648 + 544 Weeks

It's been a good and busy week.  Arley was very sick last week but he was feeling a little better on Friday, and much better by Saturday, which was very good timing because on Sunday my Dad and stepmother (Opa and Oma) arrived on the sunny coast for a visit.  It would be three years this January since we have seen them, which is too long.  They came over for dinner on Sunday night - tostada night - and then we decorated our Christmas tree with them.  Our trees always look kind of shonky because Jeff goes out to the forest and cuts them down.  To get a live tree here you have to go on a waitlist in October, and I never remember.  So shonky trees have become our Christmas tradition!  This is the best shonky tree we've had, and it was really nice for the kids to decorate it with their grandparents they hadn't seen in years.

On Monday Carmie and I met Oma and Opa at the big mall for lunch.  On Tuesday we met them out for dinner at an Italian restaurant which was a hit, and then I had booked a river cruise for us.  We got hte kids gelato, and then we all hopped on a boat and cruised the Mooloolaba river.  The houses along the river range in price from $6-30 million, and many had incredible Christmas light displays, so it was quite the eye-opening and flashy experience.  It turned out to be a lovely evening.

On Tuesday morning I took Arley to the aquarium.  It is one of his favourite places to go, and he wanted to lead me around and show me everything he knows, as well as his favourite displays.  It was a real pleasure to have one on one time with him doing something that he is so engaged in.

On Saturday Carmie attended her teen group down in Caloundra, and Jeffrey and I took our unicycles down there for a spin.  It was such a fun afternoon, even though we were trapped under a shelter while it poured rain all around us for 30 minutes.  We have definitely found our new hobby, it is so fun.  We want the kids to get their own unicycles so we can become a one-wheeling family and cruise around everywhere we go.  Haha.

Trapped in the rain while we were unicycling :(

647 + 543 Weeks

It has been a good week...until yesterday when Arley got sick.  I was a mean mum and didn't quite believe him, and made him do some schoolwork - right before he vomited for the first but not the last time.  Poor bugger put himself to bed at 3pm yesterday, skipped dinner, vomited, vomited again at 9pm, woke us for more at 11pm, 12:30am, woke again at 3am, then got into bed with us at 7am, when I discovered he had a fever.  He's been in bed for most of today and hasn't eaten or drunk anything but a few saltines and ice cubes since lunchtime yesterday.  He has not ever been sick like this, and it is making him scared.  He'll be alright, it's just really hard not being able to help him.  The rest of us are fine though, thankfully.  I cancelled Carmie's Dungeons and Dragons group today so I could stay with him, and just in case we are contagious.

On Friday last week Clint tried to take the kids trampolining, but it was all booked out, so he took them to the aquarium instead.  He was sending me messages about how well the kids were getting along, that they were actually entertaining each other.  It ended in a bit of a fight, but still, for the most part they had a great time.  

On Saturday, Jeff and I decided it was time to tackle the rat problem we were having.  A couple of months ago, I was sitting on our bed and there was this little rat outside the window, seemingly trying to get inside.  I realised that it wasn't a rat (being a rat aficionado!) and went to the kitchen to tell Jeff, and the creature had run around the house and was now trying to get in by the sliding door off our kitchen!  We went outside and it hopped away from us.  It was the cutest little thing.  I researched and discovered that it is an Australian marsupial called an antechinus.  Fast forward a couple of months, and we saw him again outside.  Then we started seeing little poos outside.  Then Lolo and Dida were looking after the kids one night and Lolo told us she saw all the rats outside, about six of them.  I thought there is nothing we can do because antechinus are protected here and you are not allowed to kill them, and we live right next to a large area of bushland (we frequently have bush turkeys, snakes, water dragons, blue tongue lizards and goannas in our backyard).  Arley and I started going outside every evening to find all the little antechinus creatures.  We found them living in our outside couch.  Then I realised they were eating my plants, but antechinus are carnivores...hmmmm.  These guys turned out to be rats, and we were infested with them!  We moved the outside couch, and OMG, the wee and poo that was around it.  It also smelled really bad.  It is a huge three-seater couch.  We decided Saturday was the day to break it apart and take it to the tip.  As we did it, 10 rats ran out, one after the other.  Now, I like rats.  But the stench that came from that couch as we broke it down and bagged it - OMG, I have never smelt anything so bad in my life.  I was gagging a retching the whole time.  It was disgusting!!!  I'm grossed out just thinking about it.  Jeff went down to Bunnings and bought a power washer and washed the patio and pool area, and I put out rat baits, even though I promised Arley that we wouldn't kill them.  I just have to.  The very next day, Jeff was in the kitchen and saw a little rat poking its nose out from underneath the cupboard.  A little later on I was telling the kids that we had a rat living with us inside, and I looked to my left, and there it was, just sitting out in the open in the kitchen.  Except, this wasn't a rat, but an antechinus!!  So now we have an antechinus living somewhere in our kitchen (yes, we are finding little poos), and we can't kill it.  We have to somehow trap it and get it out.  I don't know what this little carnivore is doing in a completely vegetarian kitchen!

On Sunday we went to a Christmas party put on by Autism Steps Treehouse.  Clint was putting on an obstacle course there.  The party was being held in a large field, and there were jumping castle water slides, a climbing tower, a giant slide, a drum circle, all kinds of activities, and a petting zoo.  The kids had a great time, with the petting zoo being the highlight.  Neither kids went on the water slides because Carmie forgot her swimmers and Arley didn't like the grass that was getting mixed in to the water.  We ended by having the kids climb the climbing wall.  Carmie rocked it as usual, but Alrey not so much.  He did better than last time in that he actually got harnessed up and attempted it, but when he couldn't do it, he got very cross and wanted to go home.  We were done by then anyway, so it was OK.

We've had a little drama this week as I've been trying to get the kids involved with creating their own schedule, and actually getting things done in the day, like schoolwork and exercise.  It's been hard going, but we are getting there!  Carmie had a massive meltdown, and Arley had two minor meltdowns, but Carmie has been on it today, so I think we are through the hard bit.  Arley will take some time though.

On Tuesday we had Taekwon Do, but Arley couldn't participate because he said his toe hurt and he insisted on using crutches to get around.  Afterwards we went to spend some time with Lolo.  We baked cupcakes but totally burnt them into hard, dry, little bricks.  So now I owe the kids cupcakes!

I think that's it for this week.  There was lots going on! :)

De-ratting!

Petting zoo fun

As high as Arley got

Out unicycling!

Our antechinus :)

646 + 542 Weeks

It has been a busy week, but a good one.  I kicked butt on my electric unicycle this weekend and Jeffrey said I was ready to hit the beach paths around Mooloolaba, where there are people everywhere.  We went down on Sunday afternoon, and it was so fun.  We only had one small incident where we were crossing a bridge and a dog on a lead got in our way.  We also ran into two men on electric unicycles and we stopped and had a chat with them - they had really big-daddy unicycles which have already gotten me and Jeff talking about upgrades.  Haha.  It is very fun!

On Sunday morning we attempted a family sports day, because my other nephew, Baz, and his girlfriend were in town.  They stayed with Lolo and Dida for a few days, and they all came down for a baseball session and a unicycle attempt in the park across the road.  Arley got upset because he wasn't hitting any balls, and so he took himself home.  Then Carmie was tired so she went home.  We adults were left in the park by ourselves, so Baz had a go unicycling, and was actually a fast learner!  Afterwards they came over for coffee, and it was a nice time.  Good to see Baz again after almost three years.  Arley was very upset with himself after Baz left, because Arley barely spoke to him :(

Last week Arley seemed to go really well with his new groups, and even went swimming a couple of times with them.  He was desperate to go on Saturdays too, because Carmie has a teen girls' session then, and he was jealous.  So I organised with the owner of the business for him to have a session at the same time, with the owner's son Kianni.  Fifteen minutes after the kids arrived (my friend dropped them off) I received a call from the owner saying Arley wanted to come home, that he was done.  Argh, I was so annoyed.  The groups are 25 minutes drive away, so I wasn't going to rush down there to pick him up, only to have to go pick Carmie up when they were done.  So I made him stay for a little while, and what followed was a series of very angry texts from Arley demanding that I pick him up, that I was so mean, no parent should ever be so mean to their kids...insert massive eye roll!!  I went to pick him up an hour early, then we went to a cafe to kill the last hour until Carmie was done.  Now Arley says he is never going back to the groups again.  So, he has gone to begging for four groups a week, to zero.  Could there be a bigger pain in the butt??!!  He even refused to go on Wednesday this week which was the session that we started just for him and his buddy Liam, which meant Liam was all alone.  When Arley says he's not doing something, there is very little we can do, because if we make him go, then everyone suffers!  His anxiety escalates and all is lost.  To give him a social outlet, my friend Andrea, Chayse's mum, will be taking Chayse and Arley out every Thursday afternoon.  He wasn't jazzed about going this week, but we coerced him, and he had a good time.  They went to Timezone and then rode the paddle boats at the mall, feeding the hundreds of fish chunks of bread.  That's right up Arley's alley, so it went well.

As for Carmie, she is doing really well.  I am notorious for taking her to appointments at the wrong time, and often the wrong day, and I did it again today.  I drove her down to Caloundra for her dungeons and dragons group, only to be reminded that it isn't on this week.  Carmie was ready to kill me.  Haha.  I made it up to her by taking her out for ice cream.  We ran in to her friend Sprinkle, so I bought Sprinkle ice cream too so she could join us.  It was really nice getting to know one of Carmie's friends.  Sprinkle is an awesome kid, and I'm glad Carmie has her as a friend.

We had an intake session with our new behaviour specialist this week.  I have high hopes for this guy.  He is bringing some new strategies and will be teaching us all to get on the same page, support workers included.  He said it will be a lot of work, the changes will be slow, and there will be a few meltdowns, but he thinks he can help the kids.  My fingers are crossed!

Also, the kids and I graded up in Taekwon Do on Tuesday!  Both kids are now green belts, and I am a blue belt.  The order is white, yellow, green, blue, red, black.  I am so proud of the kids.  Arley was definitely feeling the pressure on Tuesday, and acting up a bit, but we got him out of his funk and he kicked but.  Then Carmie totally kicked but.  We had to spar each other as part of our test, and I wasn't holding back, but Carmie did so well.  It's her turning kicks that are killer, she can kick at head-height!  We all did really well :)

And that's it for our week!