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.
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