Holiday Book

We've booked our first family holiday for September of this year and I'm so very excited about it! It's Bee's gift for her 5th birthday and we're off to Peppa Pig World in Hampshire! It's in the New Forest, right down near the south coast and we're staying at Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park. 

We're only planning one day at Peppa Pig World (unless Bee really loves it) and have 4 other days to fill with fun and adventure. We're thinking maybe a car ferry over to the Isle of Wight or a visit to Beaulieu Motor Museum in honour of Bee's obsession with buses and trains, exploring the New Forest, maybe an animal park or farm, the seaside... there's going to be lots to do.

Since booking I've been worrying about how Bee would cope with the holiday. How do you explain to a 4-year-old with learning difficulties that you're staying away from home for a few days in a big box on legs? Or that for a few days she'll have to cope with a complete change to her normal routines? Bee always copes best with change when she's had some preparation so I decided to tell her about the holiday early. Of course the unforeseen problem with this has been balancing preparing Bee with her complete lack of understanding about things happening in the future. She's very excited about Peppa Pig World and asks me most mornings if we're going. Thankfully when I say "not today" the worst I get is a few whys? before she moves on!

To help with the preparation I thought some pictures would help so I emailed Hoburne Bashley and asked for a brochure that we could sit and look through together. Unfortunately when it arrived there were not many 'useable' pictures, just lots of information. I cut out the few I could use and got searching on Google images for generic pictures I could use to complement the few I had.

There was a lot of information I wanted to include about our holiday so there were two pages about where we would be staying, a page for Peppa Pig World, a couple of pages for activities we might do and a page for out trip on the way home.

Bee has loved sitting and sharing the book and I've found it a really helpful tool for talking about our holiday together.

Celebrations

Well it's been an interesting month or so. I turned 30 at the end of May and spent a busy week with family. My uncle has a birthday a few days before mine and we had a lovely day with Bee, my mum, auntie and uncle at my grandparents house, enjoying a joint celebration with lots of presents and munching on two lots of cake! 

For my birthday I'd chosen to spend the day in one of my favourite places: Wales. I'd wanted to visit Llanberis for a long time and even though it's a long drive my birthday was the best opportunity.

Sadly the morning of my birthday was overcast and rainy but we packed the car up anyway, making sure we had lots of warm jumpers and coats. It's about a 2-hour drive to Llanberis so we set of early, grabbing a McDonalds breakfast on the way. Yummy!

LLanberis is beautiful. It's a small village at the foot of Mount Snowdon, within the incredible Snowdonia National Park. It's the site of the famous Welsh slate mines, both the abandoned and still working. Slate quarrying is very wasteful, only approximately 10% of the slate is used and the rest is discarded.
So much of the landscape is shaped by the huge rock faces of the quarries and mountainous piles of waste slate.

An interesting historical note (I'm fond of those) is that the two lakes running along side the quarries were once significantly bigger but were infilled by thousands of tons of slate and the newly-created land built on. 

  One of the reasons I'd chose Llanberis, aside from my love of that part of Wales, was because there's a lovely steam train that runs along one of the lakes and a ruined castle to explore: perfect for Bee.

She got very excited once she saw the train arriving and couldn't wait to board. We had lots of fun playing with the old-fashioned window before setting off!



The journey took us along the two-mile stretch of Llyn (lake) Padarn then back along the same route once the engine had turned. We watched the steam from the funnel fly past our window, listened to the chugging sounds, counted the boats and the lake and took lots and lots of pictures. Even Bee wanted to help!

After the train journey we took a walk into Llanberis village for some dinner, we were all getting hungry. We'd promised Bee something nice and she kept repeating "nye eat ow" - nice eat out. She can get a little impatient and doesn't always understand that when you say something is happening it doesn't mean it's happening immediately!

We ate at a local hotel and during the wait for our food Bee had a mad 10-minutes. She just charged round the space (thankfully there were no other diners) jumping and hiding, screeching and playing with the toys we'd brought. Of course, her hypotonia brings her back down eventually and her little body can't keep up with her enthusiasm. Of course once food arrived (sausage and chips in Bee's case) she was up and back at the table in a flash. With ice cream to follow it was a big winner!


The rest of our visit we spent exploring Dolbadarn Castle, beautifully located on a rise between the two lakes, giving fantastic views. thankfully by this point the low-hanging mist and grey skies had disappeared and all we had was sun!

Part of the path up to Dolbadarn Castle involved crossing a stream with a sheep gate. Bee was very proud that she navigated it all by herself! She continued this all the way to the summit of the rise, without once asking to be carried. Every steep, uneven and rock-strewn section of the path she managed with aplomb, needing only the smallest amount of hand-holding to get through it. I think it was the ice cream that fortified her!

There isn't much left of Dolbadarn Castle, just an empty circular tower with steps spiraling up around the outer wall and the crumbling remains of walls that once formed part of the whole castle. It left plenty of open space for Bee to play chase and catch with her Peppa Pig ball although she wasn't impressed by all the sheep!

By the time we'd explored around the castle it was getting late and Bee getting tired. I knew with a 2-hour+ drive ahead of us it was time to leave. We'd drove the A55 expressway for speed on the morning but on the way home I wanted to drive the longer route through the Snowdonia National Park. I couldn't be that close to that beautiful place without seeing some of it. And it was totally worth the extra 30 minutes or so on our drive home!

I really enjoyed my 30th birthday, it had been everything I wanted: spending time with my beautiful little family in the most beautiful place on earth.

Cute Factor

I have nothing of interest to report today, I just had to share some cuteness from over the last few days.

In our town center shopping mall there a two very special rides that Bee loves to have a turn on each time we shop. She calls them her "Pi Pi rye". A couple of days ago we nipped into town to collect Foz from work and couldn't pass one of the rides without having a turn!

(Please excuse the pyjamas, she had a poorly tummy!)

Happy squealing and screeching is something Bee does a lot when she's excited, she also does lots of flapping with her arms! She's a very demonstrative child!

Bee's grandparents bought her a lovely gift this week, a Disney Brave doll. Bee is convinced the doll is her as they have the same hair so she calls her "me doll". I think her gift went down well...

Winner!

Our visit also coincided with my auntie's birthday and we'd bought her a cake. After the 'happy birthday' singing and while my auntie posed for a photograph I just captured my Bee deciding she didn't want to wait for her share any longer...

 

She'd taken herself into the kitchen, got a bowl and spoon out of the drawers and coming running in saying "me eat up!" Cheeky princess!!

Party Time!

Yesterday Bee attended her first birthday party. She doesn't have many friends. Her complete lack of social skills mean she doesn't make any of her own and I don't have many friends with small children that we can socialize with. It was a joint party for four different children, one of which is Bee's little cousin Ryan and I'd been worrying a lot about it. It would be busy, with lots of strange people we'd never met and not to mention noisy. I was worried about the very real possibility of Bee spending the entire party crying on my knee, overwhelmed by it all. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened in busy, unfamiliar situations.

I'd spent two days talking about the party and trying to answer her many "why" questions about birthdays and parties. We'd also watched the 'birthday' episode of Something Special many times, talking about what was happening and how she would get to do similar at Ryan's party. I was just hopeful it would all help.

On Saturday morning we dressed in our finery, Bee was very excited about her party dress and spent much time wandering around the living room pointing at herself and sticking her tummy out. Not so much fun was the hair brushing, but that never is, stupid curls!

The party was at a local function room and was due to have a DJ, entertainer, the works and when we arrived it was in full swing: loud music and a dance floor full of running, jumping, shouting, dancing, chasing, screaming kids and a DJ orchestrating in the middle of it all. 

We found Foz's sister, Ryan and Fox's parents at a table towards the back (relief) and joined them. Bee, although quiet, seemed quite interested in the children on the dance floor and I asked if she wanted to go and do some dancing but "no" was the fairly firm answer, I didn't push her. I persevered though and asked every few minutes until eventually something changed and she suddenly decided that dancing sounded like the most fun thing ever! She was all squealing and flappy arms! Bee took my hand and led me to the dance floor but I couldn't get her to move beyond the fringe. I crouched down next to her, took her hands and tried to initiate some groovy moves but all she wanted to do was sit and my knee and watch. Which was fine and lasted a few minutes before we were back at our table. This to-ing and fro-ing went on for a while, each trip to the dance floor lasting a little longer than the last. But it wasn't until the DJ brought out lots of large modelling balloons that Bee really forgot herself and went in for the kill.

 

Bee really loves balloons and we had a lovely session of squealing and scrunchy face as she waved them all around, greatly amused at their different to normal balloons.

And look: we made a hat!

The DJ set up lots of games using the balloons: who can stick them to the ceiling, who can make the best model etc etc. Bee doesn't understand enough to join in so we moved back to our table as the party took a more games-based turn.

The buffet opened and Bee was the only child that made a bee-line (ahem) for the platter with raw carrot and cucumber sticks, which she thoroughly enjoyed and followed with more toddler-like behaviour: a plate of cakes! Her dietician would be thrilled!

I can make a hat too Mama!

After food it was back to the dance floor for pass-the-parcel. Bee has never played before but was thrilled by the sight of the DJ holding a present. The kids were split into two groups, boys and girls, and we duly took out place with the girls. Bee was one of the youngest there and sat on my knee to play, partly due to her confidence and partly because she still needs a lot of support and direction to join in. I briefly tried to explain what was going to happen but the music started and we were off. The parcel came to Bee and she eagerly grabbed it, pulling at the paper. I had to swiftly pass it to the next child, which Bee looked a little perturbed about but she took it in her stride. As the parcel made it's way around the circle again I kept telling her that we had to pass it along until the music stopped but this time when it reached her she tried to hold on a little longer. I guided her hands across to the next little girl and she reluctantly let go.

"Let go Bee"         -         "Why?"

As the game went along the parcel kept bypassing Bee and each time it did she gripped a little harder and complained a little louder until finally there was a winner and Bee hadn't had a turn. I tried to explain the game was finished and the tears started. In retrospect pass-the-parcel must seem the cruelest game in the world: you show a child a present, let them hold it then take it away for another child to have. Torture. Ah well, it's all experience and to see her joining in with the other children and not hiding at the back was wonderful.

After her pass-the-parcel meltdown her tiredness started to show through, she was happy just to sit by the side of the dance floor and play with a burst balloon, despite my attempts to get her interested in joining in.

The party came to an end soon after and it was time to leave. Overall it had been a very successful adventure and Bee was thrilled to be given a party bag as we left. The three hours we'd spent there had been plenty enough for her, any longer and I think she would have descended into tired tears and tantrums.

Home again and it was party bag time! There was cake, some sweeties (which mama had to eat), some bubbles and a pink bouncy ball. Winner! All that was left to do was enjoy a quiet couple of hours with cake, a cuppa for mama and some Mr Tumble before it was time to pick daddy up from work.

Our first party had gone more successfully than I could have hoped and, although they always reinforce for me just how delayed Bee's development is, each time we do something like this I see the small steps of progress Bee is making with her social skills and confidence issues. I'm so proud of her.

Partay!

Three has come around so quickly, it almost hit us by surprise. Practically overnight our baby girl has turned into a bright, happy, cheeky, demanding, crafty and tantrum-throwing toddler. Her understanding, speech and mobility is improving all the time and we're confident that it won't be much longer before she's catching her peers.

 
We wanted to spend Bee's birthday doing something she would love, which meant soft play, soft play and more soft play! We chose a sensory play centre about 40 minutes away from us. The pictures on the website looked really good and (as we wanted to take advantage of the last of this summer's sunshine) we planned a picnic in a nearby park for afterwards. So with my mum, brother in tow we set out to meet Clare & Isla.

Photo courtesy of http://www.dfosterphotography.com/index.html

Unfortunately the soft play we'd chosen wasn't as good as the website suggested and it was a long way to go for something that we could have done on our doorstep but our girls had a great time anyway. 

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimbulate

 After an exhausting play session (for the adults!) and a slight detour (thanks sat nav!) we went for dinner at a local park. Thankfully the sun was shining and we found a nice shady place under a tree and by a lake. We munched on sandwiches, crisps, cakes and chocolate.... with some token apple slices and grapes thrown in.

Photo courtesy of http://www.dfosterphotography.com/index.html

 

 

 


 
Each year we have promised ourselves that the next birthday Bee will be able to have some of her own birthday cake. And this year we were finally able to keep that promise! On her third birthday Bee had her first slice of birthday cake!

And it went down very well!

Especially the icing! I think my girl has a sweet tooth!

Isla was also very impressed with her slice of cake and even had a good go at helping Bee with hers. Then they both had a go at each other's soggy leftovers. Lovely!

 

 We finished the afternoon with a walk through the park, Bee on her walker and Isla with Bee's new baby pram. Both girls are doing so well with their mobility. At one stage I could never have imagined walking through a park with my girl walking next to me.

To see her now, so independent and confident, makes me marvel at her strength of character. She inspires me every single day.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Bee's 3rd birthday. It's such a cliche to say that time flies but it really does.

Three years ago today, at 5:12pm, I was being delivered of a tiny bundle that would change our life. Bee had a difficult start: SCBU, feeding problems, breathing problems and even when we got her home she was still in and out of hospital with illness. She missed milestones and we despaired, confused doctors with her undiagnosed problems and still managed to melt everyone she met with her constant smile, curly hair and big brown eyes.

Two years ago today we were throwing a big party in honour of that first difficult year coming to a close. We had answers and medical interventions and life was finally becoming slightly easier. Bee couldn't sit unaided, much less toddle about like others her age but she still tackled every challenge thrown at her with aplomb.

One year ago tomorrow Bee was crawling, making sounds that sounded suspiciously like the beginnings of words and understanding more and more of what was going on around her.

Now, as she's turning 3, Bee has a vocabulary of over 30 words, is flying on her walker and has impeccable manners. She charms everyone she meets and grows in confidence every single day. We still have challenges with feeding and some sensory issues but after her severe developmental delay the fact that she's almost caught up with others her age just blows me away.

Today we spent a lovely day at a soft play centre then a picnic in the park in the glorious sunshine. Bee's Grandma and Uncle Chris came along, as did our lovely friends Clare & Isla. We've had lots of family around to visit and Bee has been spoilt with cards and gifts so thank you to everyone for your thoughtfulness.

Happy 3rd birthday Bethany May.

We love you all the world xx