We didn’t have a bonfire- it’s too risky with the little ones and the rain has been so fierce all our wood was wet anyway. We got a small box of fireworks and some sparklers and some traditional fayre. Mum brought black peas (eugh!) and parkin, Leon made jacket potatoes and sausages and we sat as a family and ate before the excitement began. Max loves fireworks now, as long as they aren’t too bangy. Popples does not like fireworks “they make noise that hurts my ears and tummy” so she had asked me if we could watch from the conservatory. Oliver had screamed last year and shut himself in the living room until it was all over. So we were expecting to be doing them primarily for Max.
However, when Leon brought out the boxes, Oliver went and grabbed his coat, hat and shoes. Max was already ready, and Popples put her coat on and agreed to come outside with me. That didn’t last long. As soon as the first fountain had finished, we were in the conservatory. We could see them and talked about how sparkly they were and she seemed ok with this arrangement. Under big sisters supervision, Oliver got a sparkler and waved it around with a big smile on his face. He “ooh”-ed at the roman candles and fountains, jumped and laughed at the rockets and signed for another sparkler, which he got. The boys thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a huge surprise after Oliver’s behaviour last year and his dad was made up. Leon has had a few hard weeks, seems like the anger has given way to sadness, but seeing the boys laughing and taking part really perked him up. He said I’d missed out being inside but I didn’t miss out at all. I got to see my son’s loving the experience, and I got to see the rest of the family enjoying my sons enjoyment. We get to see so many struggles so for everyone to see this joy was amazing. Who knew a few fireworks would bring so much positivity to the family. Although it may have been that, for the first time ever, our Catherine wheel actually worked!
xx
Family life with A.S.D-ifference 