Cally I am a social butterfly so I am sure I will make friends quickly too. Without sounding like a complete stalker can I just say I think your Miss K is one of the prettiest little girls ever, she has the most amazing eyes.
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Cally I am a social butterfly so I am sure I will make friends quickly too. Without sounding like a complete stalker can I just say I think your Miss K is one of the prettiest little girls ever, she has the most amazing eyes.
Oz, you will totally make new friends with the school mums quickly :)
When we got A a king single bed, we underestimated the amount of soft toys a 3 year old girl takes to bed with her lol. There is barely any room for her in there.
Haha Arte, Z is like that only she has a double bed. I find all sorts of things in there in the morning lol
By the looks of FB we have all had the old heart strings pulled as the kids finish up kindy. I sort of coasted through W's farewell by mucking around with the video camera and not really thinking about it lol. At least we have next week before it is all over. I love the teachers and the centre they run. I am trying to come up with a nice message to put in a card for them. I owe them so much for how they have helped W develop over the last two years.
Hi ladies, what's happening? Everyone's obviously busy busy busy!
Arte, you must be soooo proud of your little performers! That's excellent :). Turns out there's a happy ending re E's kindy concert - the teacher had video'd their practice so she burnt me a dvd - so I got to see E happily singing and doing all the actions like a superstar!! BTW congratulations on your B!! Well done. Our marks were moderated this time, and my composite score was moderated down by two points - which took me from a distinction into a credit. Ouch LOL. When do you leave on your road trip?
Cally - K plays chess? Jeepers, I need to get E into the games a bit more. Understandable about the tramp. H was a bit older and we only got one in the end because I believed its roundness made it less risky than a rectangle one. We still have the same one but we've changed the mats and net a couple of times.
Cass - how are you feeling now? I hope you've got a bit more oomph, but understandable if it takes a while to recuperate. :hug:
MP, I'm so sorry to hear about your great uncle. So sad that you missed seeing him again. :hug: I hope your break away gives you a real boost.
Trill you must be so proud of your kidlets! That's awesome.
Kindy "graduation" was awesome. The main kindy teacher said a few words about each of the kids and she talked about how kind and caring our E is towards the other children. Lovely to have that beautiful side to her acknowledged :).
For Christmas, we'll be having a leisurely morning at home - presents, brunch - then heading over to my dad's place for lunch. He has a pool too so hopefully it will be warm enough to swim. We usually have a few friends over on boxing day but I'm not sure if we will this year - house is pretty full as it is.
That's lovely that they do that MD. In the past when the older three have left preschool, they get a little letter in their portfolios saying all these lovely things about the kids. I really appreciate that sort of thing. And I hate the damn bell curve! Screws with my head bigtime.
Well today is A's big day. I just hope that he does sing and dance during their concert. He gets a bit funny when he knows I'm watching him. Also Big Boy's last day of primary school :(
Have finished all te christmas shopping and will put the tree up shortly.
MD, yay for the practice sessions DVD! That is nice of E's teachers to acknowledge all the children individually. We are having a run of leaving parties at kindy so every kid gets their own special day - that is why W's was last week but we still have this week at kindy. I guess it is easier to do here because most kids trickle away over to school as they turn 5 during the year so it isn't a full class leaving at year's end.
Trill, good luck with L's last day :(
So far Christmas here might be a BBQ down at the river (weather permitting). DH has 5 days off, then after all the festivities it is only a couple of weeks until we are away on our trip. I think we leave around the 7th. Slightly worried about being in close proximity to BIL, who seems to be in a psychotic state and *really* hates me. I have asked DH that the kids and I are not left alone when we are in hometown. I don't think he would go further than the filthy FB/text messages but he is delusional and irrational so I think I will play it safe.
Arte, you just cannot even begin to predict what someone that disturbed could do, especially when he's been so vocal about how he feels about you. I really hope that nothing comes of it though. Will your DH back you up on this though?
Gah, couldn't talk to anyone at A's concert because as soon as I started to talk about him I would get all choked up and couldn't talk :( He was just beautiful though and he made this gorgeous gift for us - a self portrait of himself. I will have to take a pic of it to show you all.
Trill, I can't even imagine how hard it is for the last baby to finish up pre school. I suspect I will have to make a quick exit on friday because I am quite the public crier lol
DH has agreed that the kids and I shouldn't be left alone. BIL talks big but is generally non-confrontational so I doubt anything will happen. Just don't want to get caught out and have something turn ugly. I think it will be fine, just not taking any risks.
It is only 6 sleeps until Christmas!! Better get on to the wrapping - I always leave it until the night before and then I am up until 1am wrapping presents lol
Arte - glad that DH supports you in this.
Last day care day today. Her favourite teacher was there for drop off and we both had a little cry.
Hi girls!
Super cheap post as on my phone.....
Still no home internet....grrrr.
Arte: I have only recently become a public crier. So ridiculous how easily I well up with sad or happy stories lol.
MD: very awesome that they had a DVD made up!
MP: really sorry to hear of you g. Uncles passing xx
Trill: I was just thinking abouthow hard it will be when my last baby graduates from kindy
Miss L had her last day yesterday all the parents hung about with us all looking lost lol. Lots of numbers swapped for playdates though :). The kids put on a film show forus where they recorded themselves doing Goldilocks etc. So cute as they made popcorn and all lol.
Bummer about the last days :(
Hope the Mayan Apocalypse goes well for everyone tomorrow :)
Still alive and still all normal at this house. Havent spotted meteorites or zombies....yet.
10.11pm Australian time...
ahh, ok. i only have one can of baked beans left. if it is like a zombie invasion or something I dont think it will carry us far :think:
Yeah, Mayan Apocalypse going really well here. We even broke out the dark chocolate to mark the occasion. LOL
Arte - sorry to hear your BIL is in the throes of paranoia again, I don't think you can be too cautious. Have you had a chat to the ILs abou it? Do they have any suggestions? Your BBQ at the river sounds lovely - and I bet you have a lovely mild summer too. I'm usually up at 1am too so trying to get a jump on it this year.
Gee Trillian, you've been holding out on putting up the tree?!! LOL. You're one step ahead of me - I've still got some shopping hanging over me - and some baking. And other preparatory things. BUT thanks to my new pills my house is cleaner and more organised than it has been for about 4 years AND that's with all the houseguests!!
Cass, I've got lots of baked beans and even tuna. If the zombie attack breaks out you can make for the border. I'll have a baked bean-stocked enclave of zombie-free goodness waiting for you ;).
What's Santa bringing the kidlets this year? DD1 is getting an e-reader and DD2 will get a scooter.
Well that was a let down wasn't it? So when's the next end of the world event planned? I was listening to the radio earlier and they were interviewing americans and they take these doomsday events so seriously don't they? Well at least they won't have to buy food for a while now :lol:
MD, I thought about getting E a kindle, but we went with an ipod nano instead to replace the one that went through the wash.
So as for gifts, they are all getting books - they all asked for books which was great. Then L is getting his ipod touch, battleship board game, a Hawthorn football club membership for 2013 and a few odds and ends. E is getting her nano, books an some drawing things. P is also getting some drawing stuff plus some polly pocket and littlest petshop minis. A is getting a wooden thomas bridge, a nano speed car track thingy and a few smaller things. Santa has brought me some Terry Pratchett books, an annotated Brothers Grimm and an annotated Monty Python book on all 45 episodes of the Flying Circus.
Trill that's awesome your kids are asking for books! :cheer: Everyone in this house is getting books too - I even went to an actual book shop to buy them OLD SKOOL lol. I've been doing "love from the Christmas Book Elf" ever since DD1 was little so they know it's coming now. Actually I dragged H into the bookshop with me and I've got to say it reinforces my worry about her: I don't know if I've shared my recent theory with you all but it's blatantly obvious to me now that she's got some kind of attentional deficit thing going on. The penny dropped for me a couple of weeks ago when I was doing some reading about stimulant medications, and OMG it has been staring at us in the face all along. The incessant stream of consciousness talking, the interrupting, the seeming-to-not-hear what we're saying, the complete lack of personal organisation, the sloppy school work with tiny little chunks of crazily intelligent work in random places, all the mistimed social responses. And as E has got closer and closer to school age its been more and more obvious to me that H was soooo not "normal" at that same age. Am going through the motions now of doing some reading and thinking and deciding whether it's worth getting her assessed or not. Anyway, despite her 3-second attention span and her constant trail of abandoned semi-read novels, she's getting a kobo. Gee Santa's been busy at your house. An annotated Brothers Grimm?! Sounds awesome. I left the bookshop with a few extra YA books than there are people to give them to, so that's prolly what I'm getting ;). On my wish list are a number of things that would need to be bought online but DH has left it too late (like usual) so I'm guessing I'll also be getting chocolate or body shop or smelly candles PMSL.
You hadn't shared that about H yet. What would an assessment mean for her at this age? I know for little kids it means help at school etc, but would she get that at her age? Or would they even consider that type of thing or just medication? And how do you feel about all this? I forgot to say before that I'm really happy that you are getting somewhere yourself with the meds :hug:
I've been doing both bookshops and online - I had to get the Brother's Grimm and Monty Python ordered in online, but the others have all come from Collins. We have a fantastic one in Griffith and they have so much more than just books. We were all in there again today and I love that the kids can be totally entertained just by looking at books in a shop and begging me to buy them one.
Trill: your christmas booty is my dream list! the flying circus and terry pratchett??! man, you musta been a good girl this year. i notice a remarkable absence of any present for moi under the tree this year, so yep, like MD my DH has left it so late (ie forgotten lol) so i too will most likely end up with petrol station flowers and chocolate...i'm serious...he did that one year hahaha.
MD: hmm i guess that could explain a few things. how does it sit with you. was an oprah 'ah ha!' moment? i guess at least with this idea of ADHD you can place some simple mechanisms in place and see if they can initiate some positive change for H.
AFM: shopping is pretty much done. i havent bought for the neighbours yet (but did for the kids so wondering if that is enough?!). need to go shopping today for groceries but am waiting on a courier for my new pram (that i ordered 5 frikkin weeks ago with assurances that it would only take 1-3 weeks max..not happy Jan) and i have to be here for it otherwise i am guessing that i would have to wait for the new year before they deliver it.
Presents wise, W is getting RC car, a little radio and little bits and pieces. The girls are getting the same things as each other, in an attempt to cut down the 'I want what she has' thing they have going on.
MD, I hope you can decide what to do about H. Is she happy within herself? Sounds like your new drugs are good, which is great.
Stinking hot here. Not Australia hot, but apparently I don't function over 20 degrees. We went on a bush walk today and I thought it was a 1h15m loop track but it was that each way and ended up taking us 3 hours and it was way hot and at a high altitude so the sun was melting us. DH read the sign at the end and said that it was another hour to go and I spat tacks at the poor man. Total kid tanty style lol Dude might think more carefully about his jokes in the future!
I can't believe it's almost Christmas. My DH say we are going shopping tomorrow for a present for me, there's noway I'm going near the shops tomorrow though lol.
L is getting a bigger bike and Z a dolls house along with getting a few bits and pieces each.
Arte how do the kids go on the big walks? I think L would whinge for most of it lol.
MD tough decisions re H. I'm sure you'll make the right one though.
Hi girls we are in the car on the way to Sydney so thought I'd pop in and say hi!
On phone though so no doubt ill be brief :)
Merry Xmas to everyone. The boys aren't getting too much this year. J is getting the Thomas blue mountain mystery set - you've prob seen it on tv? And some new trains. L is getting some superhero Lego lol
Md- has anyone from H's school ever mentioned anything to you about this? Will u take her to a pead now?
I bought myself a few Xmas presents this year cos dh never gets me anything. I got new Bathers and a couple of kaftans, a beach bag and some perfume lol I did quite well! Lol
Oh and I have ordered myself a book too (impressed md?) xo
Hi girls!
our girls are getting little things too this year. way too much junk already in the house lol. so a barbie coupe, a hair and makeup doll and a jewellery box and some lip gloss. nothing flash, but simple stuff that they will like well enough. oh and the Big Santa Gift for each girl is: for DD1 a lalaloopsy mini doll set and for DD2 is a ballerina bar dance set. DD3 is getting the traditional royal doulton 3 piece dinner set (we get one for each of the girls).
we are planning a lovely picnic lunch at wombat bend park (a lovely park that sprawls along the yarra river). not going to be a scorcher so really looking forward to lounging around eating olives and salami and watching the girls go feral on the playground :)
Oz, the kids go pretty well on the long walks. W complained about running out of energy in the last half hour but he was really good. A got carried on and off on the way back and E was in the pack (as much as she would allow!).
W was being unusually nice to A yesterday and I couldn't figure out why, then I realised we saw some of The Polar Express on telly and W saw a bit where the elves are investigating a report of a kid being mean to his sister and almost put him on the no presents list. Must have worried him lol
The big day tomorrow. I am not sure how E is going to cope the the reality of the rest of the year when you don't get a chocolate every morning!
MERRY CHRISTMAS GORGEOUS ONES!
I probably won't get a chance to get back on again so I'm wishing you all a Merry Christmas today! Just think, 6 years ago our little September babes were only just coming into existence - A was conceived on Christmas eve (probably way TMI LOL, but it always sticks in my mind) and I can't believe that we've all known each other for this long! It's been a great ride :grouphug:
So I hope you all have an awesome day filled with fun and laughter and that Santa's been good to you (even if that just means the kids behave for more than an hour :lol: )
and from our wee family....
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
...Miss L was a 23rd of December conception lol...day before DHs MIL arrived :rofl:
Snap Cass! W was the 23rd as well, a quickie before DH went out to his work party.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas :)
Boxing Day one here.
Had a great day. Presents were all a bit overwhelming, just with all of the family and kids, the little girls were actualy more interested in chasies.
Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing day and the little people had a sleep in this morning to make up for their likely early starts yesterday!
Hope everyone had a good Christmas.
Was a great one here - kids loved all the presents and played nicely all day. Went swimming in the pool 3-4 times as it was super hot. Today we went to the city (madness!) and bought too much crap we didn't really need lol. We went for a swim at the beach which was lovely.
Pretty sure we made E on the 27th or 28th! LOL. Arte, sweetie, really be careful this week!!!
Arte, your bushwalk sounds like my worst nightmare. I don't do heat at all. We went to DH's work christmas "treat" for the kids and they'd moved it to a new oval area where there was not a single dot of shade anywhere. And the event ran from 10am to 2pm :wall:. And they ran out of water :wall:. Later turns out it was over 38 degrees - anyway, we turned around and went home after about 45 minutes - I was beetroot red and pretty sure another 15 minutes there and it would've been a visit to the first aid tent.
Yep Cass, it was totally a massive A-ha moment LOL.
Ginger, how goes things in Sydney town? Hope all is well with you :hug:
Re H, I'm not fully sure what an assessment would mean for her. The teachers have often mentioned the self-organisation and distraction, and she's needed help with the socialising at times as well. But ADHD looks different for girls than it does for boys and typically it goes undiagnosed. As it is I've had a couple of discussions with people re the ADHD and have been answered with Aspergers talk. I'm not sure that she really meets those criteria (which are about to change in a couple of months when the new DSM comes out). But I'm sure any assessment will suss that out as well, especially because she has some social difficulties. TBH I would be happy to sidestep the diagnostic process altogether if I could just take her along to someone who could help her out with some self-organisation strategies and also some socialising tips. She has been showing signs lately that her confidence in herself is waning - I think that's a real danger at this age when peer socialisation becomes more important than when they are younger. She's getting a terrible terrible stoop in her posture, and I wonder if that's just her body reflecting her lack of confidence.
Did I mention that DH most probably has ADHD (but never been actually diagnosed as such) which is an ongoing source of conflict and chaos in the house. Which I'm much less able to deal with now with my flakey memory and loss of executive functioning skills. Part of the process of me getting on the brain pills and starting to deal with everything I've been avoiding is facing the family dysfunctions - in communication and organisation - and getting some help with that. But it's not an easy process nor a cheap one and we're not exactly flush with money and have not been since my diagnosis. BUT there is a clinic at Flinders here where they are using brand new brain imaging methods that are 95% specific in detecting ADHD. So that might be one route that could give us some very specific answers rather than a clinical guess that other diagnostic methods provide.
Christmas was a complete bummer here. I didn't account for how much time and space houseguests take up and so had to do some late nights to get on top of everything ... was so tired by the actual day that we arrived at my Dad's for lunch late and he made some nasty snippy comments directed squarely at me and I had a histrionic melt down. So, yeah, I get the Hysterical Meltdown Award this year :lol:. Kids all had a ball though, I dashed out on christmas eve to get a couple of monster high dolls and so glad I did because E's been carrying them around and playing with them every second since. But Santa left his shopping a bit late and instead of getting a robe or the book i'd asked for I scored a handful of dvds from jb hifi :lol:. Maybe I've been a bad bad girl this year.
MD, you beat me though...I got a packet of lollies from Aldi. I am not joking.
MD, I am sure you weren't a bad girl! I got some noodle bowls. Perhaps I was boring this year? And :hug: - everyone has the urge to throw apples at family at times :)
Diagnoses wise, I guess that depends on what funding levels that allows you. If a diagnoses of ADD gives you subsidised access to some sort of CBT then it is worth going down that path, but if you can access a relevant therapist for the same cost without a diagnoses then that is probably easier. I am very interested in the scan for ADD! Awesomeness!
OMG Cass!!?! :o Don't eat them all at once now, will you?
Arte I LOL'd about your noodle bowls. How come noodle bowls are ok and sporks don't cut it??! Thanks for the hugs. Fortunately there was no fruit close by for hurling.
Ladies, I think there's only one solution. Some pre-New Year online shopping, Trillian-style! I'm going to order myself a difficult-to-get collection of essays and articles by the now-deceased Diana Wynne Jones. Take that, Santa!
Re the Neurocognitive testing for ADD, some reading here. I'm particularly interested in this because in a former lifetime I worked with a psychologist in Darwin who was using an EEG platform to detect attentional issues and he'd had very good results using EEG biofeedback games to retrain a whole lot of people. We're talking 15 years ago now, this new system seems to work on a similar principle but boosted by a heap of really smart modelling software and a big fat wad of data. I'm not sure that a diagnosis would actually result in any extra funding as such. Hmmm. Hadn't even thought about that. But it would give me something to take to the school by way of asking for help. Part of problem is that professionals tend to recognise the hyperactivity and defiance traits of ADHD but this is only one out of three aspects to the condition. Our H is quite compliant (after you've got her attention and reminded her 15 times) so less likely for it to be picked up in the classroom. Incidently, after we had her tested for auditory processing, the recommendations we got from that are *exactly the same* as those needed for ADHD. And she's been in classes with ASD kids all the way through so the teachers have already been moderating their delivery for those other students. So H has been been indirectly benefitting from this for the last couple of years, which IMO partly explains the improvement in her school work. Plus she's started drinking tea&coffee (ie self-medicating). On the other hand, she's infuriatingly literal in the way she interprets what we say so there might be something to the Aspie theory as well. I'm still having GAH. Why did I not see this before now??!!
PS. Arte, are you still at PIL's place? How's it going with BIL?
MD, not at PIL's yet, we leave in a 9 days and will take two weeks to make our way down there. BIL won't be an issue, he will most likely leave town or the ever present possibility that he will check out early.
Good on you for getting your own presents :)
I have been attempting to TT Amelia while we are at home with no obligations. Yesterday went well but today is a total fail. She won't even sit on there now without screeching and has just peed all over the floor all day. I will keep going though, she knows what to do but just won't do it.
ETA, as I was typing she went on the potty on her own accord. Perhaps we may get somewhere.
Arte, oh I get it, it's a stop on the caravanning holiday. I was a little confused, I thought you were heading down for Xmas. Re the TTing, is there a particular bribe you think might work? We used lolly bribes for DD1 (and I'm not afraid to admit it) and it worked a treat. It might also be a good idea to find out what exactly she objects to. Is the potty seat uncomfortable? We bypassed the potty and just did toilet, that way they can aspire to going to the toilet just like mummy does. DD2 wouldn't sit on the regular toilet seat OR the fancy one with the steps and handles but she was quite happy to climb up onto one with a soft cushy cushion. So we invested in the soft cushy foldup one and she would happily go using that when we were out and about.
OH YEAH BABY!! I'm planning on doing the same for my birthday in a few weeks LOL.:
MD, I'm not surprised in a way that this is only just starting to *click* with H now, because she's a 'good' kid. She's not typical for those dx's and doesn't have the massive meltdowns or the destructive behaviours. She's able to toe the line at school and pretty much fly under the radar probably because there would have been worse kids than her that needed dealing with kwim? I guess taking it further would be the difference between you just wanting her to have some skills and strategies for helping herself and rebuilding her confidence etc or actually getting funded help for school. And I'm not surprised by your DH either. Now that you mention the ADD, it makes a lot of things make sense doesn't it? I know there have been times when you've posted about things he's done around the house and it would just seem like a man who didn't do a lot around the house, but deep down there may be an underlying issue. And if it were me, I would have had a meltdown too ;)
Arte, she will probably get it eventually, but at her age because she's still so little I would expect there to be more accidents etc than if she were older kwim? She isn't old enough to have the communication skills to explain it to her properly so she consistently does it.
Cass, those lollies are even worse than the birthday effort I had one year when I got an outdoors thermometer, a gas lighter for the BBQ and a bottle of mortein bug spray - you know those big grey bottles that you get from the supermarket to do DIY pest control :doh:. Lucky for DH that he got me a Pandora necklace the following year ;)
Christmas was OK. I felt a bit blah for most of it, just felt super super tired and sluggish. I think the late nights with all the storms etc the nights before caught up with me. The kids were all super excited though of course and they did quite well - even BIL and his wife who are the champions of dodgy gifts came through with some pretty good presents this year. Which I know makes me sound ungrateful, but I would rather they just didn't spend money at all instead of buying crap gifts kwim? A nice surprise though was from MIL and FIL who gave us a $500 cheque to go towards the bathroom reno. It paid for our new bathtub LOL. So we're just taking it easy now. P and A start swimming lessons on the 2nd for 4 days and other than that we have no plans for anything.
She gets a smartie when she uses the potty. She objects because she doesn't want to be a big girl. She likes her little lifestyle of being a baby and having everything done for her. She would rather squeal and scream for half an hour rather than admit that she can put her own shoes on (which she does all the time at kindy!). She is playing us and wants to stay on easy street lol. She has a (teeny tiny) bit of motivation atm since E is starting to surpass her in things.
Yeah, re DH...soooo makes sense! Classic example: his dad was fixing the shower (which DH had tried to "fix" a number of times this year, meaning: one time he didn't turn the water off and it sprayed all around the bathroom; one time he forgot he owned a re-seating tool; one time he put completely the wrong washers in and it dripped even worse than when he started; one time he turned all the wrong bits of water/hot water off and got a terrible airlock in the pipes which eventually I had to fix) so he turned the hot water off. Then turned it on again. At 8pm when I said the water wasn't hot, he insisted he'd turned it on. Then he went out and checked, said it was on. Got cranky with me when I demonstrated evidence of water coming out of taps not hot enough. In the end, I went out there in the middle of the night, with a torch, and guess what? Hot water switch was in the OFF position. LE SIGH. Then, the very next day, after I'd explicitly reminded him at least TWICE that he needed to pack BOTH of the layered icecream Christmas desserts (with and without alcohol) he packed one of ours and one that his mother made and so there was no dessert for the kids on Christmas day. And then they all accuse me of being obsessed with details and double-checking!! NO ****! BTW he's a lovely person who does a LOT around the house, but it's often done crazy, or he just doesn't finish it.
Sorry, just a bit of venting left in me...
Arte, we had the objecting re shoes and getting dressed for a long time with E too. I would just ask her once, reward her massively when she did do it, but then just do it myself when she didn't with a minimum of fuss/attention/energy. You can use rewarding E for doing things as a positive motivator for A too.
How do all the kidlets like their christmas haul? E's been playing with her monster high dolls continuously, and riding her scooter heaps. Other winners (with all the girls) include the tangle teezer brushes, the magic slushy cups, and DVDs and books.
Trill, sorry, we must have posted at the same time. I don't think A is particularly young for TT - she is nearly 3.5. Yay for bathroom renos!
MD, vent away! I do use E getting rewards to get A to do stuff - there would be no way she would attempt the potty if E wasn't having a go and getting a special treat for it lol.
Fish and chips tonight, DH worked late and I can't be bothered cooking :)