YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

 

This is Missy playing with her blocks. 

Missy has always loved them and she plays with them a lot.

But where did they come from ?

They were given to her by her sister's mother-in-law who is German.

The family are German and they live in Switzerland. 

They were something Missy's brother-in-law Ulf played with in the early 80s.

Ulf's younger brother and sister also played with them.

But that doesn't really answer the whole question, 

'But where did they come from ?'

Well today I found out.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froebel_Gifts

'The Froebel Gifts (German:Fröbelgaben) are a range of educational materials designed by Friedrich Fröbel. They were first used in the originalKindergarten at Bad Blankenburg.

Fröbel advocated the importance of free play in childhood. Each gift (Gabe) was designed to be given to a child to provide material for the child's self-directed activity. These Gifts are a series of activity-based playthings ranging from simple sphere-shaped objects, through to geometric wooden blocks and more advanced Gifts pertaining to sewing, cutting, weaving and the modelling of objects in clay.

Ottilie de Liagre in a letter to Fröbel in 1844 observed that playing with the Froebel Gifts empowers children to be lively and free, but people can degrade it into a mechanical routine.

"Realising how the Gifts were eventually misused by Kindergarten teachers who followed after Froebel, it is important to consider what Froebel expected the Gifts to achieve. He envisaged that the Gifts will teach the child to use his (or her) environment as an educational aid; secondly, that they will give the child an indication of the connection between human life and life in nature; and finally that they will create a bond between the adult and the child who play with them" Joachim Liebschner on page 82 in his book, A Child's Work: Freedom and Guidance in Froebel's Educational Theory and Practice

Frank Lloyd Wright was given a set of the Froebel blocks at about age nine, and in his autobiography cited them indirectly in explaining that he learned the geometry of architecture in kindergarten play,^[1] writing "For several years I sat at the little Kindergarten table-top . . . and played . . . with the cube, the sphere and the triangle—these smooth wooden maple blocks . . . All are in my fingers to this day . . ."^[2]

Froebel Gifts remain popular today inKorea and Japan in early childhood education.'

http://www.froebelweb.org/shop/wood.

I have seen lots of natural wooden blocks in varying shapes and sizes so I think I will be buying more to add to Missy's collection.

Missy has always love building towers with anything and loves lining things up.

'Each child with an autism spectrum disorder will have his or her own individual pattern of behavior: Sometimes, a child's development is delayed from birth; other children develop normally before suddenly losing social or language skills. In some children, a loss of language is the impairment; in others, unusual behaviors (like spending hours lining up toys) predominate.'

Web MD

 

Does this mean Missy has autism ?

Sorry humour lapse :)

Humour is the coping mechanism of many parents and carers of children/adults with special needs.

It is that realistic sense of humour that many doctors and nurses and other members of the caring community have. :)

Repetitively stacking or lining up objects is a behavior sometimes associated with individuals with autism.

LOST.........

One brain .

 Has been missing for the last 6 months or so !

Thankfully Missy is very aware and whilst I may forget what day of the week it is she never does.

Yesterday and today I woke up convinced it was Saturday.

I have also just been sorting out Missy's school back pack and found it still contained her winter emergency space blanket !

Perhaps I should replace it with sunblock :)

Last night Missy and her friends from PHAB went 'welly wanging'on the beach at Penarth.

I am hoping there will be photos to share :)

Years ago I would have loved something like that but the arthritis in my shoulder joints is almost as bad as my spine so sadly that is a definite no :(

Missy's Kindle is still in the Kindle fix -it shop and she is asking for it less and less and without YouTube poops she definitely seems happier.

After a long break it is time I took Missy running again. 

I have found a great little loop on the Taff Trail near Asda Coryton and it is very quiet which is a big plus for a noise phobic 13 year old.

Right school run time , I just love the rush hour traffic. :)

MISSY ART FOR TODAY

Stage One 

This is a swan.

 

Stage Two

This is a swan ........and a baby swan.

Stage Three 

This is a swan and a baby swan awaiting the next stage of the evolutionary process .........being tidied up and put away by the artist :)

NEW GAME

New game called 

'Put Your Own Mess Away Because Your Mother Isn't Going To Do It '

:)

  

MISSY MAKER

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/mister-maker

Missy is being creative in a Mr Maker kind of way :)

I MADE THIS

FORGIVE AND FORGET

Why?

Why forgive and forget ?

Not everyone deserves to be forgiven , maybe forgotten but forgiveness needs to be earned.

I saw this today

and immediately thought of all the petty bureaucrats I have come across during Missy's lifetime in relation to her schooling,care provision and allowances.

Especially at the moment with regards to her provision of care.

So I would like to say to all those little petty people out there enjoying their little bit of power , is this what you want from your life, is this what you want to be remembered for ?

I am a nurse and a mother of six children and one  of my children  has autism and I have spent my life providing and caring for others . 

I am happy to look back and 

 say , 'Yes , I did that, that is who I am '.

I seriously wonder how these petty bureaucrats manage to sleep at night !

MISSY WAITING

Missy stimmimg by the back garden door waiting for her carer :)

DEALING WITH MELTDOWNS

Missy's MELTDOWN started at 5.03am precisely!

Missy woke at 5am and for no reason that I could see she worked herself into a meltdown in exactly 3 minutes flat. 

After a very heavy 'musical' book wizzed by just missing my head I decided enough was enough.

She was on the bed flailing her arms and legs so it was difficult to grab her but grab her I did and propelled her with feet barely touching the floor into the shower room.

And proceeded to shower her, shower her for at least 25 minutes until the screaming  and crying was done.

Then another half an hour drying and dressing and breakfast time. 

CALMED, Missy picked up all her toys , DVDs and the bedding she had thrown at me which then had piled up on the floor. 

Now she is peacefully watching Cartoonito. 

Showering is something I have never thought of doing before and it worked really well. 

All I have to hope now is that it works a second time!

Obviously it is of no use whilst we are out and about but out and about is not happening at the moment.

That will start again but only when the meltdowns stop and then we will introduce things slowly. 

I foresee a VERY long summer holidays.

IT'S OFFICIAL........ALL MY JOINTS HAVE TURNED TO JELLY!

I spent all day Saturday and from 10am Sunday until 1.30am this morning single handedly house emptying, de-cluttering, spring cleaning and recycycling centre visiting !

I also managed to feed Missy 3 meals on Saturday and 3 meals on Sunday and shower her each day AND keep her entertained whilst she entertained me by singing as loudly as possible every song she knew ;)

At 1.30am this morning my body gave out and screamingly protested 'no more'.

And I was so exhausted I barely managed 1 1/2 hours sleep after 2 hours sleep Saturday night.

Every joint feels like jelly and my spine feels as if it's 12 inches of arthritis has extended to 24 inches.

Plus the muscles in my arms feel as if I have been weight training !

Plus at 1.30am the muscles in my jaw went totally numb and had Missy been awake she would have loved the new and improved SILENT Mummy :)

And no day of rest for me .

Today will include many trips to the recycling centre and to charity shops AND a total house clean !

And my resolution is ........NEVER ,EVER again without the assistance of a removal team and a Posse of cleaners.

And this is just the recycling the camera can see, it extends around the corner!

IT 'S IN THE KINDLE FIX IT SHOP

Missy's Kindle is in the kindle fix-it shop.

That is my story and I am sticking to it :)

The Kindle is not really being fixed but that is what I'm telling her because she will not stop watching YouTube and naughty tube videos! 

Youtube naughty tube Videos are not very nice .

If you Google YouTube you will see the kinds of videos that I mean and they can be so irritating especially when Missy 

plays them over and over and over and over again!

I am convinced that the naughty Videos irritate her so much (they are all noisey action and very very busy  :) that she becomes very agitated and upset after she watches them.

Hence the total internet ban.

Missy however is still able to use her Nabi, which is a tablet that has a parent control mode which stops her watching the Internet. 

 She can also use a portable DVD player and can watch her videos and films and cartoons.

Plus she has seemingly unlimited access to crayons and paper and colouring books to keep her entertained.

But still Missy asks where is the kindle fire , at least 5 timers a day! 

And Missy asking for The Kindle

so many times a day is slowly driving me potty .

I have even taken to wearing Missy's ear defenders! 

And I am pleased to say they do help dull noise and especially dull the irritating repetitive  noise of 'kindle fire? Kindle fire. ' :)