Little Prince's Parent's Evening

Before I get to the Parent's Evening, I just want to write about Little Prince having his next lot of injections for travelling to Ethiopia!! I didn't tell him in advance that his appointment was tonight, as he gets himself all worked up, so the less time to get worked up the better I thought. As soon as we passed Mad Cat Lady's house without stopping, he realised where we were going. He started to cry and argue that he didn't want to go to Ethiopia, it was stupid and he wasn't going to have any more injections and they HURT. By the time we'd got there and I'd parked the car he was almost hysterical, big fat tears running down his cheeks and totally out of control!! I got out of the car went to his door (the one behind me!) to get him out of his car seat and he had already taken off his seat belt, darted into the drivers seat and tried to lock the door. I had to be very very strict and shout to get him to come out of the car. I then had to hold his hand VERY tightly as he kept trying to run off!! The surgery door was locked so we waited outside for a few minutes (we were early, with Little Prince getting more and more hysterical by the second. I gave in and knocked, the receptionist opened the door straight away and greeted Little Prince by name. We were the only ones there (apart from the nurse) and so the receptionist sat chatting with Little Prince for a while trying to distract him and tell her why he was going to Ethiopia. He answered all her questions quite calmly and then immediately returned to sobbing! He then decided he needed the toilet, but he couldn't reach the pull switch for the light. By the time I got there (and I moved fast!!) he had already run off to hide in one of the Doctor's rooms! I had to shout him and start counting to three to get him to come out! I then told him he would be in a lot of trouble if he locked himself in the toilet and he had to leave the door slightly open just in case!! When he came out he dived under the chairs and said he wasn't coming out. I (still trying to be calm!) told him either I would pull him out or the nurse would bring the injections over to him under the chair, but he wasn't leaving until he'd had them!! More hysterics! Then the nurse called us in!! He threw a chair on the floor as I tried to get him out and fought (kicked, bit, scratched and punched) all the way to the consulting room. Once in there he tried to escape and I had to hold him extremely firmly to stop him actually running straight out of the room. He then did that thing that kids do, make your legs go really limp and yourself really heavy, whilst still managing to fight with all his strength!! Somehow I managed to get his coat off him and hang on for dear life!!! He threated to wee on the floor and that he was going to hurt me and the nurse! Its a good job she is used to him by now, as he has got worse each visit!!! He decided to have the injections in his thighs today, but then wouldn't pull his trousers down, or let me do it!! Once again I had to use brute force. Then I had to try and hold a wriggling, hysterical madman still while the nurse actually did the injections!!! I should take up wrestling lol. Once the injections were over and done with and he had got lots of sympathy and huge pieces of cotton wool stuck over the (invisible) holes, he changed back to his normal self!! Instant transformation!!! The receptionist, who has admitted she finds it really hard listening to him scream, asked me if it was ok to give him some sweets on the way out and Little Prince loved them :-) He has been fine ever since apart from one or two moans about having one more injection at the end of the month!! I think I'm bruised and scratched from head to toe and I'm exhausted!!!

We got home just in time to see Mr Messy for a few moments, before he and I had to set off to school for Little Prince's parent's evening. We were early and had to wait quite a while for our turn, but they weren't running too late, thank goodness. When we did get to chat to Little Prince's teacher it was lovely :-) She had nothing but great things to say about him :-) His behaviour in class and at breaktimes is now way better, she hasn't had a "naughty" report from the dinnerladies for ages. In class he sometimes gets lead to mess about, but as soon as she asks him what he is supposed to be doing, he tells her and gets on with his work again. She says his attitude to work is fantastic, he is asking to do his weekly spelling and mental maths tests in his own writing, instead of someone writing his answers or doing them orally. He is trying so hard to do his written literacy work and when he asks her to write a sentence for him to copy (or write over the top of) his vocabulary is astounding :-) She said when he does good work he is asking if he can go and show the Headteacher and is obviously blossoming with all the praise he is getting. He is working very well with the male classroom assistant that helps the pupils who are struggling and seems to really enjoy working with him. Neither of us can believe the change in him from when he returned to school after Christmas, when he was wild and out of control both at school and home!

I told her that our adoption plans were likely to happen any time now!! And she knows about me having to go to Ethiopia for a week. She is already planning to do activities on Ethiopia that week, and we discussed me trying to send photos and emails to his class so they could discuss it. We also discussed when we all go to Ethiopia that we would try to encourage him to do a mini blog for his class to see too (which would also mean he was working on his typing skills!!). The teacher loved these ideas and asked that we keep her informed of when things happen, so that she can support Little Prince if he needs it.

Finally we discussed the report from the Speech and Language Therapist. We all agreed that it didn't fairly reflect on Little Prince's behaviour or capabilities. But if (when??) he has another bad spell it could be useful evidence to back up the school in getting more resources in place to support Little Prince.