It’s been a while since my last post, they’ve been pretty sparse this year altogether you may have noticed. Taking a break from my blog was a conscious decision I made for the sake on my own sanity. My family had to be my sole focus, the children, Joe’s health, my own health and what with juggling work on top of it, I didn’t have the time nor energy to write. I had also to consider whether Sonny’s severe distress was something that, in the future, he would be comfortable me sharing so publicly. Sonny was in crisis from September through to June this year. He wasn’t coping in his mainstream school and for many reasons, that I won’t go in to now but those who follow us closely might already know, I was preparing to home educate him.
We then had a family break away in June and it did us all the world of good. My intention was to take that time to rethink whether keeping Sonny in mainstream school was the right thing to do. Sonny thoroughly enjoyed a week spent by the coast with his brothers and when he returned to school afterwards, everything slowly began to improve. Sonny, with help of his new 1:1, was better able to self regulate his emotions and communicate his needs. He began spending more time with his class and less time in the ‘Den.’ I decided to give his mainstream another chance.
The summer break from school took Sonny from strength to strength. We did a lot of work with him to help improve his social skills and manage his emotions, lots of time spent with friends and family and exploring the outdoors. Joe was very poorly over the summer holidays but it gave us quality time together for the weeks after he came out of hospital. You find ways to be grateful whichever hand of cards you’re dealt with. The Sonny of mine that went back to school in September for Year 2, really seemed settled and quite a bit matured.
Fast forward to now, Sonny has only had one or two blips, he’s spending the majority of the school day with his class, he’s joining in with the Christmas Play rehearsals, he’s excelling in his work and is eager to do more, but most importantly he’s happy to go to school and he’s happy when he comes home. Sonny has been on a 1pm finish since November last year, as he is coping so well with school he has now started doing full days on a Monday. I know now to soak in and cherish these moments, because it only takes something to change for the boat to rock and for Sonny to loose momentum.
There’s something even better about how amazingly Sonny has done this year, it’s something I wrote a blog on two years ago. Sonny struggling with daily life meant he wasn’t in a right frame of mind to could cope with the annual Christmas school panto trip. And so, Sonny has missed the last two pantomimes.
Well this year Sonny IS GOING TO THE PANTOMIME!
Tomorrow (Friday) he will be joining his class on the coach and his entire school at the local theatre to see Snow White. Sonny will be with his 1:1 and armed with ear defenders. This being his first ever pantomime trip, I can’t even offer them any words of advice. I’ve taken Sonny to the cinema a few times but the last time he wanted out after 15 minutes and so I left Joe and the others in there to enjoy the rest of the film and took Sonny into the nearby soft play. The helicopter mum in me had thought perhaps I should stay local to the theatre just incase but on this occasion I have every faith that Sonny will have be perfectly okay.
I hope all three of my boys have an amazing time tomorrow. Gosh it feels good to say that. All I’ve ever wanted is for all of my children to enjoy school and life together like any other family.
I’ll be sure to update!
You can follow us more closely via our Facebook and Instagram pages to find out how Sonny got on.
