A mum a son and 2 crazy dogs

So, he did it, Boris has grounded us all as a few just can’t do as they’re told! Hopefully this will work and we can all get back to some kind of normality, until then I get to work from home, I’m so pleased, I’m normally a receptionist part time but as there is lots of behind the scenes stuff to do for the business I’m going to be doing that, financially it’s a big help, I was preparing to lose that income which like many would have made things difficult, I’m lucky my work are super flexible, I know it’s a luxury not everyone has, I searched for ages for a job I could work around L and just as I was giving up it came along, literally handed to me on a plate! I went through the hell of sorting benefits and then a Pandemic hits, obviously, why wouldn’t it! Now to learn to how to get a days work done while parenting, any tips?!

L is officially 12, he has been up since 3am so we’re both going to hit a wall at some point today! He loved his presents and giftlink on goHenry was perfect. The desk went together really well, no injuries, no swearing and no breakages, I just had the tricky task of getting it upstairs fully built this morning, I’m not tall or strong but I’m persistent and I managed it and L is enjoying his little office set up, perfect timing for all this home education we’re having to do, I’ve had the list of suggestions from school today, I can’t say I’m excited to try these but we will give it a go.

We have left the house twice today, once to go to Tesco, it was amazingly well stocked and people were being good with keeping distances, L spent some birthday money and chose an M&M cake, and once for our daily exercise, a dog walk around the marina,its so sunny and again people were being sensible, the dogs however still want to drag me over to all other dogs to play, they can’t have got the memo! L was in a mood, he hates walking so I always try to keep him occupied, he took his camera today and as soon as we were on our way the battery died (along with a piece of my sanity) and so he moaned and moaned all the way around, cheered up instantly when we got home though. Just my new headache to get rid of!

The phone was ringing as we walked in, it was school checking in to see how we’re managing which was lovely, it’s nice to know I can still contact them if we struggle. L went off to his bubble to play ps4 games with his cousin so I chilled out with a cuppa and some rich tea biccies and got dinner on, Spaghetti Bolognese, obviously it has to be some form of pasta! Afterwards we did our first ever Group FaceTime, how lucky are we that even when we’re on lockdown we can still see our family and friends! We sang L happy Birthday and once he had his cake he was off with a quick “bye” shouted to the family members who were on the phone, luckily they all know and love L and his unsociable blunt ways!

So another day done, a very long one considering the ungodly hour L decided he absolutely couldn’t get back to sleep, but a good one considering the current state of things!

It’s the first Monday with no school, I’ve seen lots of parents doing great things with homeschooling and although I’m aware I have to do what L can manage I still feel pressured to ensure the skills he’s learnt don’t disappear, so how much is too much?

L doesn’t learn by using worksheets and he also hates me trying to teach him anything so we are learning through doing, we baked a cake today, I say a cake but as you will see in the picture it was incredibly flat! Tasted good though so can’t complain. L had to read the ingredients, measure them out and then he disappeared to cuddle the dogs while I mixed, he hates the noise of the mixer and refused ear defenders. Once it was in the oven I thought I’d see what else I could get out of him and gave him the option of writing a short story or reading me a few pages of a book, he had agreed to these things on Friday, he refused, in the end he finished off 2 sentences about cake. It wasn’t a complete failure as he didn’t get to leave till it was done but showed me I have to be more cunning in how I set these things up.

It’s L’s 12th birthday tomorrow, he’s been looking forward to it for so long and I will make sure he has a nice day but how rubbish is it that he won’t see anyone?! My mum and I decided we will celebrate properly with him once this is over but it’s not the same. I have his presents and cake and his goHenry has a gift link so family and friends who wants to send him money can do it that way with a birthday message to him, he won’t feel like he’s missed out, we will FaceTime and do our best to enjoy the day. Beforehand I have to figure out how to put a flat pack desk together without him seeing, I was planning to do it while he was at school tomorrow, obviously that’s not happening now and as he’s off school he’s refusing to even consider going to bed before 10pm so looks like I will be in flat pack hell at gone 10 tonight! Wish me luck, I will need it!

I wonder how many of us have been cleaning constantly? Today I’ve done my new daily routine of cleaning all switches and handles and putting fresh towels out, bedding has also been done as well as bathrooms and floors and all the kitchen surfaces along with a zillion loads of washing. Are we all going to come out of this unable to relax about cleaning? Not a terrible thing, having a clean tidy home is always good but will we always see danger everywhere? I hope there is a happy medium and I hope there is an end to this, and soon.

Social distancing doesn’t really seem to be working, there are kids out playing, people in shops giving no room or consideration to anyone else and still I hear the comments of its all rubbish, it’s not, whole countries don’t come to stand still over rubbish. Since picking L up on Thursday we have been to the pharmacy to collect his prescription and walked the dogs, that’s it, as we have had no other reason to go anywhere. It’s the sensible decent choice to make. Why are there so many who can’t see that by not taking this seriously we are more likely to go into full lockdown? And that this is going to go on for far longer.

Please people, take this seriously, you might not get ill but it’s the people you have contact with that could, and I know I’d feel terrible if choices I made caused anyone else illness or worse, death, that’s how serious it is, save lives stay home, it’s not a difficult thing to do.

The very flat cake …….

I won’t try to sugar coat it, this sucks, I miss my mum, she’s 3 miles away, a distance I can cover in 10 minutes but she may as well be on another planet at the moment. I’m really close to my mum, we talk every day and see each other multiple times a week, she taught me to cook, a skill I’m so grateful for right now, she taught me that mums are warriors that always show up and always protect their kids no matter how old they may be, she’s the reason I’m the mum I am to L.

Even from her other planet she’s still got my back, in a chat about how yesterday didn’t exactly go well with L and how I want him to spend more time downstairs she suggested a cafe menu and to have the table set up, he loved it, and because of my mum we’ve started the day off in the right way, together.

I’ve had a chat with my Nan on the phone, she’s finding this so hard, she hates being stuck in generally so to be stuck in and not allowed visitors is really tough for her so I’m calling and checking in a lot more. L had a quick chat with her too but he gets uncomfortable on the phone, she knows that and just enjoys hearing his voice.

I really hope people start taking this more seriously, the longer people don’t practice social distancing the longer people like my Nan are stuck home alone, we’re all losing time with our elders we will never get back and for every person who thinks it’s ok to let the kids go their mates house or that a get together at your friends now the pubs are shut is ok, we lose that bit more.

So our plans for today, obviously nothing to crazy, we will walk the dogs so they don’t end up being complete lunatics all day, and then we’re going to attempt to bake something yummy. I’m going to clean the house, again, and if I’m very very lucky I might get to watch a film with L.

I hope every mum has something that makes them smile today, we don’t need gifts and cards, a smile from our kids, a phone call, or a bit of time spent doing something you enjoy together is the best gift.

After publishing this my parents rang to say at the door was the dog food I couldn’t get hold of so the dogs are ok for a bit and a 5 pack of creme eggs! They know me so well! Thankyou to my amazing parents!!!

You always hear about these random acts of kindness, but in this current situation faced by so many will we become more kind and generous or less?

I put a post up on Facebook asking if anyone was selling a pasta machine so I could make my son his pasta and within minutes my neighbour was at the door with pasta, I had 5 more offers of pasta from people in my community, it meant so much that people would give away something that’s so difficult to find at the moment, most for someone they’ve never met.

In a funny turn of events my neighbour who gave me pasta put a post up asking if anyone had weights, oddly I had some that were to big for me so knocked round and gave him those, I like that we were able to help each other. I’ve seen so many nice things on social media, paintings in windows, green/red card in windows so your neighbours know if you need help, offers of help in picking up shopping and medications for those that can’t, letters from children to care homes that can’t currently have visitors, this is all over the country, people trying to do nice things, to keep morale up and help each other.

On the other side of this people are panicking, and panic buying, and it’s going to cripple us if they don’t stop! Our emergency workers can’t buy food as it’s gone when they get to the shops, parents can’t get their poorly children medication, trolleys full of shopping are emptied into cars and then they go back for more, when will it sink in that this is doing more harm than good? While ensuring you have enough of what you need is sensible and perhaps getting more store cupboard stuff than usual is ok, I’m left wondering, where are they storing it all? Are they going to have to throw away the fresh food that they didn’t actually need? Surely at some point the stock Pilers will have enough and stop shopping leaving enough on the shelves for the elderly, the nhs staff, the teachers, the supermarket workers that they have abused?!?!

On that note, is it just me? I would never be so rude as to have a go at people doing their job in this kind of situation! They are at a higher risk of being infected, they are faced with hoards of people, long shifts and shortages, and inevitably people screaming at them when they have to say “no love, you cant buy 15 packs of loo roll and as for the paracetamol its always been the rule you can only buy 2 packs at a time so the 25 you have there is just not happening no matter how loud you scream because it’s illegal”

It’s a miracle the shops actually still have staff! I guess I struggle to see how the human race can be so kind and giving on one hand and so selfish and mean on the other, I prefer to be kind, I may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that’s not a problem I like my space which is a bonus right now,

I wonder how many people have experienced generosity compared to greed in the last week? Who can come out of this the other side and say I helped someone, I made someone smile in the darkest of days and who will walk away with the knowledge that their actions were shameful?! We’re still in the early days of this pandemic, we need to slow down and remember the shops aren’t closing! To those who are spreading generosity and promoting help and kindness thank you! Keep going, you’re amazing!

Hi, I’m a single autism mum living in England with my 11 soon to be 12 year old son, L, he is officially off school for the foreseeable due to the Coronavirus. L has Autism and is at THAT age, hormones are rife and he has no idea what mood he’s in from minute to minute so it’s gonna be tough and I’m gonna have to be firm and have schedules and plans and not hide in the bathroom with tea! My amazing Mum gave me the idea to do this blog as I need some kind of outlet to stop me losing my sanity.

Like most of us I’m in a bit of a panic on the inside, how will I cope, what can I do to keep L occupied so he doesn’t spend potentially 6 months on his PS4 and become a zombie, one who eats me out of house and home in a time where panic buyers leave little food for anyone else! May I add, he only eats pasta, I mean really, pasta, it’s like gold dust, and he isn’t one of those kids you can feed anything else, he will starve himself until he’s presented with pasta.

So today we spent the morning walking the dogs, L rode his bike while I got dragged along by G, our Cockerpoo, and M, our Labrador, they apparently need to chase their favourite human when he’s on his bike and me being on the other end of the lead’s means nothing to them! After lunch I had a little lesson set up, I had the ingredients and measures set up to make pasta from scratch, L had to read it, figure out what he needed and get it all in the mixing bowl, he did a great job but he thought the TA’s were a bit hairy and not very helpful! By the end of it we had pasta, we were both pretty stunned it worked and I’ve just cooked it and the feedback was great, he loved it, I’m so pleased.

Now I’m sat here trying to get the motivation to cook my dinner, I have to cook twice as after all these years of cooking him pasta sauce I can’t stand the sight of it let alone eat it! Thankfully there are leftovers in the fridge I can make bubble and squeak with. So that’s day 1 so far, we will chill out tonight and have a “normal” weekend (without the joy of cinemas, meals out or any kind of social interaction) and I’ve set out next weeks lesson plans, I use the term loosely, so we don’t just drift along. To think a month ago if anyone told me the situation we would be in now I would have laughed at them! Hopefully we can get out of this as soon as possible and return to normalcy, in the meantime I will try to teach L something everyday, I will have days where I succeed and days where I fail but I will always try and I will be here, present, for him and maybe make some memories we will both treasure

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton