Two Right Wellies!

I've just been to feed the hens, went to the welly rack and found two size five wellies (too small) and two left wellies (sizes 6 and 7). My daughter has set off to school with two right wellies as she is going out on a field trip to our local National trust farm.

Well it's raining rain and leaves, and the trees are almost bent double! I have visions of her squelching through the mud in her school shoes (that's if she doesn't slide over into the mud like her brother did a couple of weeks ago in his new jeans and expensive trainers!)

So it looks as if a trip to Coniston is in store. Good job I'm a Home Educating mum!

Anyway it's been a while since I mentioned my Autistic son, he's fourteen now and home educated , and slowly and surely I'm beginning to see him mature. That's why this blog is so usefu.For many with neuro typical children it's perhaps difficult to understand just how important small steps are to the family of a disabled child! Tying shoe laces or learning to ride a bike are huge achievements for many autistic children.For us ,at the moment, one of the challenges is hygiene. We've moved on from hair cutting, which is now accepted as long as we do it at home with hair trimmers ( although last time my son wore his bobble hat for a month after as I'd cut it too short!)

We are however still struggling with teeth cleaning (and haven't yet worked out an answer to that one) But we have made a break through! Now that puberty has set in and he's getting sweaty,he is more open to the idea of regular baths (not THAT regular you understand) but not the one every two weeks if you pin him down under the water for a few minutes kind of bath. It's interesting that he doesn't get upset if you say 'You smell horrible you need a bath', it's a bit like the clip in Temple Grandin's film 'Temple Grandin'  when her boss hands her a can of antiperspirant- you have to tell it as it is!

I know we've moved on because when I suggest a bath he doesn't flatly refuse but waits a few minutes to process the idea and then ,after I forget I've asked the question, announces 'OK'. He still requires prompting and I suspect always will but we'll get round that one as he gets older with alarms or calendars or something!

Leaving him the choice of when he goes out has also made a difference. Now he is fourteen and can stay at home when I pop to the shops, I no longer have to pressurise him to go out, which only caused him panic attacks and me huge frustration at being late, unable to get my shopping or meet other people. I've accepted he isn't interested in socialising a great deal and that he isn't sad and I have noticed him coming out into the sunshine with the dogs recently to sit and play with them on the grass. Yesterday I came home to see him out walking the dog with his elder brother (I couldn't have made him do that in a million years ) and we have a couple of meetings lined up ( a visit from another home educating family) and his brother's eighteen birthday meal (a quiet affair for family and grandparents- he likes that!)

He has been to the pictures, popped round to grandma's and we have talked about planning a visit to Duxford air museum.All very small steps but I'm finally 'getting it' and learning not to be swayed by what others think -my son is doing it his  way and has no intention of being changed by society and that's just the way it should be!