It dawned on me this morning that I haven’t written anything for a week so I apologise for that and for this somewhat vacuous article! I’m employing it entirely as a kind of “catch up.”
I think the long weekend and Jude still doing part time school has taken over my life at the moment. So what have you been up to over the last week? I’d love to hear what you do in your lives.
I have…
Had a pretty chilled long weekend as Jude and Elsa were at their father’s so the house was very quiet with just one child in tow! We spent our time visiting family, decorating the house and just generally enjoying a bit of down time.
I have…
Turned down a job I really loved the sound of. As crazy as that appears, I just didn’t feel comfortable with trying to navigate the hour or so of after school care that Jude would need plus the endless school holiday childcare nightmare that blights so many working parents. I have asked Jude’s father to help me a bit during the holidays and explained about the job but will he accommodate any slight changes to his life? No.
But I like to think things happen for a reason and know that something else will come up that fits my life better.
I have…
Had a filling. Yep, the was pleasant. Part of my “take better care of Alice” notions is to actually go to the dentist regularly so this was, in my eyes, a positive move today.
I have…
Watched Elsa participate in her first ever swimming gala and can report she is a pretty awesome at backstroke. She was so so excited to be picked for the team and really played her part well.
I have…
Arranged to view a school for Jude that I have always wanted to look at and for which is the reason I insisted on his autism assessment (a year and a half ago). It’s an ASD specialist school with flexi-boarding options which I think would be a great fit for Jude. Weirdly enough, I used to go swimming at this school as a friend of mine’s mother was a teacher there back when we were little. Does this count as having visited the school previously?! Can I therefore apply pre-visit? (joke!)
I have…
Played with the dolls house (with Emmeline) every day for what feels like hours. She’s obsessed. I think it stems from her tea obsession, she loves a cup of tea each day “uppateee” as she calls it and insists on sitting all the people down in the little house and pouring them out a cup of tea.
I have…
Painted our living room! Exciting much.
I have…
Called a meeting with my Social Worker, SEN Officer and Jude’s current school to discuss whether they can really meet his needs. I think definitely not hence arranging the viewing but I want to be able to suggest an alternative school at this meeting having previously been berated by my Social Worker for a lack of proactive actions. Ha!
I intend to call the SEN Officer tomorrow and put forward my insistence that this other school would better fit Jude’s needs. The problem previously was that I wasn’t able to even look around it until we had a firm autism diagnosis so never considered it a secondary school contender. I had kind of resigned myself to the fact he could never go to this ASD specialist school as the current school was put forwarded as a good fit. Now I know it isn’t, I don’t feel bad about moving him again.
So that’s my last seven days. I’ve basically ferried Jude back from school early every day as he is still attending on a settling in basis. He has coped better each day however, I’m not convinced he can learn as well as he can at some of the schools aimed at more severely disabled children and it is because of this I intend to fight for what I think is best. I don’t trust the council to do what is in Jude’s best interest, I know they are driven by figures and budgets so it is completely down to me to act as Jude’s ardent voice of reality and necessity.
Meanwhile Elsa has absolutely loved being back at school and has confused me with her maths homework. I’m pretty sure I was still doing basic addition at her age whereas she is whizzing through a highly complex book of mental maths questions.
What have you been up to this week?
