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Can’t believe where the time has gone!
The Friday didn’t get much better, in fact it was probably worse, since I wrote the last entry, but the good news is that last week and so far this week things have been going great!
Caroline, one of my closest friends, was out first volunteer who joined Henry in the playroom – thank you Caz, you were fantastic! Henry really enjoyed it with Caz and they did 45 minutes in their first session and then last Tuesday they did nearly 2 hours together and today they did the full 2 hours!
Henry responded really well to having Caz with him and was more than happy for me to leave. Caz did so well in the room with him getting him to interact with her and talk and look at her for the most of the sessions. When he did go ‘exclusive’ Caz was happy to join him, she was also able to deal with him when he got a bit stressed when he was trying to communicate what he wanted. Today there was a lovely interaction that really showed how comfortable Henry is with her. It involved Henry saying a phrase and then running to her for tickles and cuddles and kisses. He was looking straight into her eyes when he said ‘Want some more sausages’(!!) and the game was simply down to Caz giving him her attention which was so lovely. She has even had 2 kisses when she said good-bye and that has never happened before!
Yesterday Henry was joined in the room by Jo. Jo saw our article in the Birmingham Mail and used to volunteer on a Son-Rise program for another little boy in Sutton who was actually the subject of the BBC documentary ‘I want my little boy back’, so we feel really lucky to have her on board with her past experiences and she’s really lovely too! Henry took to her really well and again let me leave even though he had only met her once before. Jo was lovely with him too and was really easy with him and gave him lots of chances to make decision and lots of time to respond which was lovely – a learning point for me!! Jo got lots of language from him and eye contact too which was fantastic for their first meeting!
Me and Henry have had some great sessions too. Our telephone consultation with Carolina in America last Wednesday has really helped me to understand, appreciate and respect his repetitive ‘isms’ and to tone down the amount I talk! Henry now has a chance to speak, which is great! (Warwick’s still waiting!!). Henrys counting is really coming on and he is now getting some concept of ‘how many?’ and he knows flower, circles and squares. He is really starting to speak spontaneously and since I’ve been giving him a chance he has really said so many things, and answers so many questions himself. He really has been a joy since the last time I wrote.
The diet is slightly, slightly better. The stand off did result in him eating gluten free sausages and he will now eat bananas every now and then, but with toast and apples that is about it! But it is early days and when we get more help on this hopefully we can make greater strides. He is now doing about 6 hours a day and is absolutely shattered, as are we, but also happy how it is going and excited about Nicky joining Henry next week! Good luck Nicky, I’m sure he will love playing with you! x
Penny x
