It’s been a real up-and-down start to the year. There have been some positives, like the fact we’ve jumped a huge waiting list and managed to get an annual let of a beach hut. I love the beach hut - it’s the sort of place where you really feel the stress ebbing away as the sea swashes up and down on the sand. I love how it’s so different every time we’re there and there’s never any telling whether we’re going to have enormous crashing waves by our feet, or a calm sea with loads of rock pools to potter around. The kids love it too, and even Little Nutter seems to have a grip on the ‘rules’ for the beach and doesn’t stray too far away. I can sit and write, the hubby drinks coffee, and the kids are a couple of feet away digging to China. Idyllic bliss!
There have been some negatives too - quite a few stresses at work and Little Madam’s school report. It was pretty unexpected - she’s a very bright girl (in all apart from Maths!) but hadn’t done too well in her end of term tests. The school were panicking, until we pointed out that test time happened during Little Nutter’s worst week of the month for being awake all night. Their solution was quick and so immediate that we’re still trying to catch our breath from it. She could board during the week and come home at weekends; that way she is getting 5 decent nights sleep per week instead of the 2 nights a fortnight that we all get when Little Nutter is away at respite.
It was a non-choice. I hate her being away from home, but I can’t in all conscience deprive her of an education and her future. She loves it, of course. She dutifully phoned home for the first couple of nights and then we didn’t hear from her because she was having too much fun. She’s gone skipping gleefully back this week and I’m stuck at home with a boy-filled house until the weekend again. It’s wonderful that school are willing to do this for her and that she’s got the opportunity that so many siblings don’t have, but it really makes me mad that she’s had to go because of the autistic disruptions in our home. Things shouldn’t be this way.
