Hasn’t time flown?
Until now, I hadn’t realised that when Isobel reached her third birthday last weekend, it also marked the second year of the blog. Of course I’d started it much earlier – September 2008, to be specific – but without an incentive, I didn’t have a clue how to maintain it.
Until Isobel’s diagnosis, naturally, although it took me two weeks to actually publish that post. That I should choose to release it on her first birthday is a reflection of how much it was still consuming me at that time.
Back then I had no idea how Isobel’s future looked. We didn’t even know what type of CP she had. Indeed only time could eventually – and very gently – remind me that she was also diagnosed with GDD, but so consumed was I by her diagnosis of CP that I neglected to take in the rest of the information as well.
Last weekend was a fabulous party, for many reasons. Somehow Chiltern Railways and the London Underground had conspired together to ensure that a number of people were never able to make the party, but those who did, certainly enjoyed themselves. For me it also created a benchmark in Isobel’s ability to express herself, indicating that progress in her emotional intelligence was far more steady than I realised.
Parents who have brought up children with CP for several years will know exactly what I mean. Sometimes – as one parent so succinctly put it to me the other week – the presence of CP in your child so clouds the picture that for a time in the early years you aren’t sure what developmental stage they are at, or whether other, undiagnosed, disabilities might also be affecting their learning.
So for me to witness Isobel expressing more complex emotions than she did 12 months ago was encouragement indeed. This time last year, she showed sheer happiness at the realisation that everyone was singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her, but that was pretty much it.
This year was certainly in keeping with her current stage – which includes getting to grips with the new sensation of fear, an emotion that I’ve covered in a previous post. Upon hearing the chorus of ‘Hap – py Birthday – to – you,’ initially she made as if to hyperventilate, then relaxed as the fairy cakes materialised before her with their candles, stripy bees and ladybirds (the latter two of which kept me up until 2.30am. I am never icing a bee-wing ever again.)
The most interesting part of that party was when Isobel opened her presents with our help. We had to tear at the wrapping paper a little before she got curious, reaching out to rip some paper herself.
Slowly, and strategically, we swivelled the package round so to reveal the present within – and the glimmer of recognition in her face told us that she knew what it was: Rainbow Sound Blocks from Wonderworld. (We’d borrowed some previously from the local Children’s Centre, which Isobel loved.)
From then in she showed excitement at what the other wrapped packages could bring, reaching out every time we picked one up. Reader, she loved it all. As far as she was concerned, it was her best day ever.
