This week has flown by. I was busy for most of the weekend, and Jeffrey was doing chores etc, so the kids spent a lot of time on their screens. Carmie is always fine because she seems to be able to regulate herself, but Arley is a hot mess when he is on screens for too long. It becomes a bit of an obsession with him. I know why. It's not addiction. It's where he feels in control. He feels safe, on top of his game, and with zero anxiety, which is so different from the way he is in real life. It's no wonder he always wants to be on his computer. He has online friends, and he is a wiz at typing. The problem is, he becomes a terror when he gets off them if he has been on too long. So we've kind of had a rough week with him! He also started back on Ritalin this week, on a low dose, so I'm sure that has been effecting him as well. But the good news is that on Monday I sat him down to do a page of maths and English to show the school board, and it usually takes him 20 minutes with lots of complaining. He did it in 4 minutes. So that's a definite plus! On Tuesday his mentor Jack from Launchpod came over for a two hour session with him, and it went really well. Jack said Arley was engaged the whole time and really enjoyed himself. It was really good because I got to spend 2 hours alone with Carmie. We weeded the tomato plants and chatted, and it was nice.
After the five days of screens I put my foot down and made a no screens before 1pm rule. You can imagine how that went down with Arley. Yesterday was torture for him. We went to meet Lexi and Felix and Nicky at the mall, and he actually did really well waiting while Carmie and Lexi went off shopping together. (I did give him his iPad and headphones though, the mall is too much for him sometimes). Carmie had a lovely time walking around the mall alone with Lexi and shopping. They feel like big kids, and it's nice to give them that freedom. I think the mall is Carmie's favourite place to be at the moment, which is annoying, because we live in the most beautiful area!
To combat Arley's no-screens boredom, we wake up in the morning and write our plan for the day until 1pm on the whiteboard so he can see what we are up to. It really helps both the kids. Today we all weeded the strawberry patch (and not a single complaint from either kid!), and then we went up to the shops because the kids wanted to try bubble tea. Theirs was more like a sugary fruit slushy with fruit flavoured popping balls inside. They LOVED them, and we were so excited that we found a new treat for them, and then we were saying how we'd do gardening once a week and then the bubble tea would be our after-treat...until we all started feeling sick! I never thought my kids would say they had too much sugar, but it happened this morning. We will be sharing one next time!
I don't have much else to add. Tomorrow we have a park play with an 8 year old boy who has just started homeschooling and who lives in the neighbourhood, so hopefully he will become a good friend for Arley. I have given up on trying to get Arley's blood drawn to test for coeliac - it's just not going to happen any time soon. Carmie is doing well; not 100% but much better than before. Oh yes, and Monday was really hot so we went swimming in our pool! The water was still a bit cold, but it was fun all the same, and made me really look forward to summer.
Not too many pictures from this week, only these ones from today drinking their bubble teas.
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