The Devastation and Beauty of Nature

These last few days, like a lot of people, I have been saddened by the news and images coming to us from Japan. The devastation that nature can bring to parts of the world is unimaginable to those of us who live in parts of the world that are not at big risk of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes etc, and we can only try to imagine the heartbreak and feelings of shock and loss that these people must be going through.

On Sunday we went out for a walk to a country park just a few minutes walk from the house and their could not have been a bigger contrast to the images that are coming to us to through our TV screens. The sun was shining, the birds singing, the buds appearing on the trees as nature comes to life at the start of Spring. Families out enjoying the weather, children laughing and playing and dogs running along beside their owners.

This just made me realise that along with all the struggles and problems of our every day life, we should be grateful and appreciate more the things that we do have.

My thoughts are with those in the world who are not as lucky x

Canal

Yachts sailing on the Flash

View of Pennington Flash

It's days like these that make it all worthwhile :)

 I have just had one of those days where I am grinning from ear to ear and thinking I have the best kids in the world :)

It started this morning, when my 16 year old, L, came downstairs and said she had to log onto her college's intranet to check her exam results. She is doing the first year of her A levels, with the ambition of doing Midwifery when college is over. She was really nervous, saying she was scared to look and when she plucked up the courage she found out they weren't going to be there for another hour...was a LONG hour! Finally the time came and I sat with a big beam on my face...she got A's and B's...she sat miserable about the one she didnt do so well on (this is only the first part, she has more in June then another year) with me telling her how proud I was of her and that she still had plenty of time to build up her mark for her Maths.

Now picture a totally different situation, C, my 14 year old who has high functioning autism/asperger's, came in from school with the usual "fine", "stop being nosey" etc etc when I asked how his day had gone. He proceeded to talk about something totally disconnected with school and then at the end of it all just threw in " by the way I got an A and A* for my tests". He had sat some biology GCSE's a year early at the beginning of the year and these were the ones he meant. He hadnt told me the results were due , infact when he sat the exams he could not understand why I was saying good luck, as " I know it so why do I need good luck"...well guess he was right about the knowing it part.

So one child who can't sleep , stresses and gets worried about sitting the exams and always does well...and another who acts like it is nothing special and cannot understand why I am so interested and feeling so proud...anyway, all I know is I am one proud Mum!! :)))

A special post for a special little boy...PLEASE READ #forDeeds

I have not been writing this blog for very long and have just started to use twitter again...and its through these two mediums I have recently met some very special people...people who do extraordinary jobs as parents and others who are constantly trying to raise awareness and/or funds in various ways to help those with special needs.

One of these is a special lady called Caryn who is trying to help  a little boy called Deeds, whose story can you read about at Dog 4 Deeds . He has autism and has been through a very hard time lately, his parents are trying to raise enough money to get him an Autism Service Dog. This would make a great difference to his life, giving him the independence he needs while keeping him safe.

There are various ways we can all help this to happen and to spread awareness, which you can read about here at Caryn's site livingwithlogan. A lady called JC Little, has given her time to design a special logo for Deeds , you can find her here at The Animated Woman.

So please everyone, just take a minute of your day to support this worthwhile cause, either by blogging (there are PRIZES) , sharing on facebook, tweeting #forDeeds on twitter and various other ways....

SO PLEASE CHECK OUT HOW TO HELP BY CLICKING THIS LINK  AND GIVING A SPECIAL LITTLE BOY THE HELP AND INDEPENDENCE HE DESERVES.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ :)

The haircut can wait!

This weekend I was meant to be taking C for his haircut, sounds simple, but it is one of those trips out that I dread the most. From since I can remember, getting his haircut has left him, and us, traumatised. It is a sensory issue that is related to his autism..unlike most of us, he says it "hurts" and " feels horrible" and " why can't you just let it grow, I don't mind"
Until the age of about 10, we used to have to cut it at home, one of us holding him while the other one cut..but as he got older this became more difficult and after a lot of discussion and some bribery , we made his first visit to a hairdresser's. The visit went well , I heaved a sigh of relief and thought "sorted". The next few years went well, going back to the same shop and the same person and even though he still complained about going , there were no meltdowns or tears...till one day , the shop was closed and I tried to get him into another one. " the shop is too red", "the person looks weird", "the shop smells funny" and that day we ended up back home , hair still intact.
We have found another shop that he will tolerate but the days of just making an appointment and going are gone...he will argue constantly about what day we should go, give reasons why that day is a bad day etc etc and by the time we get there and back we are both mentally drained.
Well yesterday was meant to be one of those days and I am now sitting feeling guilty for chickening out. We had already had a stressful week, as he was at the opticians for his yearly eye test and had to choose some new glasses...you guessed it, not straightforward. He is fine with the test but is terrible at choosing ( not just glasses, he takes a very long time to choose between anything). After looking at all the frames he could have, he finally made his mind up after about 45 mins ...the frames were "too brown", "too black", "too thin", "too wide", "too weird" etc etc.
So now I have the hairdressers to look forward to next week...and now wish we had gone yesterday!

Spring is in the air.

Today the sun is shining and even though there is still a nip in the air, you can feel spring on it's way for the first time this year. We have had a lot of grey, wet and miserable weather lately so decided to take the chance to go out for a walk. 

A branch of the Liverpool and Leeds Canal, and Pennington Country Park are just 5 minutes walk from the house, across some fields at the bottom of our street. Its one of our favourite places to go and during the better weather we go there frequently. So off me and my daughter went, looking forward to that feeling of being in the countryside and away from traffic and the general noise of everyday life.

It didn't go to plan, the route we take from the house was virtually a no go area, unless you had wellington boots on, the ground was saturated and boggy. We did eventually make it to the canal path from another way but found the canal path was just as bad...so we couldn't make it to the park :(. We made the most of it though and walked along the canal going the opposite direction  into town instead (this part has a proper path)...ok, we didn't get that feeling of isolation and being away from it all but the sun was shining , the buds are starting to appear on the trees and signs of Spring are definitely in the air.

Looking towards Pennington Flash from the Canal

The Canal in town

Spring is in the air and ducks seem to be making most of it too