Trying School

Lady and Thomas were taken by their dad to visit the local Integrated primary school last Tuesday and both liked it so much that they decided they would go to try it out. So after I spoke on the phone with the school principal, we've arranged that they will start this Thursday so they go for a couple of days before the Easter break. I'll be visiting the school myself tomorrow morning to look around and meet with the P4 and P7 teachers to talk about what they do and to tell them about my children.

Lady's decision came as a complete shock; she announced a few days ago she wanted to visit the school with the others. She had previously always been adamant when questioned that she was not at all interested in going back to school for the foreseeable future. But she just realised that she wants to try out primary school again before she's too old. So, fair enough, off she goes.

Thomas has been thinking for a while about going to school for the first time in his life. He'd originally said he'd start next autumn term so we could all enjoy the summer together instead of being stuck in a classroom for the few months we have a year when the weather is half decent. But after seeing the school he changed his mind and wants to go right away.

We're trying to decide how best to arrange how to travel to and from school. It's one stop away from here on the train and they could easily manage to travel there and back together but I have a notion that wouldn't be allowed by the train company; unaccompanied minors etc. They could walk, cycle or use a scooter and go along the coastal path. Or I could copy almost all the other parents and drive them there.

I hope they enjoy this experience. I still think home education is a better way for children to learn; school is so very inefficient and takes up such a huge portion of children's lives, especially when you consider that even after they have spent almost all day in school, they then have homework to do. I don't know how the children will manage all their activities; Tuesday - Thomas has gymnastics then jujitsu, Wednesday - they both do gymnastics, Thursday - Lady has 2 gymnastics classes and Thomas goes to Beavers, Friday - Lady goes to the local youth club and the gymnastics coach told me yesterday she wants Thomas to start a class on Fridays soon, Saturday - Thomas does jujitsu and hurling and Lady has cheer leading, Sunday - Thomas does gymnastics. How are they going to have time to spend with their family, go to school, do homework, continue their sports and activities, play and hang out with friends, chill out and read/watch tv/learn an instrument/master a computer game/draw a picture/write a letter or blog post? How does everyone manage without bursting from the pressure?

I do want them to enjoy it and to gain from the experience. They are free to remain at school if they so choose, but if, having given it a good couple of months, they decide they want to be home educated again then they will be deregistered. This is not now the most straightforward of manoeuvres as some of the education boards are trying to fool parents wanting to home educate that legislation exists (it doesn't) to prevent the deregistration process.

I am keen to know exactly what they make of the whole thing, and think that for Thomas especially, he'll either love it or hate it. I don't expect him to merely tolerate it. Lady only wants to go for one term but she may discover that she wants to go on to secondary school too in which case I will have to try to find a place for her in one of the schools not requiring a pass on the transfer test.

I'll be here for them no matter what and boost them and help them know what they need and how to get it. Duncan and I will have more time together and that's always nice, though he may be going to school some time soon himself. Until he does (if he does) he's going to miss his siblings terribly.

Forest Tracks

We took a walk through the forest. Duncan elected to ride in his wheelchair. It's just the right size for him and he's pretty comfortable in it, thank goodness. It's not really designed for forest tracks but as long as we kept on the bigger and smoother paths we were fine. He got out and ran about now and then too, and they all had a good splash about in the burn. Lady told me stories about all the forest residents; fairies, sprites and goddesses in the trees and water and the two warring werewolf tribes, the protectors and the flesh eaters. Apparently ivy and holly repel the flesh-eaters and the few scraps of cloth we spotted caught in the bushes were left over when the wolves transform. She and her cousin A. thought all this up, with the help no doubt of Harry Potter, Twilight and I think, some Enid Blyton stuff thrown into the mix.

Duncan trying out his wheelchair. Though he looks kind of worried, he was very content!

Duncan was wearing an old pair of Lady's glasses. They have blue frames so help him look more like his hero Chuckie Finster

Lady and Thomas test their wellies and prove that so long as the water doesn't rise above the rim, your socks stay dry.

Duncan finds that chucking stones into water can be a most satisfying pursuit.

The dog was in heaven dashing about sniffing out the holes and burrows and avoiding the water as much as she could. I panicked a bit when 3 sheep ran out on the other bank close to her: they must have got out of their field. Thankfully she came to heel and I was able to clip her lead back on without her running after them. Poor Duncan was a bit stressed but soon cheered up when we set of in the direction of the Spar and he got his hands on the first Creme Egg of the season.

Later Thomas had gymnastics for 2 hours; squad training. He came out with yet another trophy. We joked about how all this winning was just getting boring now. Then I took him off to his 2nd Tuesday class, an hour of jujitsu. Lady has dropped this one but Thomas still loves it. He's a green belt now. I can see him sticking with it all the way to black. He's an ambitious wee lad, and hard working, unlike his Mam.

Complicated

I've been thinking for years about how to deal with some difficulties I face. This has taken so much of my time and energy, it's drained me. I've had no desire to blog while this was foremost in my mind. But thankfully now I have reached a decision I can be...well not happy about, but confident that it's the right one. It's a huge relief to know for certain and to start now making plans to move on with a new phase in my life.

I have missed blogging. I enjoyed keeping this record of my children's development and the silly stuff we get up to as well as sharing my opinions on autism/disability/home education issues with anyone who chooses to read them. It's been an important outlet; writing posts here has often concentrated my mind, forcing me to research issues to be able to write with some knowledge and understanding. It's been a way of making contacts around the world with people with similar interests and of connecting with others writing about their own lives and areas of expertise. I love reading blogs and even when I wasn't writing my own I have continued to read the blogs I've subscribed to, though I've very rarely commented on any. I have stopped reading a few that were just starting to piss me off with their lazy stereotyping, especially those with sexist and (all too often) disablist writing. I just don't have the energy to witness that stuff.
It means I stay away from many mainstream comment sites like CiF on the Guardian and the BBC websites- shudder.

Today I will meet with an education psychologist from the local education board. I want to investigate schooling options for Duncan. I'm not sure whether or not I will enroll him in a school again but will think about it seriously and figure out what he prefers. Thomas too is thinking of starting at school for the 1st time in his life. Lady has no desire to be schooled. I will support their choices.

I'm tired but getting by. I can be proud of how the children are thriving; obviously I am more than coping, despite the fact that my home is only rarely tidy and there's a long list of home repairs needing to be dealt with.

Also, the whole family is lucky enough to be going to Disney World for a fortnight in February. I'll be sure to see that the children have a fabulous time. It'd be very hard not to!

New Moon, headbanging and thinking for oneself

Duncan continues to take great pleasure in producing various pictures of Chuckie from the Rugrats. Is it perseveration? Do I care? Each picture is different in at least some small way. I think they're cute and funny and witty.

Thomas doesn't like to draw. He'd rather do maths or count the money in his Tardis money box. (I don't mean it's bigger on the inside, it's just shaped like a Tardis.) We've been doing some P4 stuff on Education City (free trial) and he's acing it all. Lady has used that site too and they both quite like it so I might subscribe. Does anyone have a code they want to share?

He's also decided he wants to try school after we return from our holiday in February (2 weeks in Orlando!) He says that everyone else in the family has been to school at some stage but he never went to nursery or school so he wants to see what it's like. I've been reading the prospectus for various schools and quizzing our friends and neighbours about what they think of the school they/their children go to.

Graham Badman and Ed Balls, do you see what I'm doing here? I'm listening to my child, I'm gathering information to help us both make the best decision about his education. It's not a matter of my rights clashing with his, despite the mistaken way in which you think about parenting and the duty on parents to ensure their child receives an education. If he's happy to go to school and it works out for him, then fine, he goes to school. But if he doesn't like it, he will be deregistered and his education will continue to happen at home and in the community as it has so far with great success.

So what else- we watched the latest Doctor Who, The Waters of Mars which was terrific, and taught that the homeopaths were wrong; water has patience not memory (via @jackofkent). Also, Gordon was in the US for a week but the children were still able to see him thanks to the magic of technology. Here's a screen grab he took from his hotel room in Boston as he spoke to Duncan and I via Google video;

Nice and clear eh!

What wasn't so nice was the cuckoo clock falling off the wall (where I had fixed it-guilt!) somehow and onto Thomas' head. He was sore and bleeding so I called a friend and neighbour who kindly rushed around with her little girl to stay with Duncan and Lady while I took Thomas to get checked out. The bleeding stopped quickly but you don't take chances with bashes to the head. I went to our GP 1st as it's very close and told the receptionist what had happened, her question floored me (not really) -"Does he have an appointment?" Yes really!

She advised me to take him to the Minor Injury clinic in town so I did and he was seen and sorted very quickly. Thankfully there was no evidence of serious harm and he didn't even need a stitch.

The following morning my neighbour minded my children again while I met with a psychologist to discuss Duncan and to seek advice on issues I wish could help him deal better with, like his impulses and angst driven shouting. I don't know how useful it will be. She used the word "behaviours" which I dislike intensely. I've been given an assessment form to fill in; ABAS II for those familiar with such things. It's interesting, but leaves no space to detail many of the skills and abilities he does possess, but I suppose they are deemed "non-functional" or something.

Lady continues to work hard at gymnastics. She trains for over 15 hours a week and loves it. I watched her at cheer-leading on Saturday and was so proud of her strength and poise. Her acro partner and sister are visiting today, no doubt they'll be showing off to me on the trampoline.
I took Lady and her close friend (who lives next door) to see New Moon, that Twilight film yesterday. Oh my, what hokum. The girls enjoyed it even as they were laughing at how silly so much of it is. That Bella Swan girl is so pathetic, glum and wan. She never does anything but mope and have nightmares. Has she no hobbies? Her face would break if she cracked a smile. The girls can easily see she's taken all that first and fiery love thing too far- jumping off cliffs and riding motor bikes with no helmet just to produce ghostly ticking-offs from Mr Chalky.
They both thought Jacob the were-boy was the better bet, if forced to choose and I think they're right. Both have acknowledged the inherent ridiculousness of getting involved with anyone who could either claw or bite you to death at any moment and do not think it's romantic, just that it makes (for them) for an engaging fantasy.

I say this as some of the chatter on the Twilight series warns of the danger to girls of thinking that bad boys are best; but I have much more respect for girls' ability to see it for what it is, a rollicking bit of escapist nonsense.

I laughed a lot, and was elbowed fiercely by Lady. It's not supposed to be funny when Edward with his LOW slung trousers starts to unbutton his shirt in the sunshine, but it really was. He has such big hair too, I wonder what product he uses, something specially developed for the dead?

Michael Sheen was great fun as an evil vampire overlord. It was extra delicious since I think of Tony Blair whenever he's on as he's played our previous beloved leader twice in film and will do so again soon I've read. So I was watching and thinking that the evil leader of the vampire council is Tony Blair. Good job he didn't get the European presidency he sought, dread to think what he's have done with the increase in power.

With all this nonsense I end. But having read Mike and Sarah's posts on the latest pile of bile from Minnette Mirrin, I'm rilled up enough and will be back with some whinge blogging imminently.

Summer Ends

The summer holidays have ended and for a few hours each day, my lot are just about the only children around not in school or nursery. We needed new wellies; walks through the forest and down to the beach tend to leave one's footwear rather mucky from September onwards. So we went to the shops and noticed for the first time in months how we stuck out, even more than usual.

But since so many of their friends are in school and not tearing up and down the streets on bikes, my children were content to settle to some reading, writing and 'rithmetic (or Mathematics, as Thomas says gravely) and that sort of thing. As usual though the best part of their learning comes through conversation, asking questions, playing their games, reading, watching TV and whatever takes their fancy at any particular time.

Duncan has discovered Mr Men so has started collecting the books, watching the films, playing games on the PC and making pictures. He's quite taken with Sonic the Hedgehog too, and he and Thomas take turns to play a PC demo game he downloaded. Duncan gets Thomas to help him with the trickier parts. Sometimes he gets distressed when it's not going well. He's been distressed a lot about something or other these past few months. It's been hard for him and I lost a bit of my coping mojo for a while there (hence the lack of blogdom). So he was sad, and I was grouchy, making him sad and screamy making me tired and head-achy and so on.

But I discovered a great cure for these feelings of stress and inadequacy on the internet; a 3 night holiday in Portugal. Actually my sister found it for us. In an astonishing coincidence, she needed a bit of respite from life's arrows just now too! We both went to stay in a posh hotel where we lazed in the shade from a hot sun by the pool/beach, swam a couple of times, dined well, drank a bit and strolled a little and I read 3.5 mostly lowbrow books. It was the laziest most relaxing holiday I have ever had and it was marvellous. On our last visit to the beach we thought it wise to get off our backsides and go parasailing. But there were no slots left for us, so we stupidly handed over money to have some youngsters pull us behind the boat as we sat side by side on an inflatable dingy thing. I was not 100% sure I wasn't going to die while out there, gripping the handles and bracing with my legs as I fought to stop myself from crashing into the sea as we bashed and bumped our way through the surf. It was nice enough when they slowed down and went straight but mostly, it was hellish. Afterwards our arms ached and shook and even now, there's pain in many parts as I recover from that self inflicted ordeal. At least, I forgot my troubles utterly while it was happening as I focused only on the path of sea in front of me.

I returned to my family, a bit sorer, more freckled, but relaxed and ready to work. They'd all had a lovely time without me. They'd been for long bike ride on one of the days and Gordon enjoyed spending more time with the children than usual.

I'll be happy to get back into our normal life groove and hope to do more blog reading and writing again.

Home Education Under Threat

All of us who home educate our children in the UK will already know about the Badman review of home education in the UK (PDF link).

I am shocked and very concerned by the review and the recommendations (summarised here). It is low on evidence and high on speculation. There is so much in this document to object to. I can only mention a few of the problem areas in this post.

These recommendations seem to be designed to end the right of children to receive the personally optimised education that their parents can deliver at home. Duncan's learning style will not be accommodated if this becomes law as I will have to drastically change the way he and his siblings are educated to bring it into line with the government's particular preferred method.

Nor can I be sure that I will even be considered eligible to keep on teaching my children at home as Recommendation 23 states:

"That local authority adult services and other agencies be required to inform those charged with the monitoring and support of home education of any properly evidenced concerns that they have of parents’ or carers’ ability to provide a suitable education irrespective of whether or not they are known to children’s social care,
on such grounds as:

• alcohol or drug abuse
• incidents of domestic violence
• previous offences against children

And in addition:

• anything else which may affect their ability to provide a suitable and efficient education."

(my emphasis)

What the heck does "anything else" mean? If an inspector doesn't like your choice of books, or how tidy your house looks (neat=repressed family, children not allowed to be creative, messy=not enough structure, children probably neglected?!)

Could the presence of an autistic child who shouts a bit be construed as too disruptive to my "normals"? Nothing would surprise me.

Like other concerned parents, I am extremely dismayed about Recommendation 7:

"The DCSF should bring forward proposals to change the current regulatory and statutory basis to ensure that in monitoring the efficiency and suitability of elective home education:

• That designated local authority officers should:

– have the right of access to the home;
– have the right to speak with each child alone if deemed appropriate or, if a child is particularly vulnerable or has particular communication needs, in the company of a trusted person who is not the home educator or the parent/carer."

(my emphasis)

I do NOT want to allow local authority officers more rights than the police-to enter my home when there is no reason to suspect any crime or wrong doing is occurring. I will NOT allow any of these people more rights than the police-to speak to my children without myself or their father present. I do NOT trust them to speak to my typically developing children alone, never mind my autistic son. They claim that children like Duncan would have a "trusted person" with them, but it's not explained whether this is someone he and I trust, or someone they trust.

I utterly reject the calls among some commentators in the media, to accept the draconian measures of registration, inspection and alteration of educational philosophy because they claim, if you have nothing to hide, you have noting to fear.

This is not so. I do not invite the police to inspect my house and garage to assure them that I am not storing stolen goods or growing illegal drugs, I do not hand over my emails and phone records to prove I am not a terrorist or hacker, nor do I submit my children's meal plans to a state nutritionist to prove they are getting a balanced diet. There is a presumption of compliance with the law and my parental duties. Like all citizens, I expect that it unless the organisations charged with the important duty of providing justice and protection have good reason to suspect that I am up to no good, then I am entitled to privacy and a presumption of being law abiding.

Although one of the reasons the review had been ordered by the Secretary of State for Children, was to "investigate suggestions that home education could be used as a ‘cover’ for child abuse," Badman had to admit in his findings that:

"8.14 With regard to other specific groups within the remit of this inquiry I can find no evidence that elective home education is a particular factor in the removal of children to forced marriage, servitude or trafficking or for inappropriate abusive activities."

Several newspapers have utterly inaccurately produced headlines proclaiming that children like mine and those of my many home-educating friends, are more at risk of abuse! They seem to reckon that because the review claims that "the number of children known to children’s social care in some local authorities is disproportionately high relative to the size of their home educating population" that this correlates to more home educated children suffering abuse or neglect. In reality, as the report also admits, they do not have accurate figures for what percentage of home educated children are in touch with social services. But in any case, there appear to be more cases of Special Educational Needs among the home educating population than average and many of these people are, like my own family, known to social services because of a child's disability. There are many entirely innocent reasons why families may be known to the social services (disabled parent, malicious reporting of children "making noise in the garden when they're supposed to be at school" etc.) and it is a shocking slur to imply that this implies some wrong doing among such families.

What is dangerous to all those children in the UK who are harmed by their carers, whether they are at school or not, is the divergence of scarce resources into looking for non existent problems among a subset of the country's population. It is well known that there are not enough resources to properly meet the needs of all the children who really do need help to deal with threatening situations. As a poster on an email list expressed it, putting all home educators under suspicion merely because they make the legitimate choice to have their children learn without school does not help those charged with ensuring child protection. It only increases the size of the haystack.

Finally (for now) I draw attention to Recommendation 18:

"That the DCSF should reinforce in guidance to local authorities the requirement to exercise their statutory duty to assure themselves that education is suitable and meets the child’s special educational needs. They should regard the move to home education as a trigger to conduct a review and satisfy themselves that the potentially changed complexity of education provided at home, still constitutes a suitable education. The statement should then be revised accordingly to set out that the parent has made their own arrangements under section 7 of the Education Act 1996."

I may not be interpreting this correctly, but it seems to me to say that the Statement that was until now, only enforceable in the school setting, must now be enforced at home also. Therefore, whatever recommendations the education authorities employees make, must be adopted by the parents no matter whether they tie in with their own priorities and preferences and what they think is best for their child. This is a just another worrying development.

I can only hope that despite our many differences in approach and ideology, we home educating families will be able to pull together to stop these awful recommendations becoming law. It will not be easy.

Not a eunuch

I've written a post as part of Dave Hingsburger's Blogging on Sexuality carnival.

I've often heard other parents of autistic children lament that their child will "never marry or have children of their own."
My response:

1. How do you know?
2. So what?

I didn't have children so they would provide me with the opportunity to wear a fabulous hat at their wedding or to ensure a supply of grandchildren when I'm older. I've given them life and it's now theirs to live as they choose.

In raising these 3 children, I aim to teach them about relationships and sexuality. I hope they will develop the ability to make safe, healthy and wise choices. I want them to feel empowered, to have fun, to have respect for themselves and others. Their lessons started early: they have always had their questions on bodies and life answered honestly and age appropriately, they've known the correct terminology for body parts and been offered little bits of information relative to their understanding. Instead of waiting until they are of a certain age and sitting them each down for "The Talk" we have lots of chats as we go along. There's a lot more to learn yet.

Photo owned by hartford.strong@sbcglobal.net (cc)

I've also had to explain these concepts to my autistic son. He is taught about his body and to expect to be treated with dignity and to have his privacy respected. I want him to learn how to avoid exploitative encounters. He is learning like all children, what is and isn't appropriate in certain situations, and as he grows, he will be helped to understand the physical and emotional changes he's experiencing. As for each of my children, I hold no expectations for how, when or even if he will want to have romantic relationships. But he will be a man and his sexuality is a given and a right. I don't assume that just because he's learning disabled he's some sort of eunuch and I will help him however I can to learn how to negotiate the perplexing, fraught but ultimately exciting and joyful complexities of relationships. Whether marriage or children will be part of this path is up to him.

I recommend you go read Dave's own post which is just awesomeness and power and all that's great...funny as hell too.

DUP Numpties Dragging us Back to the Stone Age

SO we've already had young Sammy Wilson, Minster for the Environment in the parliament of this peculiar and fought over minuscule corner of our planet, a climate change denialist, block a UK government commissioned TV ad advising people how to reduce consumption and CO2 emissions from their homes.
There's a Royal Society's guide he'd be well advised to read.

Last year the DUP MP Iris Robinson promoted her own brand of bigotry to the world.

Today we hear again from Mervyn Storey, fellow DUP member who not only believes that this whole universe is about 6000 years old, but that it was all put together in just 6 days.

Now the man can believe what he wants as long as he doesn't interfere with my or my children's right to enjoy life free from his fairy tales. But here's the problem; little Mervyn (look at his wee Bash Street Kids face, the tyke!) is threatening the Ulster Museum with legal action if it doesn't represent his fabulous tale alongside its planned exhibition on evolution when it reopens later this year after undergoing a major refurbishment. Mervyn thinks that because he's not the only person living here who believes his astonishing 6 day tale, that he can use equality legislation to force the museum to show nonsense alongside evidence based information! Yes, I know... Worse still, this man chairs the NI education committee. Once again, I'm glad to home-educate.

Walter the Softy Mervyn told the Guardian,

"In the past, when I have written to the museum about necessity to show the public an alternative to Darwin's theory (and let's stress it is still only a theory), they have been quite dismissive."

Argh! He used the "only a theory" thing! From Understanding Evolution, a site Mervyn would learn much from,

"Scientific theories are explanations that are based on lines of evidence, enable valid predictions, and have been tested in many ways. In contrast, there is also a popular definition of theory — a "guess" or "hunch." These conflicting definitions often cause unnecessary confusion about evolution."

In the Guardian article Mervyn attempts to smear Charles Darwin with accusations of racism, when others have recently shown that he was in part motivated by anti-slavery principles,

"In this politically correct society we live in today, if Darwin expressed those views about other peoples of the world now he would not be put on any pedestal."

Asked if humans evolved from monkeys, Storey said: "Certainly not, and there are plenty of other people in this society who don't believe it either."

The chairman of the education committee at the Northern Ireland Assembly said: "I am not against the museum or anywhere else promoting Darwin's theory, but I think it would be in the public's interest to give them an alternative theory as well.

"We are currently because of the anniversary being bombarded with Darwin's theory but there are others in the scientific world who question that thesis and their voices should be heard in publicly funded institutions like the museum."

Darwin may have dispassionately dismissed some peoples as savages in one of his books, which wrong as that is, must be seen in light of the prevailing attitudes of his time and class.

Moreover, if Mervyn reckons only those with politically correct views by today's standards should be on pedestals, he should hire a truck to knock down most of the public statues in this province...and sack many of his party colleagues.

I am looking forward to the Ulster Museum's reopening. It was a fusty but fun place to visit before, and I'm sure after it's make-over, it will be even better. No doubt we will visit often as part of our learning voyage, but I don't want to have to negotiate frankly incorrect exhibitions in a place of learning and science.

Praise be then that the museum has pledged to do the right thing and will,

"house galleries and exhibitions of international significance interpreted in line with excellent scholarship and research. Within the permanent science galleries we will explain the conventional scientific theories internationally accepted by scholars and scientists to describe life on earth from the earliest evidence of fossils. This is consistent with approaches taken by museums of renown across the world." [emphasis mine.]

Boo to backwards pulling politicians, hooray for well run museums.

Darwin Day 2009

Happy Darwin Day human animals!

Clearly in the home of a biologist and (I may have been rubbish but...) an ex-physicist, a day dedicated to honouring the great man and science in general is not going to pass by unnoticed.

I was reading to Lady and Thomas about Charles Darwin and his work. We talked about how he was fascinated by all the different species he observed on his travels and wanted to find a way to explain such diversity. We mentioned how the generations before Darwin thought there were only a few hundred types of animal, as many believed literally that they'd all had to fit on Noah's Ark. Thomas didn't know that story so Lady enlightened him. "Ah," said he, "it's like Evan Almighty". Well, close enough. But as I explained, by Darwin's time scientists and explorers already knew there were far too many species to fit in a boat ("unless it was as big as the world"-T). And Darwin was really puzzled about why this was, and after he read a book about people, poverty and the struggle for survival, he decided to apply those ideas to animals. But he knew his theory would upset a lot of people so he had to go carefully and he worked hard for years, collecting samples and writing letters, gaining evidence and working out the details of his theory before he felt he had to let other people know.

We read a little bit about barnacles since the big guy studied them for years. Lady already knew that they're crustaceans. Both were surprised to discover that they catch food with their feet, that they're hermaphrodites (cool new word) and best of all, that they have the longest penis of the animal kingdom relevant to their length.

Later Thomas was telling Gordon what he'd learned; Charles Darwin apparently, built a huge boat during a flood.

Teaching fail!

But Thomas did remember what he'd learned about barnacles somehow!

Today we met Dean outside his hospital and had a late lunch at McD's since we don't do dine-in, then drove up to the zoo to have some Darwin Day appropriate fun. It was 2.45 when we arrived but sadly we were not allowed in as they close to visitors at 2.30 in the winter. Boy did I feel llama-ish. I thought of invoking the occasion to see if I could convince the man to let us have just an hour or so to wander around but I wasn't up to it.



So we went to the playground by the beach. Lady and Duncan spent much time on the beach, he throwing stones into the sea while she collected interesting shells and examined seaweed and various bits of slimy stuff she found lying around. She's a natural naturalist. Thomas, not being a fan of the beach when it's cold, shimmied up poles and swung on ropes and other peculiar monkey like things. Actually, I suppose he was demonstrating our primate origins, so that was very suitable for the day too.

Back home, I baked a cake and Lady helped to decorate it. We all had a nice piece of Darwin's birthday cake, and Thomas made a toast, "cheers to Darwin, even though he's dead."

(Oh and I was in the local paper.)

Duncan takes over my blog

I've been caught up in efforts to stop the Action for Children demonic autism campaign (now with 625 members!)

But I must still blog as I have been ordered to do so.
The little man created another of his fine, artistic videos. He asked me to upload it to YouTube as usual, but he also asked me to help him annotate it with little speech bubbles. He's more aware of YouTubian innovations than I am!

So he provided the text and I provided my limited technical assistance and we've developed the following masterpiece. Oh, and I was also instructed to, "put it on the blog"!

He asked me to let him type a bit, so here's Duncan's post. He asked me to put his words in italics. I must get him a blog of his own.

The Rugrats are going to the jungle with dinosaurs and eggs and meat of the egg travels the desert. Must wait.
The End

So as asked, here is...Rugrats, The Return of Reptar Rex.

The day in pictures

The family ate lunch together. Even Duncan sat/stood at the table with everyone else for a while before plonking himself back down in front of his computer. It's situated just beside the dining table, so at least he was close. These simulated theme parks don't build themselves you know! Unfortunately he opted to watch films about ear wax extraction as we ate. I persuaded him to watch more Morph films first, and watch ear wax films later.
(RIP Tony Hart, a source of joy and inspiration to so many.)

Lady started to work on a volcano kit she'd been given as a gift ages ago. The boys gathered to watch and participate. Duncan was alarmed at the idea of an explosion in the kitchen. I was able to explain that it isn't a real volcano, just a little pretend one for children. He donned the plastic safety glasses and helped with the first activity, a basic demonstration of the effects of coloured water on a mixture of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. He was impressed, the others were a bit underwhelmed. Next they painted the volcano case and we've left it to dry in preparation for a demonstration of the stunning power of our planet.

The weather wasn't too bad so we headed off to the playground for a while. Duncan ran the length of the tennis courts, throwing his orange "Green Eggs and Ham" book into the air several time. He told me he was doing "the egg travels" and though I don't know the scene he means (from Disney's Dinosaur), I trust his interpretation. Lady did gymnastics moves and pushed her brothers fast in the spinning bowl thing. They have an uncanny tolerance for rotational movement.

Thomas does effortless gorgeousness.

Duncan revs up the spinning bowl thing before launching himself inside.

Pippi waits patiently while her pack frolics.

It has been another good day.

Creating films

Gordon thought of the perfect career for Duncan. He could be a film editor. He'd get to sit at a computer, in a quiet room, and use his brilliant eye for detail and technical abilities. His peculiar overall vision might bring him into dispute with the director though!

OK, I know I'm just spouting and getting way too far ahead of things. But no matter what happens when he's an adult, he's certainly enjoying making films now. Over the past few days he's churned out about 10 films using Windows Movie Maker. He imports a piece of music and a selection of images, some he created from scratch, others he copied from the web and a few that he copied and then customised. He drags each component into place, precisely and in a carefully designed order. Then he adds credits or titles, choosing the text font and style and colour scheme. He types his own text. He adds effects. He may ask me for help in finding a certain effect. Yesterday he called me over, pointed to the image on screen and said, "make it..." as he closed one eye and moved right up to the screen. He didn't have the words to say that he wanted to see the picture "ease in" but now he does. He has learnt how to fade in and out, pan across, and has experimented with other effects. He publishes and saves the film. Then he calls me over and asks me to complete the final stage, upload his masterpiece onto my YouTube channel, letting him type in his choice of title. I think he needs his own channel!

I've added 7 of his films in the past few days. Most of them use Justin Timberlake's "Cry me a river" song; he wanted to use the Black Eyed Peas "Phunk it" but YouTube kept blocking the audio for breaching copyright. Obviously, people will choose to watch Duncan's peculiar little videos rather than pay for a CD or download(!) He's also used the theme music from Disney's Dinosaur film-I expect that'll be blocked eventually too. He loves to watch the films he made on YouTube alongside all his favourites, featuring BBC idents and various logos, Rugrats, Tots TV and Thomas characters.

I think this one is my favourite as it's got more of his own pictures. These guys are from Kinder Eggs, the blue haired fella with the sad face is Oliver, who features heavily in Duncan's work and his friend with purple hair is Siver. There's a nice image of the pair fishing beside their farm house, with a pig in a fence just behind them.

RCT3

Duncan is really into his Roller Coaster Tycoon PC game. He's been trying for ages to recreate some of the Disney World/Land rides, in particular, Space Mountain. He kept showing me YouTube videos of these amazing versions of the rides, and bugging me to download them for him. I didn't know how or where to get the sets from. He's been going onto the Atari forums and scrolling through the posts. He showed me a few topics that seemed to help. It took me ages to piece together what I had to do though. It's not bad, what he managed to achieve. He typed his request, and found the relevant pages. He managed to read enough (and find the right images) to know when he was on the right track. He has tried so hard to make the coasters by himself, and he has designed some fabulous scenery, including a great version of Expedition Everest, with snow topped mountains and all. He has a great feel for how to use the program, how to build the walls and change the landscape. It's quite astonishing really.

Since I finally figured out where to get the set of files he needed to build Space Mountain (Mission 2) I helped him get the files in place. He asked me to help connect the multiple pieces, so I gave it a go. He was very disappointed with my efforts. I was sent away and he got to work himself. He kicked my ass at the game, building a beautiful, synchronised version of the ride using the well designed scenery of someone kind enough to share his work online.

I downloaded Google Sketchup (a cool, free 3D modelling program) and let him go to work, after spending a couple of minutes showing him some basic techniques. He knew what to do and had some ideas to try out instantly. The boy's got skills at stuff like that. Perhaps it'll develop into something marketable some day, but for now, he's learning loads through his interests and enjoys them. That's good to see.

Make a splash

Image via stock.xchng

Tuesday is swim day. We go at lunch time when the learner pool isn't in use by school groups.

It's not so long since Thomas was nervous and clung to me in the pool, tolerating only short periods in the water. Now he wears goggles and swims over and under with true dedication and joy. I can usually manage to give him one helpful tip per week to improve his doggy paddling, bum in the air, legs splayed swimming style, but he tells me he doesn't need my help and he can do it himself. He's right, he is getting about well enough and is getting better and stronger each week.

Lady takes my advice slightly better and she swims now in a sleek, smooth manner, her long limbs pulling through the water. We raced a length last week, and she kept up with me, though I was looking backwards every second stroke to check on Duncan.

Duncan just loves it and grins the whole time we're there, even enjoying the showers after. He has me pull him as he holds a float. I try to do a life saving stroke as I drag him along but he's the wriggliest and bossiest rescue subject ever, and insists that I swim faster and go from left to right. I tell you, I certainly get a work out anyway.

One of Duncan's favourite things now is watching people go off the diving board in the adjacent diving pool, and the bigger the person, the better the splash. Last week, a very large man made him very happy by repeatedly plummeting off the board, creating gratifyingly gigantic turbulence in the pool. Duncan couldn't withhold a little shout of glee each time the big fella went off.

He emulates in his own small scale way, jumping from the poolside very carefully so as not to make a big splash or to go underwater. Sometimes he enacts a little pantomime of stretches and toe touching before he goes in, muttering the script from a relevant episode of Tommy Zoom.

At 1.20 a school group arrives and we retire to the baby pool for a few minutes to watch them. Duncan likes it when they all sit on the side splashing their legs back and forth creating lots of noise and white water. He joins in from where he sits. About thirty school children are crammed into a pool which we four usually have had to ourselves for the previous 45 minutes. Lady can't help feeling a bit sorry for them as they are restricted to a narrow strip about 10m across and must follow instructions to the letter.

Ah the delights and freedom of home education.
Smug...us? Just a bit.

Learning at home with autism

On a cold, dark February morning, I gathered my long-legged but skinny son in my arms and carried him to the end of our street to wait for a bus. He was six years old and lacked mobility problems. Yet on that morning, like all the other mornings when I brought him out early to meet his bus, he was overwhelmed by the sleep that still hadn't quite relinquished it's hold, the inclement weather and his tension about what lay ahead and needed my arms to hold and comfort him and my neck to hide his face in.

He spoke his longest sentence to date that day as he said quietly yet emphatically, "I not go to school today." So we turned and went back home. He has not been to school since.

When he was six months old, my maternity leave ended and I returned to the lab where I worked. While his older sister had thrived in the workplace creche, he was always distressed and it tore me up to leave him. So I ended up serving just the minimum time required to retain my maternity pay and have not returned to paid employment.

He was a demanding baby and I was often shattered. I didn't know then that this child whom I'd nicknamed my "wee marsupial" for his desire to be attached at all times to his favourite bit of my anatomy, would gain a diagnosis of autism two months after his second birthday and four months after the birth of his baby brother.

I have focused on raising these children and eschewed the heady delights of a glittering career, especially since my husband's job demands long hours and frequent trips away from home.

Years ago, while reading online about autism, I encountered families who opted to home-educate their autistic children. They described the difficulties their children had faced in schools; the inflexible education system, the lack of appropriate support, the bullying and the children's feelings of inadequacy and isolation. Many had battled with the education authorities to have their children's needs recognised or to have those needs addressed. I didn't want to spend too much time tussling with the authorities, I just wanted to raise my children.

Intrigued and inspired by their stories, I researched it further, meeting with home-educating families, reading books and articles and discussing it all with my husband and our daughter. She promptly decided that she wanted to be home-educated after having attended primary school for almost two years. And so it began. My youngest son has never been to school.

My autistic son had gone to a fantastic nursery and on to a special school. I knew that eventually he would join his siblings in learning without school but I worried about how I would cope with teaching all three of them, especially considering how demanding he could be.

Then he moved to a new school which he never enjoyed, and clearly expressed his desire to leave, I listened and complied. I removed his name from the school register and embarked on a path of home-educating all three children.

It has been wonderful and he has thrived and developed in ways which, in my ignorance, I'd have thought were impossible. I can be forgiven for having such low expectations; the overwhelming depiction of autism I was faced with at his diagnosis, was very negative and heavy on the devastation rhetoric which has evolved over time as part of the mythology of autism.

But for each of my children, home-based education has allowed them to learn in a highly individualised and personally optimised setting. They are motivated to learn via their particular interests, like Doctor Who and Harry Potter, pets and wild animals, Thomas the Tank trains and roller coasters.

My son is autistic. It's an integral part of him, like his gender or eye colour and affects how he learns, how he experiences the world and how he interacts with others. It is no less valid a way of being than a non-autistic life. He is wonderful, just as he is. I am helping him and his siblings, to develop and grow to adults with the ability to think, the desire to learn and the ambition to realise their potential. I want them to have empathy and respect for others, to have confidence and self-esteem. I want them to develop the skills to solve problems and the flexibility to deal with modern life as well as they are capable. They learn that discrimination on the grounds on disability is no more acceptable than discrimination due to race, gender, social status or sexuality. Although I have the same wishes for all three children, they will not end up doing or achieving the same things and they will have different levels of independence. That's fine too. All I can do, is raise them as best I can, in an atmosphere of love and acceptance of their differences, difficulties and strengths.

My house is never as tidy as I'd like; there are usually piles of books, CD Rom boxes, swimming bags, toy trains and track, marker pens, dressing-up clothes and modelling clay lying about. Perhaps since we're all at home more than other families, it's more difficult to keep the chaos in check.

It's rarely quiet. The youngest might be in the kitchen perfecting his dance moves to a Justin Timberlake song, his sister in her room with the headphones plugged into my laptop and following an online maths course, while their brother designs another action packed funfair on Roller Coaster Tycoon or drawing a beautiful picture on the computer.

I stay more or less sane with frequent cups of tea, the odd break to blog or to read my favourites as well as lots of hugs and chats with the three greatest (in my biased opinion) children in the world.

Maths for a 6 year old

Thomas recently turned 6 and is clearly ready for more conceptional learning. He has learned so much with very little formalised instruction. I have helped him learn all the letter sounds and he can read simple books with some help. Like Lady, he will most likely be able to read very well when he is 8 or perhaps earlier. He has a good understanding of arithmetic, although until a few weeks ago, he'd never answered a written maths question. He has, however, spent ages counting the coins (and a few notes) in his Tardis money bank, he has played loads of board games, some card games, many hours worth of computer games. He has played with Lego and wooden bricks, Geomag and measuring cups. We have baked and weighed and measured as part of real life. He has been able to double and half quantities in his head, he has been taught how to add 2 small numbers by putting the larger number "in his head" then counting on the next number on his fingers. So when I wrote out a page of addition and subtraction sums, I just had to tell him what the plus and minus symbols represent, and he easily completed the questions correctly. Right away I was able to present him with more difficult sums.

We often have discussions about numbers. He's asked about the biggest number and about how long it would take you to count to it, then was fascinated by the idea of infinity. He asks about astronomical distances so I have to look them up and explain concepts like light years to him. He asked his dad how long it would take to walk around the sun, so we looked up the numbers and showed him how to divide the distance by the speed to get the time taken, (approx. 1 million hours or approx 114 years, assuming you survive).

His dad has talked to them about Graham's number and the Planck length as examples of the largest and smallest numbers used in science. More usefully, we've mentioned how amazing it is that any number can be expressed using just 10 digits, (and why we use 10) but how they can also be written in other ways, like the Roman numeral system. Thomas has also been introduced to negative numbers and fractions.

He asks how old I was when he was born, or what age he'll be when Lady is 18, and although I used to just tell him and explain how I worked it, now I get him to figure it out. He understands money, so it's a great tool in explaining concepts like place value. (He says he wants to be rich when he grows up, perhaps he will!) Looking at a catalogue recently, he remarked on how expensive the hot-tubs are (he and Lady covet these items; dream on, my children!). He said, "it's ten thousand, four hundred and ninety-nine pounds, that's nearly fifteen thousand pounds!"

He asked me on Wednesday how long before we went to his gymnastics class, and I said 1 hour and 15 minutes. He responded, "OK, 75 minutes." He asked what time that would be so I told him, 3.15. He said, "when both hands are at the 3."
Yup, you've got it!

He was helping me put the shopping away yesterday and he saw the box of eggs, and said, "You bought 10 eggs." I asked him to count them, so he did, and acknowledged that there were actually 12 eggs. He started looking at them, grouping them with his hands, and told me that there were 2 groups of 6, then 4 groups of 3. I showed him the other multiples. It took about a minute, and he learned because he was noticing the patterns in the quantities for himself, and I was just there to help explain and confirm what he discovered.

It's good to reflect sometimes, on how they're doing and to see the methods of learning we've adopted, working so well.

Springtime news

Duncan has found a new form of artistic expression; modelling clay. We bought a few blocks of stuff that can be baked and he got to work. The first time I over cooked and blackened it but since then we've got the hang of it and now Duncan can make and bake his sculptures (with supervision). All these he made from memory.

This is one of the first things he made. It's Po from the Teletubbies. Of course, observant people will have known that just by looking at the little telly in the tummy.












Then he made a model of the train from the Disneyland Paris's Big Thunder Mountain train.


He made Casey Jr, the train from Dumbo.







The next item, he told me, is a "mometer, like in Madagascar." I thought it was some sort of snake from the film, so asked for further clarification. "It's a mometer, for medicine. Like Melman in Madagascar." Oh, it's a ther-mometer. He has since learnt the correct pronunciation of the word, having practised it many times.




But my favourite, is the EasyJet aeroplane. He has the wings, engines, tail and even the writing on the side; esy jet!



We've been enjoying the warmer weather and spending much more time outdoors. Lady took the camera out and snapped her brothers playing. I love the picture of Duncan, in which you see Lady's reflection in the window and the weird looking shot of Thomas looking like an alien, with Lady reflected in his eyes!











Further news on the dog question; our local animal sanctuary, where we got our 2 guinea pigs, have decided not to let us adopt one of their dogs because we home educate and have not had dogs before. They don't see how I could find the time to look after a dog when I am so involved with my children. It's ridiculous. There are all these dogs who are put to sleep all over Ireland daily, and they could ensure at least one gets a chance at a home but irrational prejudice prevents it. I explained to them that HE usually takes no more time than parenting a school child, who needs to be dropped off and lifted from school as well as packed lunches prepared, uniforms readied, supervision of homework, attendance at school meetings, and often helping out in the classroom or on school trips.
Thankfully, another rescue organisation has approved our application so I hope we'll find a good canine match through them.

Other family news; Thomas and Lady have new bikes, and Duncan will get his at the weekend. Neither Thomas nor Duncan had ever ridden a proper two wheel bike before. They have been bombing about on a cheap little trainer bike that has two wheels but no pedals, just getting the hang of balancing and steering it. It wasn't much of a surprise when they both mastered riding the proper bike within 3 minutes! So I took them to the park yesterday to have a good long ride each and to learn how to use the brakes properly. They did great!

The week that was

My sister spent a few days with us, so we had a few outings together. One was to W5, which was busier than it usually is on a school day. There was one school group there and many of the children were acting up, while their teachers ignored them. I had to keep Duncan away from them as they buck-lepped (that's west Tyrone speak for jumped wildly) around at his favourite exhibit; the weather camera. Lady and Thomas enjoyed showing their aunt around all the cool stuff. They ended the day with Duncan and Lady arranging furniture in the doll's house.

My personal favourite time didn't involve my beloved children. I'd arranged baby sitting, and myself, Gordon and my lil' sis took public transport into Belfast where we meet my dad and step-mum for a fantastic Thai meal washed down with much wine.

The children didn't want C. to leave, but eventually she'd had enough of us (or had to go back to work or something). On Saturday, the children spent an hour at their Grandma's house while Gordon and I went for a run. We were totally out-done by my brother though, he ran about 21.2 miles further than us on Sunday in London, along with about 34 thousand others. You go bro!

Yesterday we piled into the car intending to drive to local park, but decided instead to drive up to the north Antrim coast. It was perfect driving weather and the road from Larne to Carnlough (where we stopped) is spectacularly beautiful. Thanks to my Blueprint inspired new interest in local geology, I noted the chalk cliffs topped with basalt. The locale provided the backdrop for some of the scenes from that programme too.

It was my first time along that part of the coast; I'd always been coming from west to east before and never made it past Bushmills or thereabouts. We had chips (good) and ice-cream (poor) in Carnlough and the children burned off some of their vast quantities of energy in a playground before we headed for home.

And just so you know, Duncan was not wearing a Santa hat, despite how it appeared to the several people who smilingly remarked on how out of season he was. He was, in fact, dressed as Noddy, which should be obvious when you note the blue shorts, red top and yellow scarf! Also, it's perfectly acceptable to carry the case of a Thomas the Tank CD Rom around with you in a playground!


Instead of driving back along the coast, we headed south towards Belfast, taking us into some lovely countryside. We passed a mountain and I looked at the map for its name. It was Slemish, which I obviously know (as a good wee girl I'd absorbed all this information) as the place where the captured Briton later known as St Patrick, was sent to watch sheep and where he did a whole heap of praying. It was nice to see it for the first time. Again, thanks to Blueprint, Lady reckoned it was once a volcano. We looked it up later, and yes indeed it is the plug of erosion-resistant hardened lava from the inside of a dead volcano.

Oh and that reminds me, another family tradition for all but Duncan (who finds it too scary and watches familiar videos instead) we enjoyed the Pompeii episode of Doctor Who, in which the volcano was far from dead.

Right, I do believe I'm all caught up again.

Blueprint

I watched the new BBC NI programme Blueprint last night. I rarely make an effort to watch TV as it happens now, preferring instead to watch the few shows I like online via the BBCi player or something. But this I wanted to see properly, and it was well worth it.

The show described how the land we live on has changed over millions of years, how it's position on the globe has changed, how 2 sections of the island were formed from land masses that were once thousands of miles apart. I was fascinated to learn about the Caledonian mountain range stretching across North America, Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia, and which in these parts, now comprises the rolling hills of the Sperrins near where I lived. I never knew this land was once a baking desert, or covered by a tropical ocean. See what a good school education can leave out.

It was great to see such a well made, local science programme. The special effects looked good. I liked the sand world map on a Sligo beach to demonstrate plate tectonics. William Crawley is an engaging presenter, though I did wonder why he was wearing pale coloured trousers as he kept having to tramp through mud.

But guess what, there have been complaints to the BBC about the programme. I was reading the presenter's blog and came across a comment I assumed was a parody; "I, along with many others are disgusted that the BBC is using license payers money to spew out this filth over the airwaves. It is evolutionary nonsense, which is in complete opposition to the Biblical account of Creation."

Eh?! That can't be for real...can it?
Unfortunately I soon saw a link to a group criticising the programme (I've broken the link) and its makers for not covering their notion that somehow, the bible should be accepted as a literal interpretation of the earth's formation;

In it [Blueprint] they will teach the theoretical 600 million year history of the island of Ireland. No reference will be made to a Creator or Intelligent Designer and no reference will be made to important biblical events such as God's 6-day creation or the worldwide flood of Noah's days as recorded in the book of Genesis.
...
I am very angry that the BBC, yet again, is siding with evolution in the debate about the origins of the world. These programmes are about to launch a massive attack on the Christian values of our country and I hope Christians can be persuaded to make their voices heard with the BBC. I think this is the most dangerous TV series in NI for years. If possible, I would like to see Christians gather in prayer outside Broadcasting House in protest at this insidious attack on our society's foundational values.

They even suggest a form of letter to use in complaining to the BBC about this "massive/insidious attack";

Dear Mr Crawley,
In relation to the upcoming series of BLUEPRINT programmes I wish to register my protest to the BBC NI about this offensive abuse of the licence fee money of the many Christians in Northern Ireland who accept God's account of His own Creation as recorded in His Word in the book of Genesis.
I would ask, for the sake of balance, that BBC NI expend a similar amount of finance and give a platform to Scientists, who are Christians and 'Biblical Creationists' to explain the visible scientific evidence that concurs with their beliefs on the origins of the island of Ireland.

Dear oh dear.

But, thankfully, sense and science have prevailed. Many people, theist and not, will enjoy this series and learn from it. I'll be watching again with Lady later. What a bonus for our home-education!

Some decadent days

We went to my brother's house in Leitrim for Easter. Lady and Thomas played with their cousins, Lady mostly played up with 6 year old C. and Thomas with 4 year old E. They get on really well together. Duncan preferred to ride a trike around outside. He had a notion to buy a toy bow and arrow (or "boanarro" as he wrote on his first trial on Google) and didn't really accept my explanation that toy shops are closed on Easter Sunday. Well, copious quantities on chocolate helped settle everyone, and we adults enjoyed good food, a few drinks and much chat.

Lady and Thomas stayed for 3 extra nights with their cousins, which was, by all accounts, a very successful event. They went swimming in a super duper, waves and slides pool, then they all won medals in some children's races at a 10k race my SIL ran. The village they live in seems to be populated by a strange breed of Irish folk who all run. Well, there are worse vices than could inflict them.

It was odd having just one child. Gordon and I took Duncan into Belfast on the train. We visited the Disney store to buy his much wanted bow and arrow toy, then we ate at Nandos in the newly opened and very posh Victoria Square shopping centre. Duncan was marvellous. He had his shouty moments. He always does, but so what. He was as happy as a boy can be on the train. Watching him, we talked about how fantastic we think he is, and how glad we are to have him. Having autism enter our lives was unexpected, unwelcome at first (before I figured out that autism=Duncan, which is obviously all good) and something that shook us right up, leading us to make choices in nearly every aspect of our lives that we might otherwise not have made.
But mostly, Duncan is just so blinkin' adorable, with his big eyes, his big tooth, his curls and all his games.

Duncan too had a night away from home at my dad's apartment, leaving we adults home alone. We ate out that evening, and then to be even more decadent, went out again for breakfast. In the afternoon we all drove around to pick up the travellers, so had our wee family back together again.

Since then, I can't quite remember what we've done. Lady went to a holiday activity scheme at a leisure centre a few times with her friend from next door. The children's usual classes and activities were off for the school holidays, so even though we're home-educators, the children were in holiday mode and we were (even) more disorganised than usual.

I do remember yesterday though. It was our 12th wedding anniversary. I don't know how that's even possible seeing as I'm still 24... My dad and step-mum took the children for a few hours and Gordon and me went for lunch at the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast. Rather romantically, among the songs playing softly in the background, was what we choose for the first dance at our wedding party. (OK, pass the sick bucket!) More importantly, the food was fabulous, and it's somewhere we'll definitely be back to.

My youngest brother and his family had also come up to Dad's place, so we enjoyed seeing them for the first time since his baby's christening. Both Thomas and Duncan were delighted with baby D, sitting beside him stroking his little head, though Duncan was a bit worried about D's touch of cradle cap, saying he had to sort the 'creepy crawlies', referencing what I tell the boys when I'm checking them over for nits!

So it's back to normal today, or at least what passes for normal here.