January

Images

"A good omen" 1/ 365

Red Tailed Black Tailed Cockatoos are my favourite birds. They have a distinct call and I smile each time I hear it. A good start to 2022

"Backflip" (movie still) 5/365

“Backflip” Short animation with sound. It is sometimes hard for me to articulate just how much my son ( with ASD and ADHD) impresses me each day. He has just started doing backflips in the pool. They do not look at all like this, they are rather ungainly and would not score well at the Olympics.This animation is my attempt to show you how the backflips make him feel. Self assured and confident and strong. This animation also represents my heart, which leaps and soars with pride at every one of his successes.

Short of wrapping him in cotton wool_day 8 of 365.JPG

"Short of wrapping him in cotton wool" 8/365

“Short of wrapping him in cotton wool”. As Omicron numbers grow we are desperately hopeful that we can keep it away from my son until he has his vaccinations when the 5-11 year old roll out begins next week. Pictured is my husband protecting us all as much as possible by limiting our exposure to the community -Working hard and then doing all of our shopping. I am in a COVID bubble with my daughter and son. She and I are vaccinated and literally bending over backwards to protect Alby who I drew red because he is in danger. As a result of his extreme prematurely his lungs are not good. When he gets sick, he gets really sick, but short of wrapping him in cotton wool we are doing all that we can.

"The Negotiation" 11/365

Just because vaccinations (as of yesterday), have become available for my sons age group, it doesn’t mean that I can breath a sigh of relief and just book him in for one. Having a needle phobic, Autistic son, means that negotiations and preparations have been going on for some time. As a result of his prematurely, his lung function is quite poor, especially when he gets ill, so vaccination is a priority.
Here is what we did to prepare;
1. We have spoken at length about why he needs to be vaccinated. 2. He went to the vaccination hub when his sister got vaccinated and is now familiar with the venue so knows what to expect. 3. I opened the negotiations for a reward. He is all about rewards. Physical rewards have always been a great motivator for him.
We came to an agreement, 5 Packs of Pokémon cards PER vaccination.
Since agreeing to the terms a few weeks back, Alby has started to waiver on whether he wants the cards at all, and has suggested that he might just not get vaccinated.
This morning I sweetened the pot and offered a 5 minute swearing amnesty on the way home from the vaccination. You should have seen his face light up! Now he can’t wait to get vaccinated!

"First Dose" 12/365

For those of you following along, Alby’s first vaccination went well. I feel like all of the preparation we did helped so much. We had one slight hiccup when he accidentally looked up at the wrong time and saw the “giant needle”( his words) about to go into his arm. His eyes became super animated and he murmured “oh god”. The nurse was on her game though and vaccinated him before he had time to process it. He said it really hurt but was over really fast and was waaay better than a blood test ( multiple blood tests are the cause of his needle phobia). He was given an ice pole by another nurse and quietly sat and read his book for the allotted 15 minutes post vaccination.
For those of you wondering about the 5 minute swearing amnesty, he said the F word loudly once in the car but that was all. Apparently the allure of swearing was worn away by the permission.

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