Arte: i wonder if, by doing a formal assessment there would be a chance of accessing further resources for him? And i guess if you know where he stands then you can do a bit more searching and be able to really barrack and support him if/when needed ITMS?
MD: my girls are animals obsessed. but i do wonder if that is simply because we have a menagerie lol? that said, i too was so in love (and still am!) with animals of all shapes and sizes. (trill you may have to shut your eyes as i say this...) DH even takes the snails for a walk in the bucket and leaves them in the little garden that we have been building in a vacant lot we are suckers and sooo wouldnt make good farmers lol. we are such suckers that we are now working on when we come back to make the whole back yard permaculture so that we dont have to face any prospect of bug and ending of bugs lol. suckers lol!
G: soo jealous of the trip to Sydney! those updates you gave sounded like so much fun!
MP: how did the auction go? we watched one yesterday in the area and it still gives me palpitations to see how much people will spend! I hope that they spent LOADS at yours yesterday
to Cally and Isadora!!!
Christmas: we are hoping to get up to townsville to be with mum. i am only getting the girls small, packable items. which is a bit of a bummer as i was hoping to get L a bike and M a cosy coupe. but that will have to wait for next year i guess. Any tips on things to get that are small, yet fun? i am thinking a leapfrog thingy for L? are they any good? do the kids like them? and what for marta??? i have NO IDEA.
AFM: we are all pretty good. fluctuating between extreme stress and extreme excitement of the trip. trying to plan all the little things does my head in. like the treat bags on the plane, like the transfer from LAX to the apartment (we wont have car seats). all those little things seem overwhelming. then i read the lonely planet guide and read about all the gorgeous sea-side towns along the coast and get so so excited. there appears to be alot of small hamlets with really cool things happening (LIKE FOR EXAMPLE...the town that prides itself on the creation of the most awesome flavour combinations and holds monthly competitions lol! i am SO THERE lol). I am less excited about LA itself, but am willing to be suprised ITMS. i think i would prefer somewhere smaller and more community...but we'll get there.
Cass, mayb you can get a bit creative and still get them the bike and coupe and leave them at your place and when you come home you're all like "Oh WOW! Santa must have known we couldn't take a bike and a coupe home on the plane so he left them here!" LOL. Are you talking about the Leapster 2 or the new leappad that they have out? I got A the leapster 2 (hand held console) for his birthday and he loves it. He thinks he's pretty awesome playing his 'DS' like the other kids. But see if you can get one half price - I know they are on sale again atm and TBH, as good as they are I wouldn't pay the full $120 for them because they are pretty basic compared to a DS which is only $50 dearer. I got his for $60 in the target sale and I think that's about all they are worth considering they run on AA batteries. I know G got one for L too and said that he loves his. She convinced me to get it for A. Or on the other hand I know a lot of people are going for ipod touches for their kids because you cn download free app games on them.
Discovering all the tiny hamlets is what I love most about going to the coast. We always take a day trip and drive along the coast and stop off at all the towns along the way. Will you be living really central in LA or out in the suburbs a bit more? Being in the suburbs would be OK I reckon.
And I think what you do with the snails is sweet LOL. We don't even get snails at our place so they'd be a bit of a novelty with the kids I reckon.
haha, yeah I love that Dh takes them to the 'mouse house' (we once left a mouse there after Leila busted our cat with it...she was horrified so we had to take it off the cat lol).
I was thinking the laptop looking thingy...but the DS looking one could be even better (smaller and easier to lug around)...
we will be fairly central (westwood). but apparently it is really nice and very leafy and pedestrian friendly. so i guess on that front it will be good. i hope!
ok, another quick bit of advice needed!! we saw a small dog lying on the side of the road. we pulled up and i jumped out to check on it. it was very obviously dead; a lady from the house it was lying in front of was on the mobile calling the lost dogs home and the council to get it identified and picked up. Leila wanted to come over and have a look. DH and I both said no. (it was NOT a pretty sight if you can imagine). she completely lost it and became hysterical. she knew that it had died and she was upset, but she was really upset that we wouldnt let her have a look (she wanted to say goodbye to the puppy). i felt so bad. and not sure taht i did the right thing by not letting her have a look??? i have no idea?! it was pretty confronting??? she is currently bawling her eyes out wanting the puppy to come 'back' so she can take it to the park to play with stella . far out...i have NO IDEA on what to say to her???
If you believe in the notion of an afterlife, tell her the dog has left her body and is already running around happily with lots of other doggies in a very nice park called Heaven/the afterlife/whatever.
If you don't believe in the notion of an afterlife, maybe tell her that the nice lady is looking after her and maybe she can draw the doggie a picture/write a letter and you can "post it" at the letter box ?
MD: yeah i told her that the puppy was happy again and playing with all the other puppies in heaven etc. but she was VERY worried about the body being left there (as we all were i guess, she just had a different approach to wanting to 'fix it' ITMS). the sad part is that today everytime she sees a small dog she cries thinking that it is going to be 'dead' . I guess with time she will process it. we will keep some small chats about it when she brings it up i guess. i dont know...so hard. we have been to too many funerals (or rather in her case, had too many people pass away...she hasnt been to all funerals/memorials, only Oma's) in the last year and a bit.
oh poor L that is sad. poor puppy too. is she ok today cass? not long till your trip now. how exciting!!!
i recently bought the boys a leap pad and i can highly recommend it. we have the leapstar explorer too like trill said, but this is more like an iPad. you can use the games from the explorer too so you don't need to buy new games. i would highly recommend it, the boys love theirs.
we are suckers and sooo wouldnt make good farmers lol. we are such suckers that we are now working on when we come back to make the whole back yard permaculture so that we dont have to face any prospect of bug and ending of bugs lol. suckers lol!
to Cally and Isadora!!!
. far out...i have NO IDEA on what to say to her???
I have no idea what you should try to tell her that would help?
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