Rising Stars and Purple Clumps

Well it has been a fun two weeks with an immobile toddler! Or rather, an increasingly mobile toddler...

For four days the little fellow didn't want to move anywhere or do anything. Then he realised he could sit on the floor and play. Then he realised he could drag himself around. Shortly after that he realised he could - just about - crawl. The first time he got someone to take him out into the garden he asked to go on the trampoline! Actually that was a good move because he could drag his cast around easier on the soft mat so he took to playing with his cars on there.

On Monday we went to the fracture clinic and they put a fresh cast on it. It needed it as his was black from having been dragged around, and he'd picked off most of the outer bandage!

The difference between the experts and the A&E nurse was to be expected, and the cast is the soft kind, and purple!

It is much lighter, and tighter so is less of an incumberance to him.

So much so that today he started walking again, so now we have the pitter-clump, pitter-clump of him stomping around the house.

Josh had his first paid job today, a photoshoot in Oxford. Ironically it was for an english text book for Macmillan Education! At least he didn't have to wear a school uniform.

Roarke got up with him at 5.30 this morning and they left at 6am. The shoot was from 9am until about 3pm. Late last night Roarke got a call to say he had a small role in some upcoming film which meant a costume fitting in London today! Macmillan were really cool about it and arrange shooting so that the two of them could leave mid afternoon. They got a train to London, Roarke did his fitting, then got Josh onto a train back to Bromley where he got a bus home.

Roarke has now had to get back to Oxford to pick up the car then drive home!

The things these luvvies have to do for their art

Having Samuel and William is not a good mix - even without clumping 2 year old - and they have only spent a short time together today, the result of which is that Samuel has new scars courtesy of a meltdown from William

Generally, he hasn't been too bad over the past month although we had a three or four day terrible time of it with both William and Samuel. It could have been a mixture of the moon, having had a gluten but not wheat free loaf (CODEX standard still seems to affect autistic kids), and/or having had juice from concentrate for three days. Who knows.

Tomorrow I have Jonathan's paediatrician appointment and I really REALLY hope I can get progress. I am raising the issue of reflux (no pun intended) and hoping to get some further response as to why my two year old can still scream all night in pain.

Jonathan really is chatting away non stop now, and it is fabulous - though sometimes wearing - to have a child who by two is already able to communicate so easily. Examples of speech: "mummy, something eat, rais-rais please", or going on the phone to his Nanny and as well as answering her questions, then asking "Nanny, what doing?" to show he can take part in a conversation for real! He was sitting up the table here as I typed this, and has just said "mummy, me down floor NOW!" as if to make his point :0)

On Monday it was also Roarke's birthday. We'd had a family take away on Sunday night (for the boys - "family tradition" they call it!). Roarke got a new mp3 player from us, which he was really pleased with. I'd got in croissants for breakfast (the closest I could get to breakfast in Paris for his birthday!), we had pannini for lunch (the boys had pizza), and then in the afternoon went for a lovely walk around Keston and up to look at Wilberforce's seat.

Mum offered to take the lads so that we could go out for a meal so we ventured out (in the thunderstorm!) and went to Cafe Rouge in Chislehurst - again, as close to dinner in France as I could get for the poor man! The meal was ok, but I'd rather have been in France.

A theme running through the week, as ever since we moved in, is the boiler locking out on a regular basis. British Gas have changed every part they can, everything the manufacturer says to do - and still it locks out. I think we have had hot water and shower every two to three days on average.

Talking of themes, the massive thunderstorm here last night happened whilst I was out. Driving back from Sainsburys - only 5 minutes away - the hail was so strong that all the cars pulled over for a while. Then I saw that the dip in the road ahead had flooded.... FLASHBACK! I just couldn't bring myself to drive through it - the water was over and above the headlights of the cars going through - so I drove a mile out of my way to get around to the house. Even then I drove through flooded roads for most of the way. Even the edge of our driveway was under water!

I got in to find that Jonathan was asleep - two hours earlier than usual - and William and Samuel were outside in the rain! They were having a whale of a time in the thunderstorm, doing their "flood tests" that they developed two years ago staying in Leek!

Right, I'd better go and sort them all out for bed, then stay up and wait for my biggest lad to get home