555 + 451 Weeks

The past few days have been pretty chill, but the beginning of this blog week...oh my goodness.  What a tough few days we had.  On Friday we met with our friend Nicky and her kids Lexi and Felix at Alex beach.  Carmie and Arley were both totally excited to go, but once we got there, it was not good.  Carmie got anxious and crawled into herself like a crab.  I could barely get her to speak let alone look at me. Arley was having a good time, but poor Lexi was really upset that Carmie didn't want to play.  It went on like this for a good hour.  I could not draw Carmie out.  Nicky decided to leave but we thought it best that Lexi stay with us and I take the kids out for ice cream.  After Nicky left, I got the kids playing together on the beach.  I had them doing long jump and then made them solve a word puzzle I had written in the sand.  It got Carmie out of her shell and talking again, thank goodness.  By the time we walked to the ice cream shop, Lexi and Carmie were fast friends again.  Carmie loosened up and realised she had plenty to say and that Lexi did want to be her friend.  But oh my goodness, the drama!

Over the next few days, Arley had a really difficult time.  He is so quick to anger.  While he's on his Ritalin he is fine, but beforehand and afterwards - he is a tough cookie.  He even tried to beat Carmie up a couple of times.  It was awful.  She did nothing to instigate it, she just happened to be an easy target.  So awful.  On top of this, Carmie's insomnia has been so bad this week.  She had four nights of really bad sleep in a row, with one of those nights having zero deep sleep.  Last night she slept, but she only got half an hour of deep sleep.  She is perpetually tired.  I had an appointment with our paed this afternoon, and he's putting Arley on a longer version of Ritalin to combat his evening struggles, and I have an appointment with him in a week to get help for Carmie.  Keep your fingers crossed.

On Monday the kids' mentors came over, but Arley felt sick so his mentor left early.  On Tuesday I took Alrey to meet with Rob.  We have set up another boy to play at the session too.  Rob took them both fishing.  Arley is still desperate to catch a fish, but of course that didn't happen.  The other boy did though, and Arley took it fairly well.  He only got a little pissy and told Rob (again) that he was never fishing again.  Haha.

Since then it has been raining.  We are having torrential rain at the moment, and I keep getting flood warning messages on my phone.  The kids' other activities for this week have been cancelled, except for their zoom psychology appointments.  It's been quite nice to be forced to stay home though, I don't mind it at all.  Sometimes it's exactly what we need.

554 + 450 Weeks

Ugh, I've just had the biggest struggle to get Arley into the shower, and that was after a huge meltdown because I got him off his computer to eat lunch today, at 2pm.  It takes so much effort to parent him sometimes.  He's lucky I love him so much, that's all I can say!

It's been a goodish week.  On Friday we went to a new homeschool meet.  It wasn't great.  Carmie stuck her head in a book, and Arley didn't like the sand at the beach we were at and refused to swim.  It was kind of muddy sand because we were at an inlet, and he didn't like the feel of it.  I got Carmie doing a scavenger hunt with two other kids, but those two were really shy as well, so it wasn't good.  We are going to give it another go tomorrow.

We also got out on Saturday.  We met my friend Jo and her son Flynn at the botanic gardens.  The gardens were lovely.  There is a beautiful sculpture garden there, and apparently there is a nature play area too, but we never made it because it started raining.  Flynn is nine, and he and Arley got along really well.  We will go back soon to see the rest of the garden.

The kids' mentors came over on Monday, and on Tuesday Arley's new mentor Rob came over to our place to play with him.  They played Roblox and went to the park, followed by some lego.  It was nice because Arley was happy and I got to spend some time with Carmie, which doesn't happen often.

Yesterday it rained so we didn't get to Chambers Island to meet Clint.  We stayed home and chilled instead.  Today Carmie went fishing again with Rob.  It's so good for her to get some time away.  She's been having a really hard time with Arley lately.  He is constantly picking on her.  Arley's psychologist thinks he is really bored, and she wants me to set up structured days for him so he is constantly learning and stimulated.  She thinks that maybe he will stop antagonising Carmie then.  I'm working on it this week, so keep your fingers crossed.

Arley needs my attention.  He has been mini-melting down as I type this post.  He's even been bashing my keyboard.  I'm over it!

553 + 449 Weeks

I hesitate to write this, because I don’t want to jinx myself, but it has been another good week.  There has been a little bit of disappointment on Arley’s behalf because he has been fishing twice with his new mentor Rob, and hasn’t caught any fish.  On Friday it was too windy and they ended up giving up quite quickly and going back to Rob’s place to play games.  They had another attempt on Tuesday at a different nearby location, but still they weren’t successful.  Arley was quite ticked off at the end of that one.  I was working at a nearby park, and when they came to get me, Arley was in such a huff.  He was too angry to speak beyond saying that he was never going to catch a fish because he was never going fishing again.  Rob tried to talk to him but to no avail.  Arley was in a huff most of the way home, but he managed to chill out so I took him out for some bubble tea, which brought his day around again.  Meanwhile, Carmie and Jeffrey were having a daddy daughter outing of their own.

Carmie went fishing with Rob today.  She loved it, even though she didn’t catch a fish either.  She would like to keep going but Arley had a very hard time today while she was fishing, because he was sure she was going to catch a giant fish, and he couldn’t handle it.  He was actually begging to go too.  So much for never fishing again.  Haha.  Arley had a session with his psychologist today, and she has suggested we find a different mentor for Carmie. We’ll see.  She foresees a lot of problems going forward, so best to change it up now.

Yesterday I took the kids to meet with Clint, their Chambers Island mentor, and they had a great time.  It was Carmie’s first go with him, and she loved it.  They can earn badges with him, and Arley earned his Bronze Tree Climbing badge, so he was pretty proud.

Arley is very interested in praying mantises right now, and is desperate for a pet mantis.  He actually asked if we could all go out exploring, trying to find one, so we went out as a family on a praying mantis hunt but had no luck.  Carmie did some tree climbing.  She is hooked on a game called Cobra Paw, so we have been playing that a lot this week too.  She’s yet to beat me though :)

Other than that, we haven’t done much.  Jeffrey and I have a ‘date day’ every Saturday where we do no work or chores after lunch and instead we get some drinks, play games, have a swim and hang out together.  Then on Sunday we have a home day when we get the house in order and I get things ready for the week ahead.  It’s giving us a definite weekend, something that I haven’t had in a decade, and I’m finding it quite refreshing!

552 + 448 Weeks

It has been a good week.  It's so nice to say that!  Friday of last week was tough because we had a home day, and Arley's ADHD was out of control and he was driving us all mental.  I emailed his paediatrician to see if we could put him back on his Ritalin, so on Saturday we did...and he was so calm.  But he felt terrible; he was so sleepy and had a bad headache.  On Tuesday I had an appointment with the paed and he gave us a script for a smaller dose of Ritalin, and Arley is on that today.  He was very sleepy and grouchy this morning but he seemed fine this afternoon.  We will persist.

On Monday the kids' mentors came over and they both had great sessions.  It's so nice to see them engaged in things that they would never do with us.  On Tuesday the kids and I got our hair cut.  We all went short because it is SO hot here right now.

On Wednesday I had booked the kids in to meet a new mentor.  It was their first session, but Carmie couldn't make it as her insomnia had been so bad the night before.  She only slept for four hours, so I didn't have the heart to drag her out.  So I took Arley alone, and he LOVED his half hour session with Clint.  It's at Chambers Island, and the guy will be spending half an hour one on one with each kid, helping them climb trees and build forts and balance and play outdoor movement games.  They'll be doing this every Wednesday.  Afterwards Arley wanted to stay out so we met up with Lexi and Nicky at Cotton Tree for an hour or so, and Arley had a swim and a play with Lexi on his own.  It was a successful morning!

Today we had yet another mentor come to our house.  This guy's name is Rob, and he runs a program called Abled Brothers, and he came to meet Arley to see if he'd be a good fit to work with.  He'll be taking Arley for three hours every week, and taking him fishing and kayaking and playing outdoors with him.  Arley has been desperate to go fishing - like, begging me every other day - so tomorrow Rob is going to take him fishing, and Arley is SO excited.  Then starting Tuesday next week, Arley will be going to him for regular one on one sessions, and then he's going to group Arley up with other boys who are similar so he can facilitate friendships between them.  Carmie was so jealous, so Rob is taking her on too.  Her mornings with him will be Thursdays.  I'm so happy these things are available here!  Fingers crossed they are a success with my tough cookie kids.

My other good news is that I have started going to the gym every morning between 7 and 8, and I love it.  It is hard work, of course, but for some reason I don't think about the kids when I'm there.  This never happens!  So I get a full hour of every day where the kids aren't on my mind, and it's awesome.

And Arley made a friend online and has been playing Roblox and chatting with him every afternoon, and he is so happy about it.  Yay!

Jeffrey has started up teaching guitar again.  He has stopped working for the tree lopper and has opened Matrix Guitar School.  He has around seven students so far, and he's only just started, so it's going really well.  Stoked!

Arley and Clint