'Can I put my school Uniform on?..'

Before Reuben's birthday I thought I'd best talk about our Christmas! We did Christmas a little different this year, instead of having all the presents and (over)-excitement on Christmas day we carefully planned small present opening sessions with friends and family in the week before and week after Christmas. This meant Reuben could cope better and by opening his presents in stages he could play with them properly and enjoy them rather than having a giant pile on Christmas day and only playing with 1 thing! On Christmas Eve we went to a hotel in the lake district and stayed there until boxing day. Reuben really likes holidays and so this was perfect for him as he can cope better with changes to routine when he is away from home. We enjoyed the lovely food, cosy log fires, bell ringing and carol singing, games & activities, Christmas day church service and the children enjoyed decorating the tree in the hotel and playing games. We carefully planned the gifts for Reuben so he could use them at the hotel in between courses at meal times or in the lounge and it was worth all the planning and preparation, it really paid off thankfully! We had a lovely peaceful relaxing time and came home to enjoy more presents from under the tree and a family get together the day after.
 

 
Every day in the holidays Reuben asked the same question - 'Can I put my school uniform on?'! He loves his routines and knowing what the day involves so a break can be a bit unsettling for him because he doesn't know what to expect sometimes. We're helping him to understand better by telling him what is happening and using the 'now' and 'next' method which works really well with Reuben. It's very simple but effective, 'now' breakfast, 'next' game.. then 'now' game, 'next' playground... so long as we are consistent with this, Reuben understands and is calm and happy! :)
Up until Christmas Reuben had been going to school in the mornings and coming home in the afternoon doing some work at home with me in quiet. We are starting now to introduce more hours in the school day and seeing if, by half term he will be full time again at school but we're taking it slowly and seeing how it goes.
Health wise, Reuben is due another spinal operation to lengthen the metal rods in his spine within the next few weeks, we haven't a date yet though. His IBS has flared up quite a bit over Christmas and he has lost weight but we're trying to help him put a bit of weight back on, it's not as simple as feeding him more food though, we wish it was!
Reuben has been seeing his SLT (speech and language therapist) and he's doing really well, he's engaging in the sessions and learning to communicate much better, use questions and answer simple questions, we've really seen a difference since starting the new program last September. He does have some funny ways of using language sometimes - if he doesn't know the word for something he will think of anything that looks similar and substitute the word; one day he saw that it had started to hailstone outside and said 'Oh look at all the glitter!'

He's starting to get excited about his birthday and counting down on the calendar the days until the 29th, can't quite believe he will be 5! We're excited too!