the year of more???

So....deep and meaningful thoughts on the year that is coming rapidly to its end??? hopeful thoughts for the year about to burst upon us??? I don't do New Year's resolutions..never have but I read something interesting recently...it was an article about 'more for the New Year'..so instead of dieting (and failing), trying to be the most marvellous person ever and never ever getting cross/irritated/moody again (and failing), reading all those classics again (and starting them but not always finishing them), starting to learn Russian (again) etc etc etc, it is a new mind set about laughing more, spending time with friends more and establishing relationships more. The article suggests more coffee with friends.Listening to more music. I suppose it is still a kind of New Year's resolution but maybe one I could actually achieve.  What is it that 'young people' say in their texting machine messages YOLO....???So,live this once life in all its fullest.In abundance. Maybe it is worth a try?????
I couldn't have said that yesterday when the Black Dog of being-less-than-cheery threatened to bite at my heels. Why it came I don't know but I am jolly glad it has run away again. Hey. let's be someone to turn to when the Black Dog comes a -sniffing and chase him away for each other, I'm up for it if you are.
See you next year
The End

the sea creature and the pine water

So...in his Christmas stocking , Jboy received several terribly exciting toys, including two bath toys. One of them is a little fish which wriggles and lights up in water and the other is apparently some sea creature which spins and lights up AND spits out water.(I wonder if David Attenborough could name it??) Jboy likes the spinning toy but is a bit nervous of the wriggly fish,I think it is a bit too real and, well, wriggly.He also had some splendid bubble bath which smells of pine AND a hippo which plays 'sounds of nature'....so there we were, in the semi-darkness of silly o'clock, listening to sounds of nature, lit by an as yet undetermined sea creature who was spitting sweetly pine scented water at us. All was calm.Then..something terrible happened....the undetermined sea creature stopped moving and spitting.Much consternation ensued.. AArgh!! New battery alert. So, there I was, with my little short sighted eyes, unscrewing miniature screws in the bottom of a slippery weird sea creature so that I could unearth the AAA batteries and hope that in our drawer of Really Useful Things we had some spare ones. We did! Phew. So then I had to reverse the process and rescrew the teeny tiny screws into the weird undetermined sea creature so that we could once again enjoy it spitting water at us. 
We know how to have fun in our house!!!
Merry New Year
The End

silent tears

So..yesterday I posted the best post ever...full of wit, empathy, joy, humour and maxims for life...it was the best yet.......but sadly it lacked someone who knows what they are doing evidently as I managed to delete it before anyone had even seen it.. So you'll just have to take my word for it! ;-)..where's a computer forensics expert when you need one?????
Today ,the Different bus driver(who is the Wrong Bus Driver) arrived Too early. Jboy hadn't had his Vigil. DISASTER.When I eventually managed to get him outside (which took about 5 minutes), he fought like a tiger and a bear rolled into one. I was pummelled, pulled and generally picked on. My glasses were removed and also it felt like most of my hair was being plucked out by the handful. The very helpful escort was trying terribly hard to be terribly helpful but in fact Jboy was getting more and more distraught. In the end I asked the bus to do a circuit of the block and come back. As it drove away Jboy, not really being one to understand consequences of actions,cried silent tears (they are the worst) and his little face crumpled as he was completely confused. I tried very hard  to explain but it is really , really difficult to explain something when you don't know what a person understands. I think most of what Jboy hears is gibberish so I tried to make it easy to understand gibberish by singing the 'where's the bus?' song. The bus arrived (again) so I sang the 'here's the bus' song and after a little grumble, Jboy got on.  This whole process took about 25 minutes. On the plus side, the Driver (Wrong as he is) and the Escort now probably both think I am an all-in westler who sings whilst wrestling  instead of just being a slightly barmy mother. Maybe a new career awaits????
I needed a bit of a lie down in a darkened room after that. (Well, I say that..so what did we do????? we went to John Lewis instead....not quite the same)
The End
Infact I have been decidedly weepy myself today. Weepy Wednesday, perhaps???

normal service resumed

So...the day started with unseemly haste as Jboy decided that bed was not for him on this particular December day. As the Parent on Duty, I was less than thrilled but partook in our early morning training session (aka early morning wrestle...definitely a wrestle not a tussle) with as much gusto as  a parent with their hood pulled protectively over their head could do!! After some hours of relentless wrestling on the part of Jboy, I could take no more and crawled up the mountain which had mysteriously appeared in place of our stairs to seek refuge and relief by the magnificent M. He leapt into paternal action and descended the mounatin only to find that Jboy had evidently decided that enough was enough and had gone back to bed!!  The scamp!! When I eventually emerged, bleary eyed, relieved to find the stairs back in their usual place, Jboy had been fed and watered and was ready for the Pavement Vigil. We took up our places and waited....would it be the Right Bus???? What would happen??? The tension was mounting but we had not long to wait and sure enough it WAS the Right Bus. The Wrong Driver and it came at the Wrong Time but then it is those strange days between Christmas and New Year ,when nothing is normal, so we were just happy to see the bus at all!!! After a moment's hesitation when I could almost see the thought bubbles above Jboy's head ('Shall I have a protest pavement roll?' closely followed by 'Nah!'), he clambered aboard and order was restored.
For Jboy, the world has been returned to its proper axis and he can breathe again.
It is a relief to us all.
The End

and a new one just begun....

So...we are not just grateful that we have survived another year with Jboy, but we are all supremely grateful that our other offspring have also made it to the end. As a family we have had a year of delights and sadnesses with the arrival of one and the loss of two, one of whom had a tremendously 'good innings' and the other of whom had no innings at all. So, well done, Bohemianbabe, her Man and the Babelings, MedicineMan,lovely D-I-L and the Medilets, Melodymaid and BassmanBill and Dancing Girl. You are all Most Marvellous.

The End

...another year over

So...it is that time of year when one traditionally considers the year gone by and anticipates the year to come. I gather people think about all that they have achieved (or not) and all that they hope to achieve in the coming days. This is the time of year when M and I are just happy to have reached the end of another year, surviving sleepless nights, enduring the battles which are becoming increasingly physical with our Man-boy and endeavouring to unravel the tangle that is his thought process. What the next year will bring, no-one knows. In that respect we are the same as everyone else and can momentarily enjoy being part of the 'normal' community. But then, I have heard that being 'normal' is wildly over rated!!
I wish us all,in the words of John Lennon,

' a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one without any fear.'

Merry New Year!!

On the third day of Christmas.....

So...today we enjoyed our third day of Christmas. We have had one with MedicineMan, one with Melodymaid and today one with Bohemianbabe. A marvellous time was had by all. Jboy has received many lovely presents and has coped with the newness of them all remarkably well. He is getting better at receiving new things and has almost got into the hang of presents now...it has only taken 27 years!! Better late than never, as they say!!.  Tomorrow he is back at the Most Marvellous Day Centre. It will be much to his relief as he has been carrying his MMDC bag around since Boxing Day in the forlorn hope that he might be allowed to resume his normal routine instead of all this jollity and celebratory gubbins.  Last year,after Christmas, they sent a taxi to collect him. A taxi!!! Not even the Wrong Bus...but a taxi which is utterly and completely Bad and Wrong.  Jboy refused to get in at all so they had to send the taxi away and bring the Right Bus in which he sat in solitary state. Let's hope they have remembered the futility of trying the taxi and have the sense to bring the bus! I don't fancy an early morning pavement wrestle..although I am the Parent on Duty tomorrow so maybe I will already have had my early morning wrestle but at least it would have been in the comfort of my own home. There is nothing to start the day like an early morning wrestle with Jboy. It's a bit like a workout. Perhaps I should rethink these early morning wrestles and think of them instead as time with my own personal trainer...I'll let you know how I get on with that rethinking lark.(actually I probably won't.Don't take it personally)
The End