Catch Up

My first ever train ticket

Friday - the weather was revolting and we realised that the cheap fares were still on on the Settle and Carlisle railway, with two trainspotting boys what else were we going to do?  This time, however, we decided to be different, and headed to Leeds.  We found ourselves a really lovely Japanese restaurant for lunch where we pigged out big time, I found a big haberdashery (something I struggle with here is finding a good range of ribbons for my cakes) and there is a Lego shop in the shopping mall.  Not sure if you have visited a Lego shop recently but they are ace.  We discovered at Mum and Dad's that Tom likes making crazy vehicles, but we don't have any wheels, other than those that have come with kits.  At the back of a Lego shop are buckets and buckets of different Lego bits (including wheels) and some pots to fill (much like a pick and mix).  So out we got a pot and filled it to the top with wheels, flat boards (to form the base of vehicles), and lots of other interesting bits and pieces.  I'm not sure who was more excited - Tom, Matt or myself.  We certainly had fun and Tom will now be able to make his crazy vehicles.

At the falls

Saturday, another dull and dreary day with rain on the way.  We were humming and harring on what to do for the day when I suddenly remembered that we had promised ourselves a trip to the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham.  Matt then remembered that Aysgarth Falls were on the way so a plan was hatched and we packed up and piled in the car.

First stop was Aysgarth Falls - part of the National Park so it only cost to park the car.  We went for a little stroll as it wasn't raining and managed to do a decent walk viewing the high, middle and lower falls.  All along the way there were notice boards telling us not to attempt to cross to the other side.  We couldn't understand why as the water was roaring over the bedrock, however, when we got back to the visitor centre, we realised that the falls were at their absolute limit and normally they are at a dribble compared to what we saw.

Aysgarth Falls in good flow

Anyway, we were lucky in that the rain held off for the walk - we all enjoyed being outside for a while.  Had a good look around the shop - for some reason Yorkshire Dales NP shops sell a really good line of clothing - hoodies / waterproofs etc, I have a feeling that we will all have YDNP branded clothing soon.

We then headed to Masham and the Black Sheep Brewery and very lovely it was too.  They had a huge restaurant full of character and homemade food.  Tom plumped for pasta with vegetables which was really good - huge chunks of aubergine / courgette etc - tasted really good and he ate every morsel.  We were really proud because he could have gone for sausage and chips, fish and chips (all the usuals) but he plumped for the healthy option and obviously enjoyed it.  We then looked round the shop before heading back in the rain home.  Tom had a good sleep in the car home which was exactly what we / he needed after such a busy week.

Playing with Fred in the rain

Sunday was another horrible day.  We had a lazy morning and then headed over to the Atkinson's for the afternoon.  Tom hasn't spent much time with anyone his age this week - so we thought he would enjoy an afternoon with Fred.  He had a ball.  I took his 'boil in the bag' rain suit with us.  During a break in the rain they all went out riding their bikes, then the rain came down, but Fred and Tom didn't care and stayed outside playing getting absolutely drenched.  They were being proper boys and it was great.  They eventually came in, had a quick tea and then we headed back home so Tom could finish his thank you cards ready for school in the morning.

Thursday - Tom had his hospital visit for his hearing.  I was really impressed by the service, we got there 15 minutes early and they saw us 10 minutes early.  We had a consultation, then Tom had his hearing test: he put on some headphones, held a button and had to press it every time he heard a sound.  He did well at first, but I think he was just playing with it towards the end.  Luckily the operator had a camera on him and was able to see that he had lost interest and was fiddling!  He then had a pressure test on his ears and then we went in to see the consultant again.  He has 2 x glue ears, and a loss of between 30% to 40%, large adenoids and large tonsils.  The Dr was very surprised that he hasn't had more infections / illness.  His recommendation was for either hearing aids or grommets and maybe adenoids out as well.  He will need a general anaesthetic for the grommets / adenoids which is a worry.  They have given us a month to think about it - we should expect a letter shortly.  I took him to school and saw Mrs Pickard who is going to make sure he sits at the front for everything. He's not the first in his class to be diagnosed, Fred was diagnosed the same a week earlier and a girl in his class is going through the motions as well.  I guess it must be quite common.

Saturday it was raining again.  Tom has been invited to a swimming party later this month and he has a reputation of being quite clingy in the swimming pool when with me.  He's fine during lessons (although not yet swimming) but terrible with me.  Caroline invited me and Tom swimming with her and the boys at Whoop Hall where they are members of the gym.  It was a complete disaster, Tom spent pretty much the whole time crying and clinging to me.  Clinging so hard that he was basically strangling me.  Anyone would think that he had never touched water before and it was burning him.  I really don't understand what goes on in his head.  It took about 40 minutes for him to stop strangling me and just hold my hands with a woggle and then after an hour he finally wanted to jump in and swim with the woggle not attached to me.  Too late, but then Frank (who's only 2) was cold and it was time to get out and leave.  So then we had more tears.  I then asked him to have a shower - more tears, once I got him under the shower, I asked him to come out - more tears!  It didn't matter what I did or asked him, we got tears.  Even Caroline, who always sticks up for him said she thought the swimming party wouldn't be the best idea for him.  I got home completely drained.  We had lunch at home (we couldn't exactly go out as that would have shown him reward) and then headed to Kirkby Lonsdale to pick some bits up for the weekend.  When we got back we told Tom he was going for a nap.  He agreed - he knew he had done wrong.  After 30 minutes of playing around, he finally went to sleep and stayed asleep for over 2 hours - he must have been tired. This was great because we had booked tickets for the Ingleton Panto in the evening.  We had been told that it was generally good and worth watching.  After our visit to the Blackpool Panto, I thought it was worth a try.  We had got the last seats right at the back, but we were sat next to a lovely lady who arranged for 2 of us to swap with her more grown up children so we ended up in the third row - a great result.  Tom was enthralled by it all and only a little bit fidgety, he especially liked the song and dance numbers.  He even went up on the stage when they called for children which was very surprising (however, his friend Edward was sat in front of him and as soon as he moved, Tom shot up with him) He certainly was very happy and still going strong at 10pm when we got home - certainly a good thing that he had his long nap.

PS - I took him to his swimming lesson on Monday and it was if he was a different boy.  Happily jumping in by himself, laughing, dancing, chatting.  At one point the teacher dragged him under water for half a width and he surfaced laughing.  I could have strangled him!!!!!!

My Tea Party Cake

Isabella sipping her 'tea'

Sunday, Tom had been invited to Isabella's 4th birthday party.  We had offered to help so at 11 we found ourselves in Austwick putting up bunting and sorting out vintage crockery - she was having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party - I had made the cake to match.  For once Tom looked and acted old.  Most of the children were from the year below Tom and the development / maturity gap was noticeable.  Rachael and Graham (Isabella's parents) were in charge and doing all the games.  Wow!  They worked hard, I would have lost my rag many many times.  Matt and I realised just how easy we had it by employing Paul for Tom's birthday and Matt made me promise to always employ someone and to NEVER do it ourselves.  I was in complete agreement.  Anyhow, I think everyone had fun and the tea party was a very sweet idea.  The cake went down well, I got lots of really nice comments about the cake so you never know I might get something from it.

Playing games

Spoon and grape race

Tom being....Tom!

On the way up

The view from Ingleborough summit

On Monday morning I got a quick call from Kate before school asking if I wanted to go for a walk with her and Steph.  It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day and I don't have much work on this week so I jumped at the chance.  When I mentioned it to Matt he wanted to come too.  Kate picked us up after school drop off and we headed up the Hawes road.  It was meant to be a short one hour's walk - a circuit near Ingleborough, but as we walked round we hit one of the official routes up.  As it was still lovely we decided to head up and what a beautiful day to do it.  Blue sky and not a breath of air.  I was expecting the climb to be really tough, but I took it at my pace and got up much quicker than I expected.  After resting at the top we headed down to Ingleton.  I actually found this harder trying not to fall over whilst stumbling down.  We finished off with a visit to Inglesport for greasy spoon lunch. A fantastic morning.  My legs ached like hell on Tuesday - I guess I need to do it more often!