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Why I love NERJA!

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Photo from Life Adventures, Nerja
Every May the Hammie family get on a plane and head for Nerja, a little town about an hour east of Malaga, on the Costa Del Sol.

We have done this every year since 2003 after I swore I would never take an Irish Summer Holiday again.
I know I know - when you get the weather there is no better place.
But my souvenir of our week in Kerry in 2002, was a weather proof jacket.
So Slan to the South West and Cead Mile Costa!



Being an autistic family, we went to the place that the 3 generations of Hammies had been going to for 20 years - Capistrano - And we keep going back.

The first year we booked a package. But after that found it easier to book a villa independently through Owner's Direct, and found that flying on scheduled flights, and renting a car privately at the airport was a whole lot better than the package and waiting experience for our kids.

We usually go in May, because it is pleasantly warm, and not too busy as everybody else is still in schoo…
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Holiday re-run; Reality is shaped by our senses

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Bratty enjoying some sensory time in the pool Boo and a hose in the little splash pool in the back garden of the villa


Boo underwater - pretty much the whole time he is in the water, he is under it!



Bratty´s version of LaLa - July 2008
Another Holiday Re-run, from July 2008; Reality is Shaped by our Senses My Year 10 English teacher once said "reality is shaped by the senses" He wanted us to think about how our reality might differ from another, depending on our perception.

And here I am 25 years later, trying to understand it in relation to my kid's autism.

I am not a recent convert to this idea. My Boo's first good teacher tried to explain it to me a bit when we were going through the clothes and shoes stage. Boo was very keen on wearing a pair of riding boots which were at least one size too small, and at the same time preferred to be naked from the minute he walked inside our flat. He would wear clothes to go out, but we had issues with sleeve lengths and types of …
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A different shade of normal.

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Another re-run: from the webcafe on Ria Monica. Originally published February 08:


I was having brunch with a friend again today; and yes, I do love a good brunch (or lunch).

We were reflecting on how much progress her son had made since diagnosis and the beginning of acquiring "a service".
She was remembering a time when they couldn't go anywhere as a family as they might potentially come across any of the obsessions that her son had, and couldn't prevent him from indulging. Whereas now, with some structured intervention, huge progress in their son's development and an improved understanding of his diagnosis themselves; they had more flexibility in their life.

They were, in other words, a whole lot closer to a grade of normal that most people with typical children take for granted.

I was really happy for her. No matter how mild or severe a child's autism or other needs are, they are the worst that you have ever had to deal with and we must always make allowances f…
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What I did on my holidays.......

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Another re-run:

We are currently enjoying a very well earned break after the council finally allocated our attic grant - (it took 8 months and 2 politicians) and having got the credit union off my back, we are in Nerja, a beautiful village on the Costa, near Malaga.
(one of our angels is house-sitting, in case you are a burglar!)

Bratty was amazingly good on the plane, thanks both to the 2.5mls of vitamin V we gave her in the carpark, and the fantastic preparation I did at home. The D.A.A. - (Dublin Airport Authority) have prepared a series of airport photos for social stories which are available online.

All I had to do was print off the Adobe document and then pour a large jameson on ice - to enjoy while cutting and pasting all the pics' into a little story book -which I embellished with stickers of her favourite ceebeebies characters.

Between that and the iPhone Proloque2go app, which Boo played with at all waiting intervals, we had a pretty sweet ride all the way to the villa, whic…
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one small bite of the cookie

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First published January 2008
Updated to include the thought - Bratty is TEN next week!!!


Two good friends have asked me the same question recently;

"What are you going to do with Bratty, when she grows up?

This is because Bratty is the more severe of my two children and at the moment, the more challenging. But it was also because these friends both have girls, who are growing up.

Girls, because of their biology, approach puberty sooner and in a more obvious way. So as a mother of a girl, you have to take on another level of self care and self management. Something new to cope with.

Boys are a bit easier! Okay, they get a bit tackle happy but that happens with typical boys too, and I have to say, from the age of about 3 months (when they can find it) until, at the last check; 45 years (and counting) that doesn't change.
All that changes is where and when they decide to play pocket billiards, a simple case of "choose your environment." Or in my brother-in-law's words; &q…
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Autism; The Early Years. and Acceptance.com

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I am reading and empathising with yet another new diagnosis at the moment.
As hard as things are for me now; it was much worse then.

Can you remember the clothes issues? When they would fight with you to take off their shoes; coat, pants and Nappy? We used to put Boo in dungarees, with the difficult clasps, sometimes with a t-shirt over the top, to ensure that he couldn't take off his nappy.

How about wearing a seat belt or buggy harness?

I remember the first time Boo got out of a buggy harness and landed on the floor of a shop where I was buying milk. I was mortified. How could this happen with a 14 month old?
How could I let this happen to my baba?

Before his sister was born; I had this plan to get a fabulous Italian buggy with a sort of standing step at the back for him to ride on while she had the seat. Mamas and Papas still do this model; "The Pliko".
When she arrived and I made the first attempt to go out; I ended up using the pouch to carry Bratty because Boo was not s…
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hammiesays: neural otherness is awesome

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With thanks to K-line for the gift of the phrase and the gift of her astute and intuitive comments.

And Sister Wolf for the gift of the website and well, for being Sister Wolf.

oh, and consider this a copyright!

xx

PS: if you think that neural otherness is awesome and want to help a student with her thesis on positive attitudes to raising kids with autism - please email affinityautismireland@gmail.com for a survey.
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