Had a lovely day

We’ve spent the afternoon down at my Dad and his wife Helen’s house. They live down at Rye. As it was mine and my sister’s birthdays this week and Helen’s a few weeks before we went down there for a birthday lunch. Off we set this morning with Minka the Wonderdog, all the kids in good moods for a nice change. I was all set up for Beth, I went loaded with dvds and the trusty DSi, always good to entertain.

We had a lovely afternoon. As usual Helen put on a fabulous spread, the kids ate well and behaved themselves for the most part.Deb and Neil were there (my sister and her husband) as well as some family friends came down who we haven’t seen for over a year – Pat and David. It had been Pat’s birthday a few weeks ago too. They are like my aunt and uncle. David annd Dad are best friends and Pat and my Mum were best friends until she died when I was 13. They’re wonderful people and I couldn’t ask for a better aunt and uncle, they’ve always been there for me. It’s nice to see them with Beth, as we don’t see them often they are more likely to see any differences, good or bad.

The most obvious thing about Beth is how tall she’s gotten. She’s in size 12 ladies clothes and size 9 ladies shoes and she’s only 12! Lots of the time she was playing on her DSi but stopped to have a spa with Bill and Bridie. Our darling Minka decided to have a spa too by jumping in when we first got there! Beth kept trying to get her back in. They had an absolute ball in the spa, we didn’t even have to sit with them as we have done in the past. Bill and Bridie have a love hate relationship, they play so well together but fight well together if you know what I mean. When they’re in a good mood, especially when we’re out they are fabulous together. Today they played games in the spa that included Beth too and it’s lovely to watch the three of them interacting with each other. No games, no dvds, no computers, just three kids enjoying each other’s company.

When it was time to go I could hear Beth at the dinner table loudly saying “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, it was an accident,” and David laughing out loud. She’d gotten the salt grinder and probably (as I’d caught her doing it before) tried to grind it straight into her mouth. She’s good at covering her own arse by trying to make it look like she didn’t mean it!

We had a lovely day and it was great to catch up with everybody.

I’ll leave you with a little Beth funny. I’ve heard before how kids with autism don’t get sarcasm well and here is a prime example. Our upstairs toilet is my ensuite and ther kids go through my room to use it. While writing this Beth went charging in to the toilet and as she often does, forgot to shut the door. She plonked herself down so I called out “Thanks for sharing!” Beth’s response? “Your welcome!”