50 days of River

Fifty days of River: Connection, isolation and everything in between.

mental-health

  • Back to Reality First week back has gone OK. We all struggled with the mornings, too used to our 9am holiday wake-ups and late-night entertainment. Getting up and dressed in cloudy London is a sharp snap back to reality. River has upgraded his “NO NURSERY” to “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO NURSERY,” which we’re… Read more

  • I Lost Three Days

    I’ve lost nearly three days.I didn’t see it coming. My weekend was pretty average. I took Summer to her first swimming party where Kike and I got an hour to ourselves thanks to a very well-timed nap by River. It was mostly spent doing admin, but we managed a drink and some chips, which felt… Read more

  • It’s been an interesting 24 hours, the kind that sits heavy and needs to be written out. And since that’s the purpose of this blog, that’s what I’m going to do. Yesterday, I left work and walked to collect River as usual. I was in a pretty good mood, listening to music, half-scrolling emails. Then… Read more

  • When Christmas Becomes Admin

    Saturday Morning: The Holidays Begin Saturday morning.First day of the Christmas holidays. School and work are finished. Time to relax, well, we’ll get to that part tomorrow. I decided a few months ago that I wasn’t really up for Christmas this year. Don’t get me wrong, I like the decorations, most of the tunes and… Read more

  • Just a quick one tonight but I wanted to write about something. I still haven’t found anyone to replace our babysitter and there is literally no one else to ask. Which means, for now, it’s just the four of us. No evenings out, no date nights, no popping out to see friends. I keep wondering… Read more

  • Wednesday Morning: The Crash 6.30 a.m. came round quickly this morning.I know I said my positivity was low but I didn’t think I would crash this fast. It’s 1.30 p.m. and I’ve been crying for over an hour. I’ve gone back to bed and I don’t want to come out.River is watching endless YouTube and… Read more

  • One Day at a Time

    “Well, that was bleak.” It’s been an emotional day and I thought, well, this is what this space is for. Last night we watched a documentary on BBC1: Panorama: Autism, School and Families on the Edge.It followed around four families all having to home-school as the schools their kids attended couldn’t meet or fund their… Read more

  • Autism is Not an Epidemic

    Like many of you I’ve been following the latest comments from President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with anger and sadness. The National Autistic Society have already issued a powerful statement calling out their “fake news and offensive statements,” and I want to stand alongside them and alongside Autistic people everywhere. Words Have… Read more

  • Day 39: A Night Away

    The weekend started as it always does. Kike gets up first as he takes Summer to Jiujitsu. They leave and River hops into bed with me. “Mummy not sleeping.”No sweetheart, I’m not sleeping.“I’m very hungry.” OK, that’s my cue to get up, even though I know Kike would have already given him Breakfast Number 1.… Read more

  • Kike got up with River this morning. We’re all still groggy after the holiday. We didn’t make it to Summer’s 9am swimming lesson, but honestly, I feel like she’s done plenty of swimming over the last week. Last night we folded the clean clothes and today I managed to put everything away as if we’d… Read more