Flash back to ten days ago as we were packing the car up to go to Reading for the night. The girls had been booked in to visit my work and spend a bit of time in the morning testing a new game for the Xbox; so we’d planned to visit my friends on the way down and spend a night in a hotel. I know how to treat my family! So, with the car half loaded I was diverted to the aid of Jude when a sudden trail of smell emanated from his nappy; it was enough for Camille to recite her favourite line from a book: “He’s a bit whiffy in the whiffy department” she bellowed. I stepped up to the plate and changed the guilty nappy before quickly remembering something and deciding that I needed to get it into the boot of the car before the item slipped through my sieve like mind. Jude was on his change mat in the playroom when Hayley asked Lucia to wipe her face; Lucia being excited, ran into the playroom and pulled the middle drawer of our chest to retrieve a wipe. In her exuberance, she pulled the drawer too far and it landed square on Jude laying just beneath. I’m not quite sure what happened from there as I heard Hayley’s screams as she entered the room; dropping everything I sprinted back into the house to see Hayley cradling Jude. Fortunately, Jude was fine, but the weight of the drawer and the slight mark on Jude’s forehead was enough to justify the trip to A & E. Lucia was beside herself with worry and in the moment I don’t know if I was angry with her or just in shock. Lucia hid for some time but as soon as we got out of hospital the incident had cleared her mind.
That’s the thing now, Lucia like so many other children her age have no sense of risk and I know if Jude was laying on that mat in the same place it could quite easily happen again. I am now on health and safety duty; everywhere Jude is positioned undergoes a detailed inspection before he is given the all clear. It goes to show how quickly something can happen and how quickly your lives can change. I remember a family in the village where I grew up; they had a little boy not even ten who stepped out into the road to grab a stray ball when he was hit by the taxi that was arriving to pick him up to go to school. In an instant the lives of all of the parties involved changed; the taxi driver, the parents and of course the little boy. I’ll never forget that time and incidents like the drawer smashing down on to the floor just remind me how fragile we all are.
So, three hours late, we finally set off for Buckinghamshire first to grab a bite to eat with my friend and his family before we made the late trip to the fancy Heathrow Premier Inn. We got there about 10.30pm and the girls were incredibly tired as we tucked them into bed. Jude was of course not very sympathetic to this and proceeded to make lots of noise throughout the night. As the sun rose through the cracks in the curtains, Camille woke up to the dizzying feeling of being super-tired. Lucia with her boundless energy could only thrust herself upon the bed ten times before taking a break. Today could be a write-off. We travelled to my place of work and it was quite nice for Hayley and the girls to see what the campus looks like; the buildings are pretty huge and they are designed to look like a technology company should. We had to go to the testing area which requires additional security as all of their pre-release work is top secret. Entering the department, you are greeted with the site of grown adults throwing themselves about in front of their Kinect sensors testing out the next games to hit our shelves. This is their day job; I couldn’t be more jealous if I tried. I can’t tell you too much more because we are sworn to secrecy but it was a great experience for the girls; well maybe just for me.
When Camille and Lucia returned back to school following Half Term, Camille had a few days where she was very tearful going into school; specifically the first Monday back. She was screaming all the way there and continued to cry in the playground gripping her hands around my neck. I tried to tease out of her what the issue was as she has never been like that before and all I could get were snippets of details about packed lunch, PE or something else. Finally, after narrowing down the details we managed to work out that Camille has got an issue with this new thing the school have started for certain kids called Gym Trail. It basically helps children with their fine motor skills and is run every morning for just a few minutes. Camille has about five or six exercises that have been selected to meet her needs and just before the Half Term break, Camille suddenly screamed in pain when doing an exercise that resembled a monkey walking on its all fours. It was enough for her to remember the incident and know she didn’t want to do it again. We managed to settle her down and after one more teary day she is hopefully back to normal.
I’m not sure she’ll be so happy at home in the next few weeks after we received confirmation from Addenbrooke’s that Camille’s growth hormone levels were below what is required and is now scheduled to begin growth hormone treatment. We haven’t had the full meeting to discuss the “ins” and “outs” as yet so I can’t tell you too much except for that it will require a daily injection (Camille is going to hate that), which we have to administer (Hayley’s going to hate that) and that it costs a lot of money (Cameron and Osborne will hate that). Hayley has heard that the results are seen quite early into treatment so it will be interesting to see how our little girl changes after not really having grown in three years.
MARATHON WATCH
The training for the London Marathon is now in its middle section; the time when you rack up the long distances. In other words, the bit that really hurts and the bit that makes you wish you hadn’t. I’ve needed to put some songs on my phone (which also hosts my GPS Run Keeper App) to get through the long distances. You must experience the lift that you get when Huey Lewis and his pals, The News, start ripping out “The Power of Love”. Unfortunately, later down the line, with the wind pounding into my face and my legs turning to jelly beneath me; Noel Gallagher’s “If I Had a Gun” was not what I wanted to hear.