368 + 264 Weeks

It's been a busy week - we had another open house on Saturday.  The kids stayed at their grandparents' the night before so Jeffrey and I could get the house ready.  We aren't doing it again, we don't think these open houses are worth it!  The kids were a nightmare when we picked them up, from too much television watching.  Both kids lost the plot at the beach afterwards, and Arley was a mess until late that night.  Too much screen time is way too damaging :(.  On Sunday the kids and I decided we were going to attempt to scoot into town (I walked).  We all desperately needed some exercise, so I tempted them with these iceblocks they can eat.  They scooted all the way in, and when we got there, the cafe was closed!  I was fully expecting Arley to have a meltdown, but he handled it really well.  We ended up going to buy ice-cream instead - their first ice-cream in about nine months I think.  They weren't allowed to get any that had horrible food colouring in it, so they both chose vanilla, and they were so happy!  That's not to say we will scoot into town again, as Arely thought it was all too exhausting.  He made me carry his scooter all the way home.  It was all uphill, so not as fun as I had thought!

On Monday the kids had one last play with their schooled neighbour friends.  It was a long afternoon play, and now the kids are missing them so much.  On Tuesday all the school kids went back to school after their winter break, so when Jeff got home from work, we went for a picnic lunch to the Bommie, the beach in Ulladulla.  It was such a lovely warm winter day, and we had the place to ourselves.  It is so amazingly beautiful down there, and the kids love it because there are so many little rock ledges to climb on, and we even discovered a proper cave.  It was tons of fun exploring, and exactly what we needed.

Wednesday is my work day, and the kids spent the day with their dad.  He took them to the park at Narrawallee to fly paper airplanes and have a play.  Arley has a really hard time separating from me, and found it very difficult to decide whether he should stay with me and be bored in the studio, or go have fun at the park with Dad and Carmie.  Today Arley started this program called the School Readiness program, which is essentially for kids on the spectrum to get ready to go to school.  I have him signed up for it not because he is going off to school, but to try to get him separating from me in small increments.  It's not the same when he goes to my parents' house - he needs separation in unfamiliar environments, to try to build up his confidence level.  I'm not sure about the program.  It has everything in it that I dislike about school (which is why we are homeschooling in the first place). They were also treating the kids like they were three years old, and having Arley find his name by telling him to find the letter A in it.  They didn't bother to find out what level the kids were at.  Arley didn't love it either.  I think I need to find another outlet where he can separate from me but in a nicer environment.

Carmie is a doll, except for her resistance to wearing winter clothes.  She would much rather wear summer clothes and insist that we accomodate her by having the heaters on all day!  It's been driving us crazy.  Apart from this, she has been lovely, as always.  She is starting drama class on Monday of next week, and is looking forward to her other activities starting.  She went to Scouts again on Wednesday, and still loves it :)

Satisfied ice-cream bellies

 Heading to the Bommie

367 + 263 Weeks

We have had a great week, which is so nice to say!  On Friday the kids went to a joint birthday party of two friends, which was also held at the NAIDOC festival (in recognition of aboriginal and islander people, for those of you not in the know).  The festival was great - there was t-shirt painting, arts and crafts, music and dancing, a jumping castle, motorcycle rides for three people at a time, Australian animals.  The kids loved it!  Arley could have stayed on the jumping castle all day.  He was a bit overwhelmed for the first fifteen minutes of the festival/party and demanded to be taken home, but he settled in soon enough.  It was the crowds and noise, I think.  Carmie got her craft on and was very content.

We also looked after our friends' dog Casper this weekend.  Casper is a whippet, and a real sweetheart, and Bella was so happy to have a friend.  The kids loved having two dogs, and the pressure was off Bella to be Arley's full-time entertainment and punching bag.  On Saturday we took the dogs to Collers Beach for an exploration, and then on Sunday we took them for a bushwalk at Narrawallee.  The hike is lovely down there, and we plan on doing it more often.  The dogs sniffed out an echidna, which the kids thought was very cute indeed.  It was curled up into a ball so we didn't get to see its face though.

On Monday and Tuesday Carmie went to an all-day drama workshop.  There were about twelve kids, including her bestie Hannah.  Carmie absolutely loved it.  At the end of the second day, they put on a 15 minute play about Tutankhamen and ancient Egypt.  Carmie had a bit of stage fright and was very nervous for the first half, but got more comfortable in the second half, and she was very cute as an Egyptian mummy.  She wishes she could go every week, but they only hold the workshop during the school holidays, so we are going to look for some other weekly program for her, I  think.

We had our first open house on Saturday.  The kids stayed with Mum and Geoff on Friday night so Jeff and I could get the place ready.  The open house went really well, but no takers yet.  We have another one scheduled for this Saturday, as well as next.

Today we had the homeschooling registrar come to our house to register Arley for homeschooling and to re-register Carmie.  It involved me preparing an outline of what the kids will learn in the year ahead, and showing him all of the things we have done this past year.  The interview went well, and he was blown away by both of the kids reading skills :)

Arley's behaviour has been a little better this week.  I have thought of a new discipline tactic - whenever the kids (or mostly just Arley!) do anything naughty, they get a warning. If they don't comply, they lose five minutes off their bedtime.  Win win!!!  Arely so far has lost between 20 and 25 minutes each night, except for yesterday when he only lost 5.  But it's the best 'punishment' ever!  Jeffrey and I get more peace at the end of the day, and the kids read more (they get to read as long as they like in bed at night), and get more rest too.  Ingenious!

Arley face to face wth a wombat at the NAIDOC festival

We got to ride on a motorcycle - the kids loved it!

There is an echidna in there

Besties

Carmie, the cutest mummy ever :)

366 + 262 Weeks

School holidays have started here, which for us means no swimming lessons, Japanese class or Scouts.  And I am loving the break!  I don't know how other parents do it - the ones that send their kids to school and then to different activities every afternoon.  While the kids love their activities, it is so nice to have our days completely open.  We have had lunch at the harbour, the kids have spent a day at their grandparents' with a trip to the movies, we have had a play date with friends Willow and Finn at Narrawallee park...it has been lovely.  I have started walking with the kids in an effort to get a little fitter and to heal my ankle, and while I walk, they scoot, which is rather stressful but good exercise for all of us.  It's stressful because Arley has this insatiable need to be first.  Carmie's legs are longer, and she's more coordinated on the scooter, so she naturally cruises ahead, and then there's Arley bringing up the rear with his chubby little butt and his little leg pushing as hard and fast as possible.  And me running along behind screaming about where to stop and look for cars.  But still, it's worth it.  I think.

Arley has been really aggressive this week.  There has been lots of shouting from him, and foot stomping and defiance.  I started a chart where he gets a green dot for every lovely thing he does, and when he reaches 50 he gets a prize.  It has actually helped these last few days, and today there was hardly any shouting from him at all.  That's not to say that he was good, he cried for an hour and a half because I wouldn't turn the heater on (he was refusing once again to put on a sweater).  And he tried to bang my bedroom door down when I went into the bedroom for a break from his crying.  But for the rest of the day, he was an angel!  This afternoon I took the kids to the hairdresser (my friend Nikki) and we all had our hair cut.  Carmie got hers chopped off into a bob, and she looks so cute!  We have been considering it for a while - pretty much every morning while she's gripping her head and crying while I try as gently as possible to comb the tangles out.  But there will be tears no more!

Arley called Lolo tonight and asked if he and Carmie could have a sleepover there tomorrow night.  Heh heh, and I didn't even put him up to it!  It's good timing though, as we have our first open house on Saturday.  This whole house selling business is slightly stressful!

At his last swimming lesson for the term

This is how I found the kids when I woke up on morning.  So cute!  So peaceful!

Park play with Willow and Finn

Sassy new hairdo