Wednesday

After a nice leisurely start, me and Princess Lollipop went over to OUR shop to meet up with Mr Messy. The leisurely start did include the not so leisurely, conditioning and combing through Princess Lollipop's hair, and she started crying as soon as I got the bottle of conditioner out, and then protested throughout the whole procedure, despite there being very few tangles and me being extremely careful. I think its because she is so used to it hurting that she protests partly because she is scared and partly out of habit! My new regime of conditioning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays seems to be working as her hair is much more manageable now, and it is getting back to its beautiful glossy condition :-) And it is a relief for both of us to have a couple of days off from "hair" over the weekend :-)

When I got to OUR shop me and Mr Messy swapped car keys, and we walked back to where our cars were parked together. I was going to take Mr Messy's car (without a Princess Lollipop car seat) to go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, and Mr Messy was going to use my car (with a Princess Lollipop car seat) to go and pick Little Prince up from school later. Although we got half way to the cars when Mr Messy said he hadn't brought my car keys with him, and I needed to get some things out of my car before I set off! I growled and stomped back to OUR shop, retrieved my car keys and stomped back to the cars again, muttering and grumbling all the way!! When I'd finally got the things I needed out of my car I gave Mr Messy my keys back and he and Princess Lollipop went off to his favourite Bistro for some lunch, while I drove off to my appointment. Princess Lollipop was a bit confused and upset at first, but the promise of "dunch" (lunch) soon changed her mind, and she walked off hand in hand with Daddy very happily.

I was very early for my appointment so I called in to a nearby shopping centre and got some lunch and a cake :-) Once I'd eaten that I drove round to the CAB, found somewhere to park and went in for my appointment. I was seeing them to get advice on filling in Little Prince's Disability Living Allowance renewal form, as they had all the info from last time and the form is very daunting! I was there with the Advisor for over 2 1/2 hours filling everything in, and then him taking copies of letters/reports that would back up the case for Little Prince still being eligible for this benefit. The Advisor is going to copy the whole form and then send it off tonight, as the current award runs out at the end of this month, and I've been very lax in getting the form sent back (I received the renewal notice in September last year!!). Fingers crossed that Little Prince is once again awarded some benefit, as the little bit of extra money is very useful in paying for replacements/repairs to things he breaks and giving him some extra treats or paying for private assessments/therapies if he needs them. It will probably take quite a while to hear back from this application, but if it is renewed then it should also be backdated to when the first award ran out, all we have to do now is wait and see.

It was very difficult filling in the form and being hit with a HUGE dose of reality about Little Prince's daily struggles and challenges. I wish there was somewhere on the form to tell them how loving he is, or how kind and gentle he can be, or how he can make Princess Lollipop laugh like no one else, rather than JUST focusing on his problems :-( After the appointment had finished I went back to the shopping centre to have a mooch round the shops, just to give myself some time to get over the sadness that filling the forms in brought on. That hour walking round and window shopping was very healing :-) And by the time I had got home I was feeling ok again :-)

Little Prince wasn't at home, as he had gone to play at T's house, but Drama Teen went to collect him not long after I arrived. Mr Messy was getting himself ready to go out to a meeting with other local business owners, which he said was very useful and he'll be attending again. He also said that the other business owners had commented on how they loved how OUR shop looked :-) Yeah me (interior designer of OUR shop) :-) Drama Teen got the littlies tea ready and supervised their eating, although Little Prince played up for her and I had to intervene and potter about in the dining room to keep the peace! Mr Messy got home not long after Little Prince had gone to bed, and on hearing him Little Prince came downstairs to check what was going on! He went back to bed and seemed to settle after that! Mr Messy got Princess Lollipop into her pyjamas, while I put our tea on and Princess Lollipop made sure everyone's tea tasted good for us :-) She eats so much some days!! She isn't overweight, in fact in the leggings she's been wearing recently she is quite skinny, and is very active, but she is "solid" and feels like she is filled with concrete lol.

Me and Drama Teen watched the new episode of Glee that we had recorded, and as Mr Messy doesn't like Glee, he took Princess Lollipop off to bed. He didn't return, so I presume he fell asleep too!! When Glee had finished Drama Teen went off to bed, and I asked her to take up all her shoes that she keeps leaving lying around in the hall - she pulled her face and FORGOT to take them!! I am getting so cross about this as I've been asking her to do this job for a LONG time now!! If she isn't careful I'll tidy them myself - into the bin outside!!!! Argh!!!!