We’ve had a new addition to the family. He’s very cute and perky and is chasing the children around all over the place.

Meet Fido.

Yes, we’ve caved to gadgetry insanity and have bought a robot vacuum cleaner. The theory is that we use the Dyson for a thorough weekly clean, the steam cleaner for those Autistic incidents that can’t be tackled by normal means, and Fido can do a superficial nightly clean of downstairs after we go to bed every evening, just to keep the worst of the dust gremlins at bay.

We brought him home at lunch time, and I have to admit, he’s very cute. He’s been beeping his way around the rooms, and picked up a huge amount of debris from family life. Holly (the spaniel) is wagging madly at Fido, hoping he’s going to play, but Katie (our ancient feline) is sitting watching suspiciously. These strange gadgets never bode well.

He’s just taken himself back to his dock and is snoozing while he recharges. The children are now begging to tidy their rooms so Fido can clean there too. This sounds like a plan with no drawbacks.

Muahaha!

Once a year we have what can only be described as a day from someone else’s life. Little Madam and Tiny Flirt attend the same school in a glorious valley in the wilds of North Yorkshire, and we are cordially invited for a day. Little Nutter has already gone gleefully to respite, leaving us as a completely neurotypical family.

We wandered from the castle to the beautiful valley fields with stunning views of the abbey and fields beyond it for sports day. Little Madam did herself proud for her house. Lots of very determined running and jumping and a raft of second places for 800 metres, long jump, 150 metres and even throwing the rounders ball a startling distance. We’re just so proud of her. After the total mess that the state school made of her life when we moved cities, she’s growing back into a confident, bright, sporty young lady with a very appropriate wicked twinkle in her eye.

Tiny Flirt is far more chilled about the whole thing. His winning of the five-year-olds skipping race was greeted with a huge beam and a “Please can I have a sticker?” We do have to work on his sportsmanship though. When he passed the baton on for his part of the relay race, he turned to the little girl in the team beside him and did a “Ner, ner ner. We beat you!”

The thing that always strikes me is just how wonderful and easy parenting is. The children are so happy and so easy to look after and encourage. We had lunch on the lawns and wandered down to watch Tiny Flirt in concert this afternoon. Little Madam’s concert is tonight. They love this day because for once it’s about them, not about Autism or smearing or being thumped in the eye. We love it, because it’s a chance to be really proud of them both. They’re good kids and I’m so glad they’re mine.

It’s been a hard couple of days. Something I was really looking forward to hasn’t come off - well, it has, but I haven’t been included in it although some of my work will be. It’s a tough one to deal with. I certainly don’t hate the good friend who’s cut me out of the loop, but I am bitterly disappointed.

I think the one thing I’ve learnt about having a disabled child is the importance of having ‘feel-good’ things in the pipeline that keep your self-esteem high and make sure you have a sense of value and purpose. I’ve got my trip to the US looming in July, we’re off to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Patrick Stewart and David Tennant in ‘Hamlet’ in August and we’re talking about taking Little Madam (10) and Tiny Flirt (5) to London again when Little Nutter (8) is in respite for a couple of days in the summer holidays.

Beyond that, I’m looking at my own writing with renewed determination. ‘A Smudge of Rainbow’ is done. It’s been edited again to polish it up. All of my guinea pigs have been hooked and have read it in one sitting. Heck, even Stephenie Meyer fell for Josh. It’s a good book. I know it’s a good book. I need to bite the bullet and send it out to agents because it’s languishing in a bottom drawer and it’s doing no one any good lying there. The lovely Mel is planning a website for it to try and help with the marketing pitch.

Now that the exams are underway, I’m looking at ‘Bedeviled’ again and I’m determined. The book should be a huge amount of fun and I’ve worked out how to carve an hour out of my day for frittering on a story. Escapism rocks!

They say the future is what you make of it. Well, watch me

I stumbled across this article on Stephenie Meyer in The Times this morning and it made me smile. Given the massive attention her books have had in the States, it’s about time the UK finally sat up and took some notice of her.

Although I have to admit, it’s quite bizarre to be casually reading the paper and then suddenly come across someone you once spent time with in Madrid. A definite tea spluttering over the newspaper moment!

It was one of those surreal chance things. There I was, browsing the Bookmooch forums when I came across a link to Blog A Penguin Classic.

What a fabulous marketing idea. Give one free copy of each classic to a volunteer who will then blog about their book on the penguin website and on their own blog. It’s a brilliant way to spread the word about some of the more obscure classics as well as to remind people of some of the fab books out there. Needless to say, I leapt on the bandwagon with gusto and have been allocated Voltaire’s Letters on England. It’s got a 5* review on Amazon and I laughed a lot when I read ‘Candide’, so I’m hopeful. The hubby, on the other hand, is donning his tux to read some Ian Fleming.

My current ‘to be read’ stash is full of light and flippant stuff. It’s a tough time of the year and bright and breezy stuff that doesn’t require a lot of brain power is definitely on the cards. I’m in the middle of Julia Quinn’s series on the Bridgerton family. I’ve read books 1-6 and am currently waiting Gregory and Hyacinth’s stories from lovely people on Bookmooch. I’m surprised by just how much I’ve enjoyed these books as I never would have gone out of my way to buy them. Julia Quinn is very witty and she develops characters that you really grow to care about. One of the things that I’ve loved about the series so far is that no matter where Colin goes, he’s hungry. Food miraculously materialises with long-suffering butlers, or he grazes from what food is there. Little motifs like that just make it for me.

The banter between the siblings is fantastic, but mostly I love how she develops her characters. The relationships between them are so well done, and of course, there is the constant question of ‘Who exactly is the mysterious Lady Whistledown?’ to contend with. They’re real feel-good books, and I’d definitely recommend them!