When he got to about two , he hadn't spoke much at all, in fact he had said a few words, but then seemed to lose them again. I knew, having had three children before, that this wasn't just a 'twin thing' as some people kindly tried to reassure me and eventually, by the age of three, took him to the Doctor so we could look in to what was going on.
Within 20 minutes of being with a special speech therapist in a unit in Aberdeen, she told us that he didn't understand speech! Now there was a shock to the system.
It all made sense really, you could come in to a room while he was glued to the TV, staring intently and say to his back a few times "Caleb, we're going in the car". He wouldn't respond at all, but if you shook the bunch of car keys, he would jump round and allow you to pop his jacket on and off we would go.
Amazingly 'Mr Tumble' from Cbeebies was our saving grace. I came in to the living room one day to hear Caleb, my little mute child, singing the whole of the theme tune a long to Mr Tumble the clown who did Makaton, a sign language specially developed for people with special needs...it was incredible!
Since that point, Caleb has learnt to speak through the help of Makaton and visual aids and to see him now, though he is a year behind his 'younger' sister, you really wouldn't know that he has this problem. In fact he has just been chosen as a national finalist for a competition where he had to write about a person that inspired him and we should be heading off to Glasgow on June 16th for the finals!
I had been e-baying last week and bought a dress that I thought would just about manage to squeeze in to my ever expanding wardrobe...well, Phoebe's ever expanding wardrobe! When it arrived I noticed a little disclaimer on the delivery note that said ' you might want to pin the cleavage as it can gape a little'.
When I tried it on , I laughed to myself, thinking that the poor last owner mustn't have had as magnificent a bosom as me. It fitted wonderfully with no gaping and I was very chuffed at my £4 bargain.
On the morning of Ryan and Samantha's wedding it was chucking it down, I mean real straight up and down, ploppy rain. I had been up early getting Kim and Robert's blog done, only to realise that not only did Phoebe have her 'Wizard of Oz' rehearsals at school, but I had run out of bread, milk, cereal and chewy bars, the main staples of the Wiseman children's diet. After a quick shower, I dropped Phoebe off at school and ran through the rain to Tesco, thankful that I hadn't dried my hair and only hoping that added rainwater would add an extra conditioning factor to my just washed locks.
I got home with plenty of time to dry the rain off and transform myself in to a wedding guest!
As you know I try to get a picture of myself in my outfit for all of you people in Blog land and it is a constant bug bear to my older sons, who hate this task. Usually Caleb and Phoebe are up at Grandma's by the time I get ready but this day, they had decided to stay at home so I thought I'd get Caleb to do the deed.
I walked in to the living room and did a twirl...." How do I look?", I asked him.
He scrutenised me for a minute and with a totally serious face said " You look like Elsa from Frozen" and then went back to watching TV.
Me, me? I look like Elsa? Every little girl's dream? This was fantastic....my son is a total genius!
We arrived at the Springs where we were getting a bus to Fyvie castle and the windscreen wipers were going full pelt. We watched Jillian holding a huge umbrella trying to shelter guests as they ran through the rain to get on to the bus and contemplated waiting a few minutes to see if the rain would die down a little.....well, it didn't....I wrapped my pashmina over my head and ran to the bus door.
After a sponge down with a few hankies, we were all setting off for Fyvie where thankfully it eased up a bit everyone could disembark without wedding hair getting ruined.
Nine years ago, almost to the day, Robin did his sixth wedding ever for Scott and Nina and I remember standing in the shower that morning, with the deafening sound of rain on the velux window above me and the amazing sound of thunder. It was a fantastic day and the photographer, Iain Bain, took beautiful shots of them down at Duff House reflected in the puddles, very clever.
Our own wedding day started the same way and it didn't phase me at all. There is something wonderful about rain falling and watering the earth, a real sign of growth and blessing. When you see the word 'rain' in the Bible, it is nearly always in conjunction with God's blessings being poured out with love to make things grow.
The ceremony was slightly delayed as the bride and a few of her party needed an urgent toilet stop, and as you can imagine, getting to the loo with your splendid wedding dress on can be no simple task, maybe it was all that water that set them off!
Ryan came in, looking very smart in his kilt, and patted his heart as he smiled at his friends and went to the front to wait for Samantha to arrive.
I was sitting in amongst some of their friends and while waiting could hear a comment behind me as they read through the order of service...
"Robin Wiseman?....is he not that guy who was on dancing on ice?"
Obviously with my Elsa dress on, Robin and make the perfect pairing....
Samantha came in on her Dad's arm, looking beautiful. Her dress was strapless, diamante and jewel encrusted the whole way down her bodice and swept out at the bottom , with her veil flowing right to the end of her train. Many of her friend's welled up with tears, as they have known Samantha from school and she is rarely seen out of jeans and a football shirt...what a transformation.
We heard how they had met when Mr Ainslie, the maths teacher put them together in class. Six years later, here they were taking their vows in this wonderful setting. As Robin said, that wasn't the part that mattered, as beautiful as it was, the important fact was that they were making this commitment before God and all their family and friends.
Two years ago our daughter Ellie married Conor, the love of her life and there were many who questioned them making this commitment at such a young age. Like Samantha and Ryan, they have the whole hearted love and support of both their families and they know that they can turn to any of us at any time. Sometimes it's right to wait and sometimes, you just know that this is the person you want to be in it for the long haul with, no matter what life brings, so it was lovely to see how relaxed and happy both couples were on this hugest of days.
Champagne and canapes were served in the 'Raquet court' round the back of the castle and we enjoyed a seat and chatting with friends as the rain held off for some photos to be taken.
It was only then that I glanced down at my dress and saw that, indeed, the cleavage did gape, quite a bit! I managed to pull it together and after a quick visit to the ladies to sort my tights that were slowly sliding down to my thighs, I managed to avert another outfit disaster.
Ronnie and Helen, Ryan's Granda and Grandma, live just over the road from us and it was great to spend time with them and the family on this special day. We managed to catch Ryan when Samantha was off getting her pictures taken, for a quick pic with the Vicar.
The bus hadn't arrived when we walked back round at setting off time but the oyster catcher was still in residence, in it's flower planter, allowing me a good close up...must be getting used to it's celebrity status.
The rain came on again as we all waited and it was lovely to see folks sharing umbrellas and offering coats to protect delicate fabrics and fabulous hairdos.
We had a lovely bus ride back to the Springs, both agreeing that when the time comes to get our free bus passes, we will have a great life travelling about , with someone else to do the driving!
Back in Banff and seated in the bar with friends John and Brenda, we noted that the ground was totally dry in Banff, not a puddle to be seen...the rain had followed us to Fyvie obviously.
As there were 200 guests, the function suite was full to capacity and we were sitting with a table who's name I can't pronounce. They were all named after ski resorts, as Ryan and Samantha are keen skiers, so as I sat down and saw the icy trees with crystal snowflakes, I knew that my dress was the perfect choice.
The cake was magnificent too, a structural work of art and the new Mrs and Mrs West were announced through and did a quick cut before sitting down.
We had some lovely company at our table, especially a fellow medical receptionist ( who wishes to remain nameless!) , who I had loads in common with as we chatted about the difficulties of making people believe how kind hearted and sweet we receptionists can be!
Ian, Samantha's Dad, spoke of how welcome Ryan was to the family and how close he and Beverly are to Elaine and Derek, Ryan's parents. Robin and I have a great relationship with Ellie's in-laws, Lorna and Simon and I know what a difference this can make for family harmony.
The staff were fantastic, managing the large number of guests with ease and it was great to see Robert back from his holidays as he has been absent from the last few weddings. I had to ask him about a Face Book post he had put up where he and his partner got off a train on their trip away and realised that they had the wrong case. Someone had got off earlier taking their case, which was almost identical, instead. On opening the bag they discovered that it was full of Bibles!! This made them quite hopeful that the offender, obviously a God fearing individual, would get Robert's designer gear back to them safely, but sadly the Bible smuggler preferred Robert's Prada shirts to God's word as the case has never been returned!
A bit late in schedule, the band, Karmarockets, who had been brought up specially from Edinburgh, started to set up as we were having a lovely cup of tea and we all cleared out to let the staff set up for the dance.
Robin's 99th wedding was Grant and Christine and it was fantastic to see them and Riley their son come in for the evening, especially as Christine is due a little brother or sister for Riley in the late summer. Riley insisted it was going to be a sister and told me all about the baby he had see in " Mummy's fat tummy".
The rain stayed off for a few more family shots with the Banff links in the background and I managed to get Ryan and Samantha to pose for me. I was scared I might not get a photo of them together as the day had been so busy.
A splendid sparkling white, Frozenesque, dancefloor had been put in place and I tried to get a picture but was photobombed by these two ladies ( Jillain and Louise) who took 30 seconds out of their busy day for a quick picture.
...and after the happy couple danced to 'Thinking out loud' , sang beautifully by the band, everyone joined in and the dance floor was full from the very start.
After a bit of a boogie, we found Ryan and said our farewells to everyone, thanking them for a fantastic day and allowing us to be with them for it all.
The rain didn't dampen this special day in any way at all. And I can be sure that it signified the huge blessing on the new Mr and Mrs West's life. A bit like Elsa would say..."The cold doesn't bother me anyway". x
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