omg! for some reason i have been missing the updates! ARGH!
Arte: hmmm the roadtrip of yours if probably over by now...i hope that it wasnt too marred by little people and their penchant of repetition hahaha. All i recommend really is their own personal grab bag of goodies with as non messy snacks as possible and small activities that they can reach themselves and heaps of breaks in the driving and that NO MATTER what have a clear time of day that you pull in for the night (even if you are not quite as far as you want to be).
I hated all the goodbyes. I guess i was lucky in that we arent that far from our original digs but still far enough away that i am no longer part of the everday general banter. I totally and utterly miss my old mothers group as we shared everything (and i mean everything!) with eachother over the last 6 years. the good, the bad and the ugly. but i do have the chance of catching up every now and then. but yeah, still sucks. and making new friends that are close and awesome takes time....and *stomps foot like a 3 year old* i dont wanna wait wah wah wah hahahaha.
Mamapan: so awesomely awesome to hear from you! I love living vicariously through your amazing sounding holidays lol. I always admire you guys and your determination to have holidays...I guess it's the much needed payoff for all that intense work you have to do.
I told DH that if i ever get clucky again that it has to be a puppy lol. So i like your plan hahaha. that said, they are a fair bit of work generally and do prefer to have company (ie the family around). lonely dogs can be quite naughty!
Oz: I am totally loving following your journey on FB so exciting! Are you feeling ready to have a baby yet??
AFM: all pretty good here. although we have managed to kill two wild birds in as many days through unfortunate accidents (one falling down the chimney and the other got hit by our car). I am trying not to read bad omens into it!!
Miss L is settling much better in at the school, but I am not 100% happy with it. So am keeping options and mind open to alternatives, but am just not in a rush to chop and change considering all the changes we have been through recently what with the move and everything.
Winter is setting in. it is pretty but all the mousies around the hood are trying to move in which is annoying. But i am enjoying the lack of fire season and the switch to a roaring warm fireplace (when birds are not meeting their untimely deaths in it of course!).
hi Cass
Great to hear from you... I agree re the dogs... that is one of the dilemmas although we are home in the morning and the kids are home each day at 345 after school (with our nanny) so it isnt so different to other families... but I hear you... i dont think it will happen though, DH is dead against it. I am thinking i shouldnt have mentioned it and just got himone for his bday!
well that's not a super huge amount of alone time for the dog then! Puppies do need a bit more time with people though, but older dogs are super AOK work on DH, go on lol!
Hello lovelies
MP I'm so jealous of your holiday, I hope you have a an awesome time. I think a puppy is a great idea
Cass I'm kinda feeling ready lol. DH goes back to work on Sunday for a week so a baby tomorrow would be awesome lol. Soooo jealous of your fire place, I want to have this baby in a room with a fireplace lol
MP, a dog is a lovely addition to the family Have you considered getting a second hand dog, one that is out of the puppy stage so it would be happier to be at home alone during the day?
Cass, the trip went pretty well really. We went to my hometown the night before, left at 7am for the ferry and then drove straight through arriving here at 4am. We only stopped for a play and then for dinner, the kids were amazing really. They just chatted and had their notebooks for drawing and movies on the laptop as required. They all fell asleep around 8pm and we were congratulating ourselves for a well conceived plan. Then they all woke at midnight lol. But they were still good. Only in the last half hour Miss E kept saying "Mum, I don't really think I should be sitting in my car seat all the time" lol.
Still busy trying to unpack. I spent about 5 hours putting together the new bunks for the girls. They all seem to be settling in well. A likes her new kindy. W has had a trial day at two schools and we need to pick one for next week. I think I am spending way too much money having shops right there - so easy to pop in and spend $20 on nothing for no reason! Will have to learn some control!
Last edited by Artechim; May 10th, 2014 at 08:41 PM.
Hello my lovely September mummies - I hope you've all been spoiled today!
Arte - belated hugs for all the goodbyes and the transitions etc. The good thing about kindy is you will always have the memory of that warmth and kindness in you, it will light your way. And I'm sure you will find a way to pay it forwards so that it's a blessing to someone else too. xxx Happy housewarming in your new place. I hope school gets off to a good start - how did you end up deciding?
MP - good on you giving your own self some focus and pilates time. I'm sorry to hear your friends are having some challenges. A puppy sounds like a great idea, but if you don't have a huge amount of time, a cat is better. They cope ok by themselves.
Oz - wishing you all the blessings in the world for your birthing time. xxx
As for me - all good, very busy here. Work has been crazy (when I've been there) because they're shrinking our office space & there aren't enough desks so I've been working from home some days (=nice). I took an extra week of leave after the school hols finished and had an awesome time pottering around the house, clearing stuff out, organising etc. Miss E has lost herself another tooth in that time, she seems calmer and more pleasant since the school hols. And last week I started a tai chi chi kung (qigong) course - it was FANTASTIC, can't wait to go again this week. So all good here.
Hi MD. I have no idea what Tai Chi involves, but I am glad you are enjoying it
I ended up deciding on a very small school again. We tried one slightly bigger but he still just isn't there. I specifically returned at lunch to watch the social interaction and he was lost, spit hand washing (massive anxiety tell sign) and then a barrage of angst driven yelling at everyone and everything on the way home. Then we had a trial day at the smaller school and he came home calm and happy. He just cannot integrate into busy school yard play, as much as he wants to and looks to be, he just is just that bit out of sync itms. He seems fine when it is only a few other kids though. I know that in the long run getting used to the bigger class would be better but I am taking the easy out because the reality is that we all have to keep living with him and it is pretty hard going when he is a ball of anxiety.
Also he paces himself in class when there are lots of kids around - he was given a worksheet he could buzz though in a couple of minutes but only finished the first segment and got some wrong just like the kid next to him...
Tai chi/chi kung is basically lots of standing and swaying and waving your arms around in very precise ways while breathing deeply and relaxing. LOL It seems too simple to be something to produce much of an effect, but I was fully in the zone. It must be a chi thing.
It's brilliant that you got to "trial" both of the schools. I remember being that age and how terribly wrong one of the kindies I went to was for me, and how fabulous the other one was for me. Funnily enough, it came down to the busy school yard factor. So I can imagine how different those schools would be for him. It's really important for kids to feel comfortable in the environment where they spend so much time. How are you all settling in to your new place?
Arte: woah! that is some epic driving man hahaha! we so cannot manage more than 2.5 hours before a break. but i think that if we had a DVD player or video game the older girls would be ok...but Miss E would still go cray cray on us.
I reckon that there is no worries with him going to a small school. it is a very rare occurrence in life to be thrown into a large, contained crowd of people and told to spend all week exposed to them in a uniform way ITMS. At least when you are in the workforce you have a bit more autonomy and can choose to socialise with some people and politely not have much to do with others...whereas at school you are required in most situations to all work it out together. this is what Miss L is really struggling with in the new school. i think it has a lot to do with the classroom structure but it is getting better and her teacher is working really well with us to achieve as harmonious space as possible. it helps that he knows the school she came from and the approach they had, that's for sure.
MD: work from home?! wow! how is that? I guess with your Miss E being at school there is actually a chance of getting work done lol....in my house i have buckleys chance haha. ahhh the joys of small people!
I had a mate that swore by his tai chi training. still does it almost 15 years later. he found it really centering and grounded him as a teen.
AFM: not much new here. just enjoying the awesomeness that this season is throwing at us and enjoying the changes in the colours of the trees. the two youngest have taken to collecting all the leaves for craft projects which usually just means that they get crushed up on my new rug.
Thanks guys. I am feeling alright with the small school system. As long as they don't shut down on us then we will be fine. He is rather unsettled atm with the changes but hopefully he will find his place soon and everything will right itself. Cass, I entirely agree with the school class systems not being a false system that won't occur anywhere else in life. The whole ASD thing is only a problem if it is a problem and as long as we stick to what works then it isn't an issue. Not sure what we will do when it comes to high school but that is years away yet and probably its own tangle of impracticality.
W started scouts tonight, looked like lots of fun. I think I need some ideas for indoor things to do after school - the current regime of everyone irritating the hell out of each other and subsequent screaming and yelling isn't really doing it for me lol.
Hello, my lovelies - I don't have much time but I did want to pop in and say hello while I've got my lappy open... I do too much BB surfing on my phone and it's hard to find our lovely September babies home that way.
Anyhoo, I'm here now. How the goshdarnheck is everyone?
Cass, working from home is a dream... when the family is out. LOL. There was one day in the school hols when they were at home, and well, let's just say it wasn't my most productive day ever LOL. How's the countryside now that the seasons are shifting? Starting to feel more settled?
Arte, how's things, luv? Scouts sounds awesomesauce. DD1 did scouts briefly before swapping over to Guides - I found the Scouts to be more activity-based things while Guides there seemed to be more of a social-learning kind of feel to it (which was what DD1 needed). Just realised last week that Miss E is probably old enough to join the fluffy ducklings group (or whatever it is that Brownies is called now that it's not Brownies). They've just started a Ranger group in our area too, much to DD1's delight. Any progress on after-school activities? It might help to have a weekly routine, eg, Mondays is craft, Tuesdays we walk to the park, Wednesdays is cooking, Thursdays we go to the library, Fridays you're allowed to sit on your bum and watch telly all afternoon (LOL). Just a thought...
I'm waiting for MP to drop back in and tell us all about her new furry four-legged family member...?
Hi MD I am floating around but I got a kindle for my birthday and that has been taking up most of my free time
Thanks for the day of the week activity. We had already started doing that but honestly the behaviour is just making it not worth it. Hopefully things will settle down soon.
Last edited by Artechim; May 30th, 2014 at 08:55 PM.
Ha - love that you've discovered the Kindle joy!! Best reads so far? I'm currently wading into Finnikin of the Rock - which is kind of a YA fantasy by Melina Marchetta who wrote Looking for Alibrandi... slow start but *everyone* says it's worth hanging in there for. It's not on my Kindle though... which means every night I fall asleep and lose my page (!). LOL
How's the after school stuff - improving I hope. E goes to after school care on most days, but we still get a load of grumpy off-ness of an evening. I put it down to tiredness & also all the moments of holding in the way she's feeling during the school day. I've started encouraging her to relax with things like an earlier bath, a back rub, drawing it out (DIY art therapy LOL), and I'm also thinking of teaching my mob some mindfulness & relaxation techniques. I learnt a good one the other day 7-11 breathing. You breathe in for the count of 7 and then breathe out for the count of 11 (challenge). The inhale adds oxygen and the exhale builds the level of CO2 in the blood, which acts like a natural betablocker & lowers BP, etc. I've practiced this my whole life, but it's the first time I've heard of the 7-11 timing - but it works like a charm, and "Seven Eleven Breathing" is a quick way to refer to it with the kids. Am thinking of adding it as a permanent agenda slot to our family meetings. LOL. These days I'm all about getting them ALL ONBOARD so I'm not the only idiot pushing the bus forwards while everyone else sits back having a free ride.
In other news, Miss E surprised me yesterday by bringing out a novel that we had started reading together a couple of months ago & then set aside, with a bookmark inserted two chapters from the end. Apparently she's been sitting up in bed every night reading it. ie = actually reading, not just lying there looking at the pictures (!!). It's only one of those easy reader things (rainbow fairy style) but it was a thickish one. She watched the first Harry Potter movie on the weekend, and I told her she couldn't watch the next one until she'd read the book - and she's taken that as a challenge. She's determined to prove that she can read well enough to take on HP. Unreal. This never happened with H, who poo-poohed all my early novel reading suggestions for years & then suddenly picked up a really random book and read it.
MD, best so far is the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. I read a Terry Brooks trilogy and it wasn't that great, but I ran out of Sanderson so I am back for more Brooks
Well done to E with the reading!! It is super satisfying to have a kid that reads for enjoyment I sometimes find W in his room reading a book. He has started HP a couple of times but it seems quite hard going. He is working his way through How to train your dragon which is quite a fun series and I may just borrow them at some point
I would give your 7-11 thingo a try, but I just stopped smoking on Friday and I don't think I could manage a whole 7 count breath in lol.
Everyone has been sick on and off for nearly a week now. It is some crazy sleeping sickness - when I got it I woke enough to tell DH I was sick and then slept until 2pm! The girls had it on Saturday and slept from lunch until tea time, had tea and a bath and then went to bed again! Now they seem to have it again today with a big day nap and a very early bed time and slight temp. W had the day off school yesterday. As far as sicknesses go, I would take sleeping bug over V and D anytime! I wonder if we will get sick more living in a bigger town?
Just spent half an hour blubbing on the phone to an ASD agency. I don't know what to do with him any more. It is so hard All these years and I still can't figure out if it is sensory, anxiety, ASD, gifted or bad parenting. Probably a mix of everything. Whatever it is I am just so tired of dealing with it every.single.day.
Get some help arte! You are not a professional. It is not your job to work out what you are dealing with. Leave it up to the professionals who have years of study and experience to work out what is going on. There is plenty of help and support out there for you. You just have to reach out to get it.
Oh Arte - big hugs to you. I agree with Ginger though, I think you should get some help with him. Maybe there are no answers but maybe there someone out there who can really help you and help him, and make it a whole lot easier for you all. I know you have investigated many things in the past, and I didnt realise there were still so many issues.. but if it is this hard at this age and has been going on for so long there just must be some answers out there for you all. Hugs - sounds like a tough time, we are all here to listen to you at any time!
G - how are you my lovely? been ages!!!looks like all is well in your neck of the woods. HOw is J doing? I thought of you the other day as we were in the hills - i remembered visiting you there :-)
Hope everyone is having a good long weekend
DH is away - he left yesterday so the boys and i have been having a great time. we went to the miniature trains at eltham yesterday with friends and then the boys demanded i get them new soccer balls. i did this and we spent all afternoon playing soccer int he park. and today all morning! they even slept with those soccer balls! LOL! Its great as N has been edging away from all football etc, he hates the tackling so this is a good option for him. he is also doing tae kwon do - and loving it.
have any of you looked into istruments for the kids? i was v musical as a kid and n really wants to do something performance related so i am thinking what he should do. he would like an instrument but i am just thinkinghe isnt picuring the practice!!! maybe drama or vocal training? he has a lovely voice! think it would be great for his confidence too.
only 3 weeks til we head on holidays - cant wait!
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Re: Babies Born ~ September 2007 #75
so exciting! Are you feeling ready to have a baby yet??
A puppy sounds like a great idea, but if you don't have a huge amount of time, a cat is better. They cope ok by themselves.
All these years and I still can't figure out if it is sensory, anxiety, ASD, gifted or bad parenting. Probably a mix of everything. Whatever it is I am just so tired of dealing with it every.single.day.
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