Babies Born ~ September 2007 #75

Gosh I read your post Cass and replying has been on my list and now it is nearly two weeks later lol. Not that much is happening, but there are a lot of little bits and bobs that seem to take up a lot of time.

So when do you go?! Where are you off to this time? I don't even know what an ear candle is!
It is quite comforting to have a diagnoses. It seems to have made a huge difference to BIL to know what is wrong with him. He is actually being mostly reasonable for the first time in forever.

Not a whole lot of anything going on here. Making our way into the downhill slide that ends at Christmas. Only 5 weeks of school left! We made the decision to close the school at the end of term 2 next year, so I am not sure if I am going to start A there knowing it is a short time or do the two school drop off jig for those terms. Can't believe she will be a big school girl next year! She seems tall for her age and with W being small they are almost even now. He is going to spew when people start asking if they are twins lol.

hi everyone :-)
it has been ages since i have been on to see how everyone i going and to update you! Cass - when are you leaving on your trip? it sounds like it will be an amazing holiday! jealous! we are doing the beachouse again this xmas holidays - it works really well for us to have a close to home easy break at that time esp as it is so busy in the lead up.
we have booked to go to cambodia and vietnam next year tho whoch will be fun. and it also looking like i will go to usa for work in march... so lots on as usual! work is really going gangbusters for me, i am enoying it a lot but v firmly in the career mum bracket which also comes wth the guilt, worry etc.
i didnt realise cass you were feeling so down. i am glad you will spend some time with the counsellor and hope that helps. i also didnt know E has a diagnosis? gosh i cant believe it has been 2 yrs since all that horror began.
Arte - so what will happen with the school closing? if you start A there will the kids move with her? that would make it a little less disruptive. why isnt it an end of yr thing to mke it easier to transition?
all is well with the boys. i have just had J assessed by an OT, as he is super smart but struggling a bit motor wise, esp finemotor so we want to get in top of tht b4 school next year. she has assesed him at school so i willhear next week what her thoughts are.
I just bought N his first judy blume! tales of a 4th grade nothing. ah the nostalgia!

Hi MP. I have never read the Judy Blume books, but I made the kids watch The Princess Bride the other week when they were all home sick :) Love the nostalgia value of those old movies. Also made W watch Back to the Future.

School is closing mid year because no one really wants to close it. But there isn't enough parent support/cash in the coffers/may lose the bus run so it can't last much longer. We wanted to give the staff enough time to plan and to give the kids time to get used to the idea - I know that I couldn't spring it on W now and expect him to have come to terms by the end of the year. I think we will start A there, she keeps telling everyone that she is going to that school and she isn't the sort of kid that would mind changing mid year.

I liked the candle that J made - will be a nice talking point as a centrepiece at your family hanukkah celebrations lol Hope all has gone well with the OT. Miss A is a bit on the unco side but she seems to be improving.

there are so many books i am waiting to read with them, and also for them to read themselves. we went to a agreat kids fstival on the weekend, playfest.. . was not as busy as i thought it'd be but kids had a ball. highlight for them was meeting andy griffiths and also sally rippin, i am so glad they are so into books. it is so important.
gosh i hadnt thought it would be easier transition wise to move part way thru the year.. different perspectives as always!! will all the kids transition to the same school? will make for some interesting dynamics

It is a bit different around here because 1 June is 'gypsy day' when all the share milkers move farms for the upcoming season so in the rural schools there is a fair bit of change around then anyway. The other kids will probably go to schools further out that way, mine will most likely go to the one on the other side of town. A will be fine shifting and it will be an issue for W no matter when we do it lol. So I might as well take advantage of the 1.5 teachers for 10 kids for as long as I can.

How is everything going MD? This week must be the 5 year mark?

Hello lovelies!!

sorry i was a slack bum in replying because, well, life got crazy hectic all at once. We left for the trip on the 20th of November and will be over here until the 6 January. It is sooo cold. minus 5 temps are the norm and snowstorms herald most days. that said, it is beautiful.

i mentioned it on FB but unfortunately we got stuck at a rather horrific car crash the other night in not ideal weather. the girls are still kinda processing it with Miss M in particular taking a rather morbid outlook. i think i need to google stuff on explaining death to kids (it was carnage to say the least - we watched as only a few feet away firies ripped open a car and began the awful task of trying to save several lives on the wet road beside us and then have a helicopter basically land on top of us to take the more serious case away). at the time the girls seemed ok (Miss E not, she freaked at the sirens and chopper and loud sounds etc), but yeah, delayed processing i guess.

Arte: argh that is is a bummer about the school closing :(. does he have any particular friends that he would be wanting to move with?
Miss M and Miss E get the twins thing ALL.THE.TIME. and each and every time I am like: "wtf? there be 3 years between them yo". seriously, in the case of my girls being 'twins' people really must be a kangaroo loose in the top paddock (hmm that analogy might be a symptom of homeland nostalgia?? weird).

MP: golly that is a busy schedule next year...already lol. i cannot believe that next year is a matter of weeks away.
what gave you the heads up re the fine motor skills? (this coming from the most uncoordinated person in the world :lol:).

MD: how be it in your world? what be on the christmas shortlist for you and Miss E this year?? I need inspiration!

Oh! and in other news (that may already have been divulged via FB): i have a new job :D (so, MP i am joining you most certainly on the career mum guilt lol). it's a rather intense job and they want me FT but i just cannot do that. thankfully a lot of it can be done from home, but i would like some office time for social stuff and TBH being in the office tends to expediate the tedious tasks). Of course i got the job 2 weeks out from leaving for the trip to the US. so have been super busy learning on the go...literally. but i like it and this uni pays way better than the old...always nice before christmas!

Nice to hear from you Cass :) The FB pics look like a lovely part of the country you are in. A friend and I are traveling to the US next year for a couple of weeks :) Vegas to Phoenix to Tijuana to San Francisco all going well. I am a bit concerned about driving over there.

That crash sounds nasty. I always hope that I never come across anything like that, but then I have been volunteering with St John so I guess eventually it will be something more than oldies needing ride to hospital.
Well done on the job. I am filled with envy! It sounds like the perfect job for you :) I would love to work, just not sure how to make it work around the kids with no after school care.

W doesn't have any particular friends he would want to move with. I would say he is still feeling like a 5th wheel given how his behaviour is going. Today he was fully punching/kicking/yelling at me for the first 10 minutes of the girls dancing lesson because he didn't want to be there. Super embarrassing (he is not usually violent). Things will be better once the holidays kick in but I am giving serious thought to anxiety medication next year, especially with the school move. It is not just that he is miserable, but the girls copy his behaviour which makes it triply crap for everyone. I will talk to his psych about it next week but atm his baseline is so high that every little thing tips him over.

Arte: i was also a bit concerned about driving over in the US, but what i have come to realise is that not only are american cars bigger, so are the roads! and all the cars are automatic!! makes it sooo much easier to concentrate on staying on the right side of the road lol. the thing that helped me to remember how to drive on the correct side was that the driver is always on the middle line :D helps big time when turning corners or going around roundabouts hahahaha.

that trip sounds like it would be way more fun than mine...i cracked it last night as it is really just a work trip and we are dragged along. so now we are off to legoland here in toronto and then niagara falls :D win!

ugh, that is horrendous with the behaviour! it makes you not want to go anwhere with them when they are foul like that :(. My mate has a kid with similar high baseline and boy oh boy it looks exhausting. the arsenal of negotiative powers that she has is truly mind boggling! if it's any consolation we can share in our 'embarrassing public performances': i had Miss M throw the BIGGEST tantrum in a toy store the other day...she has been having them daily...i think she has a tendency towards anxiety...anyway, it was E.P.I.C. it resulted in the store lady attempting bribery (didnt work), threats (by me), begging (by me) and then finally dragging her from the store (literally as she refused to move and went all floppy). i then had to drag/carry her all the way down the street, through the hotel lobby (while pushing the stroller and carrying groceries lol) and then fighting our way into an elevator and back to the room. all up she screamed, kicked and did her floppy trick for 2 hours. it was atrocious. it's now at the point that i can barely leave the hotel room for fear of her tantrums (they strike, anwhere...anytime!).

Yay for bigger roads!! I have been keeping the driver in the center thing in mind and I think (hope!) that the corners are intuitive based on that. I should brush up on the US road rules though :) My friend is a non driver so it is all up to me.

Bummer about the tantrum. Sounds pretty spectacular! It always makes me feel better when I see someone else's kid is having a go - it isn't just mine that are walking disasters lol. Is M getting overwhelmed by all the different that is going on? Does she have a lead up where you can tell it is going to happen or is it a sudden switch?

E's play centre has been cancelled for the rest of the week and possibly the end of the year because there was a horrific outbreak of a V and D bug. Tuesdays usually have about 18 kids, this week there were 2! Those that don't have it are too scared of catching it. It was just a few kids to begin with but went like wildfire after the christmas party.

And life has made my schooling decision for me - there are no girls returning to W's school next year so it would be plain mean to send A there. She will start at the future school and I will have to juggle the two bus runs I guess. She is totally excited about starting school :)

Hope everyone had a fun Christmas :) It was a good one here :) Then we spent a few days at the beach with the IL's. Kids had an absolute ball catching crabs in the rock pools. We even hit it lucky with the weather after an abysmal spring. Back to reality for a day and a half, then I am off to visit my family by myself :)

Hello my darlinks!

I didn't realise it'd been so long, guess I've been busy :).

Arte, yes, thankyou, I hit my FIVE YEARS (yay) which is lovely but also sad because so many of the lovely ladies I met that year are now struggling with advance diagnoses :(. Just a reminder how damn lucky I was.

Arte, I LOL'd at gypsy day! I think all that planning is really sound and it will minimise the impact of the change. Let us know how you get on re the anxiety meds. It must be so wearing. :hug:. BTW I also wanted to say - if you want to work, go for it. You may be able to negotiate flexible hours so the school pickup isn't so much of an issue, or organise someone to have the kids for a day or two after school. Lots of people manage with cobbled together arrangements, and it's more daunting when you're thinking about it than when you're actually doing it, kwim?

I was complaining for a while re E's moods - I think a lot of it with her is cumulative tiredness and the strain of holding her worries in all day (at school) and then home is the release valve. She's been a different kid on holidays. Also, I started a Whine Jar, which is like a swear jar but you have to put 50c in if you're heard complaining. It's only got $1.50 in and it's 3 weeks later so I'd say it's working. (Although one time she had the choice of 50c or running five laps around the garden and she chose the laps and it switched her out of it :D

Cass, I hope you've enjoyed your hols & and it did you all the world of good. Congrats on your new job, yay for working @ home. I'm teleworking a day or two now and love it although like you say the social stimulation in the office offsets the boring-er tasks LOL.

We had a lovely Christmas, my sis and niece flew down so it was two weeks of loveliness. Followed by a brush with bushfire (& accompanying sleep deprivation) just before I went back to work so I was dead on my feet this week. All good now though. I didn't hear anything except happy giggling for two weeks) so the rest of the holidays are going to be an anticlimax LOL.

Anyway, I hope everyone is (already) having a Happy New Year. :)

Hi MD! I have been meaning to reply to this for ages, but the holidays seem to be one long continuous day lol.

E's behaviour pattern sounds pretty similar to W with the anxiety building up out and about and venting out at home. W is totally amazing atm, just so nice and thoughtful and creative. It is how he should be all the time. Another of the scouts kids is like W - was perfect at school and his mother couldn't convince them that he needed help yet at home he was having actual panic attacks in the morning about school. There are some basic yoga-ish moves for relaxation that they showed W that you might be able to sell to E as an after school de-stress thing maybe?

Is teleworking from home?

We have just been pottering around with the old couple of days camping here and there. It is going to be a rude shock when school goes back and we have to be up and ready with lunch boxes done etc by 8am. It is going to hit A very hard - she has never been a morning person. It will be an unpleasant ride for a while there I think lol

Hi Arte - yoga-ish things sound great and I'm sure E would get a lot out of it. She is such a cool cucumber at school, the teachers look at me like I've got two heads when I say she's been anxious. I don't know how she'll go this year, they've split the class up again, and she's back in with her little friend who's got ??? special needs - they adore each other but she tends to take on the responsibility of steering this other kid around. And he can be hard work at times, she absorbs and puts up with a lot in order to be a good friend. Anyway, we rolled into the new class this morning and the teacher has sat her at a table with adores-each-other-but-hard-work-kid on one side and no-love-lost-kid-who-bopped-her-on-the-head-in-reception on the other side and kinda had a WTF moment right there. Needless to say, I think I'll need to word the teacher up to make sure Miss E doesn't become the new unsalaried teacher's aide.

And yes, teleworking is the career-promoting way of saying working from home LOL. The powers have worked out they can save a gazillion dollars by letting people work more flexibly, and it's been a real bonus. There's a bit of a trend in that direction and I think it benefits women with kids plus anyone else who's got more balls in the air other than just working.

When do your gorgeouses start back at school?

My kiddies are back at school next week.

MD, I will hunt out the yoga-ish things and send them to you. And far out - when did H change from a gangly kid to a grown up young woman?!

W got a molar tooth pulled out the other day. I feel terrible about it - he was supposed to have it for another 4ish years. It had a hole before christmas and I didn't know until he complained it was sore so they medicated and filled it and it worked for a month but obviously it was already infected so it started to abscess so they had to take it out. Tooth fairy pays extra guilt money lol

waaahhh! i was so so sure that I had hit send on my last post like aaaaggeeessss ago...obviously not as i had replied to MDs post way back lol..

BBL...need to have a sit and read!!

Miss L had her first day back today! a whole year since she first started at the school!

Good luck with the return to school, Arte! Bugger about W's tooth - H had one pulled around a similar age, no harm done in the end. But the mummy guilt was pretty heavy at the time, so I recall. :hug:

Cass, I've had that I-so-answered-this-recently feeling a few times as well. Sign of a busy, well-filled life. :) How's Miss L going with school this year? As I recall the transition was a little rocky, hope it's all smoother now.

Miss E seems to be happy with her new teacher and class but she's been a rotter at home, so I'm not sure what that's all about. She doesn't have many kids from last year's class in this year's class but I saw some of them lining up to hug her this afternoon as we left, so not too much social damage there! I haven't really met the teacher, she is sooooo not chatty like last year's teacher, but E seems to like her and she's got some good (visible) classroom strategies already. So that seems all good there.

Could she just be tired MD? The end of the first week back is going to be a killer here with all three tired and over it. Especially Miss A - I have tried getting her up at 7am but she still stays up until 10pm either mucking around quietly in bed or screaming that she isn't tired. I am hoping that full school days will exhaust her enough to get her to sleep earlier. She has always been a night owl since she was a tiny baby and daylight savings doesn't help.

W was a rotter today too. Not sure if it is because he knows it is last days of holidays or because I said we were going to Dunedin tomorrow. Going to another town generally sets off some sort of meltdown but not usually until just before we leave. Hopefully he got it out of his system because I am not keen to do three kids in the car by myself for 1.5 hours if he is being a toad.

Cass, are my double spacings bothering you? I read the article but it is so ingrained now that it can't be stopped. Now that I have looked I see that it is an oddity and every thing else I read is single spaced. I wonder why it doesn't autocorrect? Perhaps someone should send the article link to the autocorrect developers.
How did L go at school?

I can't believe how big all these kids are in the 'first day of year x' photos appearing all over FB!

Arte, yes, quite probably overtired, but how you fix that as the year kicks off then just gets busier and busier, I do not know :p. I also had a little lightbulb moment yesterday when I was thinking about the difference between a person who is bored/disengaged/uncooperative and a person who is not. Often, we think a bored/disengaged person 'lacks stimulation' ie from an external sense, but actually, I think it's more about motivation, and having a sense of direction and meaning. When you're connected to some kind of goal/direction/purpose you don't tend to have as many blah moments because you seize your time differently. I have *no idea* how to apply that within the context of parenting a seven year old... but it's food for thought, for the whole family really.

I hope your trip to Dunedin panned out ok. I loved that place when we were there. Which was about a million years ago, but stilll... I loved it. :)

Also - LOL @ the double spacings. I went through a stage when I consciously tried to stop it, but I think they still creep in sometimes (often after a colon not a period). And yes I'm old and I learnt to type on a manual typewriter. I'm also guilty of the double line spacing, I even turn of the automatic spacing in my word docs. Because I can. #rebel

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I also had a little lightbulb moment yesterday when I was thinking about the difference between a person who is bored/disengaged/uncooperative and a person who is not. Often, we think a bored/disengaged person 'lacks stimulation' ie from an external sense, but actually, I think it's more about motivation, and having a sense of direction and meaning. When you're connected to some kind of goal/direction/purpose you don't tend to have as many blah moments because you seize your time differently.

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YES! what an awesome lightbulb moment! I reckon you are right on the money there. you should so be having an oprah 'ah ha' moment right there!!

Arte: nah, your double spacing doesnt bother me...I am not forced to edit your work in word lol. it's super painful as an editor as i have to manually check for it, and sometimes a 'double-spacer' (yes, i am claiming a noun for it lol) gets a bit excited and throws in a sneaky third in excitement hahaha.

I seriously had to unlearn the double space. But i felt relish in it as I really disliked the stupid typing classes that they made us do in highschool...omg, that must a thing of the past now hahaha....getting old!

Re School: Miss L is ok. she is stressed by other kids acting out as she knows that there are penalties that make her upset (even to just witness/be aware of). she is still getting picked on for her lunchbox contents (seriously, we must be living in the 80s again man)...so as a result wil not open her lunchbox and therefore doesnt eat at school :wall: this is now going to be raised a meeting with the teacher and the principal. I guess in a nutshell, stuff is still pretty messed up, but i am happy that she is at least now in the 'experimental' class with her fave teacher - the experimental class is basically two classes and the kids work together for most activities...not sure how this is different from most composite classes i was in as a kid...but yanno, you gotta roll with it.

the news that has hit my radar is that john marsden has finally found a way to get his little school to year 12...by buying the grammar school down the road. Now i just need to find a way to afford $27,000 a year for all three girls to go and we are set :lol:

Only $27k a year - don't see the problem lol
So weird kids care about what is in others lunch boxes! It never even occurred to me. What does she have that is so strange?

MD, entirely agree that disengaged comes from internal motivation. I lack both and I often think if only my life had some direction I would be happier. When I look at all the happy people I know, they may not be rich but they are where they want to be and/or doing what they love.

So big car accident here. Just feeling so grateful that my girls are alright - to walk out of that with a few little scratches is some sort of amazing. Then all the what-ifs swirl in my head - I nearly put E's car seat on the other side that morning which would have left A on the side that got more crumpled. I also nearly let A go in the front as a treat because it was her first ever day of school. Somehow I made a series of incredibly lucky decisions and they ended up safe but it could have gone the other way so easily. As an aside, it was the head rests that saved us. The car could only crumple down to the level that the head rests were at. If they weren't in we would have lost 8 inches of head space. So if you have taken head rests out for car seats etc, I would highly suggest you look at putting them back in.
It was entirely my fault - I took a corner too fast considering the degree of bend and the fact the road was wet for the first time in a month or so. As soon as I tried to correct the corner we went into a skid and there was nothing I could do. Poor A is pretty traumatised and keeps commenting on the dryness/wetness of the road and asking if we are going fast or slow. She had her first trip on the school bus yesterday and said it was good but she was worried it was going to roll off the road :( E is a trooper and thinks it was a big adventure, especially when the Dr played Dr's with her and did all the ear/eye checks that we play at home lol.

Overall I am feeling quite lucky to be alive and to have my children safe and sound.

Holy **** Arte! So glad to hear that you and the girls are OK :hug: How are things going with W now? Has he settled down over the past few days?

Cass, I absolutely loathe that a great education has to cost so much money. We pay $10k per year each for L and E's high school, but we get nearly $9k a year each for them in Govt assistance for isolated children which makes it a hell of a lot more affordable. is the lunch box thing because she doesn't have a lunchbox full of frankenfood? Breaks my heart to see what some kids are packed to eat all day. It's no wonder kids can't concentrate in school when they are filling up on preservatives and empty calories. I hope your meeting is productive and she starts eating at school.

MD! Five years. Wow. That's a huge milestone to get to and I hope that there are many more milestones to go :hug: Your Miss H hs grown up into a beautiful young woman too. Has E settled down? The transition back to school has been big for A too. So much more is expected of them now at school and it can be too much at times.

Soooo the worst buddy in the world award goes to me :lol: I always read this thread, but couldn't not post after reading about Arte's accident :hug: My life is just a crazy merry-go-round and I thought it would get easier but it just seems to be getting busier! I was teaching nearly full time casually for most of last year and I was just exhausted. Had a few health issues which have finally been diagnosed as insulin resistant PCOS so I'm medicated for that, but can't lose weight because I don't have time to exercise. Now that school is back and my time is more scheduled it will be easier to do that now though. This year I have my own class full time on a composite 1/2 class at the kids' school (I don't have A at all thankfully!) so it's been an insane time trying to get all my programming and classroom set up done. Now that school's back that's getting easier. It's awesome having my own class though and I can have things set up exactly how I want them. I have a gorgeous little group of kids too - some huge personalities in there but in a good way. One little girl has so much sass it's not funny LOL. The kids are all going so well - E started high school this year (still have to upload the obligatory first day of school pic to FB) and L is in year 9! Alister has grown so much and is really quite mature now which I'm really glad for - was a bit worried about him for a while there. And P is gorgeous. In yr 5 and loving not having E overshadowing her anymore. having only the two of the at home now is really quite strange still. The dynamic is completely different without E here.

Well that turned into quite the epic, but i promise to be a much better buddy and not leave it so long between drinks now :)

Hello all!

So awesome to see you in her Trill!!! The old scooby gang is getting back!

Arte: I couldnt believe those pics of the car :( so so scary. I am so so glad that you guys got out injury free. the reliving and what ifs may haunt you guys for some time yet. I was in a pretty horrible accident 12 years ago and yeah i remember all the flashbacks and the realisation of just how close we came to being cactus. Might be worth a post on here somewhere asking for advice on how to talk it through with the kids?

Trill: oohhh i didnt even think about the fact that E is also at highschool...arrghh! these kids just keep getting older!
Eeepp! so exciting and huge to be teaching your own class! that is so cool. and scary (kudos to ya man...i'd be pooping my pants just a little hahaha).

I know that we could make the fees work...i have been working on DH for us to sell this gorgeous big old house, for something more...demure lol...just so we can afford to send them there. it's a bit crazy i know, but i feel that the tipping point is so close...

Miss L gets crap about her lunches, because yeah, they are full of homemade stuff and leftovers from the night before (only when it's pasta). it sucks. she came home again without having touched it until the car. bring on this meeting man. i have a feeling she is not letting the teacher know what goes on (they have to eat in the classroom so that they know the kids are eating...but obviously she is able to be a bit tricky and eat the okay contents of her lunch and leave the vast majority).

MD: Miss H is really growing up now...so close to that threshold of adulthood...it's a mind bender man.

Thanks Trill and Cass. I think I am mostly alright but I can still see the grass swirling around and around as we rolled over and over. So horrible knowing I was not getting hurt but having no idea what was going on in the back. I will see how A goes but she seems more alright with it now. She was so hysterical at the hospital and they ended up sedating her so they could check her out.

Cass, it isn't crazy to downsize to afford other things that are important to your family well being. My kids would get made fun of too in that case - they have homemade sandwiches, homemade cookie or muffin, fruit and yoghurt etc. I have been making subway for W and he is loving it - being him I think that is his lunch sorted for the next 3-4 years lol.

Trill, OMG at your own class! Well done! That sounds crazy scary to me lol. I am amazed at how big all the kids are getting - two away at school already! Time just keeps rolling on. W is doing alright so far. I imagine it will get worse as the term progresses but for now it isn't too major.

Flarp Arte!!!!! So so glad and grateful you are all safe.

Great to see you in here Trill. xxx

Cass, how is L going at school now? Did the meeting help?

How is everyone going with the back to school routine? I feel like a headless chook with two different bus runs on opposite sides of town! I quickly realised there was a pick up clash and so now W is going to the library for 20 minutes after he gets off the bus because I can't be in both places at once. I don't feel great about it but he is a sensible kid and he gets dropped off outside it.

So after three weeks of school A's teacher has already spoken to me about her inability/unwillingness to attempt letters or even to draw anything and that she forgets instructions as soon as they are given. I am sure I have mentioned before how incredibly vague she can be so it wasn't news to me but there is already talk of learning support/possible teacher aide for her. I guess part of me was hoping that it would magically not be an issue when she got to school. I will give her a bit more settle in time and then probably take her to the OT that was working with W for assessment so we know what it is we are dealing with.

I managed to sprain my back yesterday and got my wisdom teeth out today so I am having a quiet weekend at home while DH and the kids go to Scout camp. Study, movies, sewing project and mushy food are my plan :)

Oh man. school is sooooo back on in our house. ATM i have THREE different drop offs to make twice a week and 2 different drop offs 3 days a week (and of course they are all at different times....ARRGHH!).

DHs dad is visiting from italy and that has actually been really awesome as he takes Miss L to school on her brand new bike (that he bought for her ... Miss M got one too!). I will sorely miss that help once he is gone.

Arte: i mean, i guess it is good that the teachers are on to it, but hopefully it is just a settling in thing. of course, because it is on my radar, just make sure that the 'vague' is just vague and not a minor absence seizure lol. we have to tell that to kindy as it looks as though Miss E is listening and engaging when in fact the lights are on but noone is home lol.

I have probably mentioned it in here before but lately-ish (ie for roughly the last 5-6 months) we have had some pretty atrocious behaviour from Miss L. It is so out of character (well, how out of character now that it has been going on so long???). but the other week really took the prize of awful i tell ya.

Picture this: lovely summery afternoon, friend's birthday party and we are all invited (kids included) to this gorgeous winery where there are cricket pitches for the kids and chooks roaming around and big fields for the kids to run around in. FABULOUS. anyway, about a couple of hours in, all hell breaks loose. a bunch of kids is busted....doing GRAFFITI. And my little turdburger is one of the offenders!!!! Turns out they helped themselves to the shed (door open) and found the spraypaint and decided to go to town on the walls and on some of the farm equipment. Although Miss L assured me that she *only* did a little scribble on the shed wall, I am just beyond disappointed, embarrassed and furious. I never thought in a million years that I would have to deal with that kind of stuff. not ever. cannot believe it. a whole bunch of kids made the right choice and did not engage in it while she made the wrong choice. i am trying to figure out why...it took ages for her to actually even understand how much trouble she (and us) were in. and i am not proud to say that i ended up in tears on the way home with my disappointment at it all. so so mortifying. anyway, we had to fork out for cleaning stuff etc. but it was just awful.

(ah, yeah, just totally dumped on y'all there lol)

She could have just gotten swept up in the moment and wanting to be like the other kids - especially if they were older. A is like that in a lot of ways. If someone says 'hey, it would be really funny if you did ran across the desks', he'd do it and then get in trouble, while the other kid sits back and watches the fun and never gets in trouble. There are a few sly kids like that in his year group who are older (march and april 2007) who know how to manipulate the other boys to do things like that. But I would have been devastated too and very disappointed. FWIW though, it is just a stage and them learning about good and bad choices etc. I hope it passes soon for you Cass :hug:

Arte, that's a tricky one. If your school system is like ours, she will have to be fully tested for IQ and any processing issues in terms of being able to apply herself to her work, but if they are already talking about getting an aide for her then maybe you'll be lucky enough to bypass all of that and she'll get classroom support quickly. I hope the back and tooth extraction aren't giving you too much pain.

Things are settling down. We're back into a routine now so I feel a lot more organised. A is going quite well at school and he's really taken on the responsibility of being one of the eldest in his class and he's starting to mature a lot. He can still be silly sometimes, but that's rare. Only when he's with a particular couple of boys but they aren't in his class which is good. He's eating me out of house and home though! Can't fill him up at all. I take extra food to school because he finds me at lunch time looking for more food. I weighed him tonight and he's 31kg! And he is 130cm tall - if he keeps growing at the same rate he'll be nudging 100kg and 6ft 2 by the time he's 18 according to the blue book growth chart. But he doesn't look fat, just starting to fill out and get solid looking. L is geting a bit worried that his little brother will end up bigger than him and kick his ass when he's older LMAO! making up for all the times L's wrestled with him.

Cass, your drop off schedule sounds like mine - except I am lucky enough that most of mine are sequential so it is only one giant loop in the car. My new car has arrived now. It has electric doors which are thrilling the kids (and secretly me) no end lol.
Was L with older kids doing the graffiti? Or kids she wants to be accepted by? How has the shift been for her i.e. has she made friends/feeling settled or is the bullying at school etc affecting her quite a bit? Anxiety is always on my radar and honestly the difference between holiday W and stressed out W is amazing. He can be a complete toad when things aren't going well for him. Perhaps some relaxation techniques might be helpful?
I don't think A is having seizures, just a general vague like she has always been. I have long suspected auditory processing problems - I even arranged to get her tested about a year and a half ago and repeated several times on the phone what I wanted, then when I got there they only did a normal hearing test! I was very angry! However, it hasn't been too big of a problem until now.

Trill, hopefully we can bypass the whole IQ thing but if that is the path they want to take then I guess we will go there. I don't think she is unintelligent, just that she often doesn't seem to get what is being asked itms - like if she understands the instructions she can complete a task very well but if she doesn't understand then she just vagues off or gets upset - and that happens quite a bit more than you would expect. I have been doing reading eggs/mathseeds with her and one on one in a quiet room she is picking things up as fast as W ever did. But in class she wanders around in a daze. She also has very little confidence in her own abilities which doesn't help but I have already noticed a difference since she is succeeding with the basic stuff.
Sounds like A is a whopper! I measured W a few weeks ago and he is 121cm and 21.5kg. A has now nudged ahead in weight, although she is still a couple of inches shorter.

MD, I still haven't looked for those yoga moves for E. TBH, W's room is a massive tip and it is a bit scary to venture in there lol.

Back is nearly better and the teeth aren't too bad. I am really looking forward to eating solid food again!

The IQ thing is to assess their cognitive/receptive/ ability etc and how quickly they can process answers, so it's not the test IQ as such, but its one of a range of tests that they do when assessing for processing/cognitive issues. It's frustrating that you keep getting let down by these people who are meant to be helping you! Very hard to keep trying to pursue help when the help you do get isn't very, well, helpful :lol. I have a kid in my literacy class who is quite smart, but will sit and do nothing for the entire lesson if you don't ride his ass every single minute (which is impossible with 28 kids in th class!) and we're actually suspecting he might have Inatentive ADHD because he just spaces out too. Not saying that's the issue with A, but there is just such a wide assortment of things that can interfere with their learning. It's just a matter of findin the right way to deal with it.

A was skinny for so long that in a way it's good to see him put on weight. He was always tall, but he's filling out at a rapid pace.

Yeah, I have found that you get what you pay for in the public health system. We have a private psych that we see now to help W.
ADHD inattentive has been on my mind for several years now with A, but then I wonder how much of her behaviour is her natural 'do the bare minimum' personality. For the last two years I have been trying to get her to write her name and she plain refuses to try. For writing she will do lines of o's and l's. Then today when I was at school helping with literacy I said we should practice writing her name to surprise gran when she goes to help at school next week and she wrote her whole name perfectly and then went back to her scribbles! I showed the teacher who was just as surprised as I was. So how much of it is an actual cognitive issue and how much is just stubbornness/laziness/lack of confidence is hard to tell. She has never been one to want to do anything for herself.

Hi everyone
just had a bit of a read through.... lots to catch up on so sorry if i miss important things!
Trill - cant believe you have 2 at boarding school. you mustnt know yourself. how is the teaching going?
Arte - it is great the teacher is onto any potential watch points with A, and it sounds like you already have it all on your radar. have you taken her to an OT?
we have been seeing an OT for Jacob, and whilst some of it i think is a little too much for him (put any kid under the microscope and youll find issues) it has also really helped him. his pencil grip was one of the main things and that is greatly improved. we are now working on some social things, and he is growing in confidemce all the time. he is 100% thriving in prep. he starts soccer ina teaam this weekend which i thinkw ill be great for him.
N is going really well - loving grade 2. he is growing up so much, he is his own persn really. he is doing drama after schhol one day a week and has started the clarinet too, will start scouts next term.... add on tae kwon do and swimming and its a full agenda for a 7 year old!!! this last weekend we had school 'family camp' - we all grew up - the kids all roamed around sans adults - i ha to get used to that!! they all loved it, we had a ball too. kids already nagging me to book for next year, which i cant do til october!
can hardly believe it is nearly school hols again, i just did out planner for the school holidays! wow!!!
i am going ok, busy as always. doesnt help that i have ross river fever! having some good days ad some not so good. but soldiering on! am off to america for work next week so have to improve for that!
N's teacher called me today for a check in (love that!) and she mentioned he is having some issues 'mirroring' - so we need to watch for that. she said it can be an indicator for dyslexia, but she thinks it will improve with some prompting. she said he is a wonderful student though, with a love of learing. i teared up, so proud!
i am moving into another new role ar work soon, so things are going well.... busy busy and thankful for our amazing nanny/housekeeper whch has made lide so much easier.

Cass - how is L going at school now? how are you going? it seems the move has been a bit hard? thought of you as we had a weekend in bendigo recently.

MP, congrats on the new job! Hope you have a good work trip too :)
I haven't done the OT yet for A but she is doing well at school so far I think. She has realised that she can do it and her confidence is building which is great to see. Our main focus with her at the moment is emotional control - using nice words and/or coming up with a solution rather than screeching and howling about every tiny thing. It is slow going but she is improving. I think the school stuff will flow on once we get her feeling better within herself.

N will love Scouts. W has been going since last May and DH is his group leader now. I love the camps when the kids can just roam and do their own thing - we went to a scouts camp a couple of months back and it was like that.

Is anyone else into Minecraft? W would play it from dawn to dusk if I let him. I have to limit the time he is allowed to play it and OMG he can talk about it. 20 minutes straight in the car the other day! At least he spends equal time reading his book about it.

Hi everyone! Hope you have all had a lovely Easter with your families!
Can hardly believe we are about to start term 2 that is just freaky!
all is going well here, I really needed this long weekend to relax, it's been so full on lately and I am tired and stressed, so the relaxed family time has been a blessing. We usually go away and I am glad we didn't. Had 24 ppl for dinner Friday and 12 sat, but it all went well.
The kids are doing really well, today we are moving their bedrooms again as it's time for them to split, bit nervous how that Weill go
n is doing so well, school is going well, he loves all his extra curricular, he is growing up so much. Bit of attitude, but generally so great
j is also doing well, prep has been great for him and he is really thriving, it's good to see
no other news to report really, just busy being us!
would love to near how everyone is

Hello everyone!!! Was getting a bit sentimental about our babies being so big so thought I'd check in on everyone!
We just drove back from mildura so I, too, thought of you cass! Please don't sell that beautiful rambling house. I love it too much!
Trill I weighed Lewis yesterday (after pulling out last winter's trackies and jeans and finding he couldn't get any on) and he has cracked 35kgs! Huge. Just ordered a couple of pairs of size 12 CR trackies for him with my latest spend and save lol
J has been going great in prep. Loving school and really engaged. Had a PSG meeting the other day for him -have to have one per term for him as he is part of the special needs unit- and they said that he is way over achieving academically and will need extension activities. Unbelievable. So proud of him. He tries his little guts out.
I have returned to work 2-3 days a week. I was so anxious in the lead up to it all. Worried about j mostly and not being there for my kids 100% of the time but it has been ok. I've been enjoying the work much more than I thought I would, and especially enjoy having more $ to spend lol
Hope everyone is well. Congrats on 5 yrs md and on having your own class trill x

Hey G - I have also been quite sentimental, they really are growing up aren't they. what kind of extension will they do for J? my J is also getting extension, in reading and maths... its great how schools can tailor for them all isnt it.
both my boys went happily off today back to term 2... i had a drama filled morning - dh is away and i am in sydney tonight (kids at my in laws) - got us all in thr care ready for the day with my suitacse, their bags, overnight bag etc - proud... then the alley i drive up was blocked by a truck. divert. major traffic. late for school and N ended up with his first ever late pass! take J up to his room (he starts later) and kiss him bye, off i go to get to the aiport. no keys. empty handbag, rush aorund madly. nothing. back into school retrace footsteps. eventually locate them on top of Noah's locker. grrrrrrrr! drive to airport. get text from DH who just woke up "hope day is going smoothly!". funny now in hindsight!
35kg and size 12 - wow!!!!! i need to weigh the boys but i think n would be behind that. he is avg height ad just in size 7 now really. J is super tall, but so thin!!! i cant even imagine size 12!!! your boys look so gorgeous in their pics! stunning.

Hello lovely ladies!

argh so awesome to see you everyone chatting away in here again...like the good ol' days!

MP: Term 2 of grade 2...so freaky fast! Miss L goes on her first school camp soon. they go horseriding for like 3 days and of course i have totally put my hand up to help out with the ponies (pony passion 101 over here lol).

so lucky that you found your handbag after all that time! best scenario that you left it at the school...but still...cannot imagine having to run around trying to find it while stressing about getting to the airport...hats off to you!

Ginger: do you have to commute far for work? or is it nice and local? I am getting a *bit* over the commute, mostly because i have to get on a train and only have a meeting here and there and then hop back on. the other day i went all the way in for an 18 minute meeting :wall:

It seems i have the opposite issue to you guys with the boys. Miss L is still so tiny! she is still in size 5 dresses for school hahahaha.

AFM: we are all pretty good here. Miss E is now officially discharged from the RCH neurology mob! yee-hah! i mean, she still has sporadic seizures but they are not impacting her brain or development so we all felt that it was not really necessary at this stage to keep meeting every six months. basically now we just call up her neurologist with worries/changes etc and keep in touch when we want etc. which is a big relief.
Miss L is about to start playing soccer and the violin! we are fast becoming scheduled parents haha! wasnt sure it would ever happen but there you go haha.

Cass, yay for Miss E being discharged!

G, great to hear J is going well and you are enjoying the return to work

MP, you sound busy as always!

MD, hope you are well.

I got back last week from my dream holiday with a friend in America. We managed to cram so much stuff into two weeks, it was awesome! Settling back into home life again - school runs, lunch boxes, essays due...

hello everyone :-) it is so quiet in here! i was just remembering when we used to basically live chat in here when the kids were babies... how time has rushed by!
Cass - YAY for miss e being discharged. that is just wonderful news :-) whata journey you have been on. I am doing a leadership programme and one of the things is to engage with different CEOs and businesses and the RCH was one of mine. i thought of you. amazing place for amazing kids. i hope miss e is doing really well now. congrats on your pony ! i guess that makes the country living more "adjusted" you couldn't do that in your old hood. very cool. how is miss L going at the school now?
Arte - your trip sounds amazing! how did everything at home go without you?
MP - how goes having a teenager? cant even imagine!!
Trill - how is A and how have you adjusted to having 2 at boarding school and 2 at home? how is your teaching going?
G - how is Mr J going in prep?

All is well here. N is going grrat guns, he started scouts a month or 2 ago and just got his first badge for doing a 6km hike last weekend. he really enjoys it and i love that it is 'wholesome fun' - no screens, no major investments etc, just learning and interacting and kind of the same as when we were all kids. i am also hoping je will over time meet some local kids, as that is a downside of private school i guess.

J is doing really well at school. he has adjusted a lot socially and he is so happy there. learnong heaps too - really advnaced in reading and maths, and enjoying all the different experiences. Still some 'sensory' stuff going on, but its just him and his slightly quirky ways i think. the OT did some great stuff with him and we have overcome the pencil grip issues, so i stopped that as she was totally over analysing him and making him kind of upset. hard to explain.

my work is going ok, i am doing 2 massive jobs and am a abit over it. may be time for a change (i have now been there 4 years)....

we have about a month until we go on holidays (to vuetnam and cambodia) - cant wait.

Hope everyone is well and smiling!

X

Hi MP. Scouts is awesome! Everything went fine at home while I was away, a bit hard arriving straight back into the lunchbox/school run saga after the freedom of holidays though lol.

Cass, congrats on the pony! I would love to have a pony for my kids. I grew up with horses and would like to get back into it at some stage.

Same old here. Snow tonight, everyone is hoping for a snow day in the morning :)