577 + 473 Weeks

We are just chugging along, not much changing.  Horse riding was cancelled this week because their instructor has Covid, so I took the kids to Australia Zoo instead.  It's great because we have annual passes now, so we don't feel obliged to stay a whole day.  This works, because Alrey gets overwhelmed easily.  We did a breezy hour and a half at the zoo, saw some crocodiles and alligators and watched the koala talk (we saw tiny joeys coming out of the koalas' pouches!), and then we had an ice cream and left.  No pressure, and a lovely morning.

Yesterday we ventured out to the homeschool kids market.  They hold it every few months, and Carmie and Arley are thinking of having a stall.  Arley wants to sell lemonade and chocolate chip cookies, and Carmie wants to sell gluten free baked goods.  I'm stressing about the amount of work involved already and kind of hope they forget about it!!  Haha.

We had our private Taekwon Do lesson on Tuesday morning.  Arley was having a tough time but managed to do about 20 minutes.  He actually is doing well but he gets upset and embarrassed when his body doesn't do what he pictures in his head.  His OT said it's a bilateral coordination problem, but we are not giving up.  Arley can do everything as long as he has a target, so our instructor has to devise new ways to work with him.  I think the more he does it, the more confidence he will have.  I want him to feel proud of himself.  Carmie and I started learning our first pattern.  She is doing well and really enjoys it.

The kids saw Clint on Chambers Island on Wednesday and Carmie did some serious tree climbing.  There are amazing trees there, perfect for climbing, and she loves it.  Alrey's not so big on tree climbing, so Clint took him around the island on a hunt for hermit crabs, and then taught him about 'bush tucker'.  We all learnt something, and Arley actually tasted the plants!

We managed to get out on a walk around our local lakes.  I have to bribe the kids by playing a game where we get rewards for spotting certain things...but at least we get out!

So, it's been a fairly chill week.  I'm grateful!

576 + 472 Weeks

The weather is hideous today!  It wasn't good yesterday either, but today takes the cake.  It looks like it's going to continue into tomorrow too, so I've cancelled Arley's session with his support worker Rob, because I just can't bring myself to leave the house in all this wind and rain.  I didn't realise it could get so cold here on the Sunshine Coast.

On Saturday, while the weather was still beautiful, we ventured out for a picnic at the sculpture garden at the Maroochydore Botanic Gardens.  It is really lovely there, and not too busy.  We had our snacks and read our books, then played Finska (Arley and I lost again, for about the tenth time in a row), and then we played Frisbee Golf before wandering around to look at the sculptures.  Our outings are never as peaceful as we would like - always rather stressful actually - but we persist.  It was nice to get out, in any case.

On Monday the kids had their sessions with Holly, and then that evening Carmie and I went to Taekwon Do.  She is rocking it. On Tuesday morning I took Arley to our Taekwon Do teacher's house for a private lesson.  Carmie was supposed to come, but she had a sleepless night the night before and wasn't up to it.  Arley was definitely anxious and acting up, but our Taekwon Do teacher was really good with him, and actually got him training, (punches, blocks and front kicks) for about 20 minutes.  It went south when Arley did a roundhouse kick wrong and sat down and refused to get up.  But 20 minutes is a win, and we were happy with that.  I was very proud of Arley.  Later that day the kids had equine therapy after three weeks off, and Arley refused to get on his horse.  That was frustrating, but he helped out feeding and watering the other horses while Carmie had her lesson on a new horse.  She liked her new horse, Chilli, who is an ex-racehorse and has a really big trot.  Carmie was pretty tired though.

On Wednesday Arley's behaviour therapist Matt came over for a session and met with Jeffrey and me first.  I like this guy; he has a good understanding of Arley and his difficulties, and works well with him.  He has just written up a report that we are yet to see, and soon he will be helping us to implement a plan that will hopefully make our household more manageable.

Some good news is that Arley has gained weight this week!  We have really been working on it, with food charts and goals, and this is the first week he's had weight gain.  It's funny that even though Carmie is my coeliac child, she is the easy one to feed!

575 + 471 Weeks

It has been another busy week, but all around a good one.  On Friday of last week I took Arley to his support worker Rob's house in Caloundra while Carmie stayed home and worked on her creative writing, and I took a long walk along the beach and went to a cafe.  It was just what I needed!  And Arley had a good time at Rob's, and Carmie got all her work done.  Win, win!

On Saturday night I went out to dinner with some of the mothers from the 'neurospicy' homeschool group.  There were four of us, and I had only met one before.  It was completely out of my comfort zone, but it ended up being a really lovely night.  We are going to do a mum's night out at a restaurant once a month, which is such a great thing to do, because we all need the support.  We met up again on Tuesday when the kids' horse riding was cancelled and I took them to the homeschool play at Ninja Jungle.  We didn't last there too long, and Arley spent most of the time in the cafe on his iPad with his headphones on, but that was fine, because we got there.  One of the mothers even told me how impressed she was at his ability to know when he needed to regulate and go on his iPad.  This put it all into a different perspective for me.  It was really nice to know there was no judgement!

On Sunday we took the kids to a medieval festival that was taking place in Caboolture.  They were very excited to go, but of course at the last minute, Arley's anxiety escalated and he started saying it's just a bunch of people dressed up, so why would he want to go.  He does this every time we go somewhere, so I have to just take a breath and help him through his anxiety. He was still ornery once we got there, so Jeff took Carmie and I took Arley and we split up.  Once we settled in to watch the archery, he was very impressed and quite happy again.  We wondered around, bought some donuts, watched the knights sparring, and had a grand old time.  When we were ready to go, we met up with Jeff and Carmie, and left before any drama started.  We lasted almost two hours, which is really good for us.

The kids saw Clint yesterday at Chambers Island, and on Monday they both had sessions with their support worker.  Arley is having a hard time lately completing anything in the sessions for more than half an hour.  He asked me the other day why he has so many more support workers and mentors than other kids (I don't think he realises that most kids don't have any!), and I told him because he's a really challenging kid to make happy.  He had OT this morning and Toni the OT baked cookies with him.  It is the most engaged he has been with her, but he was still very grumpy.  It is her job to push him a little out of his comfort zone, so he gets very mad.  She told me in her opinion he is definitely PDA, which is a subset of autism.  I knew he was, but it is validating hearing it from a professional.  PDA means pathological demand avoidance.  There's a lot going on with these kids, and most of it is based around anxiety, and regular parenting techniques make things worse.  Arley is a tough nut to crack.

Poor Carmie had another night of insomnia last night, out of the blue.  Her sleep has been OK, but for some reason her meds didn't work last night.  We were supposed to go to the neurospicy homeschool meet today, but I couldn't make her.  Instead I got the kids active weeding the veggie beds and planting our lettuce, spinach and herbs.  That was a small miracle in itself!

Carmie and I have started up our Taekwon Do again after a two week break.  We have been two nights this week, leaving Arley at home with Jeffrey.  She is loving it, and it is definitely a workout.  We are supposed to start our private lessons with Arley next week to see if he can join in the group classes.  My fingers are crossed, but I do think the group classes will be too overwhelming for him.  Gotta try though.

Waiting for her session with Clint

She didn't want me to photograph her.  Embarrassed!

On the bus on the way to the medieval festival

Happy Arley

Proof!

573 + 574 + 469 + 470 Weeks

It has been two weeks since I posted because I have been really busy.  My mum flew up last Monday to surprise the kids for their birthday.  It was the best surprise yet.  I told the kids that I had been having trouble getting up early for the gym, so I was going to go a little later the next day.  I told them if they were able to get themselves up and dressed while I was gone, then I'd take them out for a treat when I got back.  Instead of going to the gym, I picked Mum up from the airport and then dropped her off at a neighbourhood cafe.  Luckily when I got home the kids were up and dressed and therefore had earned their treat, so I took them up to the cafe.  Mum was sitting at a table with her back to us, so we ordered at the counter and then went to find a seat.  I said to the kids, "Why don't we sit with this little old lady over here?"  Carmie looked so confused, it was so funny.  So we went over to the table, and it was their Lolo.  They couldn't believe it!  We got them soooo good!

So, we spent the week hanging out with Mum, and doing our regular  therapy activities.  We had pretty rotten weather most of the time for the week Mum was here.  One day Mum and I took the kids to Australia Zoo (Mum went on to buy them annual passes to the zoo for their birthday, so we can go whenever we want now, which will be awesome.)  The zoo was great - it is owned by Steve Irwin's family, so there were a lot of crocodiles.  There was a reptile house, and kangaroos, koalas and wombats, among other animals.  The zoo is huge, so it's going to be great to pop in for regular visits.

It was the kids' 11th and 9th birthdays on Saturday.  I can't quite believe they are this old now!  On Saturday the kids opened their presents right after breakfast, then they hung out and did exactly what they wanted.  They were very happy with their presents, which is great because they were very hard to buy for this year!  We had nachos for lunch, and then we had the birthday cake (which Lolo and I had baked the day before, and it was a huge success!  Who knew gluten-free baking could be so delicious?!).  After the cake, Jeffrey and I took the kids down to Caloundra for a magic show that we had purchased tickets for before we knew Mum was coming.  The magic show was great.  Arley was a little anxious beforehand so got just a tiny bit grumpy (he didn't like his seat and was worried he wouldn't be able to see), but as soon as the show started, he was invested and loved it.  They were getting people onto the stage, and he was desperate to get up there.  No fear!  But he was passed by every time, much to his disappointment.  Meanwhile Carmie was shrinking into her seat every time they were looking for an assistant.  The show was great.  For the kids' birthday dinner we ordered pizzas and had them at home, as the weather was appalling.

Mum left on Monday before the kids were awake.  Both kids were upset, but Arley was beside himself saying goodbye to her the night before.  It's not as bad this time because while Mum was up here, they received an offer on their condo in Las Vegas that they have been trying to sell.  As soon as the money comes in, Mum and Geoff are coming up here to look to buy a place of their own nearby.  Very exciting.

Arley had a couple of rough days this week after Mum left.  He was very dysregulated and hard to get back into a routine.  He couldn't do his session with his support worker on Monday.  He was very difficult to be around.  He must have been feeling really rough.  I had an appointment with his dietitian yesterday.  She is concerned about his diet because he has lost a little weight in the last month instead of gaining on her plan, so under her advice, I made up a visual board of all the foods he likes to eat, and he has to choose 2 to 3 foods to eat six times a day.  I'm hoping this works, because it's pretty worrying.

Carmie is doing well.  She has been doing a creative writing class for gifted students on Sunday afternoons, and her teacher emailed me to say how impressed she is with Carmie's writing.  This is so nice to hear, because I have nothing to compare it with, and Carmie has never written before.  She has dreams of being an author, so this is a good start!

Today we went to a 'neurospicy' homeschool group.  The kids have been avoiding going for ages, and our schedule never really allowed for it, but we managed to get there today, and will try to go every week.  It was a success in that the kids agreed to come with me, and there were no meltdowns (a little bribery helped!).  We didn't really mix with anyone, but hopefully we'll get there.  The kids and I played baseball and frisbee golf, so at least we did that!

I am slowly getting back into work.  It's going to be a long time before I get my business back to where it was before I got hacked, but I'm ok with taking it slow for now.  I've got the kids to focus on :)