Category: Parenting

Here’s to Gin & Friendships and Psyching myself up for the holidays!

It’s midday on a Sunday and I’m still sat on the sofa in my summer PJs. After having a very much needed day out drinking Gin and eating platters of meats and cheeses with my two oldest school friends, I’m now sat thinking about the stretch of the six weeks holidays in front of me!

Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!

I’m buggered whatever I do here. If I have a plan all written down, Ellie will go on and on about it, decide it will be rubbish and drive me crazy and if I don’t tell her she will go on and on about and decide we’re not doing anything and it’s going to be the worst holiday ever…driving me crazy 😜!! Continue reading “Here’s to Gin & Friendships and Psyching myself up for the holidays!”

Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!

So, lets get back to the story.  If I’m honest, most of the summer of 2008 was a bit of a blur.  We had returned from Florida, which went ok considering how poorly Ellie had been in the previous months.

There’d been doctors appointments (but that’s for another blog). We’d also decided that we wanted to try for another baby.  I remember this news shocking my mum as she felt that now wasn’t the best time to be thinking about trying for another child with everything that was going on with Ellie.   Why would we want to risk having another autistic child? What if Ellie didn’t get better?  I knew that’s what she was thinking. Continue reading “Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!”

Mixed Emotions for Little Mix! How we nearly didn’t go to the concert!

Back in May, we surprised the kids with tickets to Little Mix as part of their birthday present (they’re both May babies!).  They were both very excited and for the last few months I’ve heard nothing but how excited they (Ellie) was for the concert.

Fast forward to the night before (Thursday). Ellie had a huge meltdown about how she was going to look rubbish, how she would “look like the donkey” (what!??), how she was going to have her hair – up/down/curly – and which ever way I suggested, it was still going to look rubbish! Continue reading “Mixed Emotions for Little Mix! How we nearly didn’t go to the concert!”

Sports days, exam results and being proud of the progress

So, the end of the school year is nearly here!  To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the holidays.  I love the fact that there’s no routine, no lunches to prepare, no uniforms to get ready and no PE kits to hunt down!  On the other hand, there is the anxiety of what we are doing for the six week stretch (and that’s just me!).  If I give out a programme of activities to Ellie, I won’t hear the end of it as each situation is super analysed and questions (the same ones) asked over and over again. If I keep information under wraps, there are meltdowns that we aren’t doing anything this summer and its going to be rubbish! We actually had one of these on Sunday with two whole weeks to go! Joy! Continue reading “Sports days, exam results and being proud of the progress”

Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!

So, we had already seen a bit of an improvement in Ellie’s symptoms from changing her diet, but we needed to know exactly what was bothering her.   I personally had suffered with episodes of tummy pain in the past (we’re talking 2001 here) and it got sorted out with a practice called Kinesiology.

Kinesi-what?!  It’s one of those ‘alternative therapies’ that you need to have an open mind about. We weren’t even sure if it could be done with two year old… but, it turns out you can!

We visited a practitioner who lived not too far away who saw myself, my Mum and Ellie. Now, this next bit may sound a little mumbo-jumbo to some of you, and to be honest, we weren’t really sure of it ourselves, but we gave it a go.

This is what happened…. Continue reading “Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!”

The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?

img_4064The A Word…

I remember clearly – it was Boxing Day 2007 and Ellie, who was normally such a happy and sociable toddler was very upset by the visitors we had that day.  She looked terrible – her eyes had black circles around them, she looked pale and her nose was constantly running.  Over the following days, Ellie seemed to go even further downhill. Simple instructions such as “put your coat on” was met with moans and groans and hand flapping.  Ellie stopped looking at my Nan and my mum, she became very quiet and speech was replaced with groans. Continue reading “The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?”

The start of our Autism Journey…

Welcome to what I hope will be the first of many posts, talking about the ups and downs on living with a ‘Tween’ with Aspergers. From past experiences to future hopes and dreams… it’s all here!

Welcome to ‘Tales of a Mother’s Daughter’.

What is this all about?

This blog is primarily about the ups and downs of living with a ‘Tween’ on the Autistic Spectrum.  My wonderful, funny, kind, challenging, anxious daughter is now 12 years old and on the brink of teenage years – god help me!.

From tales and tips, humour and hilarity (hopefully) and moans and groans, I’ll be waffling on about all sorts! From special wheat/dairy free diets and alternative therapies to hormones, teenage strops (and strategies to get you through it) and anything and everything in between! Continue reading “The start of our Autism Journey…”