers/Autism doesn’t have to be a disability.

So………….. question for my parent readers out there, would you have or have you told you child that they have a spectrum disorder. How did you tell them?  I know J is still very young but I believe we told J at the right time because he asked questions.

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Silent Sunday – A Little Piece of Heaven

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A Little Peace and A Whole Lotta Fun!

Today the sun was shining and well for a pom in Australia it was a pretty warm day So I took J to the beach for a few hours.  We love the beach, it’s very rarely crowded so he can just be himself and we don’t usually have to worry about people staring if J has a moment etc…..

J LOVES digging in the sand, making various (sometimes a little strange) sand creations, paddling in the ocean, jumping waves and the freedom to flap and scream with excitement and happiness

   

As for me, the beach is my happy place. A place where I can watch my son play and simply be himself.  A place that I can go to relax, unwind and think. A place that makes me feel at peace

I love watching J relax and have fun

………………………….. and the day got better, I returned home to discover my lovely hubby had cleaned the bathrooms and then entertained little man whilst I enjoy a long hot shower *sigh*  does it get any better

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Wordless Wednesday – Made By J

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