Monday 3 March 2014

life in miniature

Example Doll's House Walking Stick
My daughter's current obsessions are:
  • Mr Men books (particularly Messrs Grumble and Forgetful)
  • On-going Kermit obsession (YAY!)
  • Doll’s houses

Particularly my wife's old doll's house, which they are spending a lot of time fixing up (with Granny). The amount which you can spend on Doll's house bric-a-brac is frankly astonishing. But the best place to get new stuff is our local Sue Ryder shop – so that’s something good.

One of her last purchases was a family and some bits and bobs of furniture, which included a hat stand with umbrella and walking stick.

Evie spent a fair amount of time at the weekend trying to get the 'Daddy' of the family (surprisingly effeminate, actually) to hold the stick.

That was a bit of a lump-in-the-throat moment, but on reflection I think it's pretty cool. She's very matter-of-fact about getting my stick for me before we walk anywhere, and I think she has a healthy awareness of the NORMALCY of DIFFERENCE, if you follow me.

Her favourite TV show is the brilliant Something Special, which is a lovely show for kids with learning difficulties. They also sign a lot using Makaton on the show, something we find ourselves doing too!

(NB Justin is worryingly ubiquitous as far as kids TV is concerned but Something Special buys him a lot of grace)

She's also matter-of-fact about the fantastic presenter Cerrie Burnell – I still can't believe that some parents complained about her when she started presenting, rather than using her to educate their kids that not everyone is the same.

Gah – people.

I had my annual appraisal at work last week. We never discuss my health in anything but the most rambling and discursive manner – so when I got the notes back, I took offence to the section which said Steve "had a good year physically and although feels tired at times manages this well".

I know, he means well. But it really has nothing to do with my work over the last 12 months. I asked him if he gets tired.

He removed the offending line from my notes.

As an aside, Evie also accepts that Daddy's legs sometimes "get tired". But she’s not yet three years old.

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HOUSE news – ours will be on the market by the end of this week. There has been much STUFF happening with the neighbours but I'm aware that I don’t want to endlessly bang on about it all the time. I might try to do a compendium of recent activity. Or I might wait until we move. Who knows?

Tomorrow is my annual MS MOT with the neuro team and MS Nurses at the Queen's Medical Centre – should be fun (and/or physically / mentally draining).

6 comments:

  1. That *is* sweet about the Daddy doll and the cane (sorry he was a bit effeminate, though...).

    I, for one, would enjoy a Compendium of Recent Annoying Activity. It's cheering, somehow, to know there are other people who are annoyed by other people. (Hmmm, not my best sentence, but you know what I mean.)

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  2. no problem - the CRAA will be coming soon!

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  3. I had my annual MOT at QMC last week. It was only when I was driving home that I remembered that perhaps I should have stayed to see Maxine or one of the other wonderful MS Nurses. A bit late to worry about it then, as I definitely wasn't coming back. Still, say hi to her for me. I sent her (and them) a postcard from the Great Barrier Reef, which I think bought me some goodwill from them. Maxine always remembers anyway.

    The session with the neurologist was as uninspiring as ever, although I should be glad that we rarely have anything to talk about. My wife, grumpy and in pain from her wisdom tooth surgery a couple of days before, did blurt out to the consultant that I had mood swings. The consultant wrote it down, but I was furious. Not only is it not true, but why the hell is the first place she decides to bring that up in the room with a consultant holding my medical notes? They hold that shit against you for years. My mood swung then, let me tell you!

    Grr.

    Good luck.

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  4. i know my wife has accused me of mood swings in the past - probably in a similar situation. and probably on account of my mood swings.

    go easy on your wife - what you see as a puckish sense of fun followed by a righteous and understandable losing of temper might come across as a bit... mood-swingy?

    and if you do have mood swings, that's surely to be expected, yeah? we're all adjusting to the different track that our life has taken - and we have good days and bad days. i feel positively bi-polar most of the time!

    i had a course of CBT a while back and it's a daily struggle to remind myself to take the positive things i learnt forwards. but i know that when i do i feel better and so do the people around me.

    (as an aside, my wife is a bit over-sensitive - which doesn't excuse me from being an arse, but can explain her reaction to my... arsiness)

    all this is said with love so please don't take offence!

    i didn't see Maxine yesterday but it was... interesting!!! new post coming later today.

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  5. you're so reasonable, dammit!

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  6. That sound you can hear is my wife ROFLMAOing at the idea that I'm in anyway "reasonable"!

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