Been to the beach with Reilly tonight. He didn’t want to go to school this morning but I promised him when he came home we would go. Sun was shining and why the hell not!

He came straight home and emptied his school bag and packed it with essentials. Today that was a spoon out the kitchen drawer, the cup that holds the toothbrushes, suntan cream, a towel and his shorts.

We are incredibly lucky to have our beautiful coast 10 mins away. I love the sound of the sea it so peaceful until we arrive and the air is pierced with “Reilly that’s not your ice cream” “Reilly put that back” “Reilly not past your knees” “Reilly put your pants on”.

He loves it. I don’t care what others think. I made an observation tonight though which is important.

Reilly has a moment while we were there. He was starfished, pardon the pun, screaming, I couldn’t stand him up, pick him up or carry him. People look. Doesn’t matter if you are in a supermarket, on a bus or on a beach. I don’t care. I’m five years in. Someone irrelevant judging for a brief moment in time is not a battle for me. But those new to the journey wanting the quicksand to swallow them up what about them?

I’ve learned that judgement stops the second they see us signing. Literally from grimace to grin from urgh to ahhhh. Because they can see it. They go from throwing evils to being in awe of this beautiful boy. If you don’t know Makaton there are millions of vids on YouTube. The girls in our local Spar are picking up on Reilly’s for ice cream, please, thankyou etc

Next time your in a spot and feeling overwhelmed whack out some Makaton and watch the judgement shift. I guarantee it will. Failing that show them the finger and crack on regardless ❤️