King of the Castle

Not sure where to start with this blog post as I post so infrequently now. Life is filled up with all the usual - family, work, home stuff but with the added challenge of our Little C and him being home all day. 

Having Little C home all day is hard as he needs a really high amount of attention. Not easy when myself and Little C’s dad are trying to work. I absolutely love my job, just a few hours a day supporting other SEN families. I’m so lucky to have landed this role and it gives me structure to my day (structure I was missing when I didn’t work). We juggle our jobs as best as we can and it’s working for the most part. We are just missing that little bit of respite that we both desperately need.

Little C is, of course, super happy with life’s arrangements of not going to school and instead being home with mum or dad all day. He is making steady progress in lots of areas. We get out a bit now and Little C can often go to new places and meet other children - always on his terms though and with the agreement beforehand that he can go home whenever he wants. He is having more regular baths and nails cut and haircuts. All are still a challenge but he is mostly managing these without any major problems. Sleep, teeth brushing and toileting though are another story.

Little C’s boundless energy and constant noise is as relentless as ever. The marching round the room making noises still takes up a large part of his day (I did a post about it a while back https://thepdaway.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-beatboxing-thing.html?m=1) Little C is rarely quiet, he makes vocal noises of some sort pretty much non-stop and I’m finding it so hard to cope with. I think it’s because it’s been for so many years and it’s just so hard to listen to constantly. It reminds me of the ‘resistance to interrogation’ training that they do on SAS Who Dares Wins where they play hours of drilling or babies crying. I’d pass that easily! The only quiet we get is when he sleeps which is from 11pm and the noises go right up until then. I wear Loop Earplugs most days and when I’m working but they barely take the edge off.

We’ve just had a long weekend in Wales and got back a few days ago. The car journeys all went fairly smoothly. He was anxious about the speed and noise though, and couldn’t stop tic-ing for the whole journey, but he coped really well. 

We had two trips out. One slightly disastrous trip to Conwy Castle where we made it right up the walkway to the castle entrance before panic hit because of the wind. I think people thought he was being kidnapped, as he was screaming and yelling ‘help me’ and he wouldn’t walk so I eventually had to try to carry him back to the gift shop, still screaming. He’s nearly 9 and although small for his age it was still bloody hard, he was wearing a backpack on his front with a plushie hanging out, and carrying a big foam sword - you get the picture. It was all very dramatic and everyone was looking and wondering whether to help. Anyway we survived and even got a refund of our tickets which was a kind gesture from the staff. Little C couldn’t walk for ages (his legs were too wobbly - his words). He was really shaken up by the experience. We mooched round the shops and harbour a bit afterwards but it was very busy and Little C didn’t really recover from the Castle. 

The one successful day we had was to good ol’ Manorafon Park Farm. We go every year and Little C loves it. He is becoming so comfortable here and we had an amazing day exploring the Dinosaur trail and feeding the farm animals. Given that it’s a 2 minute drive from the caravan, this is always our favourite day out. 

So that’s it in a nutshell. Big C is back to school next week. For Little C, nothing really changes. It’s still hard seeing the ‘back to school’ photos on social media and I tend to step-back online for a bit around this time of year. I wish he could go to school and be happy and experience all the things I did at school. I know there are many other parents out of there with children struggling with anxiety about returning to school, or parents who are homeschooling or unschooling. Not always by choice, often by necessity. Doing what, we hope, is right for our kids. 

Hope everyone else has had a nice summer. No matter how much or how little you managed to do.