381 + 277 Weeks

Boy, this has been a really big week.  We have had quite a bit of fighting between the kids - Arley misunderstands Carmie, Carmie doesn't back down and starts to whine, Arley lashes out and hits... It's been rather tumultuous.  Somehow Carmie still keeps her sweet nature, her patience and a smile on her face.  We had a family outing to Bawley point where there is a lovely park right next to the beach.  During the park play, Arley was so disregulated, so very angry, and so very mean to Carmie.  That continued for over an hour, and then we went for a walk on the beach.  A storm was coming, and there was all of this tension in the air.  He stood and watched the waves crashing with his dad, and somehow all of his own tension rolled away.  You never know what will work with him.  We spent about 40 minutes on the rocks, and it made the afternoon right again.

We also met up with homeschool friends for a play at Mollymook park.  It has been a while since we did that, and it was great - Carmie had a brilliant play, and Arley was Mr Independent.  I barely saw him - he only came over to check in with me a few times, and then he was off to play again.  This is a huge improvement to how he used to be, spending half his time by my side.  So that's a big plus.

On Monday the kids had horse riding, and still absolutely love it.  Arley started to learn how to steer the horse by himself, which he was very excited about.  Carmie walked her horse over a series of jumps, and she had the biggest smile on her face.  After horse riding, we had lunch at the bakery again, and then we went over to the kids' friend Aska's house, as I was photographing all of the kids for their Montessori brochure.  Carmie filled in as a Montessori child, and the kids had a really good play.  And after that, Carmie had two hours of drama!  A super long day.

Tuesday was a beautiful day, so Jeffrey and I took the kids to the beach - the Mollymook Bogey Hole.  I love it and hate it there.  The water is so peaceful and calm, but there is this giant rock there that the kids like to climb, and it scares the life out of me.  The big news for that day is that I was able to bribe Arley to take his sandals off.  For the second half of last summer he refused to take his shoes off at the beach, just like the summer before, and I haven't been able to get his shoes off him since, unless he is in the shower.  But I was actually able to bribe him with ten M&Ms (one for every toe that touched the sand!), and he went barefoot for two hours!  This was such a conquest for him, his OT couldn't believe it when I told her.  And then after the beach we went home for a rest, and then Jeff took Carmie to swimming, and I took Arley to try out Little Athletics.  And I didn't even have to bribe him!  He had a good time, but says he's not going to go back.  He did really well, enjoyed the activities and obstacle course, and ran two races, an 80m and a 60m.  He came second in the 80m, which was the first race he has ever done, and the kid who beat him was a giant!  I knew Arley was fast.  In the 60m race he didn't cross the finish line because right before he was going to cross, he beelined it sideways over to me instead!  He was all smiles, but said it was too tiring, and doesn't want to do it again.  I have a feeling the gun was making him nervous, because it was incredibly loud and he kept telling me that it scared him.  I was super proud of him for participating though.

On Wednesday the kids spent the day at Lolo's so that I could work, and then Carmie had Scouts, which was held at Funland this time.  And of course I couldn't send Carmie to Funland without Arley, so I had to go too, and take him.  This was from 5:30 to 7pm, right at dinner time.  The kids had an absolute blast, Arley made a new friend, and was fairly independent from me again, after a little time to warm up.  My whole night was thrown by the Funland outing though, and I feel like I'm still catching up!

Today was a tough one.  The kids had playgroup, and I met with Arley's OT there for a session.  Carmie was a little emotional and got hurt a couple of times, and I'm not sure if this set Arley off, but he had a HUGE meltdown at the end.  He had played wonderfully for an hour and a half, and then he lost the plot on Carmie.  He tried to hit her and was name-calling, and so I intervened, and then he lost it on me.  It was pretty awful, and his OT was trying to help, and between the two of us we couldn't get him to calm down and stop hitting and kicking.  The good news is that she had a really good look at what we go through sometimes, so hopefully she can come up with some more strategies for us.  She has also lined up for us to have in-home visits from a behaviour specialist, starting Friday of next week, so I am hopeful.  Therapy is full-throttle now: OT, psychologist, equine therapy, therapy playgroup, and now behaviour therapy.  We are giving this all we've got, it is so exhausting.

The good news is that right after his meltdown today, we had to get Carmie to Japanese, and when we got there, he sat with me and was completely calm.  Like, totally serene.  He ate a sandwich and read a book.  I then took him to his very first drama class on his own, and then picked him up with Carmie at the end.  His drama teacher said he was great, and he absolutely loved it.  I am so proud of him to do this on his own, it is huge.  But then afterwards he came home and was really disregulated again, with lots of shouting and some hitting too :(

So, it has been a really full week with some huge successes and some really big downs.

Carmie under her lovely new handmade quilt from Ciri.  I'm so thankful, she made one for each of the kids :)

 Picnic lunch at Bawley Reserve

 Carmie & Delphi

 Friends posing for Montessori shoot

Arley kicking butt in the 80m race

380 + 276 Weeks

What to say about this week?  It's hard to think straight, I am so tired tonight.  Our activities started up again, which means horse riding, swimming, Scouts, Japanese, drama, playgroup, therapy...the kids' fave is definitely horse riding.  They are both learning to trot, and they are looking so comfortable up there on the horse.  Afterwards we always go out to lunch at the Heritage Bakery, so Mondays are a real treat.

We took the kids to the Sculture at Petana exhibition.  The weather was pretty miserable, but we ate waffles at the cafe and then visited the sculptures.  I'm not too sure that the kids were ready for so much culture - they were rotten!  They wanted to climb on all of the sculptures and run rampant through the gardens.  We would have been better taking them to a park to get their energy out - but hey, I loved the sculptures, so it was worth it.

Arley has been a little better this week.  He is extremely quick to anger and get frustrated, and he has really been hitting, and hitting hard.  However, he has not been continually angry and oppositional, so I'll take that as a win.  His therapist met us today at playgroup, and she could not believe how well he separated from me and how regulated he was.  She thinks that now that he can separate from me more, we need to get him into more social activities without me being involved, and he will stretch his ability to self-regulate and that will carry over into the home.  So, he starts drama next week, and I'm going to try to come up with another activity for him to get up to.  Part of his problem is the dynamic between myself and himself, and spending more time away from me in a developmental environment could help.

Carmie has been a trooper this week.  She is so patient with Arley, despite the fact that he hurts her so often.  She has been doing a lot of colouring in, and we have some big plans for some cool craft activities that she wants to do.  I know I talk about her reading all of the time, but she is insatiable, and she tells me about books she read a year ago.  She read at least 6 books this week, and one of them was a 335 page novel!  Arley is reading up a storm too - he decided that he needed to get rid of all of the picture books in his room and fill his bookshelf with chapter books.  He also became obsessed with texting this week.  It started one morning with a text to Lolo, then to Oma, then on to Pop, and then my friend's daughter, and then Georgia, Sting and Jay.  And now he pretty much is texting all day long, and I sincerely apologise to any family members who get inundated!

Here is a video of Carmie learning to trot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NyqxJDHhw

379 + 275 Weeks

I have just attached a video to this post, but in doing so I somehow deleted all the words I had put in, so now I have to re-write, and I can't remember what I said!  So here's another re-cap of this week.  It was horrible weather for spring, with only a few days of sunshine.  We did a lot of indoor activities, including an obstacle course and lots of crafts.  Carmie did a two day drama workshop that ended in a fifteen minute performance.  She was the star of the show, if I don't say so myself!  The last time she did this workshop and performance, she was very timid, scared to sing and dance, and had a bit of stage fright.  Not this time!  She even placed herself front and centre.  So cute.  Her weekly drama sessions have really been paying off, and she has really gained confidence and come out of her shell. During her workshop I had two days with Arley, which was quite nice, and less challenging than when I have them both.  I took him down to the harbour for lunch one day, and we made friends with a large skink, and Arley loved it.

The kids also spent a night at Lolo and Dida's, and then the next day Jeffrey picked them up after lunch to take them to another drama workshop for the afternoon.  Arley partook in this one too, and the teacher said he was brilliant, with no anxiety or stress at all.  She said that she would not know that he had any difficulties or differences at all if I hadn't mentioned it, and that made me so happy I got teary.  He even wants to start drama on his own next week!!  While he was wonderful at the workshop, he was still difficult at home.  I have found that I have been able to handle him better this week though.  I have been able to keep my cool, which makes things easier.  And he has learned to tell the time this week - in one day.  Bloody big brain of his!

So, this week was a bit of a whirlwind.  School holidays end this week, so we will be back in our routine next week.  I'm not sure if I am happy or sad about that!

Our indoor obstacle course

Cuteness!