Changes

Big change
This is my first week as a non working person and it's great. I feel as though a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders and all this fuzzy stress noise has been taken out of my brain. I am still doing a few things for my EX work place but I get paid a daily rate and do it when it suits me.

I did have a few panicked moments late last week when I looked at our bank statements and thought how will we manage without my salary (not that it was that great but it was something!!). I think I am worried about the financial side of things because I feel that a lot of the care that we have been able to find for Tom since leaving hospital has been privately funded. His second ear..his speech therapy...his physio... Then I think about the long term and put things into perspective. Friends, family and the meningitis trust have been and continue to be very generous and help us fund 'Tom's recovery', so actually having more time with him is much more important right now. I think he loves the new pace of life. The big things I have noticed are that I have time to enjoy being with him and to turn his speech and physio therapy into games. Last night Tom started feeding me imaginary Green Eggs and Ham. It was so funny- he kept putting imaginary spiders in them. I also had time to get him to help me put things in cupboards which is part of his physio - reaching up at different heights and in different directions. Last week our time together was so rushed that I didn't have time to make a game out of tidying up or pretend eating.

We have some other big changed coming up -
Tom will start nursery in January. He has got a place at the local preschool attached to the school. It'll be two and half hours every morning which I'm sure he'll love. He has been going to a childminder since he was 11 months old but it's different in that he was often the only child there and it's in her home. It feels like a big step as he'll be completely mainstreamed. The school have made some adaptations for him in terms of putting in a door and carpeting an area to reduce noise. We are going on a couple of pre-visits with him and also going to a training session with our teacher of the deaf. I think it's a bit daunting for her because she usually does the training without the parents being there but we feel it's important that we input into it. We haven't really worked out what we'll say yet...any advice greatly appreciated but we are thinking in terms of practical issues such as how to put his hat on without his "ears" falling off.

***since originally posting this I have decided not to 'publicise' one of our changes so have deleted part of my post. Apologies to those of you who have commented on this 'event' as I have also had to delete your comments. Thanks for commenting though :) ***

Right I actually have a few hours to myself now...what to do?