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So then. I suppose I should update you all on how Tuesday went, as it seems to be a matter of some interest :)
Tuesday was my 33rd birthday and I had the best birthday present ever! I saw Rhiannon and Chandler!
I arrived at the CAFCASS office at 10.15am and the kids turned up at 10.30am. They walked in with the CAFCASS officer - Chandler said "Hello" and walked over to see me straight away. Rhiannon said hello, gave me a little smile and sat down on the other side of the room.
Within minutes, both of them were involved with playing - Chandler with cars and Lego and Rhiannon doing drawings (she started to play with a dollshouse, but moved to art pretty quickly). Chan was soon giggling away as we joked about putting little Lego men in the boot of car and with me suggesting farm animals instead. It was great to hear him chuckling away. His speech has come on tremendously and he only lost me a couple of times.
Rhiannon told me about her new school and some stories about some the other children in her class. She seems to be enjoying herself there, so thats good. Rhiannon said a few things during the hour that seemed to be trying to get a reaction from me, but I let them go. Then, within a few minutes, she came over to me, got my attention and told me what really happened. This of course, was all in front of the CAFCASS officer.
Chan seemed pretty confused when he turned up. It was obvious from his manner that he remembered that he knew me, but didn't know exactly who I was. But after about 20 minutes, he started remembering things. We were playing and he suddenly said "Diggers", to which I replied "You like diggers?". He nodded and said "Window. Diggers in window. Bedroom"... as he used to watch the diggers going past the house from my bedroom window. A few minutes later he looked at me and said "Daddy". My heart burst! He followed up with "Daddy. Bedrooms. Lots of stairs" as he'd obviously remembered that our bedrooms were on the 3rd floor and that there were obviously lots of stairs.
We spent a great hour together, talking about all sorts of things, playing and it was totally relaxed. When it was time for them to go, I helped them get their shoes on and gave them each a little present - Chan got a truck and Rhiannon got a Piglet Pencil case. Chan then said "Your car?" to which I had to tell him that no, they were going in mummy's car. "Go your house?" was his next question to which Rhiannon piped up "Yeah. We can go to your house". Of course, I had to tell them that they were going home with mummy, to which they didn't look too impressed. They both wanted to see me and come home.
When they left the room, I sobbed my heart out. I'd managed to keep everything in check, as when they walked in the room, I really wanted to pick them and never let them go - but that would have just freaked them out!
A truly fantastic thing - seeing them like that. They were pleased to see me (probably not as pleased as I was) and we started off like we had never been apart - which gave me a great feeling inside. They were both well, looked great and smelt like my kids (if you are a parent, you will know what that means). A great day!
It's now a matter of waiting for the court date (probably at the beginning of September once all the reports have been filed, etc) and then I should hear the outcome of the CAFCASS report. Wish me luck :)
For those of you that come here for other reasons than reading about my life trials and tribulations - here is a link to wedding cake made from donuts
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