A What's Been Going On Post

Well since my last mega blog, one or two things have gone on!! Here's a taste of them... (well its what I can remember from the last month lol)

Little Prince went to see his Consultant Paediatrician again. I had been dreading this appointment, as I was worried that he might be continuing to lose weight, and as he is the skinniest kid I know he can't afford to lose any weight at all!! We saw a different Consultant this time, and on checking Little Prince's growth, he confirmed that he had grown and put on a little weight :-) Which was a HUGE relief :-) The Consultant reviewed Little Prince's behaviour and moods - Little Prince has been very very moody (raging anger, extreme tantrums and heartbreaking sadness) when his medication is wearing off in the evenings, almost out of control moody and his concentration abilities do seem to be tailing off slightly. The Consultant asked then asked if I would agree to him prescribing a stronger version of the medication, due to the moodiness Little Prince has been suffering I agreed to give it a trial. Little Prince has to go to see the Consultant again in three months, to assess him again so I've got my fingers and toes crossed that he responds well and doesn't start losing weight again.

We also had another celebration for my Mum's 70th Birthday :-) My brother, sisters and I had booked a room in a Pub for a Birthday Meal. Baby Sis, her Fiance and their baby were picking Mum and Dad up to take them out for a meal, without mentioning that everyone was going to be there! The rest of us managed to get to the Pub and get seated before they arrived, and Mum and Dad's faces when they walked in to see us all were a picture lol. Throughout the meal Mum kept saying "I can't believe this" lol, she's going to be paranoid whenever any of us suggest taking her and Dad anywhere!! The food was great (thanks for recommending and booking it Little Bro), the company was wonderful and being in a private room meant that the younger children didn't disturb any other diners, which meant me and Little Sis weren't stressing over how they behaved :-) Especially Little Prince and his same age cousin, who both have special needs and struggle with changes to their routine and being in unfamiliar places and in their struggles can unintentionally cause total chaos without even trying lol. At the end of the meal Mum's oldest Grandaughter (Mrs LMS) and oldest Grandson (Little Sis's eldest son) presented Mum with a lovely bunch of flowers and a framed photograph of all of us taken at our holiday weekend. This was after we had given Mum a group photo, that had Mr Little Sis head across it, as we tried to work out if the timer on the camera was working lol. We tried to convince Mum that this was the only photo that we had managed to get off the camera, but I don't think we fooled her at all :-) We all thought it was amusing though :-)

Little Prince started swimming lessons with his class at school, and as he was asked to leave his last group lessons, I was worried about how he (and his teachers) were going to cope! He is VERY confident in the water and has NO fear, he also likes to win at all costs - not a great recipe for a school swimming lesson!! Luckily his TA went to the pool with the class and was even prepared to get in the water and swim with Little Prince if she needed to :-) Little Prince then confounded all our expectations and coped fabulously, was immediately placed in the advanced swimmers group and thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and behaved beautifully :-) Well done Little Prince :-)

Little Prince attended a friend's "Circus Skills" birthday party, and despite initially getting frustrated that he wasn't able to manage some of the balance toys or juggling equipment that the Circus Clown brought for the children, he didn't lose his cool and found something else that he could do and played with that instead :-) He said it was a great party and is thinking about having a similar celebration for his own birthday next year :-)

During half term (and all other school holidays) I have to try and manage Little Prince's behaviour without medication, so that his body gets a break and he regains his appetite and manages to grow! It can be extremely difficult to keep him occupied without spending a fortune going to different places. Apart from the Bank Holiday weekend, the weather was lovely during the hols, so we managed to get out and about in the sunshine. We spent a day at the local National Trust-like property, which had an organised "Bear Hunt" that kept Little Prince busy for quite a while :-) At the playground I nearly had heart failure when Princess Lollipop decided she was big enough to play on the bigger equipment and was VERY good at climbing so high I couldn't reach her!! Lesson learned - I need calming medication to take a crazy 8 year old and fearless 2 year old to the playground lol.

Mr Messy, Mrs LMS and Drama Teen looked after Princess Lollipop one day during the holiday so that me and Little Prince could go swimming. I need a small army to help out if I try to take both of them at the same time!! We went to the pool that is further away from us, but has a selection of slides, a whirlpool area and even an outdoor swimming area. Little Prince had a fantastic time, he was behaving well enough that I let him queue up for the larger slides on his own (the queues aren't visible from the pool, so I was unable to supervise during the queue!! Apart from being a complete wuss and being scared stiff of water slides!!) and he behaved himself and managed not to cause chaos while doing this :-) This would have been impossible a few months ago, which just goes to show that even on an un-medicated day he is learning more self control :-) The rest of the time we didn't spend more than a few minutes in each different part of the pool, as he flitted from one place to the next, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself, which is the whole point :-)

Another day in the holidays Drama Teen took Little Prince on the hour long bus ride to the nearest town with a cinema and they watched Kung Fu Panda 2 together, while Princess Lollipop and I spent the day in OUR shop. I was delighted that Drama Teen decided to take him, as they have a quite antagonistic relationship with each other, and she finds him very hard to deal with and consequently doesn't take him out with her very often. Little Prince behaved very well and they both had a great time - I'm proud of both of you :-)

Princess Lollipop and I attended the rehearsal for an upcoming fashion show, for which Princess Lollipop is going to be a catwalk model (and steal the show). On the day there will be a proper raised catwalk, but for this rehearsal there were just chairs outlining the shape of the catwalk - which Princess Lollipop insisted on squeezing through instead of staying on the catwalk!! I'm hoping she doesn't do the same off the real catwalk!! The show is for our friend who runs the local Designer Kids Boutique, and as she has three children of her own she understands that how stubborn 2 year olds can be, and isn't bothered that Princess Lollipop might not perform on the day :-) She says so long as she is on the catwalk looking gorgeous that's all that matters, which means I don't have to panic about how Princess Lollipop might (or might not!) cope. We have been practising "walk walk walk - pose" every now and again when Princess Lollipop is in the mood and she seems to get the idea - whether that idea sticks when she is actually on the catwalk is yet to be seen... After the rehearsal finished me and J the Boutique owner took her three children and Princess Lollipop to a Family Fun Day at a park near their house. Unfortunately it had already finished by the time we got there, but the children still had a great time playing in the playground and kicking a football around. Princess threw a tantrum when we left the playground (to go to a different one on the other side of the park) and had to be put wailing in her buggy, as she refused to walk! She kept up the wailing and shouting until we got to the other playground, but cheered up once she realised we had just moved to a new play area :-) I think she thought we were packing up to go home and was objecting to that, but its impossible to communicate with her once she gets that wound up!

At the start of the half term we had bought Tangled on DVD and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for the Wii, as our "rainy day" stand bys!! The weather was so great we didn't need them, although me and Little Prince did have fun playing on the Wii anyway, the graphics are fantastic and the little Lego men look and act so like their real-life counterparts it is great to watch :-) We watched Tangled one evening and we all loved it :-) The characters were so well acted and the film seemed to have a lot of scenes to make the adults laugh, as well as the children :-) I loved it :-) And will definitely be watching that again :-) Watching the DVD is part of my plan to introduce more Disney characters to Princess Lollipop in advance of our trip to Walt Disney World in Florida later in the year. Although some people in the family claim that I am brainwashing her, I just ignore them :-) I can't help it if she LOVES the Mouse already!!! She has sat through and enjoyed Peter Pan and Tangled, wriggled and played through parts of Mulan and Pocohontas and loves having the first Tinkerbell film on in the car. Well she did until my cigarette lighter stopped working so I can't plug the DVD player in!! I keep putting off sending my car back to the garage again, as I'm still enjoying being mobile so much!! But it will have to be done soon, as I'll need to use my SatNav and again I can't until the cigarette lighter is fixed!! And one of the back passenger windows has stopped going up and down, and slips open slightly when I'm driving so that needs fixing too!! I hope these are just minor little jobs that don't take very long, I don't want to be without my car again!!!