lathany

The main news in my life is that my six year old son has autism. As

bateleur wrote a pretty complete entry last week on the subject I don't plan to produce an almost-clone of it. So, please take a look over there if you want to know about the diagnosis (it's unlocked).

The diagnosis was something of a shock to me as I was expecting him to be on the autistic spectrum rather than have full autism, but it means that he will get the help he needs (no longer any question about whether he will be statemented). Also, from a selfish viewpoint, it means that my own (mild) hearing disability was not a major factor in his inability to learn to talk until very late.

In terms of next steps, we're expecting the typed version of the diagnosis shortly (although there are unlikely to be any surprises) along with a pack on dealing with an autistic child. As part of that we'll be sent on a training course to learn more about how to teach him and generally interact with him. We'll also be taking a look at the two specialist schools in the area that will suit him. More on this when we know more.

Various other, less important stuff has also occurred in my life:

Earthsea Quartet - Two or three decades late, I finally obtained a copy of this and read it. I liked the first three books a great deal (I wasn't convinced by the fourth which seemed more about world-building than advancing a plot) and was very glad to have read them. However, I suspect I'd have liked them more if I'd come across them a decade or three earlier.
Amazon Films - This month brought us House of Flying Daggers and Resident Evil. The first was, as expected, rather Crouching Tigger Hidden Duck, but worth seeing and contained some lovely scenery. I can't say I rated the love story as the best ever or that I liked the lack of plot (who won the approaching battle?) but I'm glad I've seen it. Resident Evil was more of a surprise as I rated it more highly than I expected to. Granted, it's not the most sophisticated plot ever and contains some unlikely costumes for entering a high security complex, but I thought the Red Queen, most (maybe all?) of the marines, the memory loss plot and the restraint on monster types were all good. Pity that the second one is supposed to be pants.
Cooking with Bea - Our first huge, savoury success happened with home made pizzas which will definitely be on the agenda again. This was followed up with cookies (which don't really count as Bea was too ill to do anything than object at the prospect of not cooking with Mummy) and then with rather yummy home-made squash, garlic, thyme and onion soup which was - extremely - adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe. I am thinking that banana bread should be next weekend's project.
Final Fantasy Advent Calendar - It had to happen some time, we were pants. We got the wrong end of the stick and proceeded to mess up our first mirror attempt at re-writing history (set in childhood). However chrestomancy found a cunning way of reversing the damage and so we will be moving ahead, hopefully with more success in the future.
Bridge - zandev and glittertigger came over for tea and bridge and a fun afternoon was had. Rather unfortunately, rubber bridge is dependent on card distribution and I had the best deal averaging about 12-14 points a hand in an extremely uneven distribution, but I'm hoping there will be other games ahead which are a bit fairer on the other players.
Birthdays - It's that time in March when my family all suddenly celebrate. We're due a chrestomancy tonight for some Norrething, food and cake and then my mum will be in the vicinity on Friday for food and her presents (although she'll be at chrestomancy's rather than here so I plan to send him off with her present). Then on Sunday, bateleur has agreed to play some form of Arkham as it's the one day of the year when I feel I can bully him into doing so. (And, Happy Birthday for Sunday, mrlloyd).
Plant - For the daughter of a botanist, I have a real sucky record when it comes to houseplants. I concluded that after eight painful years of struggling the one bateleur's Aunt Carol presented us with had given up the ghost as it was all brown and wrinkled and... well... dead. So I put it into Emily's small room and hid it next to the fridge where my dad wouldn't see it when he visited until I got around to throwing it away and reclaiming the pot. Except, I got back to it this weekend to discover it has a green shoot. WTF? Well, I'll assume it's alive again, for now.