No resolutions just things I am grateful for…

New Years resolutions always end up being broken here and on glass half empty days that’s just another thing to beat myself up about.  So instead I thought I would make a list of random things for which I am grateful.

Here we go with the things that I am grateful for today, in no particular order just because I want it that way.

The internet – because without it all my lovely readers would not know me and I would not know them.  And that would be sad.

 

ModCons, especially Washing machines. I’m not sure that I am cut out to wash clothes by hand.  Especially if that involves beating clothes on rocks but the nearest river.

Medical / Vet Care. This year Girl Child had her adenoids removed and now at age 6 sleeps through the night.  Smiley Dog has had chronic ear infections since he was a pup but this year it has been BAD.  As regular readers would know he has had a major operation to fix that issue.  So I am grateful that we have medical and vet care.

My children. While some days (especially school holidays - LOL) the kids do my head in, I am extremely grateful that I have two reasonably healthy, happy children. I am privileged to be about to see them grow and change into wonderful adults.

Books.  I love to read and really appreciate a good book.  Okay I even appreciate not so good books really it’s just the story and hopefully happily ever after that I enjoy.

 

What are some things are you grateful for?  My list is just short today.  There are so many other things that are on my list but as I don't want to bore you so that’s it for now. 

Just your stereotypical blonde… or perhaps not

Smiley Dog is a considered to be a golden Labrador.  I’d consider him to be Cream but apparently Labs are only Black, Chocolate and Gold.  Anyway I’m digressing….

Smiley Dog has always been one of those Ditzy type blondes. In fact Silly Smiley would be what he was called more often than not.  It was a though he just had no common sense or more likely never out grew his puppy phase.  Not bad for a dog who turned 8 last week.

Since his operation, he had continued with his silly behaviour doing things like ripping out some stitches (the vet had to redo 3 stitches two days after he came home)  and walking into the fence, the door, the walls and me because he is wearing an Elizabethan collar to stop him hurting / scratching his wounds.

But the best one was getting stuck in the kennel because of the collar.  He had obviously managed to get in but couldn't get himself back out in the morning.  Mr E and I thought it was very funny and poor Smiley Dog has not been back into the kennel since… obviously he isn't as silly as we thought!

I’ve been scouring the ‘net to find stuff about training deaf dogs and even though both Smiley and Serious Dog passed obedience neither have responded very well to hand signals – perhaps they were unclear or I wasn't as focussed on using them.

Tonight I was trying to reinforce and modify the hand signals so both dogs would do what they were asked.  It was Smiley Dog who sat quickly when asked.  So I’m thinking with a lot more time Smiley dog will be doing what I ask of him.  Maybe he is not the ditzy blonde we thought!  Yay, Smiley Dog!

The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award

Christmas is our house is done and dusted so I thought I should go back to life as we knew it before the Silly Season started.

Jacinta from livemorenow awarded (probably over a week ago now - sorry Jacinta) me the:

I am very honoured to accept this award.  Not sure what I have done to deserve it but I’ll happily accept it!

To accept the award you must write ten things about yourself that nobody in the Blogoverse knows about yet.

Given I have only recently done this I thought maybe there would be not much to say.  Then I realised I’m such a newbie Blogger (this is post 46 but I have 16 Followers already – how cool is that?) people actually don’t know much about me so it should be relatively easy.

1. I drink both Tea and Coffee.  But I can’t eat chocolate with tea.  If I have a cup of tea I have to skip the chocolate.  The tastes together do not work for me.  On the other hand coffee works wonderfully well with chocolate and most other sweet things.

2. The weirdest comment I have heard in my house today (so far) is “Oh look, I got butter on my nipple.” It was Girl Child while buttering bread and not wearing a shirt so please get your minds out of the gutter.

3. I’m a very poor correspondent.  If you have email you are likely to have way more contact with me than if you only have snail mail.  But that contact will still be quite intermittent.

4. While I know we don’t need any more animals in our house, I so had to restrain myself from getting an animal from the RSPCA when we were there the other day – see this post.  I have this need to rescue and/or fix.

5. Mr E. calls me “the Queen of No.” I am the person in our house who exercises restraint when it comes to spending money on what I deem to be unnecessary items, etc.  and this my dear children is why you did not get a Wii for Christmas and why Mr E. does not have a LCD TV.

6. I have not seen various cult movies because they are too violent or would upset me.  Pulp Fiction is one of these.  I also walked out in LA Confidential and have no desire to know about the bits I missed (the majority).

7. I spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about how much I’m screwing up my kids up.

8. When Girl Child puts on an American Accent it does my head in yet apparently Boy child always speaks in one and I don’t notice.

9. I am one of those strange people who actually like Fruit cake and Fruit mince pies.  Especially when heated up and served with Custard or Ice Cream but just served plain is fine too.

10. I’m thinking it’s time to up date my blog background / layout.  But I’m inept whit it and so far have only used blogger layouts that just happen.  I’m thinking learning how to modify layouts etc should be on my list of things to do.

Yay that bit’s done.  Now to pass this award on to some lovely people out there in Blogland.  Here we go:

Renay over at The Day I Lost My Mind.

Melissa from Suger Coat It.

Melissa who blogs wonderfully at The Things I'd Tell You and deserves all the awards available.

Cate P who will Think of a Title later.

And finally, Pink Patent Mary Janes.

I’m stopping there because otherwise I will be adding blogs all night.

Please accept this Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award as you are all Fabulous!

It’s a dog’s (and cat’s) life…

On Monday Smiley Dog had an operation.  It’s called a Total Ear Canal Ablation. The link is to a article which explains it and the reasons behind it without any gross pictures.  For those who want to see the gross pictures / detail of the op there is actually a YouTube video if you search Ear Ablation.  The video only goes for about 2 minutes but the real procedure takes a lot longer.

I had to drop him off on Monday morning and we were supposed to pick him up yesterday (Tuesday) evening.

His surgery (on both ears) occurred on Monday evening.  Smiley Dog is also known as Freaky Dog because when he had allergy tests recently it was discovered he was basically allergic to lots of things but surprisingly not allergic to two of the main allergens dust mites and moulds.   So the freakiness that is Smiley Dog continued into his operation.  The first ear took a long time mostly due to the facial nerve was actually in the cartilage.  Nowhere it should be.  Luckily for his lovely vet Dr C.the second ear’s anatomy was actually the way it was supposed to be and that side took half the time.

The vet who did the operation is absolutely lovely.  Smiley Dog loves her and that is probably because after his vaccination earlier in the year he had a major reaction which needed antihistamines, fluids anti inflammatories and an overnight stay.  Anyway Dr C. Called me to let me know how Smiley Dog was before his op, once the first ear had been done and once the second ear had been done and he was awake from the anaesthetic.

In the morning I rang to check on him and I was told he was “insanely happy” for a dog who had had that operation.  When Dr C. came in to check on him (on her day off) she said he could come home.  this was about 5 or 6 hours earlier that expected.  He was just waiting to go home and so we went and collected him.

So Smiley Dog used to look like this:

He looked like this yesterday when he came home.  He is now completely deaf but we are hoping that he will follow Serious Dog (his half brother) around and that will help him until he adapts. His head is shaved (he kind of reminds me of a sheep now!) and he had drains in both sides.

  

He wasn’t allowed to be with his brother for a few days but he cried so much we gave in at 3.30 am because we thought the neighbours would be upset.

He seems to be recovering well which is wonderful! I’m sure he will be happy not having constant ear infections and needing medications and ear cleaning every day. Hopefully Smiley Dog’s life will be better which brings me to the other part of my post today.

At Christmas time we buy treats, food and toys (or whatever is needed) for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The holiday wish list for the animals is here. Today was the day we dropped the things off.

Now before we get out of the car I always say: We are NOT getting any animals today. Now there are a couple of reasons for this: Firstly me.  When I feel (as a friend recently put it) feel the need to nurture, I tend get a baby animal. Our last animal a rabbit  (the one in my Blogger picture in fact) came from there and Girl Child is always on the lookout for something else to bring home.  At the moment she wants a kitten.

Today there were at least 30 kittens.  All cute and playful but 30!  And they were just the ones available to adopt today.  Yes it’s Kitten Season in Australia at the moment.  I’ve never seen so many kittens in the one place before.  What was worse to me was that the lady in the cattery said they were full up with cats too and that’s partly due to people surrendering their animals so they can go on holiday. I guess that’s better than just dumping them somewhere which I’m sure has happened to a number of animals.

Now this is where it happened. My heart started going it’s only a kitten (or when Girl Child decided the many bunnies were our boys siblings - a rabbit).  Thankfully my brain kicked in with Smiley Dog is deaf and we need to work out how to deal with that.  So we left animal free and me with a sadness in my heart.

Why don't people get their pets desexed? How many of those kittens are going to be impulse bought and then discarded when no longer so cute or when there owners are going away? Normally I try to see the good in people but seeing those kittens today made we wonder what, if anything, some people think.

It’s now 2.30 am and I should go to bed.  Rant ending here.

Early Christmas Wrap-up

We went away on the weekend to have early Christmas with the extended family.  Okay, my extended family.  My Grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins, spouses, their cousins, their children etc.  All up 32 people! It sounds daunting but it was lovely.  Relaxing.

There was lots of food.  Good company.  No opening expensive bottles of wine as happened last year but it was nice.  The children all played together and there were no major issues. 

Well there was me raving about Oprah.  Yes I was raving about the  Jenny McCarthy Mother Warrior thing and then the O Magazine publishing an article which is less than supportive of Jenny McCarthy which I kind of find hypocritical.  Anyway I did rave at my cousin in law about this which was kind of funny in hindsight because he didn't know who Jenny McCarthy was or that Boy child had an ASD.  It was at that point he decided he needed to play table tennis.  Probably mostly to escape me! Poor B.

Anyway, the early Christmas was good catching up with relatives, watching children open presents and play together and just being. 

Then we went to stay at my Grandmothers over night.  Normally I’d watch the Carols but as we were guests I wasn't sure we were going to be able to.  Grandmother was happy to watch them with us so we all sat down to watch but Mr E. went to bed about 30 minutes in and Girl child  went to bed as soon as the children’s part was over.  I followed not long after that. We drove home again the next morning as Mr. E has lots of work on.   In fact he worked about 12 hours on Friday but still had time to pick up the DVD I wanted.  He didn’t want me to blog about what a bad husband he was he told me. The power of the blog!

So we came home.  Having seen a photo of myself with my grandmother I decided I was in dire need of a haircut.  I had also just been given Boy Child’s Christmas Wish list I figured it was my last chance of child free shop and I ran away to the shops.

One haircut (I no longer feel as though I am going to have a mullet – thank goodness) and some shopping later I was home.  Poor Boy child’s list was mostly unfulfilled but he has some more stuff now than I had for him.

Not long now and soon it will be 2010.  Time flies when you are having fun.

What Do You Want from Santa this Year?

I stole this from Psych Babbler from Over Cups of Coffee who borrowed it BlogDumps.

Keeping with the Holiday theme, what would you like to have this Christmas? I know we all want World peace and good will towards men and this is a time of giving, but what’s the one (or two or three) items you want for Christmas this year? Lets have some fun ~ even if you exaggerate.

Well I’m pretty sure I’m not getting anything for Christmas from my family despite hinting (well actually saying ) I want the DVD of P!NK’s funhouse tour.  Mr E. is busy and well Boy Child and Girl Child aren’t old enough to be let loose by themselves.  Plus Boy Child doesn't like shopping.  I do have some presents under the tree both from my Sappy Romance Readers Group (Boy Child’s description). One is a Secret Santa present and the other is some books that we each contribute to during the year.

Here we go:

1. Someone to make Chocolate non fattening.  Oh wait why not just make everything healthy but still with the same great taste.

2. A better year for friends and family.  This year has be okay for us as a nuclear family but has sucked for so many people we know.  In the extended family there was a terminally ill child and miscarriages. Friends have had depression and other mental illnesses, family members extremely ill, family members having life saving surgery, etc, etc.  I would hope that 2010 is better for everyone affected by death, illness, injury etc this year.

3. A magic wand or cooking and cleaning fairies.  Either would be great.  I’m happy to use the wand and get a clean and tidy house although I’m sure fairies would be a bigger hit with Girl Child.

4. Yes the DVD. Hint. Hint…I was at one of the concerts and I loved it.  Now to relive it all again.

5. Sleep.   Girl child is now sleeping through the night at 6.25 years of age, I would really like some more sleep to make up for the sleep I have missed.

6. My backpack handbag is broken.  And it’s pretty much the only bag I have used in the last few years unless I have had one of the children’s backpacks.  Zipper no longer does up or undoes for that matter so a new bag would be great and helpful.

7. If I can’t have a magic wand or Housework fairies could I get a babysitter / housecleaner? Then we could have a clean house and Mr E. and I could got to a movie or something occasionally. Romantic dinners, here we come.

8. A crystal ball to see into the future.  It would be very handy to know how much or little we are screwing our kids up. Or to see what effect different choices we make could have on out lives.

9. A new me. One who is fitter, healthier, stronger and less neurotic.  A decent haircut would help too. LOL.

Finally 10. As so aptly said by Gracie Hart aka Gracie Lou Freebush: And I really do want world peace!

I have a Blog Award!

The lovely Stacey from Say Something Stacey has awarded my blog an award. 

Thank you Stacey!  I am very honoured.

Receiving this award means I have to share 10 honest (apparently also little known facts to those in my blog world) facts with you.  Once that is done then I get to bestow the award on 7 awesome bloggers.

Wow this is going to be tricky!

1. I have had my head shaved.

I went from

This

 

to This.

 

2.     I joined Face book earlier this year to keep up to date with family (everyone lives interstate) and spend most of my time there playing Farm town and lately Treasure Madness as well.

3.     The only broken bone I have had in life was as an adult.  It was a broken bone in my toe and I walked on it for over a week before I went to the Dr.

4.     I have read Twilight and seen the movie. And have absolutely no desire to read or see any more. *Ducking for cover now.*

5.     While I grew up as a only child depending how you count it (steps, halves, possibles etc) I could really be one of 7 living siblings.  Confused?

6.    I would love to get flowers from Mr E. but he doesn't give them to me because Dad only gave Mum flowers when he did something big he needed to apologise for and I worry that Mr E. has done something I won’t like or that will make he sad. Neurotic much?

7.     I have attempted to learn 3 instruments in my life... piano, guitar and the flute.  I appear to be completely lacking any musical ability.

8.     I had a “challenging childhood”.

9.      My mother didn't think Mr E. and I were moving fast enough and sent us off to look at a Bridal show in the hope we would get engaged.

10.     I’m not sure I would have received a ring if there wasn't a deal at the jewellers where you got a TV when you bought an engagement ring.  My Dad even mentioned the TV in his speech at our wedding.

Passing the Honest Scrap award was a really tough thing to do as some of the blogs I love have already been given the Honest Scrap award or most other award in recently.  So I took those off my list just in order to share the love.  I follow about 25 blogs so if I follow you I enjoy reading your blogs and you are all terrific.

Here are bloggers I am passing Honest Scrap on to:

Quixotic from Quixotic Life.

Madmother who posts here. 

Alliecat from In a beautiful pea green boat. Alliecat’s most recent post is a tearjerker.

Solnushka at Verbosity.

Tabitha who is Heading in the Right Direction.

Stacie from Buried the Lead.

Anella who posts at  Things I say and Pictures I take.

Check out their blogs.  And once again thanks to Stacey!

I have Christmas Spirit!

I was over reading Quixotic’s Blog a few days ago… more specifically I was reading her post about Gingerbread when I decided I really truly needed mince pies and shortbread. these are the two things that I really like for Christmas and the Gluten Free versions available in the shops are fairly expensive so i have taken to making them myself.

So what better to do on a Saturday afternoon but bake.  So  I started to make mince pies and Girl Child joined in.  Eventually we had 11 mince pies and 3 trays of shortbread.  We have shortbread angels, Santa’s, stars and snowmen.  Yes I let Girl child choose what shapes we had. Some of the angels have unfortunate accidents and no longer have hands, and some there may be a snowman what a leg but things mostly turned out well.

The mince pies on the other hand should look like this:

Or this:

the ones we made today have pastry that is a little dry and quite crumbly. Thankfully they actually taste okay just look way less than ideal.  I think mine look a little like they have been run over in the driveway.

Of course no one will be eating them except me so it’s all good. 

Let’s hope someone in the house has some restraint and there will be some left for the Carols we watch on TV.  Unfortunately we will be interstate staying with a relative next Saturday so we may miss watching the Carols in the Domain but here will still be the Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. 

I love watching the Carols.  I’ll sit and watch them even if everyone else is doing something else, just me and my candle and my shortbread and mince pies.

Now I have some Christmas Spirit.  Not sure how long it will last for but it’s here for now.

School stuff

I was planning an upbeat post for today as the last one was just downright depressing!  Thanks Stacey and Clarissa for supporting me in my whine fest. Just for the record, donations of chocolate and other comfort type food are much appreciated during my moments of ranting / raving / crying etc. Thanks!

I think I may have mentioned it but I spend a lot of time at our school.  Boy Child and Girl Child go to the local school.  It’s government run and has about 500 or so students there.

Last night was their end of year concert. There were lots of performances: the preschool, the kindys, the 1/2’s, etc.  And the school  Brass band – Year 5 and Year 6, the choirs, senior and junior and the children who had been dancing one lunchtime a week with one of the teachers. 

I find school concerts  are one of those things were people tend to watch their child but manage to talk through acts that their child is not involved in.  I’m not sure if those people frustrate me more or less than the people sho just show up for their own child’s act and then leave.  Probably more because the people who leave give you more space and generally don’t talk through the acts.

My perhaps not so upbeat thought of the day is that we may have another 12 years of school concerts to endure attend. 

Anyway the concert was a nice family event.  Chatted with a lot of people and watched the performances.

While I’m on the whole school discussion thing one of the things I have spent most of this year doing is listening to and helping some Year 5 and 6 children reading.  I started in Term 2 and have probably spent about 100 hours listening to various children read.  I started with 3 children permanently and one occasionally with another parent helping.  One student got to a good decent reading level and was about the same time as the other parent couldn't make it anymore.  Then I was asked to help / check a number of students from one class.  So all in all I had 6 students read consistently generally twice a week some every day and listened to a number of others occasionally.

It was great to see these kids progressing, moving up the levels and getting it!  One child broke my heart in Term 3.  I was asking were their parents aware that they were reading with me and how they thought they were going.  The answer blew me away.  “I’m not stupid anymore, I can read now.”

This child had thought that not being able to read well meant stupidity.  They felt that they were dumb.  This child’s self esteem had risen so much because reading was becoming easier.  My response was ”Oh, mate.  You were never stupid.  You just needed practice.”

That child was my inspiration and reason to keep going. Even when some kids didn't want to read with me and played up.  When a particular child would refuse to go with me to read and would only consider it with the other child from that class went first. 

Having the opportunity and time to read with these kids was a high point for my year. Knowing that spending one on one time just listening to someone reading can change how they feel about themselves.  Spending one on one time with another child who could read well but is the eldest of 7 and apparently doesn't seem to get much time to read with an adult seemed to help that child.  I think the devoted adult attention helped that student too.

All the kids I read with improved.  Even if they only read for 10 minutes once a week they still moved through the levels and their comprehension improved. I’m proud of them all. 

Loss, grief and general pissedoffedness (yes I know it’s not a real word)

Okay, I’m having a weird day.  I have felt as though my brain has been in neutral most of the day.  And then I read some stuff and had this urge to cry.

Maybe its the obscene amount of junk I have eaten lately or maybe it’s the whole dealing with the extended family thing which almost always does my head in.  Or maybe it’s just the end of the year and I’m tired and grumpy and just generally blergh.

The whole grief and loss thing started when I was reading Stacey’s blog with the whole 5000 questions thing. 

121. Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye?

132. Were you ever with someone while they died?

Oh yeah… Most days I could answer those questions easily but I have been feeling edgy.  I have been told that what I describe as Edgy is actually anxiety but I prefer my version.  Of course now I have Bruce Springsteen lyrics running through my head….

Right back on track or as on track as I am going to get tonight and No I have not been drinking alcohol!

So those start the whole grief/loss train heading away from the station and then while surfing the net I find this article An Inconvenient Youth: Raising Children with Autism.  And that just rips me up inside. 

Maybe it’s because in 8 days it will be 5 years since Boy Child’s Aspergers Diagnosis (he was in his first year of full time school just as Girl Child is) or the fact that those parents have people to talk to about their children, or maybe because my Grandmother kept referring to Boy Child as Those People on the weekend. “Does Boy Child have any friends? So and So has said Those People have trouble with that.” “So and So said that Those People have issues with having their hair cut.”

Really Grandmother?  I didn't know that. I’m sure that having lived with an ASD child for over 11 years I must have missed that one.  Dripping sarcasm here.  I think I have just jumped from the whole whiny loss / grief thing into the pissed off part of my blog. I just find it amusing that information that I have given her isn’t true until it is said by someone else.  Of course they have worked in the area so they obviously know so much more than I do (probably very true as I really only know my boy) but I think I may know more about what effects Boy child more than someone else.  But then I am only a mother!

Way definitely over the sad part of this blog now.  So here are just a few of the things that I am feeling pissed off about today in no particular order:

• The TV being on in our house. It seems like it is on all the time. Yes it keeps life calm here but it still bugs me.
• Having cleaned the house and Girl Child has trashed it again.  Seriously I think I should just throw the things she leaves around in the bin!
• The amount of junk food we, as a family, eat.
• Smiley Dog needs an expensive operation to make him feel better.
• The fact that I’m tired and grumpy and should be in bed asleep but am blogging instead.  Yes I do need to get my priorities straightened out.
• I comfort eat when I am stressed, sad or angry.
• If I want a Christmas present I will probably have to buy it myself and Mr E. is just to busy at work to have the time.  And he probably hasn't thought about it anyway.

Right. I really need to go to bed or I will be even grumpier tomorrow.

My Christmas Spirit has gone AWOL

It’s sad really.  Only 18 days until Christmas and I have no motivation in the whole event at all.  I have presents to buy, mince pies to make and kilos to lose but no motivation to do any of it!

I need to buy gifts for:

Boy child,

Girl child,

Mr E.,

Probably my grandmother,

Probably my aunt and uncle,

Two nieces, and

My various cousins children – 4 girls. Thankfully I have something for the youngest.

So at least 6 presents need to be bought by 18 December.  And If I am getting the adults presents as well that’s another 3 by the same date.  And I have no idea what to get anyone.

Mince pies – I have the pastry mix and even have the fruit mince but couldn't be bothered making them for when we put up the Christmas tree.  Luckily I found GF shortbread at the supermarket.  So I ate that while we put up the tree yesterday.

Tree decorating did not go smoothly.  Boy child and girl child have different decorating ideas and co-operation is not part of that.  Boy child even suggested that he decorated the tree and then Girl Child could decorate after him.  This did not go down well.  However, the tree is decorated and no blood was shed.

This is NOT our tree. I wish it was. In fact ours is much smaller and looks more along the lines of this:

 

Only slightly taller and overloaded with decorations.

Mr E. has wandered past and suggested we drink lots of Strongbow (Cider) in order to have this tree next year.

I can see blood being shed if either Girl Child or Boy Child got near this tree. At this point taking up drinking to get enough bottles seems like a good idea.

But that would also ruin the whole kilos to lose plan unless I gave up eating and just took up drinking alcohol.  Perhaps that would work. No, maybe not.  Anyway I had had a grand plan of being fitter next time I saw my extended family but it has not happened.  Which is sad and makes me feel quite self conscious. But there is no healthy way of getting a lot healthier and fitter in 12 days so I think I should just give that up as a lost cause.

So everyone whether you do Christmas or not, please send me some motivation or my family will be very disappointed!

Thank you.

Back again…

Wow NaBloPoMo is over and I have already gotten out of the habit of posting every day.

So what have I been up to?  Mostly spending lots of time thinking about cleaning up because my Grandmother was coming from interstate to stay overnight and see the kids dance concert. Then there was a whole bunch of stuff including but not limited to discovering where the message to Boy Child was lost on Tuesday, repainting the tap shoes (the right colour this time) and taking Smiley Dog back to the vet.

There was also the actual cleaning up part.  Yuck.  I feel as though I have spent hours and hours cleaning. The house hasn't been this neat and tidy since June. Which is good and but it’s own way rather disgusting!  Let’s hope we can actually keep on top of it this time.

So my grandmother arrived Friday lunchtime.  The Dance concert has 3 shows, Friday evening, Saturday Matinee and Saturday evening.  We had tickets to see the Friday show.

Remember my post about not being cut out to be a dancing mum? Well surprisingly Friday’s makeup and hair went remarkably well.  There was no yelling, swearing or tears from either Girl Child or me.  The concert went well and both children had fun despite their nerves. My grandmother enjoyed seeing it as well. We have ordered a copy of the DVD that was taken so then we will be able to watch the concert over and over again!

This morning we dropped my grandmother off so she could go back to here place with another relative and things were going well until….. hair and make-up were required for the first concert today.  Yesterday I had said that hair would need to be brushed out last night before bed so it could be redone for today’s performances. Girl Child and my Grandmother both insisted that it would be fine and so stupidly I left it.

It was not fine! Grandmother had added extra hair product to it while I was in the shower this morning and for a while it looked okay.  so I started the make-up. It did not go well.  Girl child was grumpy, I was tired and grumpy and lets just say it involved shouting, tears and swearing.  And that was just me. Girl Child had tears which of course lead to makeup running which meant even more time to fix it. It was not nice. I think I behaved worse that she did and I am not 6!  Then we had the hair issue!  How hard is it to do a high pony tail with 2 plaits? Extremely difficult with a non cooperative child who won’t let you touch their hair. We got to the theatre and I went to redo the hair and Girl Child just lost the plot. 

I had taken it out too so it wasn’t like it could just have yet another layer of gel/mousse and hair spray on it. There was so much gunk it in I couldn't brush it which then to lead to a stand off between me and my child.  Yes another childish moment.  But I managed to get her to the stage door and talked to into letting me redo the hair.  It wasn’t as neat as Friday’s but it was better than it had been when we left for the concert.  However I felt that I need to take up drinking.  And Mr E. later referred to me as psycho.  Both low moments in this whole mothering gig for me.

Anyway both of today’s concerts went well. Both children enjoyed themselves and are deciding what dance classes they want to take next year.  Boy child want to do Tap or Jazz to his Street funk / Hip Hop and currently Girl child wants to do Tap, Tap and Tap.  We shall see!

I’m thinking we might put up our Christmas Tree tomorrow but I want to have shortbread or mince pies to eat while we do that and I need to make them.  I’m not sure if I am up for cooking tomorrow.  I think I might just want to sleep the day away.

Child? Lost? Lost child? Scary Moments

Today I lost Boy Child. Or rather he wasn't where he was supposed to be. For those who don’t want to to read a long winded, angst ridden post feel free to run away now knowing that the story has a happy ending.

Now lets set the scene:

Boy Child is 11.  He is quite responsible and so he has been allowed to walk, scoot or ride his bike  to school for quite a while.  But he is 11 and he also is a diagnosed Aspie (see this post for some more info). Girl Child goes to the same school so normally he waits near her class to discuss whether he goes home by himself or with us.  If he is going home and we are not he MUST call me on my mobile once he is home.

To some our routine may seem over protective or perhaps too permissive (each family is different) but that’s what has worked for us. And it had actually worked quite well. He gets to school early enough to play while I wrangle Girl Child and attempt to get to school on time.

Today was no different until Girl Child complained of sore tummy after Boy Child had left for school.  Given they had had a long dance rehearsal and I had had a meeting and was tired and feeling a little off myself she stayed home.  I rang school to let them know Girl Child was with me but forgot to ask them to let Boy Child know that he was to just walk straight home.  First mistake.

Remembered about 1 to call school and ask them to pass the message on.  Briefly thought about calling friend T with children in both Girl Child’s and Boy Childs classes to let Boy child know but thought school will let him know as they have in the past.  Mistake 2.

Now Mistake 3 the Perfect Parent Brigade will probably hound me for.  I lay down and fell asleep.  Yes I left my poor not so sick (“Mum I think maybe I should have gone to school”) 6 year old alone in the house and fell asleep.  Now she was supposed to be asleep / resting as well but it was about 2.30 and Boy Child was going to be home between 3.20 and 3.30.  Besides the house is already trashed what damage could she do? LOL.

If I’m asleep and Girl Child is wandering around regardless of who is home she will always come to me. So she came to a few times to chat.  Then she comes in and says “Mum the clock has 3, 4, 7 and Boy child isn't home”. Uh, oh.

Up I get and grab the phone.  Rang T. No Boy child there and no recollection of seeing him.  Then one of the children suggested they saw Boy Child leaving school the way he normally does. Okay, then he has probably walked home with a friend and stopped to chat at the friends house.  Boy child has no real concept of time so that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. T says “Call if you need any help.”

Girl child gets shoes and we start to walk in the general direction of that friends house.  He is new to the school and I don't know his surname but I know someone who walks that way too.  Call directory assistance and get put through.  Boy Child was last seen at school waiting for us.

Okay.  Now the School’s number goes to answering machine at 3.30. Start walking to school and make the phone call to Mr E.

“Hi. Have you got the Principals Mobile number?”

“I think so, why?”

“I’ve lost Boy Child.  He hasn't come home. I was asleep and Girl Child said Mum it’s 3, 4, 7 and No Boy Child.”

“Oh ‘insert expletive here’. Do you want me to come home?”

“No it’s fine we will just walk to school and check but I might need her number. See you.”

Continue walking and then remember I have a fellow dance mum / teacher at schools mobile number.

“ Hi K, it’s me are you at school?”

“No, sorry at dance.  Why?”

Run through the saga and she offers to come ad help look.  I thank her but say it’s fine.

Ring home just in case we have missed him in our travels.  No Boy Child. Leave a message in case he gets home while we are looking. Get to school and Boy child waves at me.  He is waiting near Girl Child’s classroom and talking to kids he knows at after school care.

First thing out of his mouth was “What took you so long?” Apparently he didn’t get the message to walk home and had no clue what time it was.  He seemed surprised when I told him it was after 4.  As I said earlier no concept of time.

So he’s happy and fine and I send texts to people saying he is fine, just been waiting at school. Everyone is relieved. Boy child is concerned that I might not let him walk to home tomorrow.  He did hear the message I left at home.  He said “Were you crying? Why were you crying?” I explained I was worried.

I seriously don’t know how I feel.  I’m relieved he is okay.  Actually, given there were a spate of attempted child abductions near schools in our city earlier this year, I think maybe relieved is a major understatement. Plus I saw a movie about teenager with Aspergers yesterday Ben X and in one scene he didn't come home from school either.

But I am wondering what would have happened if Girl Child fell asleep when I did? Or why no one noticed him and wondered why he was still there? Or how long he would have waited before he would have worried? I know the teachers have meetings on Tuesdays at 3.15. And there are sometimes kids still milling around then so it wouldn’t have been odd that the hadn’t noticed him when they went.  But a spare kid hanging around outside Afterschool are and no one asking him why he was still there over an hour after school finished?

I have talked to him before about going to the Front office if I haven’t come to get him but I guess that hadn’t sunk in.  I think we will need to have that talk again.

So I have eaten chocolate, thought about alcohol and pondered a few of the possible scenarios.  I’m not sure if he needs a watch or a mobile phone or both.  Or will those things just give me a false sense of security?