Friday 11 May 2012

Puppy Trial Run....

We have two furry visitors here at the moment. Mum's schipoo puppies Lolly and Poppy are here for the weekend whilst she and Rob are away visiting family. The girls have been ecstatic since their arrival last night and the puppies have been incredibly well behaved too!




Most excitingly this is a bit of a trial run for us as we are planning our own furry friend in September. We must be utterly cracked to think about this seriously but we have done all the research we can do. We are looking into puppy prep classes so the girls will be prepared properly. And we are hopefully going to do a course with PAWS so that the dog can be a companion for Phoebe to help her deal with anxieties (give her a focus) when we are out and about. With that in mind we bought Phoebe the RSPCA How to look after a dog book and she is has been reading it voraciously since then. We are going for something a little bigger than these pups and are looking at Cockapoos. I am ridiculously excited and might already be planning names!

Tuesday 8 May 2012

9-10 Months....

9 to 10 sodding months. Before we even have the initial appt for CAHMS to assess Phoebe. The referral co-ordinator was meant to be calling me back, I am still waiting a week later. It is so unbelievably depressing. All I want is a few answers and for a pro to give me their opinion of Phoebe so I am not blindly flailing with her and constantly on damage control.

I am lucky that I have a very supportive school for her and they are constantly coming up with ways for helping her cope. She is able to take herself off to the time out table any time she wants if she is getting "whizzy" and they have her ear defenders so she can put them on when things get too much. They are as confident as I am of what the problem is. But with her moving her into Yr 2 soon and the lessons being much more rigid I worry she won't cope so well. Especially as now the girls are getting older socialisation starts to become much more key and I worry she will start to stand out as an oddity where she doesn't blend with other 6yr old girls.

The ear defenders are a bloody revelation. The improvement is instantly visible when she puts them on. They were an utter God send in the Natural History Museum trip we took with school last Weds. She only needed them in short bursts but the difference they made was amazing. She was instantly calmer and more able to focus on the task at hand. On the trains she was less shouty and twitchy whilst wearing them too. Amusingly she has also started wearing them in tap class as all the tapping gets to her but she does love to dance! To be fair dance class is an hour and 15 mins for her, 45 mins of ballet a quick break with a snack and then 30 mins of tap so by the time tap comes up she is tired and distinctly more whizzy! I really must go and buy a few more pairs so she can have one set at school all the time, one in her dance bag, one in my handbag etc etc. Also massive not-red ones would be good, a little more subtle perhaps!