351 + 247 Weeks

Boy, has it ever been a tough week, and I was just thinking about how deceiving all of my photos are!  It looks like our week has been full of laughs and good cheer, when in reality it has been so tough!  I knew that Arley was going to hit a rough patch with this new protocol that we are doing - the rough patch is supposed to be from a few weeks to about six weeks long, different for every kid.  He has been on the full dose of his supplements for two and a half weeks.  And he is obnoxious, antagonistic, buzzing with energy, rude, impulsive, lashing out...pretty much everything that we have been struggling with over the past year, all at the same time.  I can't imagine how he must be feeling himself, the poor guy.  It is tough for all of us, but it must be really hard for him, feeling this way all of the time.  In his down time, he is still very sweet and apologetic, so I am hanging on to those moments and trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It is really difficult to rationalise his behaviour, because I know he hates all the chaos, but he is the one creating it.  He has had some lovely moments - he has been enjoying doing lots of cutting and pasting crafts this week, and he has had some really good plays with his friend Jemma.  Poor Carmie is just trying to avoid him so that she doesn't get hurt, as she often bears the brunt of his wrath.  I just hope that this protocol is worth it all.  He is supposed to come out the other side being very calm and clear and focused, so fingers crossed.

Carmie surprised me by levelling up in swimming this week.  She was the youngest in her class already, and not the strongest swimmer, but apparently her stroke is really good and she needs to swim longer distances, so her teacher moved her up.  We had our Saturday night beach dinner, and Lolo and Dida came too, which was a surprise and very nice.  The kids and I have been home a fair bit too, but we have spent a lot of time outside so the kids could play on the climbing frame, and lots of scooting in the cul-de-sac.  Yesterday we skipped radio because it was such a lovely day, and we opted to go to Dolphin Point for a picnic lunch and some exploring.  It was SO beautiful out there.  The kids got to watch the fisherman gut the fish and feed the gulls and pelicans, which they loved.  It is moments like those that make me so thankful that we have made the decision to keep the kids from school.  Getting the beaches and waterways to ourselves for exploring is pretty amazing.

Anyway, the Easter bunny is coming on Sunday, and the kids are a little concerned about not being able to eat chocolate this year.  So, Carmie wrote the Easter bunny a letter...we will see how this pans out!

350 + 246 Weeks

We have had such crazy weather this week, from a heatwave to freezing cold and rainy.  Carmie spent two more nights sleeping in the tent outside on her own.  I can't believe how brave she is!  There are bats in our back yard, and they are so loud at night, I don't know how she wasn't scared.  The only reason she is not still sleeping out there now is because the tent blew over!

On Saturday I took the kids to a friend's birthday party.  He had a jumping castle, and the kids had fun, despite the heat.  They were so good about not eating the food, but they both insisted on sniffing all the candy!  They both got to eat a cupcake, but then it gave Carmie a tummy ache :(.  Even so, just tonight they have eaten their first piece of bread in five months.  I have been on the fence about it, but we are just going to see how it goes.  Anyway, on Saturday night we had another beach dinner, and that was also lovely.  The kids got down to their knickers and paddled in the ocean.  I'm not quite sure what Bella got into that night, but she stank so badly of rotten fish on the way home that we had to give her a very long shower, with two shampoos.

Sunday was the crazy heatwave.  I went to the gallery for the morning, but of course no-one was out shopping so I got to leave early and hole up in the house with Jeff and the kids.  It was too hot to go out.  We played games with the kids and watched a movie.

On Monday it was the most beautiful weather, so we made the most of it and took our beach shade and chairs to the beach, so we could stay the whole afternoon.  It was such an amazingly beautiful day, and there was hardly anyone on the beach.  We took our boogie board, and Carmie loved it.  She learned to catch a wave, and literally spent all afternoon on the board.  Arley played in the sand and dug holes, and he and I went for a walk and we saw an octopus swim past us.  The day was such a last hurrah for summer.

On Tuesday the rain came, and the weather got cold.  We stayed inside and read and coloured and played games.  The kids made a very inconvenient 'secret hideout' which was not so secret - basically a bunch of cushions, pillows and books under our craft table.  They made signs for it, and it was quite cute, but I had to get them to pack it away after two days, because I couldn't stand the mess and not being able to use the table.  Somehow on Tuesday afternoon time got away from me, and I was reading the clock wrong, so Carmie missed her swimming lesson.  It would have done them both good to get their bodies moving too, because it rained for all of Wednesday as well.  They went to Lolo and Dida's though, so I could get some painting done.

Today Carmie went with a friend up to do her radio program, while Arley and I stayed home and had some time together.  This afternoon, Carmie went to Japanese class, and I took Arley and Jemma to the scooter track.  Carmie is loving Japanese.  She can't say much, but she does lots of origami, and today she learned how to write some words in Japanese characters.

Arley has been rather difficult to handle these last few days.  He is very argumentative and buzzing with energy.  I'm sure it has something to do with being holed up because of the rain, and fingers crossed he gets easier as the weather gets better.  I completely lost the plot on him this morning, but I have to say he was most deserving of it!  I think part of his problem is boredom.  He needs to be doing something at all times.  He just loves to colour in, but often he wants company, and I can't sit with him all the time.  We tested his reading age this week, and it is 8 years and 2 months.  Bloody smart kid.  We also tested Carmie's again, and hers is 11 years 5 months.  Carmie has been doing these retained reflexes exercises for almost a month now, and they are really helping with her coordination.  She still doesn't like to sit and do table time, but I'm done fighting it - for now at least :)

Arley's completed colouring page.  He is so proud.

 Saturday night beach dinner

 Monday at Mollymook

 Their 'secret hideout'

 I asked Carmie how she knew how to spell 'people', and she told me Arley wrote this!!

 They still love their Magnatiles!

349 + 245 Weeks

So, everyone in the States changed their clocks this past weekend...and my husband, being American, thought we changed ours too.  On Saturday night we had what we thought was our last beach dinner for the summer, and that night we set all the clocks back and looked forward to our extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning.  It took us a few hours to realise that we were still on daylight savings time.  Ha ha, silly Jeffrey.  But our 'last' beach dinner was lovely, and the kids were sandy monsters.  

On Sunday we went to little Jemma's birthday party.  All of the kids were surprised with two ponies (well, one was dressed up as a unicorn) for pony rides.  Carmie was really excited, Arley not so much.  His anxiety ramped up, and he started behaving horribly.  I kept him separated, but he was being really awful, because he was scared they were going to make him 'ride a horse'.  And you should have seen the size of these ponies, one wasn't much bigger than him!  His bad behaviour lasted a good 45 minutes, and I just spent the time trying to calm him down and convincing him that he didn't have to ride.  He got adventurous and gave the littlest pony a pat, and then all of a sudden he told me that he wanted to ride.  So he faced his fears and got on the tiny unicorn pony!  Jeff and I were so proud, and the kids were so cute being led around.  And after Arley's pony ride, all of his anxiety was gone, and he was brilliant, no bad behaviour it all.  Such proof to me that so much of what we deal with is anxiety-based.

We spent a lot of the week inside, only going to things that we have previously signed up for, like gym and swimming.  It was a good balance and nice not to be totally busy.  The kids have been a little frenetic this week - Carmie a little emotional, and Arley stimming and with too much energy.  Annoyingly his stim is grabbing my butt and squeezing and pinching it.  Funny for others, yes, but really really annoying for me!!  Yesterday we had a bigger day - Carmie decided not to go to radio because her friend wasn't going, so instead we took Bella for a run at Collers beach.  The kids were fully clothed, as it wasn't a very hot day.  Carmie ended up stripping down bit by bit until she was skinny dipping :)  I should know better than not to put her in her swimmers!  After our beach play, Carmie had Japanese class, while Arley scooted on the track.  They also have garden beds available for groups at the Dunn Lewis Centre, so our little homeschool group got some of the beds, and we planted them with beets and lettuce, kale and cauliflower yesterday.  

To keep the kids occupied a bit this week, I set up our 6-man tent in the back yard.  While it is killing our grass, the kids think it is the coolest thing.  They tried to sleep out there one night, and they made it to 10pm.  Then we saw them with their little flashlights coming inside.  But last night, Carmie decided she was sleeping out there alone, so after Arley went to bed, she gathered her stuff and out she went.  Jeff and I thought there was no way she would last, but she wondered in at 8:30 this morning with a big smile on her face.  And it was windy and rainy last night too!  I joined her for a couple of hours, but even I didn't make it through the night!  Brave little miss.

Arley is reading brilliantly, but he won't read for Jeff, so I videoed it for him.  When Arley was younger, I was worried about how to teach him to read, as Carmie taught herself so young, I felt inept.  But it appears Arley has the reading-early gene too, as he has taught himself and I haven't had to do a thing!

Here is a video of my smart little guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfnQpavttoE

Our 'last' beach dinner

The cutest kids on the cutest ponies :)

Two little readers in their tent.

From clothes to naked!

Watering our beets