We took the kids to the park at Narrawallee for a play and an ice-cream. Carmie made friends with some older girls and spent the whole time playing with them. I tried to drive us home from there, but my ankle was still so bad that I couldn't push in the clutch. Jeff drove us to my friend Mark's house, because Mark very kindly offered to trade cars with us for the week. So I've been driving Mark's BMW around all week, and I could definitely get used to it :)
On Monday the kids were back at horse riding, and loving it. Carmie is so confident up on the horse, and Arley is getting better and better at trotting. He is desperate to canter, and his instructor said it should happen this term. After horse riding we paid a visit to my friend Kylie and the kids' friends Willow and Finn. The kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave, but I had to wrap it up early to drop them off at Mum's, because I had Arley's interview for NDIS. I was dreading the meeting, and with good reason, as it was like a 2 hours and 20 minute very intense therapy session. Basically the interviewer discussed Arley's goals from last year and how he has improved, and then she asked me a million questions so that we could ascertain his goals for this next year (which starts at the end of this month). Answering the questions was so sad, because it really shows how far he still has to go. He has made such massive improvements in this last year on NDIS, but it feels like we are just wading in the middle of it right now.
On Tuesday Arley stayed home with Jeffrey (and they made the cutest t-shirts ever!), and I drove Carmie up to Nowra to see the paediatrician for the results of her assessment. The dinosaur of a doctor said he didn't want to diagnose her with anything yet but wants to wait until he sees her again at the end of the year. I then drove to the psychologist's office to get the actual report straight from her, and her report says that the paed should diagnose her with ADHD, and that she would have a very difficult time in a traditional school environment. So, I am armed with her report, but without an actual diagnosis. The psych told me Carmie is twice exceptional, as is Arley, both also gifted, which is a special need in its own right. So it's no wonder things have been tough for us.
We have had both of our homeschool friends start school this year. Delphi started in February, and Aska started on Tuesday. Carmie and Arley are both quite upset over this, as it means we have no friends nearby to play with during the day, and no-one to hang out with who really understands where we are coming from. Both friends have gone off to St Mary's school, and Carmie was interested in taking a tour and checking it out. So on Wednesday we went to the school and had a tour by the principal, and Delphi was pulled out of class to be our guide. Carmie and Arley loved the library and the playground, as well as the art room. However, they were not keen at all when every classroom that we went into had kids doing schoolwork! We stayed for quite a while so that the kids could have a play with Delphi and her friends on their lunch break.
Our lives have been quite chaotic since I got back from my trip. My sprained ankle hasn't helped, because I haven't been able to play as much with the kids as I would like. It was a lot better today, so we had a good day. It seems their behaviour is commensurate with how much time I can spend with them. I have tried to organise a simple schedule that we are going to try following as of tomorrow, so hopefully this helps. The fighting between them has been really bad, but I'm hoping to get a handle on it by this time next week. That's positive thinking for you!
Here is a quick vid of Arley learning to trot (again!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuaje0jPgno
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