EXCUSE ME IF I REPEAT MYSELF

Missy is a teenager with the soul of a toddler! What I am trying to say is that her clothes are always dirty and sometimes she gets changed up to 5 times a day. I end up having to do at least 2 loads of washing a day !

I am so exhausted from it all that when the basics are done it is time for a nap......just so I can cope with Whirlwind Missy when she returns from school :)

Bonfire Night :)

In 2 days, Halloween will be over and the Halloween decorations can come down.
For Missy Halloween lasts from the start of October until the day after Bonfire  Night.
It lasts until after Bonfire Night as Bonfire Night has no decorations  of it's own.

Missy LOVES this time of year.

She also loves Diwali :)

However..........as far as Missy is concerned, the day after Bonfire Night signifies the  start of Christmas !

And then Christmas last until Valentine's Day , well Missy thinks so anyway !!!!

PRETTY MISSY :)

As well as picture t shirts, Missy LOVES pretty dresses :)

IT IS A TOUGH LIFE.......FOR MISSY'S CLOTHES :)

 

 

 

 

Missy is a typical 12 year old girl and loves pretty clothes and make-up .

 

She also loves picture t shirts which is also a very good thing :)

 

It is good as Missy  plays like a 5 year old !

 

She LOVES to play in the garden and find rain water and tip it all over herself !

 

She LOVES to play with mud !

 

She LOVES to play with sand !

 

But most of all she loves to be creative !

 



It means using LOTS OF GLUE :)

 

Being creative means using lots of GLITTER :)

It means PAINTING :)

It means  making COOKIES

 

It means watching ART ATTACK :)



It means baking CAKES :)

 Running around and NEVER keeping still is also high on the list of things Missy likes to do :)


Missy  LOVES TO RUN

Missy LOVES SPORTS :)

This photo was taken on a PHAB FUN DAY

 

 

 

Plus Missy LOVES DANCING TO MUSIC :) 

 

 

 

All in all this means that Missy gets mucky and wet and sweaty and dirty EVERY DAY, and not just

 once a day !

 

Her daily record, including pjs is 6 changes in clothes :)

 

As I said, Missy's clothes have a tough life and I am very glad she loves picture t shirts as they are so

 easy to wash and dry :)

 



ENJOYING MY 'RESPITE' TIME !

After five minutes of attempting to do some housework my back said,
 'ENOUGH',
or it would have if backs could speak!
On Saturday a disc in my back slipped  (a not unusual occurrence) and I have been in agony since.

If Pollyanna were here she would say something along the lines of,
'Be grateful that you have had at least three months without a slipped disc ' ,
 which is true but sadly I am not grateful and it does not ease the pain.

And if Cardiff Council's social services hatchet men were here they would say,
'Just be grateful that your daughter is in school , remembering that we consider school time as RESPITE time, and you have plenty of FREE time with nothing to do but   relax during RESPITE/SCHOOL time so don't expect any sympathy from us even  though we promised  extra help three months ago and never followed through on our promises ..........!

On a brighter note, the Easter holidays are over today and Missy was thrilled to be going back to school, it is always really nice when Missy is so very  FLAPPY HAPPY  she cannot keep still :)

AUTISM MOTHERS USE HOMONYMS

When I  say I have done nothing all day I do not mean this

But this

This morning I have done the following

 Showered and dressed and fed Missy
 Washed and dressed and fed myself
 Picked up and cleared away all the rubbish, dirty dishes and dirty clothes
 Washed a load of clothes
 Washed a load of dishes
 Cleared and cleaned the kitchen sink and table


And yet if asked, I would say  I had done nothing.

My house still looks like a pinata filled with books and toys and clothes to be ironed and  DUST has exploded in every room of my house !
I truly believe that a new view on reality hits you when you have a child with autism and even if Anthea or Kim & Aggie wouldn't set foot in your house,
you don't really care :)

MISSY HAS SELECTIVE EATING......JUST NOT TODAY !

As far as Missy is concerned, ice cream comes in colours not flavours and she will only eat PINK or WHITE!

Until today :)

Whilst choosing a pudding  to buy in the local Farm Foods ,Missy discovered the chocolate bar ice creams and it was as if a light bulb turned on in her head !

We bought the Cadbury Cream Egg ice cream and I am sure if I had given her the tub she would have eaten it all.

Progress as far as Missy's selective eating is concerned may not always seem encouraging but it is days like this  that show there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Now if she would only  eat some fruit :)

HOLIDAY TIME......AGAIN !

It is school holiday time ...... again!
They seem to come around so quickly and even though they are meant to be a holiday, most of the time is spent with me trying to find ways to entertain Missy :)

 

Today Missy has gone to the cinema with the carers but she will bounce back through the door in 15 minutes and entertainment time will begin again.

Earlier  I washed Snow White and the 7 Dwarves and the rest of the garden ornaments and when they are dry our next activity will be to repair and paint them.

I better get browsing on Pinterest for other activities because after our 2 for Tuesday Pizza for tea it will be time to do something else.
I don't think Missy is any different to any other child when it comes to school holidays as I remember my older girls constantly saying BUT WHAT CAN WE DO ?
And if I remember correctly I used to say the same thing to my mother but I remember that she only ever had two suggestions for me , PLAY HOSPITALS or PLAY SCHOOLS.
Perhaps that is why I ended up training as a nurse AND a teacher :)

I AM DOCTOR SPOT !

I am Dr Spot......according to Missy !
Missy may be autistic but in most ways she is just the same as any other child.
And that includes SPOTS !
So I have to teach her to clean and scrub them and treat them and like brushing a child's hair ,it is a thankless task !
Sometimes I wish for the  technology of the Jetsons, where you walk into the bathroom and the robots and technology do it all for you !

IT IS A SHED......NOT A BABY !

This a photograph of the shed in the latest Cuprinol advert.
In the advert a SHED, crying like a baby wakes a young couple up and the man takes the shed a bottle of milk to stop it crying.
The woman however brings a tin of cuprinol and they make the shed happy by cuprinolling it.
Missy, however is convinced it is a baby crying and she gets totally upset when she hears crying.
I have to hold Missy when something like is happens to prevent her hurting herself.
Tonight I got away with a bruised hand where she threw herself against a wall(my hand got in the way) and my knee dislocated, a common enough occurrence for  me but knee and hand at the same time is a bit of a painful shock !
The only answer is to mute the adverts, sadly there is no way to mute squalling children in shops !

I HAVE A BELLY BUTTON

I have a belly button.
You have a  button.
Everyone has a belly button.
However, Missy has somehow developed the idea that if you have a belly button,
man, woman ,child or animal , then you are pregnant!
It can  be VERY embarrassing when Missy spots anyone who is overweight and says BABY!

So, I am looking for Early Learner books that might help bring some clarity to the situation.
If you know of any such books then please let  me know.
I will be truly grateful :)

I AM A LUDDITE AT HEART.

Probably a 'selective' Luddite but I do believe I have Luddite tendencies.
I started a computer degree in 1991 and whilst I enjoyed the law,accounts and economics that we did as part of the degree,I have to admit the computer part which of course was the majority of the course, drove me scatty.
As a science, I believed it was meant to be 'exact' and it wasn't and my fluffy brain could not deal with that so I completed the first year and moved on and did a degree in Welsh and History at Cardiff University.
Since Christmas our house has upped its technological compliment by a NABI tablet, a Kindle Fire HD , a Leap Pad and a temporary Galaxy phone and they are all conspiring to make me want to go off the grid!

Not only do I have to make sure they are charged but I have to make sure the Parental Control is working and Missy hasn't managed to bypass it and made her way back to Youtube or Naughty Tube  as I so nicely refer to it.
And yes she has found a way to bypass the parental control on the Kindle Fire and I haven't figured out how she does it yet.
I think that what is happening is that when she puts something she shouldn't have into the search engine, it momentarily comes on the screen before the parental control screen comes up and if she is quick enough she is actually getting through to the 'off piste' sites.
There seems to be no other way that I can see but then this is a Luddite speaking.
The difficult part for me is that no matter what I say,she will go back to the 'poops' on Youtube and totally disregard what I have said.
Big Grrrrrrrrr!
She wants to watch it and watch it she does whenever she can manage it.
BUT could I live without them ?
And the answer is YES, if I had to but life would be a lot more miserable without them.
For Missy it is an amazing educational tool and even though it sounds like she is sat at a screen all day , this is certainly not the case.
She acts out what she sees and she also sings and dances , Missy finds it difficult to keep still for longer than a minute.
And as far as I am concerned as well as being the best teaching tools I have, they make a wonderful baby sitter :)
Oh and by handing her one of the above, I may not get any more sleep first thing in the morning, they certainly increase my chances of a 15 minute lie-in .
The Luddite conflict I have is like the short discussion I had on facebook yesterday about convenience food, 100% convenience food would definitely not be good for you but using convenience food as a limited part of your diet  certainly makes life more enjoyable.
I love to bake from scratch and craft and knit and sew etc, and in lots of ways I love traditional things but when I choose to do them is what is important.
If I had to make everything myself then I know I would not be a happy bunny and that is what I think is the problem I am experiencing with technology at the moment.
I am experiencing technological overload .
Already the taking photos and photo journaling EVERY aspect of our lives with the Leap Pad  has eased up which is good because I was charging the batteries daily but I think the Kindle and Nabi use is going to take a little longer as she is reading her way through a sizable library and still enjoying learning new games.
I see a need for some trips to the park and the bay, leaving our technological friends at home and perhaps doing some baking to increase the separation from the technological reliance.
Building a snow man this weekend would have been good but all we managed last night was a little sleet.
I can feel a crafty evening coming on,  Missy is always happy to take technological time-out for crafting.
Valentine Cards I think :)

EARTH TO PLANET AUTISM......ARE YOU THERE ?

I just spoke to Missy and told her we were going to the shops.
Trying to engage her and start a conversation I said,

' What would you like to buy at the shops?'.

Missy's reply was ,'FISH!'.

Now I have can honestly say that I do not know where that came from.
What other 12 year old asks for fish instead of sweets or toys or comics ?
I can honestly say I am stumped as to what was going through her head BUT to be sure,
when we get to the shops, we shall buy some FISH :)

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun
 

 

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year 

 

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

 



Have a wonderful year everyone, hugs and kisses from Missy and Me.

 

To welcome in the New Year, Missy has a seriously bad cold and her face and eyes are red and puffy and her eyes and nose are constantly running poor thing.

Missy hasn't slept properly in the last few days due to her lovely ,bubbly cold so yesterday evening we were both so tired that we went to bed early.

However, we we still lucky enough to see in the New Year as our neighbours have an old tradition of beating on saucepans at midnight to greet in the New Year and it is also meant to scare away the devil as he is not meant to like loud noises.

Even with double glazing we both managed to wake up but we were both so tired we went back to sleep almost straight away.

BUT......I do remember Missy opening her eyes at the noise, smiling and saying,'Noisy' !

Just a random thought, when I was younger I can remember religious people saying that Rock concerts were not a good place to be and that the devil was at events like this to tempt people to be 'naughty'.

Well.......if the devil doesn't like loud noises, then that should mean that the devil stays away from very noisy events .

Interesting thought :)

 

My mother always believed that it was bad luck to do washing on New Years day and whilst I am not really into Pagan ,or religious superstition for that matter, I feel that a lot of superstitions have basis in common sense.

A bit like eastern religions banning certain meats which was possibly due to the fact that meat goes off really quickly in hotter countries.

So , I am quite happy  not to have to do any washing on New Years Day BUT my favourite superstition has to be to make sure there is plenty of food in the house on New Year's Eve so you will not go hungry throughout  the coming year.

Missy and I made a large stew last night and Missy really enjoyed cutting the vegetables though I have to admit that bit made me very nervous, Missy and a large knife is quite scary to watch but she has to learn!

We had the stew for supper last night and lunch today and there is enough left for another meal later.

Preparing in advance and in bulk meant the meal cost approximately 50p per person per meal.

I am hoping this start at organising is a good sign for the coming year......not that I am superstitious of course :)