Slugs and Snails Tales

So spent the evening cleaning and tidying the house…..tidy house, tidy mind is how I roll. Go to bed happy 🙂

Early hours of the morning I hear Bam surface from his pit. The familiar sound of him stumbling down his mid sleeper cabin bed stairs, into the bathroom (for you know what) and then the dragging of his duvet down the stairs.

It’s so early I don’t always hear him but this morning I did and I sighed knowing he would be snuggled up watching TV when I finally decided to move.

So when I do get up and head downstairs I find the lounge in utter chaos. I mean stuff absolutely everywhere. I’m sure he had emptied the contents of the playroom into the lounge – cars, lego, drawing, crayons. How did he manage to make soooooo much mess. To top it off I walked into the kitchen to find he had helped himself to his breakfast. Clearly the floor was hungry too – rice pops everywhere.

So it would be fair to say I was a little bit cross, just a little bit…..so I might have every so slightly expressed my crossness! To be fair he did hear me out…

And then just very calmly says ‘Mum, why are you like the negative end of a battery’

I’ll never know where he gets his sayings from but I love them and they always make me smile – even though my mantra of ‘tidy house, tidy mind’ may need to change….

Among the usual breakfast mayhem, Bam suddenly just stops in his tracks! Unfortunately he was having a vacant seizure. Then Mops pipes up ‘Was that a seizure Bam’ To which Bam went ‘yes’. Yes, the word seizure unfortunately is a normal word in our house so much so our 4 year just casually asks his brother if he’s experiencing a seizure.

It then prompted me to think ‘what would Mops do if his brother had a seizure and I wasn’t in the immediate vicinity’ So I thought I would ask the question. To which his response was ‘I would rescue him’  Ah, what a lovely response but how on earth would a four year old rescue his bigger brother! Again I asked the question, the response……wait for it….I’d call Mum? No, not the answer he gave. I’d run to get help, again not the answer he gave. The answer was ‘I’d get my rescue helicopter!’ Of course why didn’t I think of that! Love the way children can can make you roar with laughter even when the topic of conversation is something so serious. Love them 🙂

Hubby is away on business, I wake to the sound of both of my children playing happily. Bliss…….then I hear water running, hmmm, not so blissful. So I shout from my bed ‘boys, what are you doing?’ ‘Don’t worry Mum, we’re sorting it’ Ah, that’s ok then, they’re sorting it…..(currently becoming slightly more awake) ‘sorting what exactly’ ‘It’s alright Mum’ OK so they are both talking to me, clearly nobody is hurt, do I really need to tear myself away from my oh so very comfortable bed?

Water is still running…..right, NEED TO MOVE….ok, I’m up and switching into Mummy mode. ‘Right boys, what’s going on?’ ‘Umm, we’ve been playing with pens – we’ve drawn on each other and then put another colour on top to see what colours we can make?!’ Quite the little scientists! Unfortunately they had used non washable pens and were now therefore covered in green/brown. My smallest child exclaiming that blue and yellow make green, well at least they had learnt something from their little experiment.

So, I soak their hands in warm water, a bit of soap, pens picked up from the floor and we go downstairs for breakfast. So aside from the normal, madness of breakfast it went quite smoothly this morning – cheerios in both bowls, apple juice in cups. Mops grabs his cheerios and heads into the dining room, only to be knocked by Bam, who had decided it’s a good idea to run around the house. Cheerios everywhere – luckily Mops doesn’t have milk! Both boys then instructed to please clear up the cheerios and put them in the bin.

Right, so I get my breakfast into a bowl to hear the sound of giggling coming from the lounge. What are the monkeys up to now. I grab my bowl and head to the lounge to find Bam using his car launcher (you know the ones that launch cars around a plastic track) to launch cheerios all over the lounge. Ok, so by this time, I might be getting a little fed up…come on it’s not even a reasonable hour yet. So, plastic car launcher gets picked up and put outside….children told to sit at the table and eat, I’m clearing up cheerios off the floor.

Breakfast finally done, now for brushing teeth. Off goes Bam – Mops held back on purpose because they find it impossible to brush their teeth at the same time without some kind of drama. 5 minutes later Mops and I head up the stairs – has Bam brushed his teeth? Of course not, he’s been busy….busy brushing his rubber lizard’s teeth. Great so I have a rubber lizard with shiny bright teeth and two boys with breakfast breath….. Please tell me it’s nearly time for school? Oh no it’s not even 8am yet….

OK, so I guess from title you’re thinking ‘of course she’s going to say that, she’s his Mum’ So let me give you an insight into why my boy is so ‘Marvelous’

He has this amazing personality – kind, loving, friendly and this really deep voice. Way too deep for his age, people have asked me if he has a sore throat when he’s talking normally 🙂 So he’s gorgeous all the way through. He makes me proud every day. What I really want to share with you today is how he deals with his brother. Bam has ADHD, Mop’s has never known any different and therefore has an amazing way with his brother.

So typically with speaking to a person with ADHD, you have to repeat yourself a few times before you get a response! Mop’s knows how to get a response – he simply walks up to his brother, right there in his face and says ‘Bam, would you like a drink’ Simple really, so why do I waste endless hours calling from the kitchen?!?

He’s constantly showing his love for his brother. Only a few weeks ago Bam was getting frustrated because he couldn’t get his top off. He was really upset. Mop’s just strokes his arm and tells him everything is going to be ok. How does he know that by touching him he’ll get this attention and calm him down. He’s really marvelous and an extremely loving chap. While I spend hours thinking about the best way to get Bam’s attention, Mops has it nailed!

There’s never a dull moment with Bam in the house! He’s like that character ‘Taz’ – you know the Tasmanian devil character that spins around really fast leaving a trail of destruction in his path. Bam enters a room and manages to turn it upside down in seconds, it really is quite amazing to watch! In fact his nickname Bam Bam stems from his resemblance as a baby to the lively baby in the Flintstones.

Bam has Corticol Dysplasia, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Poland Syndrome and epilepsy. (Yes, I always make sure I have a cuppa when completing his medical or permission forms for school etc)

Every day he amazes me! He is the most inspiring young man that I have ever had the pleasure to meet and I’m so proud of him.

I’m going to share with you one of the reasons why this little man is so special and even though it was over 3 years ago I still well up with tears just thinking about it…….

Bam started having seizures in year R. He would fall to the floor about 6 times a day as well as having several vacant seizures a day. During this time he still got up and went to school every day, sometimes with very little sleep. He didn’t complain he just got on with it. Having several seizures a day meant he wasn’t able to focus on learning and was very tired, consequently he spent quite a lot of time sleeping in the book corner. We spent several months trying to find the right medication and dose of medication that would control his seizures – thankfully we eventually found one that controlled his seizures. The seizure control gave him the freedom to reinvigorate his thirst for learning. And boy did he learn! He really embraced it, he had extra help at school, we read every single day at home, he worked his little socks off! His sheer determination and enthusiasm meant that by the end of year one he was back to where he needed to be for his age.

Amazing huh? Well I did introduce him as the ‘Amazing Bam’

This weekend we celebrated Mops 4th birthday! Oh to be 4 again, jumping up and down with excitement as a pack of hot wheels cars is opened! When asked what’s been the best part of your birthday he answers ‘the party bags!’ Of course, there’s nothing more exciting than a party bag when you are 4, is there?

Children’s birthdays are always a time for Mums to reminisce. I always think about their birth as I’m sure lots of Mums do and tell them little stories of day they were born. Mops’s birth was long, very long and ended in an emergency c-section. The thing that most stands out for me was the moment when they pulled him out of my tummy (c-section) and said ‘wow, he’s going to be a 10lb baby’ and yes, he was nearly that, 9lb 8 1/2 oz.

So as he moves into his 5th year I watch with wonder as he grows into a handsome, loving, funny, laid back chap. Happy birthday baby boy, hopefully this year won’t be as quick as the last one but somehow I have a feeling that it’ll be gone in the blink of an eye! xxx