332 + 228 Weeks

It has been a busy week, and I feel like I am a hamster running in a treadmill.  The big news is that we got Arley's results back from his gut test, and he is low in a few bacteria, and high in some bacteria, and one that stimulates amine production, which causes a glutamate reaction...so, I got proof on paper!  But now of course I am worried about an amine intolerance, which is a different kettle of fish.  Anyway, we have about a million different supplements for Arley to take, and we are still cracking on this diet.  We are actually enjoying the new foods that we are eating, and while it is a lot of work, I am not missing too much about our old diet (except the convenience of it!).  We are eating a ton more vegetables, and this week, Arley helped me wash them all :)  He has been my little assistant in the kitchen.  He can still be quite aggressive and argumentative.  I took him with me to see our psychologist this week.  She hasn't seen him for about three months, and she said that he is a completely different boy!  He's making eye contact, he is much more verbal, no separation anxiety.  She said that his aggressiveness is because he is trying to hang on to old ways of dealing with us, because that is where his comfort zone is, so he's trying to pull us back to old ways of behaviour.  Knowing that it is easier to keep my cool around him.

Talking about separation anxiety, this week the kids and I took Bella for a walk, and we walked on the street that runs behind our house.  We heard someone call out hello, and it was this woman that I know because her son Elai was in swimming with Arley when he was really little.  I have seen her around town a lot since then, and it turns out that she has moved in to the house that backs on to our back yard, so they share our back fence.  Eli invited Arley inside to play, and when I said it was time for me to go, Arley just said, "OK, bye!"  And so I left him there for a play date!  He stayed for an hour, with people he doesn't even know!  Then they walked him home, and Elai came over to our house for a play in return.  I just couldn't believe it!  And so now Arley has another little neighbour friend.  So good!

This week the weather was amazing.  We had a park dinner on Saturday night, and the kids and Jeff played this monster game on the curly slide that just about gave me a heart attack, but the kids loved it.  We also had Nessy over for a play date on Sunday.  And then on Monday we met our friends on Mollymook beach for a beach play.  On Tuesday afternoon we had a play date over at the kids' friends Willow and Finn's house, and then on Wednesday we had Hannah over after school.  We had spent that day at therapy, and then lunch and a big two hour play on Merry Beach.  It was the most beautiful day, and we had the entire beach to ourselves, we did not see a single other person.  Pretty amazing.

So I am looking forward to a quieter week coming up.  It is actually supposed to rain, which is a good reason to stay indoors and be hermits!

My little kitchen hand.

 Saturday night park dinner.

 Making magnesium muffins.

 Carmie and Ness.

 Mollymook beach

 Arley looking pretty at Finn's house

 The beautiful Merry Beach

331 + 227 Weeks

On Friday of this past week, the kids and I picked up Lolo and we all went up to Bowral for a visit with the kids' Aunty Georgia and their cousins.  We arrived late in the afternoon and had only a little bit of time to enjoy the gorgeous day.  We had to pack heavy, as I had to take up all of our food, for every meal and snack, as we are going strong with the new diet.  Arley was a little unsettled at bedtime that night, but apart from that, it was a lovely visit.  The next day the weather was miserable, which was actually OK because the kids wanted to watch their cousins' absolutely giant-sized television (they don't get much tv time with us!).  Afterwards, the kids' cousin Zach took Carmie and Arley on a Pokemon Go hunt, which Carmie was SO happy about.  She is right into Pokemon at the moment.  I don't mind it so much, as we can always convince her to go exploring :)

On Sunday I completely forgot that I had organised for Carmie's friend Ness to come over for a visit, but luckily we were home busy doing breakfasty things when she showed up.  I felt rather foolish but was very happy that she was over, as the weather wasn't great and we had no idea what to do with the kids that day.  They had a lovely visit.  On Monday afternoon we picked Carmie's buddy Hannah up from school for an after-school playdate, and Carmie was so excited, as it has been ages since they have seen each other.  Tuesday was totally rainy, and Jeff had the day off work, so we surprised the kids with a visit to Funland.  It turns out that Arley is a Tekken wunderkind!  They both loved the fighting game, but Carmie didn't hold a candle to him!  Anyway, the kids had fun, and we practically had the place to ourselves, so it was the perfect time to go.

Today I took the kids to the library, and then to the harbour for hot chips and a chase of the sea gulls.  It turned into a great day.  We really needed the fresh air and sunshine, and the kids love the library.  Carmie read an entire book while we were there, and for some reason they had a motorcycle inside the library, and the kids got to have a sit on it.  Carmie was neither here nor there about it, but Arley was pretty chuffed :)

Arley's behaviour has been on the improve, but with a few hick-ups.  He has been quite ornery these last two days, trying to annoy Carmie and disrupt the peace.  He has had a few moments when I thought he was going to lose it, but he pulled himself together in the end.  He is constantly pestering Carmie, and he is still very defiant.  Old habits are hard to break, I think!  I can tell when he is off though, I just have to figure out the best way to get him back on track.  He is also very cute.  Every night he hides under his bedsheets when I am choosing him a stack of books to read, and I have to pretend that I get scared because I don't know where he is.  This has been going on for months, and he really believes that I can't find him!  He laughs and laughs at his cleverness when I do find him.  In the same place.  Where I have just left him when I turned my back.  Under the sheets.  Every single night.  Sometimes twice in ten minutes....It does make me second guess his smarts!  However, he is on the same reading trajectory as Carmie.  All of a sudden he is starting to read, and he is picking it up rapidly.  It's really exciting to see!  And as for Carmie, she is starting to get a bit of 6 year old attitude!  The little miss!  But she is still a goose, and very kind and helpful too, so her attitude can be forgiven :)  She likes to gives us little mini lectures on primates, and other animals when we are playing 20 Questions, and she is full of random facts.  This morning she asked to research about leaves on trees while we were eating breakfast, and yesterday it was about nuts.  I can't answer her questions, so I always have my phone at the ready to pull up a youTube video.   Carmie still complains about doing any type of writing, but she did prove to me that she can write neatly this week, so maybe I'll cut her some slack :)  Which is good timing, because the weather forecast is looking great, and who needs to be writing when they can be outside playing Pokemon Go?  ;)

In Bowral.  "Where am I, Mum?"

 Playing Pokemon Go with Zach

 Loving abstracts, just like his mama :)

 Tekken fun

 Cul de sac maths!

 Carmie thought she could colour in the entire cul de sac.  She just thought it might take a little while.

 Bella's newest favourite place to rest.

 She read this whole book while we were there at the library.

 Chasing sea gulls.

 Carmie hovering :)