JUDO GIRL

We have just come back from our wonderful local judo club- westerleigh westerleighjudo@hotmail.co.uk  They train mainstream and special needs people together and it is fabulous to see my daughter totally included and having a whale of a time . The first couple of times she went we had tears half way through and she would 'freeze' and not do anything . They woukd just say, 'she's having a moment' and wait until she came out of it.Now as the result of their patience and encouragement  she joins in with everything giggling away. It was brilliant tonight seeing her being raught by an older girl who herself has learning difficulties but who was wonderful with her. My daughter got the award tonight for this evenings work and progress.  i was so proud of her!

I'm No masterchef!

The first night i brought my daughter home-after i eventually got her to bed i lay in bed and thought 'i'm going to have to take her back tomorrow-I d'on't know how i an going o feed her, ; I was really in a panic. The most I usually managed to do was hurl a baked potato in the general direction of the microwave. i had a plan worked out for education which i thought (wrongly as it turned out) would be the least of my worries but i hadn't given food a second thought.The realizaion that i would be responsivle for everything that would go into her mouth was overwhelming. The next morning i got up and cooked noodles fried egg and soy sauce and after that we didn't look back!
Today for pudding we had stewed apple and the last of the raspberries- both from the garden with apple and mango yogurt, .
The verdict ? 'That was really nice.' i might not be masterchef bu i think i've cracked it!

Saturdays

Saturdays are always much the same .as a special needs child she likes routine! We meet nanna at the bus stop and take the bus into the nearest town and if the weather is nice we go to the park - if not we go to the swimming pool. Today it was fine and warm so we went to the park. We went on  the play equipment, the swing the roundabout the hammock and the climbing frame. Mummy on the ground and little dare-devil sixteen foot up on the tower with me tapping the next place to put her feet!! This week we were joined by a friend . wWe had a drink and then off to feed the ducks and pigeons eagerly waiting their weekly ration of corn. she is very brave now and lets the ducks take the corn from her hand.

Becoming a Parent

i never expected to become a parent , indeed i didn't think i had a maternal bone in my body until I saw the child who would become my daughter for the first time when she was four and a half. I had arrived at the school where I did voluntary work each summer and said as usual.'Who would you like me to work with?' They brought this little girl to me who weighed only ten kilos and said 'This one. she has been here a month and has not put on any weight'. So we started three and a half weeks together. She was not walking independently, talking, spoon feeding or potty trained and she would not drink milk.  To get her to drink milk i started by dipping her crisps in milk. i then started floating a crisp on a spoon of milk and by the end ot the week she had given up the unequal struggle and was drinking her mug of milk every day. She started to use a spoon and babble . One of the staff said ' What is she saying ?' i said 'I don't know - you speak the language'. She said,'She isn't speaking our language!' At the end of three weeks she had put on a kilo and the Head said 'You could adopt her if you like'. and that was the beginning of our journey together.  Four long  years later i went to bring her home