growing up

The baby is growing up fast. Small has gone off to spend the weekend at a hotel in West Wales with a couple of friends from school (and a parent, of course). It's Efa's birthday, and this is her dad's half of the celebration - taking her and a couple of friends away for a night in a hotel by the beach. Saundersfoot, I think. Everyone has been very anxious about this since Small was invited. Why? Lots of reasons.

We're worried about Small herself, and how she'll behave and how Efa's dad will cope with her. She can be extremely challenging, no question about that, between the hearing loss and the language disorder and the semantic-pragmatic thing, she misunderstands what people are saying to her all the time and gets herself into a dreadful state way too often. Plus, she hasn't really been well for a few weeks now. Her ears have been really bad - the fluid in them has built right up and hardened, so she has constant earache and isn't sleeping well because she's in pain all the time. So, add pain and overtiredness to the above factors and she could be a nightmare for Dad Efa to deal with. He's a pretty laid-back chap, though, and seemed confident that they'd be okay.

There's also the worry that she'll lose her digital hearing aid while she's away. Because she's careless like that.

Small herself has been very worried about going because a) she's anxious about anything new, and b) she's hasn't been well and her ears hurt all the time, and she's nervous about being ill away from Mum, and not being able to sleep, and just about anything else you could name. She's a worrier. I've topped up her phone, though, so she's got credit and can phone at any time.

And then there's other kinds of worries that you always have when someone else is caring for your child. Like...Efa has had a couple of nasty accidents in her dad's care over the years. When she was three she sat next to the gas fire in his flat without a fire guard, and her nightdress caught fire. She was in hospital a long time with severe burns after that. And when she was five she caught her foot in his bicycle chain and had to have plastic surgery. Both genuine accidents, but still worrying. She's accident-prone, and he's a bit slapdash - a lovely chap, but maybe not the most careful person in the world.

But the kids are all a lot older now, so they should be fine. They'll have a wonderful time. And my Mum gets to have a much-needed break, after having Small home for two and a half weeks solid between halfterm, snow, doctor's and hospital appointments and earache. And I get another weekend off because someone else has got her for a couple of days - haven't had her for a few weeks now, so she'll probably harrass to come next weekend instead. We shall see.

In other news, I'm spending the day baking and cleaning the flat, feeling all motivated about spring cleaning, for some unknown reason. This can't possibly last, so I should make the most of the mood while it's upon me!

growing up

The baby is growing up fast. Small has gone off to spend the weekend at a hotel in West Wales with a couple of friends from school (and a parent, of course). It's Efa's birthday, and this is her dad's half of the celebration - taking her and a couple of friends away for a night in a hotel by the beach. Saundersfoot, I think. Everyone has been very anxious about this since Small was invited. Why? Lots of reasons.

We're worried about Small herself, and how she'll behave and how Efa's dad will cope with her. She can be extremely challenging, no question about that, between the hearing loss and the language disorder and the semantic-pragmatic thing, she misunderstands what people are saying to her all the time and gets herself into a dreadful state way too often. Plus, she hasn't really been well for a few weeks now. Her ears have been really bad - the fluid in them has built right up and hardened, so she has constant earache and isn't sleeping well because she's in pain all the time. So, add pain and overtiredness to the above factors and she could be a nightmare for Dad Efa to deal with. He's a pretty laid-back chap, though, and seemed confident that they'd be okay.

There's also the worry that she'll lose her digital hearing aid while she's away. Because she's careless like that.

Small herself has been very worried about going because a) she's anxious about anything new, and b) she's hasn't been well and her ears hurt all the time, and she's nervous about being ill away from Mum, and not being able to sleep, and just about anything else you could name. She's a worrier. I've topped up her phone, though, so she's got credit and can phone at any time.

And then there's other kinds of worries that you always have when someone else is caring for your child. Like...Efa has had a couple of nasty accidents in her dad's care over the years. When she was three she sat next to the gas fire in his flat without a fire guard, and her nightdress caught fire. She was in hospital a long time with severe burns after that. And when she was five she caught her foot in his bicycle chain and had to have plastic surgery. Both genuine accidents, but still worrying. She's accident-prone, and he's a bit slapdash - a lovely chap, but maybe not the most careful person in the world.

But the kids are all a lot older now, so they should be fine. They'll have a wonderful time. And my Mum gets to have a much-needed break, after having Small home for two and a half weeks solid between halfterm, snow, doctor's and hospital appointments and earache. And I get another weekend off because someone else has got her for a couple of days - haven't had her for a few weeks now, so she'll probably harrass to come next weekend instead. We shall see.

In other news, I'm spending the day baking and cleaning the flat, feeling all motivated about spring cleaning, for some unknown reason. This can't possibly last, so I should make the most of the mood while it's upon me!