New Life

About half an hour ago, while The Boy Child (and his bike) and The Brainy One were out on the Common with the pooch, I decided to do a little post-supper weeding in the front flower bed.
The ground was rock hard, so weeding didn't last long.
However, there was plenty of evidence of new growth, finally.

 ~ Catmint ~

 ~ flowering Elephants' Ears ~

 ~ Pampas grass type thing ~

~ Clematis ~

How does your garden grow?

Hello Monday

Hello to a much calmer week.
Hello to school-related matters throughout the week.

Hello to meeting with The Boy Child's teacher and the school's SENCO early on Tuesday morning.
Hello to the arrival of the month of May.  What?  How?
Hello to my birthday month.  I'll be half-way to ninety.
Hello to Parents' Meeting after school on Thursday.
Hello to attending a SLT session at school on Friday afternoon.
Hello to a long weekend due to the up-coming Bank Holiday.
Hello to seeing Mum.
Hello to hopefully receiving some, any, good news about the sale of our house.
Hello to scrapbooking.  I am aiming for three layouts this week.  I signed up for Cathy Zielske's Clean and Simple: The Workshop class a month ago and have yet to progress past week one.  Although, that's due more to my lack of ability to use PSE9 properly than anything else.
Hello to capturing the ideas in my head and translating them into something definitive.

How does your week look?

Around Here

It's been quite a week.

A roller-coaster, you might say.

A life-long friend came to supper.  It's no exaggeration to say that he's like my brother.

 The weather turned for a few days.  Sunshine, shorts and playdates after school.

 We even managed supper outside one evening.

 Mum came and went.  But we'll be seeing her again next weekend.

 We spent a lovely couple of hours with our Chelsea Pensioner friend.

There was also a family funeral, which meant leaving home at 8.15 am and getting back at 7 pm.
I feel in need of a holiday.

Hello Monday

Hello to a reasonably busy week.
Hello to Mum arriving on Tuesday.
Hello to an honorary brother possibly coming to supper on Tuesday evening.  The Brainy One wants to make chilli.
Hello to school uniform shopping on Wednesday.
Hello to a manicure on Thursday.  If I remember to make the appointment.
Hello to hosting The Iron Lady and lunch on Thursday.  Probably best if you don't ask.

Hello to attending a funeral on Friday with my SiL.  The last surviving sibling of my FiL passed away recently and, as The Brainy One is unable to attend, I am going in his place.  It will be a long day, as the funeral is in Derbyshire.
Hello to Mum leaving on Saturday.
Hello to possibly seeing our Chelsea Pensioner friend on Saturday afternoon.
Hello to squeezing in a minimum of three visits to the gym.

How's your week looking?

A {Photo} Walk in the Park

Walking the dog is something I do a lot.  Not every day, admittedly, but four or five times a week.  As the weather was beautiful this morning, I nagged persuaded The Boy Child to join the pooch and me.

 ~ preparing to go ~

 ~ crossing a main road ~

 ~ past the church and the allotments ~

 ~ and the pub ~

 ~ crossing the road at a three-way junction ~

 ~ in to the park and pooper-scooping ~

 ~ cherry blossom is finally making an appearance ~

 ~ bumping in to friends ~

 ~ watching football ~

 ~ the final path ~

 ~ back to cross a main road again ~ 

 ~ past the university's Music Hall ~

~ home at last: length of walk 1 hour 30 minutes ~

One Year On

We've been living with an "official" diagnosis of The Boy Child's Autism for a year.
I would so like to say that things have gone from strength to strength, but that wouldn't be true.

However, there have been things to celebrate.  Of course there have.
The Boy Child is thriving at school.  He's awarded gold stars for good work when no-one else in the class is.  He can read.  He can read very well.  He has friends.  He can balance on a curbstone approximately two inches wide.  He can skip.  He can watch a film at the cinema with very little inappropriate calling out or bouncing in his seat.  He loves to talk at weekly Show and Tell.  He can initiate proper conversations, with a beginning, middle and end.

On the anniversary of the diagnosis, I was inspired to write this post by my friend Robyn.  She frequently blogs so articulately about her two boys and the problems they face and overcome.
She appears to be so much accepting of Autism than I am.
I'll be honest.
I don't want to be the parent of an Autistic child.
I don't want to be labelled.
I am the parent of a beautiful, intelligent, loving, kind-hearted and funny six-year-old boy.
And that is enough.

Simply a Moment

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by school-related paperwork and assorted piles of laundry.  The paperwork relates both to The Boy Child's current school and the school we hope he will go to in September.  There are signatures required, a letter to be drafted and a cheque to be written.  My iPad Mini is there as well, fired up and showing a selection of properties on the Rightmove website.
I can hear the low rumbling of the TV in the living room, where The Brainy One is watching the local news.  The Boy Child is pottering about, humming Amazing Grace and periodically asking Daddy to read to him.
I can also hear the quiet sloshing of the dishwasher, which is packed to the gunnels with pots, pans and plates from supper-time.
On the kitchen floor, in front of the bin, is a black bag half full of non-recyclable rubbish and paper recycling.

Both are waiting to be put outside in readiness for collection tomorrow morning.
It's time to get on.  After a busy Easter holidays, I am ready for school to restart tomorrow and for our lives to get back into some sort of organised routine.

Monday, 15 April, 2013: 18.50 hours. 

Alexa, of Trimming the Sails, invites people to share a moment with her around this date of each month. Nothing fancy, just a few well chosen words, or a photo, or a scrapbook page.
What's your moment?
  

Hello Monday

Hello to the last day of the Easter holidays.
Hello to a visit to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden with three of The Boy Child's friends and their grown-ups.

Hello to school on Tuesday and with all holiday homework completed.
Hello to Tony-the-plumber calling round.
Hello to the pooch's annual check-up at the vet on Wednesday afternoon.
Hello gym.
Hello to a new term of swimming lessons.
Hello to better weather, hopefully.
Hello to scrapbooking.

How does your week look?

The Little Things

Yesterday, when in a playground with his cousins, The Boy Child learnt to ride the zip-wire.

Celebrating the little things has become a big thing for our small family.

Hello Monday

Hello to the last full week of the Easter holidays.

Hello to spending a few days with mum/Granny.

Hello to viewing a house, possibly two.

Hello to another offer on our house.

Hello to tea and cake with aunt, uncle and assorted cousins. 

Hello to an occupational therapy review for The Boy Child.  We've waited 8 months.

How's your week looking?

(Regular readers will have realised that I've stepped away from the PC a lot more of late and, as a result, have not been reading or commenting on your blogs on a regular basis.  Nothing personal, you understand.) 

Around Here

Things have been quiet today, and we're all feeling a little flat.
We've had a hectic week, what with four extra people in the house.  But I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Highlights included:
Making like tourists at Buckingham Palace.

Posing in Westminster. 

Checking out the London Eye

And rewarding the boy who doesn't really like heights. 

A day out at Legoland.  The sunniest day of the week. 

 My favourite part was Miniworld.

Not my idea of a fun day out, but the two older boys loved it and The Boy Child loved squirting them when they were on the water ride.

We went on a river cruise.  Notice how all the other passengers opted to sit downstairs, under cover and out of the icy wind.

We called in at the Science Museum.  Which was packed.

The football fans went on the Wembley Tour.

We called in for tea and cake at Chelsea.

We had such a great time exploring London through fresh eyes.  We had such a great time squeezing seven round the kitchen table for supper each night.  We had a great time drinking beer and champagne.  We had a great time laughing at memories, old and new.  

We had a great time.

One Little Word Blog Hop: March

Welcome to the third blog hop of 2013 for One Little Word.  One Little Word is the brainchild of Ali Edwards and you can find out more here.  The hop is organised by Lee of The Linar Studio blog fame.  You'll find a full list of participants at the end of this post ~ do try and get around as many as you can; you'll be amazed by the the number of different words chosen.
And so to my word for 2013.  Change.
My word chose itself.
For March, it was all about taking action.

Four big things this month:
1) Active weekends and making like tourists in our adopted home city.
2) Taking more photos of my everyday life.
3) The Boy Child's attitude to trying out new things.
4) Receiving two offers for the house in one day.  We are making progress.  

Hop participants:
Lee: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife

Cheri: cheriandrews.blogspot.com 

Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/

Kelly:http://www.septemberblue.net/

Veronica:http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/

Melanie: http://mellybirddesigns.wordpress.com

Margareta: http://www.paperpilekitten.com/

Nikki:http//www.inkyart.com.au

Michelle: http://www.table-for-five.com

Naomi: http://www.poeticaperture.com/

Ruth: http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com **you are here**

Kathryn: http://www.katlodesigns.com/

Missus Wookie: http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.co.uk/

Jackie: http://blog.jacquelinewolven.com/