January 10th 2018

Ok so the title of this blog is a little misleading as it is mainly about 2016 and 2017 (that still doesn't look right when I type it) but bear with me.  On January 10th 2016 Square Peg Foundation took a wild step into the unknown and launched our mobile sensory room.  Until then we had been Square Peg Clothing (which still exists don't worry) selling T-shirts and Hoodies with a need to do good. That is where the sensory room came in.

Christmas Passed

So Christmas happened! All in all it was a roaring success in the Square Peg household. Considering I've been at our Sensory Santa sessions for three Saturdays in December, our Christmas party on the 20th and had Logan's birthday on the 21st it came together quite quickly.

The Christmas party was great fun and doubled up as Logan's birthday party (cheap Mummy!) His actual 5th birthday went off fantastically too.

Christmas must have!

Logan wants a lot for Christmas, not surprising as his birthday is 4 days before so his wish-lists always tent to combine into one.  Transformers, a Lego train and a Paw Patrol teddy (pillow pal) are on his list.  This morning he added a "Bubble Bee from Transformers dressing up costume" as his best friend George has one.  I do wonder how much he will play with said toys as he tends to only ever want to play on the iPad or watch TV to my utter frustration.  Sporadically I will walk in and see him playing with a toy, fully engrossed, making up a little story and my heart sings.  It's not very often however.  Most of the time I have a chorus of "what can I watch" on repeat as I try and hold off on the screen time for as long as I can.

What a weekend!

On Saturday 3rd December we ran Square Peg Foundation's first Sensory Santa session. I was nervous. I'm always nervous, I always see 101 things that could go wrong...and I'm a perfectionist, if everything isn't just right...well I strop. My mission was magic and nothing short of that would do! Fairy lights were strewn around the building we were using (then I panic about health and safety,) Santa's beard was changed three times to ensure a "realistic" look and the contents of our goody bags were constantly added to so that nobody was disappointed.

Christmas at Wyevale - Review

We were lucky enough to receive free tickets to visit Wyevale Garden Centre in Shenstone and have Breakfast with Father Christmas.

I've never done this before with my two Bella 6 and Logan almost 5. Both have autism and rarely react to situations as you might expect.  Logan was very excited to get up and out early for breakfast on Saturday morning.  The website said it started at 8.30am but when we arrived it was still closed.  Logan didn't mind, he inspected the vegetables outside and told me that there was fruit inside the hut (he visits the soft play inside with his dad sometimes.)

Christmas is coming

There's no hiding now it's December tomorrow, the trees are already popping up in windows on our road, the shops look like the elves have gone to town and the "good food" is in the shops.

 For some though Christmas can be really stressful. Logan's teacher noted in his recent parents evening that he was showing his first signs (since settling in to main-stream reception) of discomfort with all the routine changes that Christmas brings. Rehearsals for school performances when you should be doing phonics can cause real confusion, especially for a child.

12 Days of SEN Christmas

Just a bit of nearly Christmas fun!

The 12 Days of a SEN Christmas