Every day is a different day...

We are under several professionals who each deal with a certain part of Roo life/issues & most recently we added the Disability Team to the list and one of the many questions that seem to come up regularly is "what does Roo do all day long?" ...I was asked to keep a diary over 3 days and here is the result...

Day 1 -The vibrating alarm goes off and I wake up to my brain rattling, groaning I reach over to switch it off, grab the mobile to get some light which I shine in the direction of Roo travel cot hoping that it was him just moving setting it off but instead I am greeted by his beaming smile moving up and down as he seems to think the bed is a trampoline..I check the time and to my dismay its 430am..at least its not 1am so I bring hm to my bed , plonk the ipad in front of him with Mr Bean cartoons playing...Roo has taken a liking to Mr Bean - a person I have disliked since I was a young girl...I just cant stand him but yet I find myself staring into his face every day...

Day 2 - The alarm goes off at 5am so I check the video monitor and Roo is upset...I go through and bring him to my bed where we just cuddle together for another hour...

Day 3 - The monitor goes off and I look at the clock and its only 1230am so I check the video monitor to see Roo screaming...I climb into his bed with him and cuddle him till his sobs slowly ease off ....I try to get him to get back to sleep but he isn't interested...just wants to cuddle into me while playing with my arm...3am he starts fidgeting, banging feet against the wall and starts crying when I stop him doing it...I give him his light that make star shapes on the walls and he cuddles into me happily playing away...I try to doze off but its impossible! 5am I give up and take him downstairs...

6am

Day 1- An hour and half passes and he hears his brothers are up so I ask Leo if he could watch him playing in their room as in past Leo has always been good watching Roo... I lay in bed envious of my hubby sound asleep and plotting how to "accidentally" wake him up so that I can grab a couple hours of sleep...next thing I know I feel something whacking my face ...I open my eyes to find Roo smiling at me then I see to my horror that he is whacking me with the toilet brush! Urgh! A quick wash for both of us, a telling off to Leo who was too busy to watch Roo so I get up..

Day 2 - Roo isn't himself and just wants cuddled, crying on and off

Day 3 - Roo and I are on the sofa snuggled under the blanket watching cartoons...he still hasn't fallen asleep..

7am

Day 1 - lots of banging from Roo who is grabbing anything he can get hold of and banging them against furniture, walls etc...I run around him taking stuff off him and telling him "No Banging" and he just smiles and walks away while I shake my head in despair..

Day 2 - I take Roo downstairs and put him on the sofa to watch cartoons...he isn't happy and start moaning...

Day 3 - Roo is full of smiles and is happily clapping away to the music on the TV

9am

Day 1 -  while talking to hubby I take my eyes off Roo and he disappears...MIL goes for him and comes back ashen faced saying that when she went to find him he was in the living room banging the remote against the screen...mil asks Leo to keep an eye on Roo while she nipped to toilet...MIL finished and goes into living room to see Roo banging the screen with his hands..she runs and saves the TV from falling!!

Day 2 - Roo starts screaming for no reason...I pick him up and he cuddles into my shoulder...I decide we will just have a pj day as something is bothering him and he doesn't know what to do with himself..

Day 3 - Roo has been happily banging away on his drum set, taken all his toys out of the cupboards, chucking them around..I try to tidy up around him but its a hopeless task so I take the opportunity to sit on sofa with a cuppa while he carries on trashing the living room...

10am

Day 1- my nose catches the familiar whiff of a dirty nappy so I lay him down to change him only to find he has leaked...Roo decides this is the time he will be stubborn and holds his body rigid so its now a 2 person job to get him cleaned up!! Once he is cleaned I let him get up while hubby and I quickly sort ourselves out.. i grab a nappy then get Roo only to find he has pooed all over the carpet! Grab hold of him and run to the bathroom and get him all cleaned up while hubby has the task of cleaning the carpets..My pj end up covered in the process so I run the bath for Roo & I ....while Roo is happily splashing away at the other end I lay back and start thinking/worrying about the future... Roo is getting bigger and stronger and is starting to resist on some occasions and I'm lucky at the moment as hubby is currently off work so he can help me but what about in the future when I'm on my own and he is at work...I wonder if he will ever be potty trained...

Day 2 - Ive finally got Roo to calm down and put his Mr Tumble programmes on to try and keep him happy

Day 3 - Roo is now sitting on the sofa munching a banana while I tidy the living room !!

11am

Day 1 -  we wrap Roo up warmly and bundle him into the buggy and go for a walk to the skate park where Roo and I watch his older brothers and Daddy play on the ramps..Its absolutely freezing but Roo is oblivious to it, flapping his hands constantly, squealing at the top of his voice and is as happy as he can be!

Day 2 - Crying starts up again because I looked at him!! Oh dear he really is in a foul mood today..I pick him up and he screams even more, trying to push my hands away so I lay him on the floor so he cant hurt himself and leave him for a few mins till the screaming changes to crying and then I pick him up and he lets me and we sit on the sofa cuddling each other...

Day 3 - Roo is on the sofa playing music on his Ipad and he is happily clapping/flapping along and squealing in delight watching the videos while listening to the music

12pm

Day 1 - lunch time which is over in 10 mins as Roo isn't that keen on eating, just wants to walk around all the time so I take him into the living room where he sits on sofa with me for 10 peaceful mins which is quite nice and I actually got a sit down & rest before he got up and went over to the TV to start banging it again...I get up and move him to sit on the floor...this is repeated at least 20 times before he decides to do something different...he goes for the blinds, trying to pull them off, I say "no" and move him, he goes back this time trying to climb the window still! I decide to take him upstairs to play with some toys...he wont play with them...just grabs them and bangs them , chucking stuff all over the floor, climbing etc....it constant, non-stop!

Day 2 - Not interested, screams if I put him on the high chair, so I put him on sofa with blanket and give him his lunch but nope he starts crying again so I give him a bottle of juice which he hugs while crying...I feel so helpless as he cant tell me whats wrong...

Day 3 - Roo spends a good half hour taking his time eating his sandwich, fruit and crisps, smiling at me every time I catch him trying to feed Pepper the dog!

2pm

Day 1  - desperate for a break we bundle Roo into the car and go to Tescos while leaving the older two with Nana... Roo loves the car and going into the trolley where he proceeds to babble and squeal constantly trying to grab things...we get our shopping done and back to the car where I give him a packet of crisps and we have silence on the way home...

Day 2 - We are still on the sofa...Roo keeps having the occasional outburst of crying so I'm letting him him just lounge on the sofa with his ipad or watch his TV programmes...The house is a tip but every time I try and do something making some noise he gets upset !

Day 3 - We are shopping in Tescos and Roo is very happy in the trolley, yelling, squealing at the top of his voice! He attracts attention everywhere we go and sometimes its good attention and other times its not...Today its mostly good with a couple of folk smiling at Roo and there is the odd one or two giving me dirty looks and muttering under their breath and shaking their heads...

5pm 

Day 1- dinner time and all is quiet while he is eating then he screams when I take his plate off him so MIL gives him two big metal cups which cheers him up and he spends the next half hour banging them together constantly - it keeps him amused while we wash the dishes and tidy up...he then proceeds to try and climb onto the freezer and when taken down puts on his grumpy face and starts crying...he crawls under the dining chair and tries to knock it over but we stop it in time and he goes into meltdown mode screaming lots...he cries and moans for the next  2 hrs until he goes to bed...once asleep we flop onto the chairs to chill for the night ...

Day 2 - Roo has cheered up a little bit and will sit in highchair and eats some dinner much to my relief..But he wont tolerate his brothers so they have been told not to touch him, talk to him or even look at him as I'm desperate to prevent him screaming again and have some peace during dinner...

Day 3 - Wolfed down his dinner in mins and manages to get himself stuck by sliding down highchair and his bum is dangling in the air! He has been really hyper all day...just hope he sleeps tonight!

7pm 

Day 1 - Its bed time! Roo starts grumbling in protest at being changed into his pj and starts crying but soon stops when I give him his teddy light and i sit on the floor reading my kindle until he falls asleep...

Day 2 - Roo is tearful again and just clings to me so I get into bed with him and sing twinkle little star and he starts to calm down...I stay with him till he falls asleep ...

Day 3 - Roo is shattered with being up all night mostly so is practically asleep by the time I put him into bed! He just rolls over hugging his teddy light!

As you can see those are just examples of 3 days insight into Roo life yet they are very different...there are some days when he is just so good and calm and willing to do many things and is generally happy go lucky although lately they seem to be getting fewer as his moods are changing... The days that he is miserable are the most emotionally draining days for me as I feel so helpless in trying to work out what is making him so upset and nothing can get done when he is like that...No day is the same... we wake up every morning wondering what kind of day its going to be and we are starting to be able to tell by the mood he is in when he wakes up...Life is definitely interesting when it comes to Roo!

Our cheeky Roo