After last week’s difficult week, this week has been more encouraging. I’ve been able to share some of the mental load with my worries and we’ve had some conversations about various concerns, which has been difficult but ultimately helpful. It’s been good to get things out in the open and have a better idea of what the next steps need to be and what support might be available to help move forward.
Sophie had an encouraging start to her latest dance festival, placing first in her tap solo with an amazing 91 marks. Thomas had to come along and watch as my husband was working on an event. It was a longer day than last time he came to a dance festival, but he coped amazingly well and managed to sit and watch a couple of sections that Sophie wasn’t dancing in (but her friend was) as well as Sophie’s sections.
We had Thomas’s annual review this week for his EHCP. It’s been encouraging to see what progress he has made over the last year. Some of the things that were big challenges for him last year have become much easier for him to manage. His current school seem to be supporting him really well and he’s been so much happier at school since he’s been there. I’m not seeing quite so much of a coke-bottle reaction when he comes home which is also encouraging because it suggests that he genuinely is coping better at school rather than being better at masking.
I’ve had a nice productive week and felt more on top of things which has also helped make the mental load feel easier to manage, as has getting a bit more sleep!
What I’ve been grateful for this week:
- Day 9 – I am grateful that Thomas enjoyed being back at Boys’ Brigade this evening and had fun making a marshmallow robot.
- Day 10 – I am grateful for taking Sophie and Thomas for a shoe fitting and them both still being the same size as last time so no new shoes needed!
- Day 11 – I am grateful that Thomas coped fairly well with spending the day at Sophie’s dance festival.
- Day 12 – I am grateful for time to play games together before bedtime.
- Day 13 – I am grateful for my slow cooker.
- Day 14 – I am grateful for a message from Sophie’s form tutor telling me that she’s doing great and is a joy to have in class.
- Day 15 – I am grateful for oodies and blankets.
Other things that have made me smile this week:
- Thomas burning off some energy after school at the playground.
- Thomas telling me he had “700 Shreddies” for breakfast at breakfast club.
- Pretty flowers in Jessica’s vase.
Joining in with Raisie Bay for Word of the Week.
Well done Sophie in her dance festival. What a start to the year. And well done Thomas. Being part of the audience for so long is no mean feat. I’m glad you’ve been able to sort some of last week’s issues out. It must be a bit of weight off your shoulders. 700 shreddies seems a lot. Good job Thomas has the playground to burn them off. Beautiful flowers. Daffodils already! Hope you have a lovely weekend.
It’s good to hear that you have had a much better week. The mental load can really take its toll, so I’m glad that you had the chance to talk and share the load.
Well done to Sophie in the dance festival, well done to Thomas too, for sitting so nicely and enjoying the shows.
700 shreddies is quite the achievement. It sounds like Thomas is a huge fan of them.
Gorgeous spring flowers for Jessica, I love the daffodils.
I’m glad you had a better week, sometimes the hard conversations are necessary and you feel a little lighter afterwards. Well done to Sophie for her dancing and Thomas for his patience. 700 Shreddies! I’ve just bought a box of those so I will be counting them out and seeing if I can beat his total 😀
I love the vase you have for Jessica and the flowers are beautiful. 700 shreddies is awesome as is the marshmallow robot. A great week in school for them both also. I’m glad to hear you’ve been able to talk through and share some of your concerns.
I am glad things are better this week and that having the conversations helped.
Well done to Sophie with her dancing and that is good that Thomas is making progress.
Fab photos! I love the marshmallow robot and hooray for the slow cooker! x
Wow, that’s an amazing score for Sophie’s tap dance. Good going for Thomas, these things go on for ages. I remember my brother sitting there for ages hanging around for me at shows. Sounds like school is working well for him too.
Well done Sophie! And I am glad you had a better week 🙂 Thats life, right? Up today, down tomorrow.
Sophie is so amazingly talented with her dancing. I’m glad Thomas managed ok. When it comes to his EHCP never play down the help he needs. When my boy first had his he’d just moved to a new school and at the review they questioned whether he needed the help. I told them to talk to his old school and they would understand why the help might not seem needed but because it’s there it’s been a life saver. He’s just had a new one drawn up for college.
Thank you Anne, that’s good advice. His current school have been good at identifying the support needed – there’s been some changes and new areas identified for support, but some of the previous challenges have become better for him so it’s been more a case of adjusting what the current areas of challenge are.
So many good things. It’s wonderful that Thomas is doing so much better at school. Also, well done to Sophie for her performance, 91 seems like a very high score.
Sounds like this week went more smoothly than the previous one. Big well done to Sophie, that score is amazing. And well done to Thomas for sitting through the performances.
So glad to hear that his new school is supporting him, and he is coping better.
The flowers in Jessica’s vase are very pretty.
Lol @ 700 shreddies, and just look at that marshmallow robot!