March 2nd 2010

So long since I’ve updated this blog, my time has just been enveloped by the family.

A quick update…Poppy is now 6 months and is just the most content baby, a lovely little girl.  She has just learnt to roll over, which delighted the other kids, they acted as though she’d won the Olympics, they were over the moon, and it great to see this side of them. 

Poppy after she rolled

  Poppy is teething, we can see 2 front teeth just under the gum line, bottom row, so this has made her a little unsettled. 

The other children are all doing well. Eldest has taken up boxing, this along with his keen interest in mountain bike racing regularly has me worried.  Yes, you can’t wrap them up in cotton wool, and I would not want too, but a more sedate hobby would be great.  Hes 14, and to be truthful I am happy for him, there are 1001 horrible things he could be into. 

Second eldest now has bearded dragons as pets, these have recently laid 12 eggs, we have lost one…it went mouldy[yuk] apparently this means it was infertile. The other 11 are doing well, and should hatch later this month/early next. 

Our other daughter is doing well, shes soon to take part in a public speaking competition against other school children from the region. 

Our 5 year old who started school in August is just thriving, he loves it and is a proper little school boy wandering around with his hands in his pockets. 

Our just 3 year old is making his first steps towards more independence and has started playgroup, this has only been a partial success as he still wants me to stay with him.  The first day he went in fine and waved me goodbye, however later in the morning I got a call saying they could not calm him down…the sort of tummy churning calls you hate, as I could hear him hysterical in the background.  The staff had no idea what had set him off, and were sorry they could not calm him down. 

Basically I’ve asked for a speech therapy referral for him, his speech is very unclear, he can understand everything you say, but his pronunciation and stringing words together is very ropy, and this I believe is behind the upset at playgroup.  So for the moment I stay with him, and so does Poppy.  This is ok, and he has made progress, but at times I do find it frustrating that it seems to have really knocked his confidence and has just made his difficult command of language standout. 

However, on a positive he is not clinging onto my leg anymore. 

One of my other children had glue-ear, and had speech issues, however, Andrew is not speaking in the same way as he did, and I am 99% sure he is understanding everything you say.  I don’t really know which way we are heading, I have done my best to search online, and have found something called verbal Apraxia, and Andrew does have similarities to this, but I am no expert. 

A few things tie in with this also in that children who have this can be very sensitive to food tastes and textures…Andrew is, he’s a strange eater…yes he loves cakes and we make a joke of it, and he loves fruit, but come to eating a normal meal, he just does not, he has never finished a full plate of food.  I do not make a fuss or any exceptions for him, I just do not have the time, if he does not eat whats in front of him, he waits until morning.  He will eat pizza, but only the crust, not the actual pizza.  He will sometimes eat carrots, not peas, nothing at all like roasts, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, baked beans, casseroles, occasionally part of a fish finger or a chicken dipper.  However last week he did quite well with some fettuccine.  At playgroup today he spread some butter on a cracker and ate it..so again a huge move for him. 

I suppose I am also concerned as when he was born…emergency c.section, he was 2 weeks early and only 5lb 40z.  I had been monitored for 2 weeks prior to his birth as the midwives were concerned about the lack of movement from him, and in a scan it was shown that the placenta was not functioning as weel as it should.  So he was born so tiny and with a short cord wrapped tightly around his neck…this fact is always at the back of my mind. 

He’s my little puzzler, hoping to get some answers at least on Monday when we see the speech therapist. 

He does not like his haircut either, tonight I had to trim it as the fringe and other bits were too long…you would have thought I had murdered him, what a fight.  now I feel rubbish, hes resembling a child from the ’70′s with a basin[ish] haircut.    

Everything has been going well, but at the moment I am really feeling the strain of 6 kids and keeping the house and everything going. 

Tomorrow is another day though, and the rascals will make me smile and no doubt Andrew will bring me a pretend bouquet of flowers, something he’s started doing lately.

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