What a Brilliant Family week! The BEST EVER!

Well we had a brilliant Family week, it was the best ever. They did watch one show in the evening or got to play a multi player wifi game together so I wasn't totally mean and Oatie still had his DVD during his ABR time.

The found toys that they hadn't played with in ages and it was great, we decided to have a baking frenzy and we had, Chocolate Fudgie traybake... I've had this recipe book it came with my oven for years and my eldest picked it out and it was delicious! Our elementary school (primary school in the UK) used to make the best deserts for Lunch, and this tasted just like it. Next time I'm going to make coconut milk chocolate custard to go with it!

Next on the agenda is the lemon traybakes... from the same book.

I have taught my eldest to sew a bit, with real needles etc... but for Christmas Santa brought them a Build a Bear "Sew it yourself kit!" if you have a kid that would like to sew and get the basics of sewing without having unorthodox acupuncture I recommend the kit! The result is a great looking Stuffy(plushy, cuddly). And it comes with an outfit already made too, which you either get to stick or comes with iron transfers.. the kids loved it that they spent 6 hours doing it If I can prize the cat and dog off them, I will take a photo of them.

Oatie is at the hospital today for his very first neuro appointment... they offered one 2 years ago and we've been in the system and they have been happy to do that so we could explore ABR and gave us a 2 year open door. Now we've been doing ABR for 2years in March, we had to go or they would close the case on Oatie and then have to go to a paediatrician all over again to get the referral etc etc...

So Oatie went for his hips to be x-rayed (armed with Leonid's Hip post from January) and my husband went armed with a camera, so you can see what angle the xray was taken with.
Danger: Hip X-Rays Interpretation Mistakes in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy

Well my husband just phoned and Oatie's hips are perfect! Nothing wrong with them and the Neurologist said that they wouldn't dispute the ABR progress that Oatie has made as they think he is doing remarkably well! The only thing the Dr did say was that a 6foot CP person compared to a 5ft CP person would have great challenges if they are going to be 6ft with the potential twisted limbs.

So that was good news and we've still kept the door open and they said that they will help us get speech therapy if the school doesn't in the future doesn't get anything going.

WOW where have the last few days gone?

Well I kept on meaning to blog but hadn't had a single spare minute but haven't been that busy either ?!?  When all 3 are off school the day just melts away! ROL!

I know well last week and this week we've been taking it easy... winding down for family week which is nice and I put an electronic BAN on in our house for a good portion of the day and the kids have all been playing from bathing my daughter's baby that pee's Oatie finds that hysterical... to playing the colour changing hot wheels octoblast...  Hmmm yes are you noticing the trend of the games all involving WATER inside the house!  They have been painting and my eldest has been doing reading with Oatie and my daughter and Oatie made a book which was really sweet...

They did whinge I have to say when I said no gadgets for most of the day or TV... but they soon got over it and have had a great few days so far...

My older two have been skating and my eldest had a all guy figure skating clinic thing which they do each year and he loves it they have from the little guys all the way up to guys landing triples !

Today for Shrove Tuesday we had everyone's favourite toppings and well I found out that Oatie has a huge Chocolate liking :))

My daughter is now all caught up on her immunisations for now with Oatie so nothing for good few years !

ROL...MMR.. ABR... an abbreviated day LOL!

Today Oatie had his 1 year old MMR Vaccine at the age of 4 3/4... yep.. I couldn't stomach him having it to be honest..   It's a shame that we don't live in a more higher vaccinated popluation... but I've still never got why they don't offer the single vaccines but just charge you extra for the nurse&room time?

You do that for travel vaccines? as it's deemed a luxury... why not others?

So far he seems to be fine, polished off 2 lunches, snack and a mighty dinner...

Then it got me wondering as I am really anti the MMR (as is my husband) but I was vaccinated as a child and I got Mumps and German measles and chicken pox (not together but within a year or two of each other)

But it got me thinking, as I am ANTI the MMR, and say I was PRO MMR, and he got vaccinated at 1... we didn't get Oatie's diagnosis till he was 2.5 so just think we might have wondered whether it attributed to his CP?

No I'm still not pro MMR...  Well I will keep you posted of his after MMR Vaccine...

Other than that, we had a normalish day I skated for an hour with a friend and swam a km, Oatie's dad and Oatie were doing "guy stuff" and then my daughter went straight from school (half day) to a friends for a playdate... so I went and had a quick coffee with another mum who's kid goes to the same school and then we both went and picked up from school.  I then got in Oatie's ABR while my older two went skating and now everyone is tuck up in bed well all 4 cats and 3 kidlets.

My husband is out grocery shopping and about to bring back our weekly treat!

Costco did take it back, I was with Oatie (he was in his stroller) and I didn't actually use the words I gestured more what happened... (I didn't realise Oatie had been listening during our walk with my friend) as then he just cut the crap and got to the point,.... he looked up from his nintendo DS and said with total Clarity....

"My mum's boobs were out!..." in a matter of fact tone... looked down again and carried on playing.

I was a bit taken back at his frankness....and I don't embarrass easily, but I'm sure my cheeks coloured a bit...at that point the lady immediately asked for my card and put the credit on my card.

Anyway... then after we decided to pick up some fruit from Costco when I saw another lady admiring the same costume... so we went over and I went to warn her.... when Oatie again, matter of factly said the same thing... and she said "thank you" to Oatie and he with a straight face said "you're welcome".

After he came home and told the older two and well they were all in hysterics...

If you want to borrow Oatie to return items, just let me know!

Have a great weekend if we're not about x

Gray Hair Experiment... oh why did i think it was a good idea? Speedo Swimsuit DISASTER!!! ARGGHGH

Today is the 100th Day of School at my older two's school... so they are all dressing up as an "old" person what ever that is, well the idea is to look like you're 100... I think it's offensive... but anyway, the kids see it as fun and if you asked if their nearly 70 year old granddad was old... no of course not...you'd get "Grandad's not old, he skis as fast as me and I'm fast!"

I think after some discussion they agreed that E.T was old as he was several hundred years old... and that was old...or as my eldest put it... Yoda, he was old.. he was over 800 years old...

So after the qualification of "OLD" I didn't mind helping out... I remember being a young leader for the Brownie Guides in England and I was 17, one of the brownies was guessing my age, and said that I was 67!.. and then Brown Owl who was 67 asked how old the Brownie thought she was and she thought about it and said 367 or something like that... Brown Owl was not a happy BIRD!

Well I did google earlier and it said hairgel and talc... or hairspray and talc... which I then put on my daughters.. it looked so fab... she went to Beavers with a 2-3inch wide hairband!!!

So anyway, I wanted some silver or white hairspray.... can I find any... NO?! so while my eldest was a Karate... and my daughter and husband at Beavers.... Oatie and I went "shopping", Oatie was like "No Mummy... it's dark... it's cold... it's too late!!!"

Why is my 4 year old usually right? anyway it was strong gusty wind but we set off only to find, blue, red, green, well every colour apart from white or silver!!! arghghghgg Maybe all the other parents bought it?  So I ended up with GREEN it was a metalic pale not bright green so I thought it might pass...


So what did I do... my lovely clean shiny glossy hair.. after experimenting on my daughters hair earlier, and decided that maybe green spray would be better... so I sprayed some of that on..

It WAS NOT! pale green... it was VIBRANT URGH GREEN!!!  So i put some talc which clumped... then i tried the clear hairspray and talc.... in the end... i found out that white facepaint worked best...I know that they have the standing joke about a pink or blue rinse... so I thought that GREEN would be a laugh...  when my daughter got home.. and chortled out in her most Hermione voice..."Oh Mummy! What HAVE you done to YOUR hair!?!?"

So now I have matted, green, grey white, talc clumped hair!?!?! I'm running tomorrow so I'm sure to scare some people! ROL!

I did go running and got a few odd looks then after skating I FORGOT about my hair... and took my helmet off only to have the instructor SCREAM!!! WHAT is WRONG with your HAIR!!! (fortunately her daughter goes to the same school... and it was like OH!) she said I thought you greyed over night... I was like,,,, thanks for that!!!

So the kids had their grey hair and all been washed out... the facepaint washes out of hair really easily and as it's hypoallergenic and doesnt' stink... it's a really good way of colouring your hair, and it also didn't come off on things they touched.

Tomorrrow... I have to go back to costco with my new Swimming costume(bathing suit)...  I was in the pool on Monday, and just after explaining to my friend how I go for the most PRUDE-ISH costume that I can find a blue Speedo one... high necked and low legged from my teen days as I got sick of guys hitting on me in the pool and I just wanted to go swimming so I found a prude one from Speedo, just plain navy.  And well I stuck with that design as is NEVER goes seethru...doesn't sag or fill with air... and is brilliant and lasts for years!!!  If I go swimming I just want to swim not faff around with annoying bathing suits...

So I splashed out on a speedo one, thinking wouldn't it be nice to have some colour, still a distance swimming costume design... and my friend who I swim with on Mondays' was admiring it and thinking she might get one in a different colour...  Well I was at 500m and this guy  (no he wasn't handsome to me...) in the next lane was looking over at my lane... and and smiling.... I was thinking... "WHAT? what is he smiling at while swimming a length?" I look down and I'm like YIKES! so I YANK the top back up and well it was the most irritating 2k I've EVER swam for a long time..  It was bizarre, it fit fine standing up and wet but actual swimming it was a no no...

Well that's going to be fun at Costo tomorrow... what's even better is that Oatie will be with me PARROTING everything I say... which is usually great for his speech but I'm not sure I want him ROARING WITH LAUGHTER when I tell there service desk person what's "wrong with it", the little man will be in hysterics for the whole afternoon... and shouting it out all around the shop!

Yes, I will be sticking to my Prude style bathing suit from now on...!

Farewell to someone who I thought would out live us all...

Today in England, is the funeral of a dear family friend.  So dear that I cannot remember not remembering him.  He was actually one of my dad's customers and that's how they became friends 43 years ago...and even thought my dad was and still is tea-total, in his shop he had a sherry barrel and every Christmas before he closed his shop for Christmas... my dad would have juice, but his friend and I would have a shot of Sherry.... Mine was a thimble if that, but I used to enjoy that.

My dad's friend was one of the good guys, the type of person who restored your faith in humanity each time you saw him.  He was always there for anybody or everybody... if our car broke down... my dad's friend would come... if your boiler broke (he was a plumber) no matter what time... he would come.

He was so sweet...In our first home that I bought with my boyfriend (now husband) he came over to help move us in and he checked over our boiler over a cup of tea and found it was leaking carbon monoxide...

He would chat to me in a way that my dad never did when I grew up and he was more like my uncle than a family friend. 

He was always so lovely and happy and so hardy like he was never sick.  We thought he'd outlive us all.  Last year he was diagnosed with Cancer...I can't believe he has died. 

He will be sorely missed...

Sports, Ice Skating Skiing Sled Hockey.... Anything... Just SOMETHING!

OMG!  OMG!  I am sick of hearing more and more cases of people who don't fit the normal distribution curve to be EXCLUDED from SPORTS... because people who can't walk or think or communicate the same as someone in the Bell Curve doesn't NEED sport or physical fitness!

I don't usually use expletives on our blog, but what an absolute load of B@ll@cks!  (Did you like the pun with the @ sign to make it BALL! ROL!!!)

OMG!  Well today I went for a skate and a swim, my usual friday morning ritual... when I was feeling a little guilty about not taking Oatie for his "diversity swim", Oatie's Dad would drop him off and I'd get him ready for his swim.  Oatie was fine after his vaccination but I just wanted him to have another day away from vomit, and faeces at the pool! ROL!

When I bumped into the principle who was the lovely lady who invited Oatie to swim with her pupils... all 'special needs' I don't like Special needs word... but it's Friday!  Anyhow she was asking after Oatie and I said that he had been Skiing and Ice Skating...

When she said (this is the OMG bit) that all but 1 of her pupils can walk. They each have either physical or intellectual or other hurdles in their life.... but NONE of them have skied and NONE of them have ICE SKATED!

Ok, Skiing is a bit more hardcore... you have to drive to the mountain first, not a huge one as it's only 1.5 hours to the base of the lift...

But SKATING!!! they walk past the One of the two rinks to get to the pool!  She said that there has NEVER been anything to support kids like Oatie or her students to ice skate... and she was taken back in awe that Oatie was in the parent and tot... I did say it had something to do with the fact that I know the instructor and she would stand up for Oatie in a heartbeat...

I have to say that this is truly disgusting...  If any of you ever saw how much fun this ladies students have in the pool 3 times a week, like they're having the time of their life in the pool... it's fabulous... imagine how much fun they'd have ice skating... or skiing with their family?

I was telling this lady how Kidsport only does walking kids, and the Special Olympics only intellectually disadvantaged kids.... where as CADS and the PARAS will aid both... but you have to be a CHARITY!

Well that's it! this is so wrong...  Only this week my good friend Phil mentioned an article about Canadian Children with disabilities excluded from society and not having friends... well not being able to participate in sports really isn't going to help!  That was my point!!! What Activities...Where the 'F' are they? as I haven't found any! The only thing I found was the "diversity Swim" and the pool is EMPTY anyway!

To take an extract from the article:

"As far as anyone can tell, there are a plethora of programs for kids with disabilities, But a startling 78 per cent of parents said their children don’t participate regularly in community programs. There are a variety of reasons. Many programs are inaccessible (and that doesn’t mean there are no ramps, it means they are at inconvenient times or in inconvenient places). Transportation is a major problem for children who, because of their disabilities, can’t use public transit. And cost is a big factor, especially as parents of children with life-long disabilities often stop paid work to become caregivers."

What Plethora... please let them tell me where this PLETHORA is?   There is NO overabundance or excess of programmes that would include Oatie.  What a load of CRAP!

Our rec centre that is meant to be PRO disability, like they let service dogs in etc etc and have the diversity swim and they did agree to let Oatie have his Ice Walker out there...  There is maybe 20 preschool programmes... but NOT 1, NOT 1, not a single 1 will let Oatie join, because of his handicap... not a single programme so what plethora!!??? we had to BEG them to let Oatie join the santa workshop and yes... we had to accompany him...

We have "gate crashed" into the parent and tot, and as it's parent with child... then no one can complain... what happens when Oatie is 6? what then?  I would have to FIGHT to get him into CanSkate!  FIGHT and Skate Canada is meant to be pro- Getting EVERYBODY on the ice but I have emailed them several time and not a single reply to programmes or supporting EVERYBODY out on the ice... it's all empty words! 

I have found 1 sled hockey group but that is in the North of the City and Oatie would need to be say 7 or 8... however they have mixed teams so his siblings could play too which is brilliant!

I look at the sheer joy and happiness and the emotional, spiritual development and the motor improvements that it gives Oatie... each time I take him skating, or swimming, it's like he says a few more words or gets that bit more co-ordinated or throws a spontaneous sentence together... or gives him the drive to strive harder or go for it...  and yes he feels "NORMAL" what ever that is, but he's doing a sport that he sees lots of other people enjoy...  He can't run...... ON LAND!!! but he CAN run on ICE!

Immunising and MMR and family house moved on a truck!

Oatie Skating on Tuesday

I have to say this week has been rather odd!  My older two had 2 teacher training days... and Tuesday my older two came to watch Oatie in HIS lesson, as they are usually at school.  On the way in I bumped into 4 people I knew and as nice as it was to see them, I was like arghghgghh we need every minute to lace him up.

Anyway having two older skaters I forgot what bliss this could be... I had one who just held the door open while the other clipped Oatie in the stroller as I have to bump him down the steps... to get to the changing room... I know NICE WHEEL FRIENDLY Rec Centre... NO!!! that's right because only people who can skate unaided or WALK like skating... NOT!

Anyway we did get to the changing room and before I know it, my eldest is putting on Oatie's Skate guards, my daughter is taking off Oat's winter boots and putting on his popsocks... and then my eldest is getting out his helmet and hat and when it came to putting on his skates, my daughter was massaging his feet and my eldest was making him laugh and we got his skates on no time...

Older Brother and Sister Fussing over Oatie

So we weren't late with all that help :) and while he was skating they were actively cheering him on and I even heard my daughter say, that's my baby brother... isn't he just AWESOME!  They took so many videos and photos and well it was just lovely!

Today we got Oatie's diptheria etc vaccine the rote ones... and in two weeks time he's having something that we never wanted him to have... the MMR.... :((

Well when I was a kid, they did the vaccines separately... and then this whole MMR thing.... well apart from cost cutting like saying reducing 4 visits to the nurse... as you have to have a round of boosters...  I never understood why they didn't offer singles but say, hey! 4 extra visits you need to pay for the nurses time... and then people can pick which they want to have... but NO!

In the UK my eldest got single vaccines and had his boosters like that and my daughter got her first round of singles. but needs a booster.

Our plan was to return to England and get the singles done for Oatie even if it was a few weeks apart would be better than 3 in one go...

I just don't get it, if you had measles you wouldn't be out socialising and then contract mumps and then be out and getting rubella? like what is the statistics of actually NATURALLY contracting all 3 in one go... you JUST WOULDN'T so why the heck would you get all 3 in the same needle when you'd used to have them individually?

I have seen 2 children first hand happily babbling before the MMR when they were 1 and then after they were non verbal for a good long while and that quite frankly scared me to death.

Our plans of returning to the UK to do this got mildly diverted by finding out that Oatie had CP, in the sense that the best treatment for his Cerebral Palsy is ABR (Advanced bio-mechanic rehabilitation) and that isn't funded at all from your health insurance or the government.... so any vacation or travel money has been allocated to that.  So we've had to give in to an extent... the population that we live in haven't been immunised to the extent that everyone has been vaccinated apart from mine... and Oatie is entering a school with 600 in the Fall... so we've had to compromise on our beliefs but he's that many years older than he would have been having the triple that I hope he'll be ok.

Well in Canada, our GP said that he would administer the singles if we could find a pharmacist who would import them... we've looked for 3 years and  we can only get 1 of the 3....decided that now Oatie is nearly 5, he can have the baby dose now...  his immune system is way more mature than it was when he was 1....  I just hope that he doesn't have a reaction.... nor my daughter with a booster.

In Europe you can get the singles in France or the UK really easily...  this company has a mobile clinic...

YES! this ia a HOUSE on a truck, not a small thing, it took up 2 road widths WIDE+

Then to top it off, I didn't see a permanent caravan on a flat-bed long vehicle... it was actual a modest sized FAMILY HOME!!! I'm like WTF! It was HUGE! and on a TRUCK!