The beginning of another year,   Ryan enjoyed the Christmas holiday but was happy to go back to school and see all of his friends again.   He still does not seem to fully interact with other children, although he does join in games and when he joins his peer group class for subjects like Art and PE he is welcomed by the children there.   For most of his school day he is in the special educational needs unit.   We think the unit is a wonderful place, he is actually learning there.   One day we hope he will be able to read and write his name and address, maybe more.

  In February he was enjoying playing with his sister Rebecca and little cousin Tristan and our bubble machine.   All children love bubbles.

We did have a family outing Skating on an indoor rink, Ryan had great difficulty with balance (well so do most people at first) and came to sit out at the side of rink with me, watching the rest of the family skate and enjoy themselves.   He decided to go back onto the ice and with help (being held up) he had fun. 

Skating Video Link  This video clip starts with Rebecca with her Daddy (I know Mike is their step father but they think of him and call him Daddy) in the middle of the picture Mike sees us and takes Becca (wearing a blue top) to the central resting area to wave at us.   Now look to the left hand edge of the wall around the rest area and you will see  Tony in a reddish top skate into view holding up his nephew Ryan.   The camera follows them as they "skate" past. Ryan has a problem maintaining his body temperature though and gets cold very quickly so we have to watch that.   The clip may take a while to load depending your connection sped, so please be patient.

By the end of the school day Ryan is tired and his teacher has noticed that during the afternoons, especially at the end of the week he falls down a lot.   He is happy then just to sit and watch the others play.   Here he is resting with his mum after a day at school.

He enjoyed the Easter egg hunt.   Here he is being helped by his auntie Beth 

The party for his 8th Birthday in April seemed to be enjoyed by the family and his guests - friends from the school unit

In the summer there was a "play Day" in Bodmin with stalls selling things, the school band playing music and lots of activities for children.   Ryan tried juggling (left) which was frightening to watch and plate spinning (right)

We also went to a lovely place called Porfell Animal Land, the staff there were really good with Ryan.   They introduced him to this bird and allowed Ryan to stroke it.

We fed the deer and Ryan and Becca played in the play area.   Ryan tried to so hard to go across the "monkey bars"  he knew what to do but just could not do it.  His mummy and daddy helped him and he managed it in the end.

He wants to do what all the other children do.   Who can blame him.   Its very hard sometimes to sit and watch him fall down when really you want to leap up and pick him up and do things for him.   You have to force yourself to stay still and watch while he falls and/or fails then quietly give him as little help as possible to assist him either to succeed or to do something else which is achievable for him.

Ryan taking part in a sponsored walk - walking with his teacher and a class mate
	Helping Rebecca to wash the family car

Living in Cornwall we are always close to the beach and enjoy going there all year round.   Just after the photo on the left was taken a huge wave hit us, soaking us all.   No real harm done, and no point keeping them out of the pools after that.   We dried off when we got back to the cars then had an icecream !

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