September 24, 2008

Ooh - where is the time going! I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted! The weather has really picked up lately (typical, now the kids are back at school!) and Charlie's been able to get out in the garden after school, and today we even went for a bike ride around the block.

School is still going really well. I am amazed how well Charlie is managing - he doesn't seem to be getting tired and is loving every minute of it. We did wonder if school might actually be the perfect situation for Chas, because most of it is using his brain while sitting down by a desk or pottering around a classroom, rather than just running around madly all the time.

He only has 15-minute breaks in the morning and the afternoon, and because he's a pretty slow eater, he's not having as long to run around at dinner time either, which suits him just fine.

We did have a couple of days where he took the WHOLE lunch hour to eat his dinner, and then went straight back to class without having any playtime at all, but we've been modifying the contents of his lunchbox and we seem to have hit on a winning formula now, so he gets his lunch eaten in time to have a bit of a play in the fresh air before the bell goes!

When I picked him up today, his teacher told me that he has been chosen to be the Infant representative on the School Council! He even gets a badge to wear!! How cool is that?!? I did ask if she had chosen him simply because he likes talking (!) but she said she'd chosen him because he can express himself well (isn't that the same thing as liking to talk?), plus he's very sensible (news to me!) and organised. Apparently he's also very good at organising other people too! (now that, I did know!)

And yes, it was another choked-up, proud parent moment for me. And if you don't like listening to the ramblings of a proud parent, I'd close your browser now!.....

When you consider the odds Charlie has been up against since before he was even born, the things he has achieved leave me (almost!) speechless. Even things that seem small and insignificant to other parents, are enormously important to us. Every single day, Charlie amazes us.

• For him to be attending school at all is amazing.
• For him to be attending school without needing one-to-one special assistance is amazing (even if he does eat his lunch a bit slowly sometimes!).
• For him to be able to join in with his peers in the playground and during PE... and to be able to confidently explain to them why he can't keep up sometimes is amazing.
• For him to not only 'get by', but to do better than expected academically, is amazing.
• And then, for his teacher to pick him for a position of responsibility (ok, not MUCH responsibility, but you know what I mean!) because of his abilities is truly amazing.

Charlie does have his limitations, but so far he has never let them get in his way. He has worked out his own ways to get around them, and in doing so has achieved more than we ever dreamed possible.... and he's not even five yet!

Anyway, proud ramblings over for the time being!

Chas has a busy few weeks ahead - there's the Harvest Festival coming up at school, Jeans for Genes day, Book Week, plus a number of Little Hearts Matter events in the not-too-distant future. And then there's his birthday in six weeks or so (and I still haven't quite fathomed how I'm going to make that Dalek cake!)

I'm attaching a couple of pics of him playing in the garden the other day - he was 'painting' his playhouse with water, and pretending to be a pit-stop mechanic with his pedal car!