Welcome to the second instalment of the regular series where I review and recommend products that my family are currently enjoying. This time I will be focusing on the things my sixteen month-old daughter can’t do without. Littlest is quite a different child to her brother and already prefers hands on action and active toys… Read More
Nearly one year ago, I sat in a cramped room with unpleasant, flickering lights, while a doctor I barely knew told me you were autistic. The me sitting in that room is a half a million minutes away; a great gulf of time and experience separates us. I hardly know the path I took to… Read More
This is the first in a series in which I explore some of the products and items that my family love. I have decided to start with my three year-old son’s favourite things. As many of you will know, my son was diagnosed with autism when he was just two years and ten months old.… Read More
I was asked to review Migloo’s Day by Mumsnet and Walker Books. Here is a short video to show you a little bit about the book: Migloo’s Day is a search and find story book. It has similar elements to one of our strong favourites ‘You Choose’. It is jam-packed with detailed and thoughtful illustrations… Read More
Dear Sir and Madam, I am writing to you in order to inform you of the current situation regarding my son. I write the blog, Someone’s Mum, which has chronicled the ups and downs of our diagnosis, and I will be publishing this letter there. With your permission, I would be happy to publish your… Read More
It’s 7.35 pm and thunder is echoing across the dark and cheerless M5. Rain is hammering down and all I can make out in front of me are the angry water-colour spots of the lights of the cars in front. Melancholy country music is spilling into my car from Radio 2, and I am crying.… Read More
Dear Teaching, We’ve been together such a long time; I hardly know where I end and you begin. My body beats to the rhythm of terms and bells – the long, cold slog to the end of the winter and the inevitable Christmas cold, the summer term that should be easier, but somehow never is,… Read More
I have meaning to do a post that collects together some of the amusing things that the boy has said for some time. He does have trouble with some aspects of language (he really struggles to answer any question that doesn’t have a short, factual answer) but there are also some areas that he excels… Read More
You think you’re grown-up. The hastily wiped-off lip gloss and false eyelashes that I confiscated before assembly beg the world to see it – but you’re not quite there. I can see the pudgy toddler cheeks hiding beneath the look of slight disdain. In place of perfectly arranged ‘scruffy’ buns, I can see where, once,… Read More
We have had a few difficult days. If I’m honest, they’ve turned into difficult weeks. My Instagram feed doesn’t show it, because my phone isn’t the first thing I reach for, in those moments of despair. I reach for you. Even if you’re kicking and screaming, even if you beg me not to, even if… Read More
Today is my 7th wedding anniversary. To mark this day, here are seven reasons why I think I my husband is practically perfect in every way. One He is the very best father I could have hoped my children would have: endlessly patient, hands-on, loving, kind. A perfect example of what a good human being… Read More
An academy is a state-funded school which is independent from local authority. They are run by academy trusts and have several ‘freedoms’ that non-academy schools do not. They have the ability to buy in services privately that were previously provided, and overseen, by the local authority. They are responsible for their own term times and,… Read More