329 + 225 Weeks

We have had a pretty good week this week.  We have been working on separation anxiety with Arley, and he's doing pretty well!  One day he heard Jemma our little neighbour calling for him, so he went over to her house, by himself without Carmie, for over an hour!  I think it's the first time in his life he's been without me, Carmie, Jeff or Lolo.  And he only came home when I went to get him for lunch.  He did walk in the door and have a minor meltdown, but he has trouble with transitions, so I should have expected that.  But that's pretty big for him :)

We also decided to give Judo a try this week, as we are trying to find a sport the kids love (besides swimming), as well as a place for Arley to get his frustration out.  When we got there, it took six or seven attempts just to get Arley in the front door.  Carmie was also nervous.  I sat down on the mat with them, but then as soon as the class started, Arley bailed.  He wasn't sure how to bow, and got nervous and then he told me it was too loud, and asked for his headphones.  He sat out the class.  Carmie braved it, even though she can't somersault to save her life (which is what they were doing), and then she hurt her finger and bailed the class too!  Dismal failure.  And in watching the rest of the class, I have realised that it is too physical for Arley, so we are going to try karate next.

This week we got to Mollymook beach for a play and a bit of a rock climb.  It is so lovely, as the weather is amazing and there is just no one on the beach during the week.  We also went to a playgroup up at St. Mary's school, as little Jemma goes there, and she wanted Arley to come.  They have a big bouncy pillow there, so Carmie was happy enough, and then she sat in the shade and read her book while Arley had a good play.  Afterwards I took the kids to see Ulladulla lighthouse, because I realised they had only ever seen a lighthouse in their Roblox computer game, which is just silly as there is one right down the road!  And then after that, we had little Jemma over for an afternoon play with Arley.  Today we met up with our homeschool buddies to play ball games at the basketball court at Mollymook beach.  The kids had so much fun running around and getting their energy out.  Arley wandered off for a bit on his own, and got extremely frustrated when he couldn't hit the ball with a tennis racket, but we got through it.  Carmie was smiling and laughing the whole morning.  After playing, I took the kids to their dental appointment, and both were rock stars.  Arley's front teeth are going grey and have cracks in them, from when Carmie hit him in the mouth with the car door.  And he is going to need a palette expander in a few years, which I am sure he won't be thrilled about.  But for now, their teeth are clean and cavity free.

This afternoon Carmie asked to do a lesson about volcanoes, so I sat down with the kids to draw a volcano with them, with the intention of labelling the different parts.  Carmie just took off on her own and did an 'artistic version', while Arley sat with me and drew a volcano!  I had to put the pencil in his hand, but then he very patiently copied what I was doing.  I couldn't believe it!  This is from the boy who can barely draw a circle.  I literally went into the study on my own so he wouldn't see me trying not to cry.  It sounds so silly, but it is such a big achievement.  And he is also starting to learn to read. He has been able to read simple words like cat and dog for about a year, but suddenly he wants to do it, and keeps asking me what things say.  And Carmie, well she just finished her 201st novel, and this doesn't include all the books she has read two, three and four times.  Champion!

 Afternoon bike riding.  In pyjamas.

 Arley and his buddy Jemma

 They LOVE this game of Junior Monopoly.  And Arley is taking turns like a champion!  He still claims that he is the winner even when he is not, but better than him going bananas when he loses!

 Writing her sign for her monster cafe

 Play date with Jemma

 Homies

 Arley's volcano picture.  His first real drawing.  :)  :)

328 + 224 Weeks

Well, our new diet is in full swing, and the kids are handling it remarkably well.  I am pretty much baking every day.  They hated my muesli bars (and of course I made a double batch!), but other than that, we have done pretty well.  We even went to two birthday parties on Sunday, and came away with Carmie only eating one tiny cupcake.  The first birthday party was down at the Bogey Hole at Mollymok Beach, and the second was at a park in Narrawallee.  By the time we hit the second party, Arley was a bit overs, so he spent the whole time sitting on a picnic rug playing my phone with headphones on.  The good news is that he knows when he has had enough, and goes into his own little 'phone with headphones' zone.  Carmie had a blast though.  Except for the longing and crying at the food table!  But she was happy after her little cupcake.

On Tuesday we met up with out homeschool buddies down at the rock pools at Ulladulla sea pool.  There were bluebottles everywhere, so my friend Deb called her marine biologist buddy, and he came down and gave us a lesson on bluebottles, as well as all of the other sea creatures that we could find.  It was awesome!  He's like the Bear Grills of the ocean.  The kids were all scouring the rock pools and picking up crabs to study them, and they were making cave paintings on the rock walls.  Such a great day, and such a hands-on way for the kids to learn.

Today my friend Kylie brought her son Finn over to have a play with Arley.  It's so nice to have another mum to chat with who is going through something similar!  As suggested by Arley's psychologist, for the next two weeks we are working on his separation anxiety with me, and to try to separate his nervous system from my own.  He is my little shadow, and won't do anything without me, or let me do anything without him, so we are working on giving us some space in small increments.  We also have to get Carmie to stop riling him up, as she loves to do it and then when she's had enough, she stops and leaves him hanging.  But the good news is they're playing together a whole lot more.  Carmie is very sweet and understanding about everything, so I don't think it will be too difficult.

Jeffrey is enjoying his new job, and I am taking a break from painting for a while, as I have finished all of the work for my show which is going to be hung on the 31st.  It is really nice to have a break from painting, and I can get our schedules organised a little better.  The kids are spending less time on their iPads, which is a really good thing too!

Arley got all fancied up for the birthday parties :)

 Carmie and her little buddy Delphi determined to give me a heart attack.

 Arley and his mate Jasper

 So much fun with a cardboard box!  By the way, I LOVE my new Instant Pot!

 Our marine biology rock pool day

 A crab lesson

 Homies scouring the rock pools

 Arley played with this little dog for ages!

 My little shadow

327 + 223 Weeks

This has been an interesting week.  Firstly, we have been making some drastic changes to our diet, for the sake of Arley.  One of his doctors has suggested going gluten and dairy free, so we are giving it a shot, at least for the time being.  I have been researching a lot about glutamate and what excess glutamate can do, and it has been linked to autism and ADHD, among other things, so we are trying to get rid of the excess glutamate from Arley's (and our) diet.  The problem is, glutamate is in EVERYTHING!  Literally, it's in 95% of all packaged food.  So, I have raided our pantry and given away our food, and we are making everything from scratch except for the gluten free pasta. The kids cried and cried when I told them their candy collection was going. But today they both helped me make some gluten free ginger cookies which they are very happy with.  Our diet essentially consists of fruit, veggies, rice, nuts and seeds, and some gluten free flours, and whatever I can make from all of the above.  We will try this for several months and then slowly add in different food items to see if it makes a difference.  We have seen a difference in Arley's behaviour already - the last two days he only had one meltdown a day, both towards bedtime when he was tired.  It will be interesting to see how this goes.  He also had his best OT session yet on Wednesday.  We have finished the brushing every two hours, but his OT suggested that we brush him on and off throughout the day.  He only let me do it once today though, so I'm not sure if we will continue.  There's no point if it makes him angry.

We are still spending lots of time at home, and I think we will be spending even more now that I have all of this cooking and baking to do.  But we did get out some.  We met our friends Kylie and Doug, and their kids Willow and Finn at the park in Milton for a Sunday night picnic dinner.  However, it started to rain, so everyone came back to our house for dinner here instead.  The only problem was that our water was shut off because Jeff had decided to fix the bathroom faucet that day and wasn't able to, so it just keep gushing water out of it until we turned the water off at the main.  Despite that, it was a lovely night, and we are so grateful to have found friends who have a daughter Carmie's age and a son Arley's age, and they all like each other :)  On Monday it was a beautiful hot day, so Jeff and I took the kids to north Mollymook beach.  It was such a gorgeous day.  Arley wouldn't take his shoes off in the sand (despite all the brushing therapy we did!), but we are working on it.  Carmie just loves the ocean, and could have spent hours running in and out of the waves.  On Tuesday went to the library and met our homeschool friends for lunch.  We took Bella for a walk, and Carmie only realised halfway through that she was still in her pyjamas, her standard attire.  These days she is either in pjs or a shirt and her undies.  Her reading was insatiable this week - on Monday night I went in to check on her before I went to bed.  She was still up reading, at 11pm!  She was finishing up a 500 page book (with a few illustrations, so probably a 300 page book really) that she started at lunch while we were at the beach!  Since then I have seen her finish another novel, and then tonight at bedtime she was saying that she didn't know what book to read.  I told her to read the fairy book that we got from the library (two days ago).  But she said she has already read it!  It is mind boggling to me.  And I am so so so jealous too!  I wish I had the leisure to lie around reading all day!

We also did an art project this week, and we worked on a few things to improve Arley's fine motor skills. He was able to copy me in drawing a picture, which is a first step in him drawing on his own.  I still had to put the pen in his hand, but he was really happy with his results.  

And, the other news is that Jeff has a new job.  We are SO happy about it - it has been a really long time coming!  He is working at the Mollymook Golf Club, doing their stock taking, and receiving and distributing goods, and whatever else they need.  He enjoys the work, it is good hours, they keep him busy, and his commute is about 3 minutes.  It is so good for him.  The kids are upset because they see him less now, and I am so much busier too, but it certainly brings more stability into our home :)

Creating their bird collage art project

 Home-made geoboards :)

 Carmie has started to learn the piano!

 The kids with their friend Willow

 Mine and Arley's drawing

Playing Bingo together.  Carmie left when Arley refused to accept her victory and covered all of his board in bingo chips.