No, thank you for asking. He had meningitis when he was a baby as a result of which he had SLD, autism, speech delay and left-sided hemiplegia. He was crazy about pirates, Disney, Harry Potter, Star Wars and girls in bikinis. I'm not at home to martyrdom or pity, I'd much rather have a cold glass of champagne. I thank you.
Yes, you'd think the boy would know when he was well off...
Here he is in the embrace of his lovely PA, Honor, who has become a veritable lynchpin of the household. She accompanies Jordan to Surrey Docks Farm on a Monday to chase the chickens and fettle the ferrets.
Well, would you look at that! No sooner have the blissful summer hols begun than they seem to be racing towards the inevitable end with considerable velocity. I had a week of overlap with my Tefl course and the first week of Jordan's hols which took some organising to get care arranged, but arranged it was and all seemed to go well. In fact, I was scarcely missed, which bothered me far more than it bothered Jordan. Then we had a week to pack then off to Wales for two weeks, which was fab, thanks for asking. No one had a prima donna tizzy, not even me, and I went on a steam train. Now, holidays are not restful in our family necessarily, as no one lies about on beaches reading Michael Crichton or gawd 'elp us, Dan Brown novels (which are burnt ceremoniously at the England/Wales border anyway). And thus we ruturn to a rather inclement August, even with London's micro-climate. Good heavens, I've even had the heating on! It's an outrage...
Jordan has the day well organised: French toast (his new culinary obsession) for brunch, lashings of hot tea, a go with MY iPhone, if you please, then off he goes on his iPad, which he manipulates like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. He adores YouTube and just the other day found one of his all-time faves, Heigh Ho from Snow White set to an animated film of lego characters which I present below for your viewing pleasure...
So anyway, I was at a coffee morning at Jordan's school yesterday to have a look at their shopping and independence photos. Sure enough Jordan spent the entire time trying to trick me into saying the word 'arse'. Sigh.
For a young man with autism, SLD and speech problems, Jordan is sometimes quite keen to communicate with others, but only when the subject is his favourite Disney film (currently Pete's Dragon) or a subject of his choosing (currently any other film with a Pete in it, like Peter Pan or O Brother Where Art thou?) or any real life Pete (a former friendly school bus driver). I'm sure you can see a theme here.
Jordan's dad having to work today, I decide to take a quick bath. The phone rang and I assumed that it would go to answerphone as Jordan finds it fiddly to answer with one hand. Imagine my surprise when he brought it upstairs to me, chatting away with one of my husband's clients (and it wasn't about Pete - any of them!) I duly praised him and nearly got my ribs broken in an almighty hug. All very positive.
My brother rang for a chat later. Jordan beat me to the receiver, pressed the right button and said 'Hello, Uncle Ralph, what can I do for you?'
How I do love a big step forward.
DISCLAIMER: The glass of wine was left out from last night!
...which is how our little soldier greeted us last Thursday as he emerged, bronzed and smiling from the coach.
His school were brilliant, as they had kept a diary and compiled photos of activities that the students undertook all the way along to bring home to parents.
Jordan swam, walked up the slopes of a volcano, made a new best friend, ate out in restaurants, haggled in markets, did indeed ride a camel and lie about on the beach. Now that's what I call a holiday!
It could be a function of his autism but he didn't miss us at all while he was there which is a good thing, I think. His father and I suffered far more from his absence. We went to Dublin for a couple of days. Time slows right down without the boy.
