Miss T's 5th birthday - Great Ormond Street, Pescatori and The LEGO store

After writing up J's belated birthday post the other day, I realised I was even further behind with writing up Miss T's birthday from way back in April! I did write up her Miffy cake blogpost but not what she got up to on her actual birthday...(Warning...this is a photo-heavy post!)

Peter Pan Statue at GOSH

One of the downsides about having Juvenile Arthritis is hospital appointments - and lots of them. I recently wrote about how a week in the life of a child with JIA can look and it's often filled with appointments with various doctors, eye consultants, physiotherapists, and more.

Miss T's podiatry appointment at Great Ormond Street hospital came through for the same day as her birthday. As appointments there are in such high demand, you take what you're given and even though it meant paying a small fortune for peak train tickets as the appointment was in the morning, and spending part of her birthday in the hospital, we knew we had to go rather than risk a big delay in trying to change the appointment. Her podiatry appointment was actually due in January so it was already later than scheduled.

As it fell in the Easter holidays, we decided we would all go to London and make a day of it. We booked a meal at Pescatori for lunch (which was a wonderful prize I'd won with SquareMeal last year but we hadn't found a time we could take it until now). Pescatori is an Italian seafood restaurant in London's Fitztrovia district.

This obviously isn't a review post so I'll let the photos speak for themselves...in short the food, service and ambience was fabulous at Pescatori. It's also worth mentioning that even if you're not a big seafood fan, then there are enough other amazing choices on the menu to have a wonderful meal.

Olive fan!

The zucchini / Courgette fries are a MUST! 

a birthday message and candle for Miss T was a lovely touch! 

Magical private dining room downstairs! 

In the afternoon, we took Miss T to the LEGO store in Leicester square after seeing it featured on the LEGO Christmas programme, as Miss T ADORES all things LEGO. She loves the visits we've had to LEGOland and our hotel stays there (you can read about them here, here and here and she's desperate to go back again), she loves making things with LEGO with daddy, she loves watching the LEGO movie, I think you get the picture!

I'm on the mailing list to get LEGO press releases and although the things that get sent are interesting, they rarely really catch my eye amongst the 300 or so emails that hit my inbox each day. But one recent one really did...and as this post talks about Miss T's JIA, it seems relevant and hugely worthy of a mention here. It talks of an inspiring young lad.

I was impressed when I read that he was a blackbelt at age 8 - the World's youngest! Both J and D used to do karate sessions when they were younger and I know how much effort and discipline it takes to do well in it.

And then when I read about this amazing young lad, Jake Frood (or should I say Master Jake Frood), having Juvenile arthritis, well the tears started flowing.

Just like Miss T, "At just the age of 2 years old he was unable to walk without experiencing extreme pain." the press release read.

It is such a massive encouragement for parents and children with JIA to see kids like Jake. He is a huge role model and we applaud him for overcoming so much and doing so well.

At the CCAA conference we attended recently, there was a fair bit of chat about how kids with JIA need a role model, firstly to help raise awareness that children can and do get arthritis. Secondly to give them hope - with successful treatment and a positive mindset, they can achieve anything!

Finally it was time for a spot of present opening at home. The amazing Dick Bruna parcel from our friends at Gifts from the Pirates was a massive hit with Miss T.