@ the park

RSC Day

A day's training at the RSC rehearsal rooms in Stratford? Yes please!

A had the day off work - we had an early start, and were in Stratford for 8.30. A spent the morning doing the backstage tour at the Courtyard theatre, and an afternoon mooching around the shops, whilst I spent the day playing with A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear.

The key to doing Shakespeare with very young children is play - and so we spent the day playing :) Creating a multisensory environment to tell stories in; exploring a magical forest and finding out about the naughty fairies that live there. It was just fabulous. I have all the notes and a CD-Rom of resources - and next week at school I will be going for it!

It was a great day. Great to be in Stratford. Great to learn new stuff that is SO exciting and usable in school. And great for A to have a day out - and manage it so well.

The new balance is working at the moment :)

All by myself....

....I found B at the top of the stairs at bedtime....


.... singing.....

...I think he must have been lonely....

...even though he had only been alone upstairs for a couple of minutes!

Park Life

A's park photos

So I'm back in work....

.... and really happy to be back in class...

...and I'm holding it together....

....when I get a photo text from A....

....who's enjoying an afternoon of photography and coffee in the park...


...and I think - that's nice!



He's feeling a LOT better :)

Diabetes

I usually have this rule - that my blog is for the good stuff. For the days out, and the parties. For the holidays and the the children's achievemets. The stuff that I want to share and remember.

I don't usually write about the negatives. I don't write much about B's diffculties. I don't really write about autism, or apppointments, or meetings, or the form filling, or the battles with the education authority. I don't write about tears or tantrums.

So I didn't write about Al being under the weather at Christmas. I didn't write about how much weight he lost. I didn't write about how worried I was about him. I didn't mention last week that he was going to the doctors.

But after last week, things have changed - and I have to write about a huge negative that has entered our lives, because it's not going to go away.

A has diabetes.

At the first appointment the GP said it was type 2 - this seemed hard enough.
The next day A went to work and I bought a book and read about diets and tablets.

The following day I went with him for the follow up appointment.

It was worse - he had ketones and was sent straight to the hospital.
By the afternoon he was on a drip for rehydration and an insulin pump.

And so our world changed.

Type 1 diabetes.

He was home after a day. He's off work for this week - hoping to go back next Monday.
He's finding the balance, adapting to the new rules and routines.
To the testing and the injections.
To his new 'kit'.

Blood monitoring at least 4 times a day...

....to Lantus slow release insulin once a day...


...and Novorapid with every meal.

It's not going away, but I hope with time it will stop being a negative and just become a normal part of life.

And it snowed again...

while M and B were in school...

... cue yet more snowman building in Gma's garden - well actually this is B's snow castle....

... while this fine snowman is called Eric!

Birthday Bash

M and B had a fine time at their cousins 7th birthday party. I helped organise the craft activities - which certainly kept B out of trouble... ... while M made a cool necklace!

Miss S dancing (she did a LOT of dancing)

Miss C (surprisingly NOT doing any beading)

Birthday girls with their cake

Oliver Twist

With snow still everywhere, we decided that it would be better to not risk driving, but rather to take the train to Bolton to see a rather special production of Oliver Twist at the Octagon Theatre.

M and BF C thought it was fab - as did Auntie J and I. A lot more Dickensian than the musical - full of grotesque characters - and more than a little bit scarey at the death of Nancy and Bill

Snow Day Mark 3

The 3rd day of no school - in the morning we walked to town and then took the bus (they are running again) up to Gma's house.

A got home before 3 o'clock, so we had time to go out and play in the snow again before it got dark.

The sledging was even better today.

How much do we love the snow?

THIS MUCH!!!

Great Balls of Snow!

Day 2 of the snow..... A got into work today - but all the schools are still shut....

We found these giant snowballs in Victoria Park this morning!

Sledging!

It started to snow again in the afternoon, but that didn't stop us trekking over to The Bongs to try out the sledge that has been sitting in out shed (unused and unloved) for the past 5 years.

Snow Day!

We woke to find snow - proper snow for the first time in years.

A set off for work at 5.30, but after an hour he was only just past Warrington and in a huge queue by the closed M6 - so he came home again!

Meanwhile M and B were hoping that the schools would be closed. M set off to walk to school, texting me in great excitement when she heard that the High School was shut. I walked B up to school to find the teachers celebrating the schol closure!

So with everyone at home for the day, we headed straight off for playtime.

M stopped off at a friends house to play with school mates, while we carried on to the park to find Auntie J

There was a lot of throwing of snowballs, and the building of a snowman....



....it really was the best snow for playing in...

... and we cartainly made the most of it!

White Christmas

Nana's birthday trip to the Lowry to see White Christmas.

Aled Jones might have some trouble with accents - New York? South Wales? Somewhere in between? But boy can he sing!