A lot to say today!
The report from the speech and language therapist arrived in the post this morning - she did go to see Kai at school, on the 17th (typically, he didn't mention it...) Basically the report bears out everything we've noticed/thought: Kai's described as a 'pleasant and quietly-spoken child with a mature turn of phrase' (in the clinic-situation); that he 's aware of the problems he has communicating with his peers but takes some responsibility for it; and that he has difficulty understanding indirect questions - that was borne out by the school visit too - which we've known for ages and tend not to use when speaking to him. Hn. Maybe that was a mistake - perhaps we should start, get him used to them.
The report mentions Kai's difficulty joining in with others and liking his own way all the time, though I think that has improved a lot recently, and that we discussed the possibility of Asperger's Syndrome. The therapist feels, as we do, that while he has some social communication difficulties they're not sufficient to merit that diagnosis - at least at this stage. We've been offered (and accepted) a place on the Social Skills Group course, 10-12 every morning all next week, where he'll be observed interacting with other (unfamiliar) children in a variety of games and role-play, so we'll see how that goes!
Since this means a trip into town to the Children's Hospital evey day, we'll take a packed lunch, stay in town, and do other things afterwards. I've never been to the Red Lodge, though Kai has, with Ken, and loved it, so we'll go there one day. The Museum and Art Gallery is close too - I can go drool over the display of Japanese ceramics while Kai explores the dinosaur exhibition. Though there's a 'Groovy Greeks' event there on Wednesday, we should try to catch that. Then there's Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill (though whether I feel like climbing the tower is another matter, steep stone spiral staircase with worn and slippery edges and positively claustrophobic...) Then there's the Georgian House, also nearby and somewhere else I've never been... I'm sure the Harbour Festival is on sometime soon, too. There are times when it's nice living in a city with such a rich and well-preserved history!
And next Friday Carol arrives for a week's visit! Really looking forwards to that. We're hoping to go to Westonbirt Arboretum again, there's another designers exhibition this year. Berkely Castle is another possibility: I've been there, many years ago, and really enjoyed the visit. They had a wonderful walk-through butterfly house, I remember...
I'd love to go back to Brean Down too: if Kai doesn't enjoy the fort (and the archaeology: there's the remains of a Romano-Celtic temple there - not impressive but the feeling of antiquity is quite strong) there's a tropical bird garden in the nearby seaside town. And of course there's the Bristol Balloon Fiesta - we're hoping to make it to the nightglow this time!
Ye gods, and that's just the first two weeks of his holiday!
And of course I'm hoping to get plenty of drawing done while Carol's here - very inspirational, my GoodTwin!
Ken and Kai are at the Museum at the moment, reporting in their Big Dig finds if I've understood them correctly, and taking rather longer than Ken had anticipated: might be looking round the place after talking with the curators, Kai wanted to and can be very persuasive when he wants (and I do mean persuasive, he's never been prone to tantrums to get his own way. For other things, yes, occasionally, but never that...)
[clipped from onna's tree]Kai is absolutely ADORABLE in those cool shades! Do I dare say, that with that impish grin and sparkling eyes he reminds me a bit of Mr. H. Potter.
[wince] Thanks - I know what you mean, and I think it's very cute, but I won't mention it to him: he was being teased by an older boy at school about looking like HP - boy kept calling him Potter - and it upset him a bit. I couldn't work out quite why it upset him, he likes HP, it wasn't a case of bullying, and it seems to have eased off now, but he's still a bit sensitive about it...
We have a bit of a problem at the moment - had a letter this morning advising us that our gas supplier, Amerada, has just been bought out by Powergen - yes, the nuclear fuel people. Not at ALL happy. Our electricity supplier is unit[e], who only use renewable energy sources - a bit more expensive than the other companies but worth it to know we're not adding to global problems. But at the moment there's no equivalent gas supplier (not sure there ever will be, given the nature of the fuel). We use gas for cooking and heating; we could switch to an electric cooker, I suppose (we really need to get another soon, ours came with the house and was 16 years old even then - it's almost an antique now!), but they're so slow: I like the speed and controllability of gas. But we couldn't afford to change to electricity for our heating/hot water, would mean a lot of work on the house itself... We're going to have to try to find the least offensive option, I think, and reconsider options later...
Oh, and I forgot to mention - MST3K the Movie was abysmally bad... Completely unfunny. We've taped over it. Such a pity, given how hysterically funny the series was...
Lutra's Second Chance pt 2 is now finished and ready to code/upload to the Darkside: will get that done shortly, and make a start on my follow-up to it (I do so enjoy torturing Jackson) - and while I'm in that mode I may have another stab at finishing Slash. But right now I have to take another look at F04 - did well last night, but not finished yet...
[also clipped from onna's tree]
The muses have temporarily deserted me, not good. Maybe they might be tired too. Or both are visiting Joules! Smell anything bad in the garden lately, Joules?
ROFL! No, no Grunt here. I don't use muses for writing. Might have had one when I was a lot younger, but if you write for a living you can't afford the luxury.
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 3:44 pm
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