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