Hi Bloggers, I'm back!

I lasted post in April 2014, so it has definitely been a loooonnnngggg time between posts. While I was gone I did do some blog reading but because it was so infrequent I had hundreds of posts to wade through and hit delete just to make less overwhelming. Because of this I'm sure I have missed a lot of momentous stuff happening.  Our lives have gone on, with ups and downs and we have survived. Here's a synopsis of our lives in 2011.

I still have headache / migraines I developed in March 2011. I am a lot better than I was in 2011 and 12 but I still need to take pain relief regularly. it was because of the head thing that I started but didn't finish one of the very early Learn to Run programs over at Operation Move. It was mostly because after a 'proper' migraine my body feels the after effects for up to a week. This meant I ended up getting a long way behind and a bit overwhelmed. No reflection on the guys over there at all.

We adopted a bunny to be friends with our now 8 year old boy bunny A. Like him, F is an albino but she is not part dwarf and is now twice his size. A is now blind in both eyes because he developed cataracts last year due to the E. Cuniculi virus he had back in 2012. F was so very little and cute when we got her.

F's photo from her Pet Rescue adoption poster

Boy Child has gotten his learner driving licence. There will be fun times ahead as Mr E and I try not to traumatise Boy as both our fathers did to us when we were learning to drive. He finished Year 10 and is heading off to a new school for Year 11 and 12 because that's how it works here.

Girl Child did dance all year and as usual performed in the end of year concert. She still loves dance. She went to a come and try term of Tai Kwon Do at school and is considering doing that as an activity as well. She will be in her last year of primary school in 2015 so we need to check out high schools for her.

Mr E took up roller derby for fun and fitness. He seems to enjoy it and I'm sure he is a lot fitter than he was. He has mostly been injury free and has lots of friends in his league. He also did a Masters in IT Security. 

I still work as a Learning Support Assistant in a school. My hours seem to change quite regularly and I ended up working 5 short days a week from Term 3. Right at the end if the year they extended my hours. I changed buildings at one point and a lovely teacher I was working with convinced me that I could do her job. So after asking a number of people and getting an overwhelming positive response, I bit the bullet and applied to do teaching at Uni. I was accepted and have enrolled full time to study teaching by distance education starting at the end of February. 

I have never studied at Uni full time so I'm a bit worried about the workload. The distance thing will be new and I'll be working 2 days a week for first term as well so wish me luck. If anyone has any hints, tips or whatever please let me know.

World Autism Awareness Day 2 April 2014

I know World Autism Awareness Day was yesterday but I have been stewing about a few Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) related things so I thought maybe a brain dump here may help. If getting this off my chest helps with Autism Awareness then that is great. Of course, I may not be helping but I hope I'm not hindering ASD awareness.

My first point isn't only ASD related, I think it applies across board. It has been used in the context of ASD and I've heard similar comments about Boy Child and some of the behaviours he has displayed. So while the recent comment wasn't directed at Boy, it certainly pushed my buttons. So dear person I know - you attended the course as me so you should know better than than to ask "What's wrong with so and so?". That comment pissed me off so much I still get riled up whenever I think about it, weeks later. Perhaps next time you could ask "What assistance does so and so need?" or "How can I help?" perhaps even "What diagnosis does s/he have?". Your job is to help - regardless of whether the child fits your idea of requiring assistance.

Just like neurotypical (NT) children, ASD children can have high, average or low IQs. An ASD diagnosis doesn't stop you being identified as gifted either. You can't assume that because a child has an assistant or helper in their class that they are (or will be) struggling academically. Children get assistance in the education system for various reasons not just because they are behind their peers academically. If a child doesn't fit your idea of children who need assistance it doesn't mean that that child doesn't need or isn't entitled to support.

Grandparents discussing ASD children's behaviour as chucking a tantrum or putting it on make me wonder how much information they have regarding ASDs. I understand that different generations are different and ASD in our communities is fairly new but not everything can be 'fixed' by tougher parenting.

Please think about this: if your grandchild had diabetes or cancer you may need to find out more about their condition. There is no difference with ASD. I'm going to use an extreme example here - Would you say that your diabetic grandchild was playing up when they are vomiting due to Hyperglycaemia? No? Then maybe consider that your grandchild isn't having a just temper tantrum or 'putting it on' because they are having their hair or teeth brushed, or because their food is touching or is on the wrong coloured plate. Maybe the melt down is due to the child being overwhelmed by sensory input.

I'm getting down off my soapbox now. Thanks for reading.

Arghhh...

 

Girl Child had a run in with a child at school this week (who we will call Z). She has scratches on both arms and a bruise but she didn't hurt the other child, for which I am very grateful. Unfortunately, this has been an on going issue between the two of them. I've written about it and Girl Child's friendship and frustration issues before. The girls were in different buildings last year so as far as I know there were no incidents between the two of them. But now it seems as though it's starting up again and school has only just started for the year. It's going to be a long year if these two keep sparking off each other.

The girls have had a mediation session facilitated by the Principal to help them reconcile and move on. At this meeting Z acknowledged that she had hurt Girl Child and she apologised. I know this because my Girl Child felt that she hadn't been listened to and so I asked for a meeting with the Principal to clarify what had occurred. As with everything there are always different perceptions of the truth as people see and interpret things differently. Girl Child feels that she wasn't listened to and the Principal feels that the meeting was fair and all parties had the opportunity to put forward their case. I've tried to remain impartial and explain to Girl Child the Principal's point of view and also explain her point of view to the Principal.

Then there is Z's family. I have managed to have a conversation with her father in the hope that we can come up with a strategy to stop (or at least lessen the chances of) this happening again. As far as they are concerned their daughter is an angel and Girl Child got hurt when she fell against a door. Girl Child did say she hurt her back when she was pushed into the door but I'm not sure if that happened before, during or after the scratching.

The father told me Girl Child hurt his daughter last week when there was a group of kids playing. I'm pretty sure that he said there were no marks and the school didn't contact either family so we not aware that an earlier issue may have taken place. There may have been but Girl Child has said that nothing happened and I'm inclined to believe her.

He is also angry because another child swore at Z. Now, this is apparently Girl Child's fault because she falsely accused his child of hurting her. At this point I called Girl Child over (she was out of earshot with some other parent sand children) to show him her arms. He did grudgingly say that the marks did seem to be scratches rather than the marks from a door handle. I really wanted to tell him that his little angel admitted to the Principal that she hurt Girl Child but I figure that it's not my responsibility. I hope that he actually asks Z about the marks on Girl Child now he has seen them himself but I doubt it.

So now I wonder about the way ahead. I've told Girl Child to stay away from this Z but that also means that Girl Child can't play with her friend A. Last time these clashes occurred A's birthday party was cancelled because she couldn't decide whether to invite Z or Girl Child and it obvious to all that both attending wasn't likely to be workable. It definitely seems that A is going to be stuck in the same situation again trying to be friends with two girls who just can't get on.

For Girl Child things look bleak. Not only is she probably not going to be able to play with her friend A, things are even worse as she dearly wanted to be in the school band and she has missed out while both A and Z got places. Something similar happened last year but we were told places in a dance program were full yet Z was able to be slotted into the group at a later time. Not only is Girl Child feeling sad about the incident, she has asked me a number of times why Z gets to do everything and she misses out. And I have no good explanation.

Hopefully next week things will look up.

Operation Move #walk400 wrap up and this month

I managed to meet my target of 800 minutes for #walk400. My final totals were 822 minutes and 22 seconds of walking which was 60.38 km. I am a little disappointed that I didn't make 900 minutes but I did double what was required and I think I should be very happy with that. I also walked 22 times in January which is 21 more walks than I did in November and 22 more that I did in December.

So now that #walk400 is done and dusted, what's next? Well over at Operation Move the gang are doing a few things. Because of the success of #walk400, February Op Move walkers are aiming a little higher with #Feb450. And if that's not enough to keep you moving, there is also a learn to run program. You can check that out here. I have signed up for both groups and I'm hoping to reach both goals.

The Learn to Run (LtR) program is taking place over 12 weeks and takes three days a week and encourages a rest day between each. I'm hoping to do LtR Monday, Wednesday and Friday and use my 'rest' days to do my #Feb450. The whole thing is geared to get people up to running for 30 minutes straight in 12 weeks. That's a big goal but something I'd really like to achieve. Who knows perhaps I'll be so inspired I'll continue on or even sign up to do a Fun Run (oxymoron, perhaps?) in the future.

I did a 30 minute walk on Monday (Week 1 of LtR is just a walking week) but I've started back at work this week and I'm tired. So I'm going to push my LtR days back so I can get to bed early tonight and hopefully manage to do it tomorrow.

Good Luck to everyone doing Op Move and anything else to increase your health and fitness. Here's to a happy and healthy 2014.

 

Operation Move #walk400 Progress post

So it's almost the end of January. I thought I should do a progress report before I do a wrap up in a few days. Also I want some advice so I'll be asking for your opinions as well.

At my last check in on Friday 24 January my numbers for that week were:

• 171 minutes 3 seconds which was13.29 km of walking.
• A number of these walks have been done with Girl Child. Remarkably she walks slower than me while we are walking / exercising but much faster than me at the shops. We are chatting a fair bit so maybe that’s the reason. That and I hate shopping!
• The total walking I had done in January was 591 minutes 58 seconds and 43.84 km.
• Including the walks I have taken in the last few days my January total is now 741 minutes 38 seconds and 54.29 km.

Now the goal of #walk400 was to get people starting (or continuing) to move in January. I decided that I wanted to push myself and walk 800 plus minutes which I am on schedule for at the moment.  I was also trying to get slimmer in order to fit onto a dress for a wedding on Australia Day.  We should note that I didn't fit into the dress I wanted to wear and I ended up buying a new one. But I was kind of okay with that. The dress was only a size L not the XL I was afraid of but I did follow Mr E's advice and bought some suck everything in underwear. I didn't look too bad even if I do say so myself.

With January almost done, how am I going to keep up with my getting healthy, moving that #walk400 has geared me up for? Well the gang over at Operation Move have decided to kick things up a gear and set February's challenge to be #walk450 which I am definitely going to join. But they are also starting a learn to run group.

I'm intrigued by that because a few years ago I could actually run a little (by little I mean a couple if minutes at 12 kph). I'd love to be able to run again but I'm worried as at the moment I can barely walk faster than 5.5 kph. Internet people, what should I do? I want to be fitter and healthier but I also don't want to set myself up for a fail or even worse - an injury. I’m also concerned that my work hours could do what they did last year and jump from 6 hours a week to about 23.  If that happens during February and I’ve signed up to not only walk 450 minutes but also learn to run on 3 days a week as well, well I may not be able to keep all the balls in the air.

That said, if I’m only trying to walk 450 and not 800 plus realistically it’s still light until 8 so I could walk 2 to 3 days a week and learn to run on 3 other days.  Right?  Or am I insane? Or just overthinking as I do?

Is anyone else planning on learning to run with Operation Move in February?