Optimism

Albi is undaunted by the size of any branch she wishes to trot home with. Fortunately her optimism generally outweighs her ability to actually bring half a tree home with her.

Jackson too has been undaunted in his progress today. We have realised that he can dig deep in quite extraordinary ways for special events - first day of term, last days of term, SATs, first football training - but it takes so much and doing it on a daily basis is unsustainable. So what has been so great about today is how much he has managed to do without it being for a "big thing". If I said he had come downstairs for his breakfast, showered, dressed and tidied the clothes in his room before 9.30am it probably doesn't sound much but it is all signs of progress to us. We went for a walk with Albi which meant that the route he did in 21minutes yesterday took 14 today as she is a great pacesetter. He found it much harder but also felt really good he had done it and that in the long run it would help build him up quicker. He also read his school reading book for 10minutes which is great as he hasn't been able to read it at all for the last week. And in general he has been really engaged and chatty and his spirits are really good. And all on an ordinary day which is what we need to work towards.

It was a slightly weird day as I collected a letter from the docs for us to give to school essentially giving us a 6 month window to get him there gradually. On the one hand it sounds like forever and on the other we know how quickly the days turn into weeks and then months. But one bit of pressure off and one less thing to worry about is always good.

And in trying to keep normal life ticking over me and Anna went and chose her a new carpet for her bedroom after school today. She is about to turn 10 and with the excitement of double digits comes designing your own bedroom.

And I managed to get my head down in a pile of admin I have been determinedly ignoring and now have my accounts largely back on track.

So a. bit rocky in places but overall I'd say a good one.

Lesley x