We have just come back from a week in Portugal, we all had a fantastic time and Matthew surprised us all.  We had no problems getting him on the plane, last year he kicked and screamed.  He walked and walked and walked and went paddling in the sea.  He was well behaved 90% of the time, slept better, went on a Log Flume ride and even plucked up the courage to push most of our holiday party in the swimming pool, especially his Dad.  You should have seen the little Indian dance that he did afterwards.

We are coming up the our yearly review and we hope that he continues to have no reaction and that his GAG Levels continue to drop.  Everything is kept crossed.

Matthew is now 7 years old, with a very big personality and cheeky grin.

He never stops smiling, giggling and never sits still. He is always on the move and he is so curious about the world around him. His famous questions at the moment are “what are you doing?” and “where have you been?” our poor neighbours have no privacy what so ever. 

Matthew was finally statemented last year, which meant that we could transfer him from a main stream school to a special needs school, where they would teach him the all important life skills as well as the general school curriculum. We said an emotional goodbye to his old school at Christmas, with a week of parties and events. He loved them all and he received so many gifts from his friends and staff, we were quite overwhelmed. He started the January term at Pendle View Primary School and settled in so well, it was like he had been there for years. He continues to learn and surprises us daily with the comments he makes about general life. 

His health is still very good although he now wears double hearing aids. His gag levels have now dropped from 57 to 14.1 and still no reactions to the drug. He now has his treatment at home, which is a god send. We no longer have to make the weekly visit to the hospital. A wonderful home care nurse called Joanne comes to us. Matthew is now very relaxed and just gets on with it. 

We had a busy year with holidays, family events and school outings. Matthew was there for them all. We had a wonderful holiday in Spain in the summer and since then Matthew's confidence in the water has grown and grown. No problems with the plane and he even has got used to seeing people dressed up in costumes, such as Father Christmas. As Matthew gets older his understanding of the world is increasing so he is becoming less frightened. 

He now rides a two wheeled bike, a go kart and his friend’s trike. When he is out and about outside our house you have to watch your ankles. Sometimes I think it is us that needs to wear the helmet and knee pads and not Matthew. He takes no prisoners.

We have our yearly review coming up in June and we hope that he continues to improve and surprise us with his zest for life.