409 + 305 Weeks

We have had a surprisingly good week!  One of the best, actually.  And I can totally feel my stress levels lower, the kids are happier...I have implemented a schedule this week, and it is actually working.  I think it is the fourth version of a schedule I have tried over the last two years.  They have never worked, because every day of the week is different, what with all of our activities on at different times.  So instead, I have made up a schedule for every day of the week, and so the kids know what they are doing (or supposed to be doing) at any given time.  If they want to play with me, I can say, "Sorry, it's not time yet!"  I have scheduled in three different times each day that the kids and I play together.  Other than that, for the moment, we are keeping them apart as much as possible, so the fighting has been minimal, which is such a relief.  I have also been watching Supernanny and have been implementing some of her rules, such as the naughty mat (although our therapist is insisting we call it the thinking mat).  Arley hates to go on it much more than going to his room, so usually we just have to mention it and he stops his bad behaviour.  He was acting up for Jeff last night, so he had a chance to use the naughty mat technique with Arley, and now Arley knows that his dad is not messing around either.  Who knew that all it took was bingeing on Supernanny episodes while I work?

The kids have been horse riding, out for treats at a cafe twice, we've taken Bella to Collers Beach where the kids did some hairball rock climbing and Carmie went swimming despite the cold, I took them for a big play at the duck park at Burrill, they played with Wes their carer for three hours yesterday morning, and they've also started PEAK after school care on Tuesday afternoons as well as Fridays.  They are still rather sad about not having homeschool friends to play with in the day, but not sad enough to want to try going to school.  I think they enjoy their free time and activities too much to give them up.  Academically they are wizzes.  We have Graham the school registrar coming out to check up on us for re-registration in two months, so we are going to attempt to do our first school project ever.  It's on Australia - wish me luck!

A video of the kids trotting - Arley has finally got it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZcbhrKO1xU

Morning tea at the bakery after horse riding in the rain.

Friday night family movie :)

That's Arley way up there.  He followed Carmie up!

The only one swimming without a wetsuit.

At Burrill

Out with Wes

408 + 304 Weeks

So, on Saturday the kids wanted to do some crafts, so I helped them make little bags to put their teeth in for the tooth fairy.  Carmie had a very loose front tooth, and a slightly loose front tooth.  That is, until the next day when the kids were wrestling with their dad.  Arley was flailing his legs, and he kicked Carmie right in the teeth.  She just sat up and spat both her top front teeth out.  No tears, a bit of blood, quite a bit of shock.  She then washed the teeth and lost one down the drain, so her little handmade tooth fairy pouch was filled with one tooth and one note.  She was in a bit of pain that evening, but otherwise no dramas.  And she looks super cute now!

We took the kids to the park at Narrawallee for a play and an ice-cream.  Carmie made friends with some older girls and spent the whole time playing with them.  I tried to drive us home from there, but my ankle was still so bad that I couldn't push in the clutch.  Jeff drove us to my friend Mark's house, because Mark very kindly offered to trade cars with us for the week.  So I've been driving Mark's BMW around all week, and I could definitely get used to it :)

On Monday the kids were back at horse riding, and loving it.  Carmie is so confident up on the horse, and Arley is getting better and better at trotting.  He is desperate to canter, and his instructor said it should happen this term.  After horse riding we paid a visit to my friend Kylie and the kids' friends Willow and Finn.  The kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave, but I had to wrap it up early to drop them off at Mum's,  because I had Arley's interview for NDIS.  I was dreading the meeting, and with good reason, as it was like a 2 hours and 20 minute very intense therapy session.  Basically the interviewer discussed Arley's goals from last year and how he has improved, and then she asked me a million questions so that we could ascertain his goals for this next year (which starts at the end of this month).  Answering the questions was so sad, because it really shows how far he still has to go.  He has made such massive improvements in this last year on NDIS, but it feels like we are just wading in the middle of it right now.

On Tuesday Arley stayed home with Jeffrey (and they made the cutest t-shirts ever!), and I drove Carmie up to Nowra to see the paediatrician for the results of her assessment.  The dinosaur of a doctor said he didn't want to diagnose her with anything yet but wants to wait until he sees her again at the end of the year.  I then drove to the psychologist's office to get the actual report straight from her, and her report says that the paed should diagnose her with ADHD, and that she would have a very difficult time in a traditional school environment.  So, I am armed with her report, but without an actual diagnosis.  The psych told me Carmie is twice exceptional, as is Arley, both also gifted, which is a special need in its own right.  So it's no wonder things have been tough for us.

We have had both of our homeschool friends start school this year.  Delphi started in February, and Aska started on Tuesday.  Carmie and Arley are both quite upset over this, as it means we have no friends nearby to play with during the day, and no-one to hang out with who really understands where we are coming from.  Both friends have gone off to St Mary's school, and Carmie was interested in taking a tour and checking it out.  So on Wednesday we went to the school and had a tour by the principal, and Delphi was pulled out of class to be our guide.  Carmie and Arley loved the library and the playground, as well as the art room.  However, they were not keen at all when every classroom that we went into had kids doing schoolwork!  We stayed for quite a while so that the kids could have a play with Delphi and her friends on their lunch break.

Our lives have been quite chaotic since I got back from my trip.  My sprained ankle hasn't helped, because I haven't been able to play as much with the kids as I would like.  It was a lot better today, so we had a good day.  It seems their behaviour is commensurate with how much time I can spend with them.  I have tried to organise a simple schedule that we are going to try following as of tomorrow, so hopefully this helps.  The fighting between them has been really bad, but I'm hoping to get a handle on it by this time next week.  That's positive thinking for you!

Here is a quick vid of Arley learning to trot (again!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuaje0jPgno

 Making her tooth fairy pouch

 Doh!

 Missing teeth and a fat lip!

 At Narrwallee

 Awwwww

At St Mary's

 Her t-shirt says I 💜 Mum and Dad.

 His shirt says I 💜 my family

407 + 303 Weeks

Well, the Easter bunny came on Sunday.  The kids were so very excited.  We heard them at 6:30 in the morning, so we got up, and Carmie was in Arley's bed, and they were lying there reading and chatting to each other, waiting for the right time to wake us up.  They were very cute.  Carmie had been telling me the night before that Easter is her favourite holiday, because of the hunt.  And I can see why, they had so much fun.  They got a mix of chocolate eggs, and plastic eggs with money inside, and a couple of presents.  But there were eggs everywhere!  We let them go for gold with the chocolate that day, but since then they are happy to just have an egg after dinner, and so it seems like their Easter egg collection is going to last a very long time.

Sadly the day before I sprained my ankle, with a third degree sprain.  Jeffrey and I decided to take the kids on a hike nearby (one we have never done and that I was really looking forward to doing), and I made it literally ten steps from the car before I tripped over a tree root and went down.  I knew it was bad because I heard a popping, cracking sound, and then I got really sick.  Needless to say, our hike was over before it began.  I was helped to the car, and then put to bed, and have been on crutches since that afternoon.  It is slowly getting better, but not fast enough.

Yesterday the kids went to holiday care at Ulladulla public school, because it was the day all of the kids were going to go to Funland.  At 10am we got into the car, and I tried to drive them there, but I just couldn't push my foot down on the clutch.  I called my sister who is in town, but their car was in the shop due to a flat tyre, so the kids and I had to walk to Ulladulla public school.  Well, I hobbled all the way there, and then all the way back.  It wasn't very fun.

On Sunday the town hosted the Blessing of the Fleet festival.  We have never taken the kids to it, and this year we had told them about it (before I had sprained my ankle).  They were so excited to go, so I had to crutch around the festival.  But the kids had a blast, riding on the carnival rides, and eating ice cream.  The festival was followed by amazing fireworks at night, on the harbour, and we watched them from Lolo and Dida's house, with Georgia and Mark and Zach and Baz.  Despite my pain, it was a really good day.

Arley has been very difficult this week.  It feels like he is going through a regression, like he used to. When he was younger, we would have about two weeks of calm, followed by two months of Arley hell, and then the hellacious times got shorter while the calm times got longer.  But it feels like we are in the middle of a regression again, with lots of yelling and obstinacy, lots of anger and abuse, and it makes life very tiring and difficult.  I hope it doesn't last much longer.  Our therapies start up again next week, so hopefully that will help.  I also have my NDIS meeting on Monday, to evaluate Arley and see what funding we are going to get for the next 12 months.  It is nerve-wracking, but I am hopeful that the meeting will go well, as it did last year.  Carmie has been very emotional this week too.  I'm not sure if it's a reaction to Arley, or if she has her own stuff going on.  Her four wobbly teeth are bothering her - her front tooth is just about out, because she dropped her iPad on her face two days ago.  The tooth has dropped about 2mm, so now she has a snaggletooth.  Jeffrey has been taking the kids to the park every day while I've been housebound, but I still think they need to get out more.  They need long walks on the beach, and good hikes (hikes where their mum doesn't fall and sprain her ankle!).  Hopefully next week I'll be better and life will get calmer.

Jeff and I got this cute series of the kids up in my studio:

 Easter morning

 At the Blessing of the Fleet festival