You learn something new everyday!

Since I have finished up work I have been attempting the domestic goddess role. This gluten free dairy free food is bloody expensive so I have been looking up recipes in an attempt to save a little on the shopping list.

I have mastered pizza bases and bread which is seriously an accomplishment for someone who was not totally sure about boiling an egg a year ago. Honestly ask me about any gadget be it ipod, laptop or fixing an internet connection great but ask me how to cook a meal from scratch and you would get recipe for disaster. Instead of home economics in school I took Technology.

 I'm not bad now but I still have the odd (giant) hiccup aka Blonde moment.

 For example a few weeks ago I was attempting to make chocolate muffins for Lukes lunch for the week. I found the recipe on a gluten free dairy free website. Thought I was following it to a tee. Until I checked on them 10 minutes after putting the baking tray in the oven and I square to bob my oven was covered in this brown ooze. It was on the top, on the sides and the bottom and expanding by the nano second. I had no clue what I had done wrong. The other half came in to see what I was giving out about and started breaking his heart laughing at me. I read the recipe twice over again until I realised I had used BREAD SODA instead of Baking powder. If you ever want to make inedible chocolate ooze I'm your woman!!

Aside from the hysterics of my Kitchen, I have been spending the rest of my time trying to find new games to get Diddles talking. What I love about these games is Madman can join in. They are both learning to take turns and learning a multitude of new words. We have moved on from the Balloon game which I had mentioned in an earlier post, we do return to this about once a week to mix up the routine. However right now we are playing the blanket game. We took down one of the kids duvet covers and lay it out on the floor. Both of the boys jump on it and then we decide that Madman takes the first turn. (He seems to be the most impatient at the tender age of 17 months) He lies in the middle of the Duvet, I grab one end and Barry will grab the other end. We say "ready steady go!" or "on your marks get set go!" or "3,2,1 Blastoff" mix it up every time so we use as much language as possible. Then we swing the duvet from side to side (narrating the whole time everything we are doing). Next we ask "want to go fast or slow?" Now, for Madman he just says GO! but he is taking in everything and loving the game.  Diddles will obviously want to go fast and this is why we give him "fast" as the first option as a big percentage of the language you will hear from Diddles is immediate Echolalia i.e he echos the words you say directly back to you but does not necessarily understand what you have said.

To test his understanding you give him what he asks for and not what you know he wants. This is so he realises the actual meaning of words.It is a long process but he is beginning to get the gist. He watches the game with Madans turn once to be sure its safe and then he gets the confidence to try himself . In some way Madman is his guinea pig. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing yet but its all trial and error!

They remind me of coyote and roadrunner at the moment. Diddles being the roadrunner and Madman being Coyote. Diddles runs back and forth for his usual sensory stimulation and Madman thinks this is a game and follows him back and forth. Madman bless his cotton little socks is just never fast enough to catch Diddles. He thinks his big brother is the king of chasing. They seem to have simultaneus bruises lately, both running and one will fall and then the other. Brotherly love ay!

The games have brought out some spontaneous speech with Diddles. He wakes me up in the morning with "Good Morning", he says "I want some juice please" instead of "Juice please"and Madman is copying everything he's really trying his best. We're making progress slowly but surely! They never cease to amaze me!