Bursting with pride

I recently agreed to be a parent helper at one of The Girl's Brownie meetings. Now this isn't something I was looking forward to, despite my wonderful childhood experiences in the Guiding movement. The thought of being partially responsible for a herd (think technically the collective noun is Pack!) of excitable 7 -10 year old girls whilst also watching The Boy and The Baby (The Husband not available till late this particular evening) was exhausting.
The theme of the meeting involved Thinking Day and Chinese New Year. All was going well, even The Boy seemed happy playing with Brown Owls slightly younger son who also happens to have an Aspergers diagnosis. The Baby was enjoying the plastic playhouse (the hall is also used by toddler groups so toys are around luckily!) and so I could turn my full attention to helping the Brownies with their Chinese Tangrams. Tangrams are all about using a square split into 7 shapes to make pictures or on a more basic level as a jigsaw where you use the pieces to make the square again. It is very mathematical and uses logical thinking.
The Brownies I was helping were trying to make a dancer shape from their pieces of square and they were struggling. I threw in a few suggestions but we could not work it out. They were giving up and I knew we needed success to make the activity worthwhile for them. So I took some pieces and tried to do the puzzle myself....a few minutes later I decided, like the Brownies, that it was not possible. Then I had a thought. If anyone in that room could do this puzzle then it had to be my son. The Boy is doing very well at Maths at school and loves logical puzzles. I called him over and sure enough after about 90 seconds of fiddling with the shapes he has done it.
My initial reaction was to be annoyed that he could do it easily when I couldn't. Shown up by my 10 year old son!!! But after that initial feeling I suddenly realised how proud of him I felt. The more I thought about it the prouder I felt, I was
Bursting with pride!
The Boy has struggled with many aspects of his life. He finds friendships painful and awkward and communicating is often difficult. His teachers need no convincing that he is bright and intelligent, he contibutes in class and has a brilliant mind but he finds it nigh on impossible to get any of this onto paper. Writing is a very weak area for him and he peforms poorly under exam conditions. This leads me to worry greatly for his future. After all, when it comes to it, exams are the be all and end all. University entrance, CV, you need them to get started in life.
So the feeling of pride that my Son was so clever and could contribute something was an important moment in helping me understand that even if he doesn't achieve in exams (and we hope by the time he gets to the important ones he will be able to manage better - they are 5 years away after all!!) he is bright, intelligent and a valuable member of society. He WILL find his niche and be able to use his talents in a worthwhile and profitable way. He will overcome his disability and have a happy and successful life.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bursting with pride

I recently agreed to be a parent helper at one of The Girl's Brownie meetings. Now this isn't something I was looking forward to, despite my wonderful childhood experiences in the Guiding movement. The thought of being partially responsible for a herd (think technically the collective noun is Pack!) of excitable 7 -10 year old girls whilst also watching The Boy and The Baby (The Husband not available till late this particular evening) was exhausting.
The theme of the meeting involved Thinking Day and Chinese New Year. All was going well, even The Boy seemed happy playing with Brown Owls slightly younger son who also happens to have an Aspergers diagnosis. The Baby was enjoying the plastic playhouse (the hall is also used by toddler groups so toys are around luckily!) and so I could turn my full attention to helping the Brownies with their Chinese Tangrams. Tangrams are all about using a square split into 7 shapes to make pictures or on a more basic level as a jigsaw where you use the pieces to make the square again. It is very mathematical and uses logical thinking.
The Brownies I was helping were trying to make a dancer shape from their pieces of square and they were struggling. I threw in a few suggestions but we could not work it out. They were giving up and I knew we needed success to make the activity worthwhile for them. So I took some pieces and tried to do the puzzle myself....a few minutes later I decided, like the Brownies, that it was not possible. Then I had a thought. If anyone in that room could do this puzzle then it had to be my son. The Boy is doing very well at Maths at school and loves logical puzzles. I called him over and sure enough after about 90 seconds of fiddling with the shapes he has done it.
My initial reaction was to be annoyed that he could do it easily when I couldn't. Shown up by my 10 year old son!!! But after that initial feeling I suddenly realised how proud of him I felt. The more I thought about it the prouder I felt, I was
Bursting with pride!
The Boy has struggled with many aspects of his life. He finds friendships painful and awkward and communicating is often difficult. His teachers need no convincing that he is bright and intelligent, he contibutes in class and has a brilliant mind but he finds it nigh on impossible to get any of this onto paper. Writing is a very weak area for him and he peforms poorly under exam conditions. This leads me to worry greatly for his future. After all, when it comes to it, exams are the be all and end all. University entrance, CV, you need them to get started in life.
So the feeling of pride that my Son was so clever and could contribute something was an important moment in helping me understand that even if he doesn't achieve in exams (and we hope by the time he gets to the important ones he will be able to manage better - they are 5 years away after all!!) he is bright, intelligent and a valuable member of society. He WILL find his niche and be able to use his talents in a worthwhile and profitable way. He will overcome his disability and have a happy and successful life.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Stories and Song Meme

Geekymummy at The Hair Dog Chronicles tagged me for this Meme.  The idea being you choose a song (not necessarily a favourite) that has a personal story attached to it.

Lots of songs spring to mind and it is difficult to choose one! Its funny how music and memories work together.  A song can transport me back to a particular moment in my life almost like opening the page of a photo album.  A picture pops into my head as soon as the opening bars of the music begin.  Of course, these days I often don't have time to indulge in the memory. A fleeting smile being all I allow myself before dismissing the memory and moving on with the constant to-do list I carry around in my head!  However sometimes there is nothing like wallowing in a good reminisce.
So here are some of my song memory snapshots:

The Wombles of Wimbledon (1970s) I remember playing a rather scratched LP on a very small cheap turntable over and over again as a child and singing along to this......it reminds me of the first house I lived in (until I was 13) and the 70's decor all flowery wallpaper!!!

Queen - Another one Bites the Dust (1980) Our next door neighbours of the time loved this song.  It was a 3 bed semi and so the party wall used to throb to the sound of the beat!!  Over and over they played it and I remember how angry my Father was......there was even some banging on the wall.....

Michael Jackson - We are the World (1985) This one is all about my first slow dance......I am in a disco in the early afternoon in France.  It is the school French Exchange.  I have no idea why there was a disco on in the afternoon.......but on hearing this song I am instanty transported back to that disco....I am wearing a navy all in one trouser suit thing....baggy with a wide bright red belt round the middle (probably looked like a sack of potatoes tied in the middle!!).  I have no idea what the boy was called......

Starship - We Built This City (1985) This takes me back to one of many arguments with my sister.  I am in the hall and need something from her room.  She is playing this song and won't let me in.  The memory is more about her attitude and the petulant look on her face than anything else!!!

I could go on and on with snapshots of the 80's ..... but I won't.... 

This is the one that I can't stop thinking about though.  Guns 'n' Roses - Sweet child of Mine (1988).  This one is all about my first year at university.  About falling in love (with The Husband!) and about leaving home and making my own way in the world.  It was an exciting (and slightly scary) time in my life.  I am transported back to the kitchen (communal) area in the halls of residence.  It is the flat The Husband shared
(with 11 other men) in the high rise accommadation at The University of Essex (Colchester).  Sweet Child is playing loudly on the stereo and there is a bunch of other girls there singing along.  They were paying far too much attention to The Husband for my liking and I remember the jealousy all too well........but I don't know why I was worried about them as he only had eyes for me really and we listened to that song alot over the years and still do.  We have seen it live together and head banged till we couldn't hold our heads up!!
Despite all the 80's pop which I still hold dear (the soundtrack to Top Gun and everything Wham! and George Michael ever did.....Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Rick Astley) I am definitely a Rock Chick at heart and I always love it when my true musical tastes are revealed to my current friends as they can't quite beleive that the frumpy mumsy middle aged woman they are friends with really likes Iron Maiden and Metallica and would dearly love to still be attending the Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington Race track every year!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI

The Boy, The Girl and The Baby!

I can't remember how long after The Boy was born he got that nickname.  The Husband is a fan of the irreverant humour of Homer Simpson who mostly refers to Bart as "The Boy".  It was not long anyway and by the time The Girl was born 2 years later that was often how we talked about him.  Rarely do we call him that though.  You see The Boy has an Asperger's diagnosis and is often baffled by humour.
So then we had The Boy and The Girl and all was good......or should I say exhausting!  Just over 2 and half years after The Girl's arrival along came The Baby....another girl.  This now meant we had our own version of The Simpsons, an oldest boy and then 2 girls just like Bart, Lisa and Maggie!  The only trouble is that where Maggie Simpson has remained a baby our Baby seems to have grown up fast and is now 5 and a half.  But, for the purposes of this blog they will remain The Boy, The Girl and The Baby.......who am I kidding.....they will always be that to me!

The Boy

The Girl

The Baby!

The first post.....

So this is blogging.  I have been putting this off for a long time now but finally today I bowed to pressure and decided to take the plunge and set up this account.  I only know one person that will read this....you know who you are!  But I might be brave and let other people know it exists eventually! 
So why have I taken the plunge?  Well, the creative me thought it would be fun to set up the template and choose the photos and fonts and colours....and it was!  It is much like scrapbooking. Choosing a layout and colours and positioning photos...actually VERY like scrapbooking where the idea is that you record events in your life using photos and journalling.....yes the more I think about this the more it seems to me that blogging is just a modern form of scrapbooking. It is getting more appealling already! 
So what sort of posts will I write?  I think there will be 3 main types.  The Parent posts, where I will regale you with amusing (and not so amusing) anecdotes of my muddling through the everyday torture that is bringing up 3 not quite ordinary children.  The Crafty posts, where I might just bore you with some of my creations and then the Geeky posts where I may go on about spaceships or other science stuff.
Here we go then....I am going to press PUBLISH POST now and enter the world of blogging.....!