Day 11 - Spoons, Golden Tickets, and Smiles for all!

Today is a Good Day. To the extent that I can't come up with one happy thing.

I am laying on clean, fresh, bedding after having an amazing hot shower that I have been looking forward to for days.  I have had a non-stop day but still feel like I have spoons to spare.   I don't remember the last time I had that feeling.

I'm listening to a man playing happily with his friends,  even if it's not where he wanted to be.

My biggest baby turned 11, got accepted to Hogwarts (although B being B focused on the head teacher and Minister of Magic being wrong as it is based on book one....), and is absolutely delighted with her laptop.   Scraping together the funds was totally worth it.

Gran spent her energy setting up a present opening session and has agreed to host birthday tea on Sunday. 

I have amazing friends - Shoo and Janet both helped with Strawb during hospital appointment and then extra time after which meant I could work a couple of hours too.

The Dude finally got a Golden Ticket.   School have behaviour levels.   Level One is low level git.  Level Two is moving into proper git territory.  Level Three is proper little shite.  Dude generally hovers around the level one mark.  He's not a necessarily "naughty" child in the traditional sense,  but he's definitely a handful at times, he tends not to start fights but is happy to finish them,  he won't mess about as much in class but will just refuse to work etc...  To get the Golden Ticket which provides a treat (I think this is the third half term they've been running now), you can't have hit level two,  or been consistently level one.   It is a way to actually reward those who are no trouble so end up being overlooked (like B), and an incentive to the others.   FINALLY Dude managed to be a low level git little enough during the half term to get a ticket!   He is absolutely delighted especially as we all assumed he'd not get one.   Praise be to short half terms so less time there to behave in!

That, plus he handled B getting the laptop really well,  has made me incredibly proud and happy today.

Finally.... New co-op opened by Furball.  It's shiny and big and new and made me smile so deserves a place on the list.   However pathetic that may be.  So there.

Day 6 - I'm nearly a week in?!??!?!

Ok, so they are only short entries most of the time, but they matter.  This is doing what I hoped it would, and making me reflect back on the day in a positive way.

I am about to go and curl up in bed because I walked for a while today and my legs feel like they will fall off.  My house is a state, dishes need doing, clothes overflowing everywhere... before that was making me feel like an absolute failure.  Now, I'm not happy with it by any means, but I don't see it as my life falling apart.  It's a glitch.

Today has been another day with many highlights, Auntie Suzie is home for B's birthday visit, so we have had a fun day playing with the children and just general family time.

The Happy Moment officially though is Dude and rugby.

Season is over, and today was awards day when they all get little trophies and certificates.  What they also get though is a few sentences said about them.  I was half expecting the generic "Todd improved this year" type thing, but it wasn't.  They were a few sentences said by people who genuinely cared enough to pay attention to each individual child.

My boy's "bit" started off by saying that this trophy was going to The Lumberjack, and then his name was called.  He is apparently known for always trying to take down the biggest tree on the opposing team, and they have high hopes for him when he is actually allowed to tackle next season.  

The Lumberjack

Rugby has been a hard slog at times.  He's struggled to bond with the team members who have been there since birth (well, pretty much), he's had weeks where he has shut down and refused to play, but through the wind and rain, he's powered through and achieved so much.  Seeing his face as he heard how he was being described made me realise that it has given him all I hoped it was, and that it will only improve next season.

The Dude

Gonna write a bit about my baby boy now.

One of my favourite photos of him

He has always been diddy.  Actually, I lie, he was fairly standard sized until about 6 months old when he decided to give up on growing.  Now, he is a solid little thing of pure muscle, but still only coming up to his best friend's shoulder (to be fair, Jamie is tall, but still...).

This was his first birthday... he was small enough to fit in a standard sized gift bag

He is the first of the children to have been bitten by the radioactive spider.  We had to put two stair gates on the bedroom door to stop him escaping and he would still climb over the top.

Looking at the date this was added to Facebook - he was about 24 months old

My little dude, when the others would settle to some sort of rock, if we flicked through music channels when he was crying, he would calm to Boyzone.  He was always this little bouncy, flamboyant thing with a love of glitter, and nail varnish, and musicals.  He would sit in the back of the car getting all excited when "his" part of HSM Status Quo would come on ("Coat and tie!") at about Strawb's age.  He would squabble with Trin over having the pink cutlery.

Then, he started school and became A Boy.

He no longer liked girls.  He no longer liked sparkles.  He was too boyish for HSM and just wanted Ben 10 and Bakugan.

He does love Dr Who though so he channelled his need to dress up into that instead, and went through a phase of wanting to wear bow ties lots.

This last 6 months though, MY Dude seems to be suddenly coming back.  It started with "Can I have nail varnish on my toes too please...?  Black or blue though!!" (when he was about 2 he first painted his toe nails with my red nail varnish, and loved them).  It then moved on to "Can I have some of my glitter powder too?" (they each have their own pot of "frimples").  Then a couple of weeks ago he made a request to watch HSM2 and was bouncing round the lounge to it.

Last weekend, B was painting her and Strawb's toenails, and he now sports silver toenails. 

Today was my biggest moment though of feeling like I have my little boy back, not what school and growing up turned him into... We went to the park with Grumps, and he came over to where I was making Strawb daisy caterpillars and asked me if I would make him a daisy chain to go on his hair.

He did however make me promise not to put the photo on Facebook.  This obviously isn't Facebook. ;)

Then he sat himself down with Grumps and told him that he likes to watch football but he never gets to (damn having a mum who isn't into sports, and a dad who is only into rugby).  It was really nice seeing them there together.

I love my little boy to bits in all forms, but seeing the old him emerging out of the cookie cutter BOY is amazing.  I hope he can keep hold to himself as much as possible.