School holidays

Once again the school holidays are looming upon us. A time I well and truly dread. Not because I don’t want to spend time with my boys, but because the lack of routine we have without the school day makes life with Ryan that little bit harder. He is so routine orientated and I have realised over the past few weeks we are probably the same, none of us really likes a lot of change.

Everything seems to go out the window in the holidays, bed times are different, morning times are and there is none of this just nipping out to shops etc when the boys are home, getting out the house with Ryan is a mission! We have to plan our days around what we can manage with Ryan and what Ryan can manage as well as thinking about Noah and what he would like to do. Noah is older now and wanting a bit more freedom and independence, which is a scary thought, at 11 years old how much freedom do you give them, this is all new to us never having gone through this with Ryan.

Last summer holidays were a real struggle as we had no playscheme for Ryan and trying to fill the days in and keep him occupied was hard. One of the times I ventured out with him and took him on the metro train, one of his absolute favourite things to do, it turned into a total disaster with Ryan refusing to get off the metro and having to ask a stranger to help me lift him off, he also refused to leave the metro station, dropping to the ground (one of his tactics he uses when he doesn’t want to do something!), which also resulted in hubby having to leave work and come and get us, the whole experience left me feeling upset, angry, stressed and failing in my ability to take my son out.

While it’s much easier to stay in the house, in Ryan’s comfort zone, I go stir crazy sitting at home all day, even if we get out for an hour it’s better than nothing. If we don’t go out and do something than Ryan isn’t using any energy up and this usually results in his sleep pattern being distributed, many a nights in the holidays we have pulled all nighters with him as he just wouldn’t sleep, not a great way to live! Some days though I just haven’t got the energy to do much, let alone go somewhere and have to push Ryan in his wheelchair. We are hoping by the time the long summer holidays come we will have outreached sorted out for Ryan so he is able to go out with carers and do the things he enjoys.

I don’t know what the Easter holidays has in store for us but one thing I know for sure, we will not be going on the metro!