What's Been Happening?

• Parent's Evening - Was a complete success and such a relief and confidence boost. He is doing great and has done some really good work since he started a short while ago. BUT we was told by his class teacher that he is struggling to settle into the class room. When I told her the reason for that will be because in theory it's the first time he's ever been in a classroom, she was speechless! 

The whole 2yrs Taylor was at Woodnook, he was never in the classroom at all, except for registration and one or two other things, but only for short periods of times. He had his own workstation outside the classroom, isolated and secluded from the rest of his class and classmates outside the classroom up a corner in the Infant Hall. Then when they decided to move his workstation into the classroom itself, 6 months before he left. They wondered why he didn't like it and wouldn't settle and join in with everyone else and would have a complete meltdown withing 10mins of entering the room.

When I explained that to Taylor's new class teacher she was utterly appalled by it, and said "that explains an awful lot of his behaviour in the classroom, and we'll work on that now with that in mind and see what we can do". The rest of the meeting went great and I am very pleased with the progress he's made so far.

• Pontin's - Last one this year!! A great time was had by all, as per usual. The weather was dreadful and cold, but we made the most of it as usual. This time around we even managed to get Taylor into the club 2 nights on the run and join in with the entertainments that was going on. We also managed to get him to go on the Waltzers 3 nights on the run too! He loved it and kept asking to go on them again as soon as we got off them!! The last night was a nightmare, as we decided to go to the on-camp restaurant (The Queen Vic!) for our tea as a treat, and went on the Waltzers straight afterwards and I felt like I was going to fetch back everything I'd eaten!! They seemed to go on forever haha.

Nothing much else has happened really. Christmas is fast approaching and for once I have been really struggling for ideas for Taylor this year, but thanks to the Argos, it's all been sorted!! Here's a list of what he's getting:

1. Dora the Explorer PC Games - Bought a while back from a local Charity Shop
2. Haynes Combustion Engine - £14.99 from Argos (was £19.99) 
3. Blast Lab Live Wire - £12.99 from Argos (was £14.99)
4. National Geographic Water Pump - £9.99 from Argos
5. Pop To The Shops - £7.99 from Argos 
6. Buzz Off Game - £5.99 from Argos
7. Pirate Adventure Playset Large - £20 from Wilkinson's (was £30)

I am also looking into getting him a Gameboy Advanced Micro and some Pokemon games to go with it too cheap off eBay. I know you can play Gameboy Games on the Nintendo DS but he has a tendency to want to hold it instead of doing it flat on the table and it's too big and bulky for him. He spent a good 2hrs on and off this morning playing Pokemon on my Gameboy Micro and was managing to hold it properly and play the game fine too. So just as a top-up present, I'm going to see about one of them for him and the other Pokemon games as I only have the one!!

I have a million and one ideas for other stuff, but a lot of them have been put on hold until his Birthday next July, otherwise he would be one spoiled little monster this year! I try to keep his presents BIG and to a minimum of 6 and max of 10 otherwise he gets over-excited and has a complete meltdown because of all his senses working overtime at once!! Plus we go to my Mum's for Christmas Dinner and he has a whole load more to open there too!! It's not the first time we've spread his presents over 2/3 days so he doesn't get too overwhelmed, seems cruel I know but needs must I'm afraid!! Christmas with an Autistic child is NOTHING like Christmas with any other child that age. For one, they are a lot more appreciative of what they get. They look after their presents a lot better and get a whole load more enjoyment out of them too!!

Feel free to pinch my Christmas Present ideas for your own children if you'd like. Taylor is very mechanically minded and very creative, hence the more mechanical presents in that list!!

*Click on the black writing on the Christmas Presents list and it will take you to that item on their website*