I'm sorry that last year seemed to get rather lost.   We will try to do a bit better this year.

Christmas was good.   Mind you it did show again the difference between Ryan and Rebecca.   Rebecca was looking forward to Christmas, she talked about Father Christmas (Santa Claus) and told us all how good she had been all year !.   Ryan had a pleasant surprise when Christmas morning came and there was a stocking with little presents in it on his bed.

   this was taken at Christmas, it shows the op site on his head.   He is doing so very well now.

Michael, Ryan, Debbie and Rebecca with Beth (our eldest daughter) and Tony (her husband) in the foreground.

  Me with Ryan    Ryan climbing over his uncle Tony

Ryan and his uncle Tony playing with a toy car, big brother Josh looking on.   the baby is Tristan, Beth and Tony's son.

In January Ryan started at his new school.   He goes to school in a taxi (with an escort) and comes home in the same taxi with the same escort.  He seems to have settled in well and is doing well there.   We think its good that Rebecca is in a different school to Ryan.   She will not feel that she has to look after him or watch over him or anything.   She can have her own friends and her own time.   Her life is greatly affected by the care that Ryan needs so she needs a break too.  

JUNE

Ryan has an ear infection, again !   He has medicine but it means that he is effectively totally deaf again.   He seems to get ear infections quite often and they take ages to clear up.   He hates having ear drops so it can be quite a problem getting them in but it has to be done.

This is a photo of Ryan playing with his cousin Tristan on Tristan's first birthday

JULY

School Sports Day.   What a wonderful time.   Rebecca had a half day off of school to watch with us.   The weather was lovely and the whole event was just great.   Ryan took part in all the events with his link class.   Most of the time he is in the Special Educational Needs Unit but he joins his link class (his age/peer group) for art and music and things that do not require him to "keep up" with the other children. 

 The children in his class are really good with him, helping him to run and holding his hand.   There is no fuss about him not being wanted on a team, in fact when the children had to walk in pairs holding hands there was  a little scuffle as children vied for Ryan's hand.  

By way of experiment I'm trying a little video clip of Ryan in a race click here and I hope that you can see it.    I have been told that it should work but that it may take a while to load so please be patient (it may take as long as a minute or two depending on the speed of your connection) There is no sound as that would take even longer.   Remember this is a child who surprised the "experts" by being able to walk..........   the hands clapping at the end of the race belong to his mother Debbie.

AUGUST

Ryan is enjoying the summer doing the same things that all the other children do, going to the beach, to the park and on days out with the family.   His vocabulary is improving all the time.

The rest of the year has passed very quickly.   Ryan's development continues in a very haphazard sort of way.   Sometimes he improves so much that its amazing at other times he seems to be even going backwards.

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