Nearly! Summer is nearly over, kids nearly back to school.
I am taking Tom to enrol for his A2s tomorrow evening. He got an A in Computing and a B in Chemistry at AS level. Phew!
Things may be about to get a little rocky as we (he) adjusts to a new timetable and new support worker and to the college pushing him to add another course to his programme. Whilst they have been very supportive in person they are quite inflexible in practice, mainly due to the way their funding is structured. But we'll get there. He survived a wedding and didn't have any meltdowns until he was within spitting distance of home. 3 nights in a hotel room which stank of smoke (non-smoking preferred does not guarantee you a non-smoking room - apparently), 3 days of lots of relatives and moving from place to place at a moments notice, a wedding with lots of 'stand here' 'smile for the photograph' and 'my, haven't you grown'. Delays on the railway, cramped conditions on the train with two loads of passengers on, squash, squash, irritated people everywhere, taxi's without boot space (! What is the point of a taxi which cannot take your bags to the station and home again?!) Loud music, food you don't like and people eating that food next to you. All were tolerated with forbearance and I promised him he will never be commanded to attend again. Amazing that he can stand it now. Makes we realise how very far we have come. How very far he has come.
I am taking Tom to enrol for his A2s tomorrow evening. He got an A in Computing and a B in Chemistry at AS level. Phew!
Things may be about to get a little rocky as we (he) adjusts to a new timetable and new support worker and to the college pushing him to add another course to his programme. Whilst they have been very supportive in person they are quite inflexible in practice, mainly due to the way their funding is structured. But we'll get there. He survived a wedding and didn't have any meltdowns until he was within spitting distance of home. 3 nights in a hotel room which stank of smoke (non-smoking preferred does not guarantee you a non-smoking room - apparently), 3 days of lots of relatives and moving from place to place at a moments notice, a wedding with lots of 'stand here' 'smile for the photograph' and 'my, haven't you grown'. Delays on the railway, cramped conditions on the train with two loads of passengers on, squash, squash, irritated people everywhere, taxi's without boot space (! What is the point of a taxi which cannot take your bags to the station and home again?!) Loud music, food you don't like and people eating that food next to you. All were tolerated with forbearance and I promised him he will never be commanded to attend again. Amazing that he can stand it now. Makes we realise how very far we have come. How very far he has come.
Gratuitous photo of the happy couple - ahhhh! :o)Back to rant about 'the system' -
Arbitrary rules about numbers of hours, with no reference to the effort required to put in those hours at college, may cause more stress than necessary. However, he does have to live in the real world, and the real 'social' world does have arbitrary rules, whether I like them or not. So we will see. Last academic year (as well as getting an A and a B) Tom also learnt to use the metro to go to his favourite shop. This term we are aiming for him using the bus to get to and from college. This means we have to practice the route, accompanied at first, then supported, then by himself. You don't realise how much effort goes in to catching the right bus and getting off at the right stop until you are with someone who has to learn how to do it.
Littlest Miss starts in reception next week too, afternoons only for the first week, afternoons plus lunchtime the next week and then all day in week 3. Another one starting out on that journey. She will thrive and grow and flourish. She is a social creature. I hardly knew she was there at the wedding , she was off being a social butterfly, stealing the limelight and thoroughly enjoying it all. Number 2 son was also in his element. How different everything is for them. Even DD1 had her own way of dealing with the people stuff. Not a natural socialite she too was shattered by the time we got back, but her social camouflage is better than DS1's and she is able to blend more seamlessly than he. The effort required to do so should not be underestimated however, and she also needed time to recover after the whirlwind had passed.
Me? I enjoyed it. I worried about them not/enjoying it. I took the photos. That fact in itself shows how far Tom has developed, in years gone by stepping back to photograph other people would have been out of the question.
We are also looking forward to the arrival of our next foster child once DD2 is settled in reception.
For now, I need a holiday to get over the holiday. I wonder why I thought an extra day in a hotel would make the wedding easier rather than harder. I wonder why I thought a week between our holiday and the wedding was a good idea. But I do know that the holiday was good, and that it made me feel relaxed and recharged. And your little sister doesn't get married to her Mr Perfect every day does she?
Oh and knitting?
Littlest Miss starts in reception next week too, afternoons only for the first week, afternoons plus lunchtime the next week and then all day in week 3. Another one starting out on that journey. She will thrive and grow and flourish. She is a social creature. I hardly knew she was there at the wedding , she was off being a social butterfly, stealing the limelight and thoroughly enjoying it all. Number 2 son was also in his element. How different everything is for them. Even DD1 had her own way of dealing with the people stuff. Not a natural socialite she too was shattered by the time we got back, but her social camouflage is better than DS1's and she is able to blend more seamlessly than he. The effort required to do so should not be underestimated however, and she also needed time to recover after the whirlwind had passed.
Me? I enjoyed it. I worried about them not/enjoying it. I took the photos. That fact in itself shows how far Tom has developed, in years gone by stepping back to photograph other people would have been out of the question.
We are also looking forward to the arrival of our next foster child once DD2 is settled in reception.
For now, I need a holiday to get over the holiday. I wonder why I thought an extra day in a hotel would make the wedding easier rather than harder. I wonder why I thought a week between our holiday and the wedding was a good idea. But I do know that the holiday was good, and that it made me feel relaxed and recharged. And your little sister doesn't get married to her Mr Perfect every day does she?
Oh and knitting?
Firstly, a project I can't show you as it's a secret. This one is just going round and round and round until there's enough border to balance the centre.
Secondly, a little piece of design extravagance which is my first go at knitted lace as opposed to lace knitting
(I think or it might be the other way round) the one where there is pattern on all rows? I'll add a photo of that later, (this section is lace knitting - if I have those two the right way round) although the colour never comes out. It's in Dee's Eva and it is gorgeous, have a look at Dee's blog - she's wondering about how personal is too personal. I would love to include more photographs of the kids but I too wonder how much information is too much information and I am not allowed to blog the fostered children anyway. When I photograph us I tend to photograph the whole family :o)Thirdly, lots of books here to welcome me home. American Aran Afghan, Shawls & scarves, lots of interweave socks (thought I'd have a practice before the hipknits project club socks arrive) all 4 of these are excellent books, glad I got them all. I need more days to knit in. Ah well, maybe the next foster child will sleep a lot! *fingers crossed but that makes it hard to knit*
2 comments:
Oh.... now I am intrigued......
Round and round and round until there's enough border to balance the centre....
hmmm.......
Best of luck with all you have going on and I hope Tom reaches his new bus goal. The lace looks nice, I had never thought of the difference between knitted lace and lace knitting!!
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