Diagnosis Day

Yesterday was the day we've waited for for 3 years - our son got his official diagnosis from the Autism Panel - Aspergers Syndrome. It wasn't a shock, and according to the lady who called to deliver the news was a very straightfoward diagnosis with no debate amongst the panel members.
The only reason they went with Aspergers rather than Autism is because he talked before he was 3, but ultimately its one and the same. Hopefully now we can be assured that any help he needs in the future will be offered without a fight. Don't get me wrong, we have never had to fight for any help he's needed up to now, but who knows what the future holds.

Sunburn

At my age I should know better. Headed to the beach with the kids this afternoon, packed a picnic, towels, and slapped plenty of suncream on them, got to the beach, suncreamed my arms and chest, but not my back. The north sea brings in quite a breeze, so I was a tad chilly, and wrongly assumed I would be fine. Clearly not! I now have a bright red back. Wow seriously, I know I burn, I know you don't have to feel the heat of the sun to get burnt, and I let myself get burnt anyway. Must be more careful tomorrow lol!

bloglovin

Not too sure what this is about but here goes - 

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Robin - (Batman) - Another handmade fancy dress costume

Another last minute costume - I had pinned several that I liked and had to work it round what materials were available yesterday when I went to buy them. The result - Robin.
It was for a fancy dress competition today, but unfortunately my daughter wasn't placed. She was happy though and loved the costume, which was good enough for me, and she got lots of compliments.

The costume itself was incredibly easy, and I did it in one night. The skirt is just a simple no sew tutu, and the top a piece of lycra material sewn into a tube. I then sewed 2 straps on to tie round her neck, just to avoid any embarrasing accidents, a piece of yellow and black felt made the detail on the body, and the mask. Some matching ribbon for her hair and she was ready to go. All I was missing was bottle green tights/leggings which would have finished it off. Still, I thought it turned out great.

Frozen Dress

My daughter needed a dress for a Frozen themed party a couple of weeks ago (yes im a bit late updating), she wanted Elsa, Elsa dresses are like rocking horse $%^£ to get hold of, and the party was the following day, cue a 40 mile round trip to buy materials the following morning, and an afternoon of making with my friend.
This was the result, and I love it. I just wish I could've found some silver snowflakes but hey ho...

Bicarb of Soda is AMAZING!

Okay I'm the first to admit my oven doesn't get cleaned nearly as often as it should, I end up with grease an inch thick (ok maybe a slight exaggeration but it still gets embarrassing lol). I've spent many an hour spraying the latest expensive fancy oven cleaner, scrubbing, chiselling, spraying, scrubbing, chiselling and repeating many a time without making much difference. I read about bicarb of soda and decided to give it a go and WOW! That stuff is amazing. How have I never discovered its amazing cleaning capabilities before?
It was this simple:
Sprinkle oven with bicarb, spray with water, sprinkle some more, spray some more, leave overnight and wipe off. That easy!! You may end up with some more stubborn bits but they will clean off easily enough. I'm sold, and am absolutely going to stock up on the stuff! Never again will my oven get in that state!!! What can I try next with it?!?!

New project - Minecraft Cushion

My boys love minecraft - so I am doing their bedroom in a minecraft theme, but have you seen the price of anything minecraft? Not cheap! So decided I can knock some stuff together myself - I've probably bitten off more than I can chew with this one but hey the practice will help for future projects lol.

So this is the start of my first ever patchwork attempt - it's going to be a creeper cushion cover! Will update as I go. Fingers crossed it turns out well :)

Cress Eggheads

A little introduction to gardening - cress egg heads.

What you need:

Empty egg shells, tops removed
Cotton wool
Felt tip pens
Cress seeds

Prepare your egg shells and have your kid draw faces on one side, stuff with cotton wool, water and sprinkle cress seeds on top of cotton wool. It really is that easy. Pop them back in an egg box and within a few days you should have cress heads.

Milk Experiment

The milk experiment is a fantastic one, especially for younger kids.

What you need -

Full fat milk
Food colouring
Washing up liquid
Cocktail stick/cotton bud
A straw

Pour some milk in a bowl or tray, add a couple of drops of food colouring (red really does take over though lol).

Nothing spectacular happens. Have your child dip the end of a cocktail stick, or a cotton bud in the mix and observe what happens - nothing! A cotton bud will soak up a little of the mix but thats about it. Now flip the stick/bud over, add a little washing up liquid and place back in the middle of the milk mix and watch the little colour explosion.

The science behind it is explained at the bottom of this page - Steve Spangler Science for those who would like to know the hows and whys.

For a little extra fun add a little more washing up liquid to the solution and have your child blow big bubbles.

Take a step further and have them experiment putting their dry hands in the bubbles to see what happens, and then wet hands.

Make Your Own Rain Clouds Experiment

My kids love to get hands on and play with stuff and make mess. They love experiments, crafts, art etc etc. So I saw the idea on another blog, for which I unfortunately do not have a link to now, for DIY rain clouds. Fantastic idea.

What you need -

Clear jug
Water
Shaving foam (not the gel type) (we just used tescos own for about 30p)
Food colouring
A dropped/syringe (we used an old medicine syrine - the sorts you got with calpol).

Add a little of the food colouring to some water. Fill your jug about 2/3 with water, and squirt the shaving foam on top - the water represents the air, and your foam obviously represents your rain clouds.

Add a couple of drops of food colouring mix to the top of your rain clouds and watch as it begins to 'rain' underneath. You can also use neat food colouring which will make it rain faster.

We even tried experimenting with different colours together. Don't recommend red though as it completely took over the entire water lol.

The science behind the clouds and rain experiment can be easily found on the internet. I'm not good with science so will leave that to you to interpret and explain. My 6 and 7 year old were just fascinated with making it rain, and my 11 year old got involved too.

Autism Doesn't Happen To Us

If you had said the word 'Autism' to me several years ago - the first thing I would have thought was a person incapable of looking after themselves and rocking in a corner. I was ignorant in my understanding of autism, I had none to be fair. Then along came my middle child. A happy baby with obvious delays. At between 8-10 months he finally began rolling over. He walked at 15 months old, a month after his little sister was born, but he was very advanced at the same time. Before he was 2 he could count, and name all the shapes up to hexagons. When we started potty training it was obvious it wasn't going to be easy, he appeared to be scared to poop, we visited the doctors regularly begging for help. Their answer was to keep prescribing medication to make it softer and therefore easier to go.  I knew this wasn't the answer. He started nursery and they quickly noticed something wasn't quite right. They asked about his eye rolling, his socialisation (or lack of), and many other things. We laughed it off. It was just who he is. I went home and out of interest googled the things we'd been asked and the same thing appeared in every search result - Autism. But how? Our child doesn't have autism. How is that possible? I did my research, lots of it, and he was referred to the educational psychologist in our area, who would be 'absolutely astonished' if they were not to diagnose him on the spectrum. I believe had he been diagnosed when first referred in 2010/2011 he would have been diagnosed as fairly severely autistic - when his 'symptoms' were at their worst. I also think his gastro toileting problems played a big part in them.  I followed my intuition and stopped with the meds and we went straight back to square one. We introduced him slowly to the toilet,  then to sitting on it, and took each little step one step at a time. I spent many many hours sat on the toilet floor just trying to get him to sit there for a few seconds. There were times I just wanted to run away. But I look now and cannot believe the difference. He is a changed child. He has friends, he socialises and plays. I can see some imagination shining through. I never imagined this would be the case a few years ago. Its taken a lot of time and determination from ourselves and school, I don't believe medication is always the way forward. We get the formal diagnosis anytime now, though probably autumn now. It won't change my child, but knowing and having answers certainly changed my outlook and has made me less ignorant. <3

Choosing a blog name

Wow easier said than done?! I have plenty I can ramble on about but had no idea what to call my blog. The things I did think of were all taken. Anyway I'm there now. Let's hope I get round to rambling regularly.