circus time!!

what a weekend =) we went yesterday to a community event given by rotary club and local businesses where the sn schools get free tickets to the circus! We have tried these a few times but with liams sensory issues its always a battle. First year we got to the door of the big top and mega freak out to the point of dry gagging, needless to say we handed over our tickets (as the sponsors need numbers to keep the program going) and went home, 2nd year we lasted maybe 15 minutes before leaving

BUT!!

first time liam has sat through a whole event, the music was really loud and he had A LOT of difficulty in the beginning shaking hands over his ears it was really sad but he was watching really closely so I just tucked him in close and we watched and he LOVED it!

It was fantastic. jon got a bit too much (1 and a half hour show) but lol thats toddlers for you, the rest of it was amazing. And we are on monday writing in to the sponsors to let them know how much we appreciated it.

A lot of families its the only family outing they get all year due to the costs of an SN munchykin.

and on that topic, got a phone call from jons paed - costs are going up in november (its currently $380) can't tell me how much it will be going up though - which needless to say is going to make budgeting hellish. So we have jons birthday, right near christmas, we are meant to be saving for melbourne and all the detail they can give me is 'maybe a hundred more' WTF!! huge jump =( though if this assessment goes well hopefully it will be his last paed appointment! yay!

i just love that attitude too, oh maybe a hundred, its almost 400 atm! jesus. my wallet weeps lol. Ahh well the joys of children lol.

mwah! enjoy the weekend and just think 1 week then its SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!

uniquely him.

I've been pondering recently the similarities and the differences between the kids coming up to Jon's 3rd birthday and big assessment.

They are terribly similar in someways the mario obsession, late talking, late toilet training, tiptoeing lil munchykins the grin the cheekiness they are so alike it just staggers me at times. Especially since I don't really see any similarities between my sibling and myself!

the biggest difference though? Tv. Liam and I can deal with tv in small bursts you come in watch 5 mins wander off come back, fast forward watch again wander around, read a bit etc.. its a very broken experience (and very frustrating if you are trying to watch with us apparently!) jon though sits and watches the whole thing!! interacts with the show gets excited about what is on screen and its soo cute! For the first time ever though it means we are having to monitor tv time and not just have it as background noise which is interesting!

pretend time is also very different jon has a rather active imagination, and although liam is finally developing one through his art mainly (and has now got imaginary friends 'liams pals' he uses in stories and pictures) this early explosion of imaginary play is new and very difficult from my pov!

anyway thought that was interesting!

cute moment

ever since we moved into this house to jon all flies have been bees as our first week here he got bitten by a fly (yeah i didn't know they could do that either!!)

anyway he was frightened this morning as there was a fly buzzing around, running in circles 'BEE!! BEE!!'

he then rather determinedly walked up to where it was resting
'hi bee! my names jon!
your name is bee!'

and walked off happy with the world again. too cute!

food issues

food is a big issue in this household we all have very specific rules that need to be followed. Issues with textures etc

for example (and yes these are only some of them!)
Peter can't eat anything with bits in it, eg scones with saltanas, icecream with choc chips etc this makes him gag
Liam can't eat anything that isn't dry finger food, picking up food that is not dry will end in dry gagging and vomiting
I can't eat most fruits unless they are frozen (grapes strawberries) or in a drink (banana the idea of eating a banana normally just typing that makes me itchy)


Jon on the other hand seemed to be cruising through without any real issues, as a bub would eat everything and anything, as a toddler became much more picky and difficult to get interested but was still pretty good.. but we may of hit our first bump.

we all have foods that the smell of which makes us gag and need to be warned and moved to the other side of the house before preperation - me coffee/fish/red meat liam most foods actually lol, jon found his first trigger yesterday sadly one of the kids at daycare was eating a heated up curry and jon started dry gagging and ended up vomiting a little.

really hard to explain that no he isn't ill its just the smell reacts badly to him. *sighs*

not sure if it is genetic or a asd sign. darn it.

fang-tastic!

It's been a busy and very vampy weekend. no sadly not me hitting the clubs but instead hitting the books instead!

new sookie (southern vampire mysteries series), new twilight, new anita blake.. i'm all vamped out! At least until the 13th when the new true blood hits! woot!

I had a great weekend spent quite a bit of it curled up on the couch with the lil man me reading him reading (new books for him as well) and eating more junkfood then was good for any of us but oops!

Busy day today started off with swimming, then had the baby and kids market where sadly I struck out on jons 2 newest obsessions (teletubbies and elmo - neither of which liam liked so we had literally one video (yes VHS!!) of each and that was it.. and i have seen it wayyy too many times now) but did manage to find the lil man a heap of new pretend play toys (figurines knitted cookies the coolest spiderman toy ever its like a foot long and everything is jointed beautifully its a marvel and i got it for $5!) (on another note was seriously tempted to pay a kid 3x to get the megatron he nabbed a second before us!) then went to aust fair for lunch and book shopping, food shopping and then had friends over this afternoon. LONG DAY lol but was great! and the kids are loving the new dinosaurs and toys!

So hopefully with the 5 million options downstairs pretend play wise liam can claim back his mario toys from jon as its been a dramafest as liam is well aware they are his (which is great!)

interesting news also - liam is getting moved into another class in the next few weeks. he is currently in the lowest class, all the kids are nonverbal, a couple of them have physical issues, they are the highest level of intellectual impairment etc BUT he has improved so much in the first 2 terms this year with reading they want to move him to another class! I'm worried about this as he is still mostly nonverbal (sandwich/drink/mario characters/mario games/animals etc) and can still be violent but the school thinks he will do better with a higher level class please keep your fingers crossed for us all!

my beautiful boy is 8!

This time of year is always emotional for me, not only is it mothers day but my mums birthday and liams birthday, every year it hits you a little that she isn't here to meet my lil man, that my eldest is getting older, the gap between his actual age and mental age.. its all kinda rough to be honest!

It still staggers me that he is now 8! This teeny weeny lil bub who was popped into my arms not all that long ago is now 3/4 of my height and so cheeky its amazing. He is developing well lately, reading more, understanding more and very funny. How can it be 8 years since he joined us? and yet at the same time life before him is a vague memory so long ago and rather empty.

Liam had outgrown the pc he got at 3 as he now needed internet, printer etc. so that was what he got this year, a handy dandy lil pc with a funky screen and printer! And oh he is overjoyed we had tantrums this morning before school because he wanted to stay home on the pc lol. And he got a cheap little digital camera so he can take photos of what interests him! (and hopefully keep him away from our cameras!) rather looking forward to the results! Already the pc has 30 mario pictures lol in mspaint. gorgeous lil love isn't he!

Happy birthday to my mother who yesterday on mothers day would of been 57 years old, happy birthday to my eldest son who brings me such joy and makes us better people, happy mothers day belatedly for all the mummies out there, and spare a thought for all of us who don't have our mothers with us, and give your mum a kiss and let her know how much she means to you. How much it means she is there to meet and love the grandkids, for every celebration and milestone. And don't just do it on mothers day! biweekly at least ;p

oh dear its a bumpy ride

I always thought the reason 18 months till 3 was so terribly frustrating with liam was the regression, frustration at losing his speech etc.. but I have come to realise recently some of the stereotypes about terrible 2s are well accurate!

Jon is currently wallowing in the joy of being 2, you take his nappy off he tantrums, have to put a new nappy on he tantrums, try to get him to eat some food he tantrums, try to sit down without breastfeeding he tantrums, try to eat your own food he tantrums, try to leave the room he tantrums, open the door to get the mail he tantrums come in with the mail and not let him run on the road he tantrums its ridiculous at the moment!

its to the extent atm that in a 5 minute convo on msn I had to inbetween each sentence go out into the living room and then have him tantrum because i wouldn't sit and play blocks for another hour, or wouldn't let him play outside again or let him play in the kitchen etc.

please tell me this phase passes soon?!