Locked in (again....)

Sometimes it feels like there's a disaster waiting to happen around every corner. I feel as though I spend my life leaping from one disaster to the next. I spent most of last night awake worrying about whether I was doing the right thing - my parents are visiting at the moment and we decided to take advantage of the Ikea birthday sale, and planned to leave the house at 6am leaving them to get James and Bea up and breakfasted. My parents have found the last couple of years really tough - like me, their hopes and dreams for James (and myself) have been shattered by his diagnosis and the difficulties we are facing. Luckily, James still has a very strong connection with them - his face lights up when they come to visit (they live over 300 miles away so can only come every couple of months) and he shows them so much affection when they're here. It is still tough for them, though, when they know that they can't play with him in the same way their friends play and interact with their grandchildren. He has no concept of excitement or anticipation, and little interest in toys or gifts, so they are usually stumped for ideas for how to engage with him over and above hugs and food (and sadly, he doesn't enjoy the "usual" childish treats that grandparents enjoy indulging their grandchildren with - ice cream and cake don't wash well with him). But they love him unconditionally which is more important than any number of toys or ice creams.

As David and I drove off, I went through my list of things I had prepared for my parents - clothes, nappies, food, activities and thought I had it all covered. I was a little nervous when queueing as I worked out how long we'd be out of the house. Luckily we had our order all prepared and I was able to bypass most of the queue. Once we had paid, I phoned home to check how things were going - my sixth sense must have been highly tuned as I usually leave my parents to it. Turns out that they'd only just managed to rescue James from his bedroom - he has finally worked out how to slide the lock that is inside his bedroom door and had locked himself in! I have been begging my husband to remove the lock for months now but neither of us thought James could actually reach it plus he has pretty poor motor planning and fine motor co-ordination so I didn't think he'd ever manage it. It took my dad coming up to talk to him to get him interested enough to slide the lock open - he wouldn't have understood anyone's instructions of how to slide the lock open again so it was the lure of his Dede that drove him enough to try to get out of his room. Somehow I guess we'll be spending the afternoon taking the lock off the door (and removing all the other sliding locks around the house), rather than assembling our wardobe!