The Muppets

We took the kids to the drive in on Saturday. Bridie had been for the first time the week before but as a family we had never been to the drive in before. We went with Amanda and Geoff and their three boys. Similarly to us  their oldest child Lachlan is on the spectrum and he’s the same age as Beth. He’s going to mainstream high school next year so Amanda and I will have lots of comparisons to make as far as high schools are concerned.

We set off at 7.30pm to get to the drive in in plenty of time. When we arrived we went to the cafe for donuts then set up with our foldup chairs in front of our cars. Beth and Lachlan soon decided that the car was a much comfier option and climbed back inside. The movie we had decided to see was The Muppets and it was bloody hilarious! I never watched the show that much growing up but now want to see the series as do the kids. It was so funny. Amanda and I laughed, if it wasn’t Beth calling something out from the car it was Lachlan. You could hear Beth saying things like “I told you it was just like Sesame Street didn’t I?” Lachlan got quite heated when he thought the bad guy was going to win and came out telling Amanda how much he hated him! They were very entertaining. A bonus for Beth was that Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory (her new favourite show and character) was in it. Each morning she wakes up saying to me “Remember when we went to see the Muppets?” so she clearly loved it!

I was surprised how full the drive in was. It was filling up again when we left too so obviously the grown up entertainment was about to start. I saw two friends from kinder even though it was about 1/2 an hour drive away from home. It was good value mind you, $28 for a carload. It often costs over $50 for the five of us at the cinema and at times there are hardly any other people there.

Poor old Bridie had an accident where her arm smashed a window on Sunday. Thank God Paul was home. I don’t cope with things like that. In fact I didn’t cope so much that I fainted, vomited and had to go to bed for the rest of the day! I thought that I had gotten better with things like that since having the kids so maybe having Paul at home meant that in my mind I had permission to flake. It didn’t help matters any with Beth asking periodically if Bridie or myself was going to die, in fact it freaked poor Brides out even more!

The rest of the week has been fairly quiet. Paul has taken the kids to his sister’s place today as she lives just near the beach. I’ve been trying to make room for my soon to be new ikea shelves! It’s a stinking hot day today so I’m glad not to go out.

Nothing to report

We’ve had a fairly quiet school holidays so far. The week that Paul was away ended up being much more relaxed than I anticipated. We spend several days at home because the weather was so ridiculously hot, since then the weather’s been fairly crappy, not like summer at all, but I guess that’s what we get living in Melbourne. We all enjoyed the break from doing anything much and spent lots of time watching dvds, reading books and having pyjama days. We had a friend’s son Jose over one day for the day while his mum Cat worked. Jose has aspergers and is 14. Beth quite fancies him and says movie type things such as “Sweet, sweet Jose” when I mention him. He’s a lovely kid and the boys had a good time but it was very intense. They were watching cricket and Jose was yelling at the tely. Similarly when they played a game on the wii that Jose took a while to master, he would yell his disappointment and get Bill to do the hard bits. He didn’t do it in a horrible way at all but it was fairly full on. It was interesting to see my quiet boy adapt to suit this sports loving 14 year old. He loves Jose as any 10 year old boy would and was happy to do what Jose wanted. I did have to pull Jose up a couple of times when Bill was adjusting the volume on the tv or racing to their next activity but I knew Jose wasn’t being bossy to be mean and they seemed happy enough. I asked Bill a couple of times if he was ok and he said yes. I am so conscious that, as I have made friends with many people with kids on the spectrum, this in turn puts my children with their’s whether they choose this or not. As it’s more common for boys to be on the spectrum than girls it usually ends up being Bill who plays with them. Girls also tend to do their own thing. This may be a huge generalization but in our case Beth is happy in her own pursuits. Boys tend to play in packs, even if it’s side by side on a computer game. Anyway, Bill does love the friends that he’s made and it’s certainly made for a lovely natured boy, always happy to play with the kids a little different, almost always tolerant and generally an all round good kid. At least if I’m aware if it gets too much, and if he’s happy, then all is well.

We went for a play to Bec’s house in that week too, always fun as all the kids play so nicely. Beth watches her videos, Bill runs along with Will (and sometimes after him) and Bridie and Kasey put on huge productions for Bec and I! Angus (Bec’s toddler) joins in with everything and Bec and I sit and chat, for hours at a time. Bree turned up in the afternoon, bringing Aullin to play with the girls. We were just missing Liz from our motley crew of four but we are planning a catch up again this week.

Paul came home last Sunday morning. I was surprised how well we coped without him. I think that when you’re not expecting somebody home at night your mind set is different, you can’t afford to get stressed and think “Where is he?” so you cope because you have to. Sunday was awash as Paul caught a flight at 11pm on Saturday, flying to Melbourne and losing three hours, he got no sleep so spent Sunday grumpy and falling asleep everywhere. Needless to say I was not sympathetic! The kids were happy to see him. I think Beth found it confusing for Paul to be away with her stating when he called “Dad, you’re alive!” I don’t know what she was really thinking, surely she wasn’t really thinking the worst? I’m not sure if we should be worried that she really thought that Paul was dead, or be worried that she really didn’t seem that worried about it! Bridie made a huge sign for him that said We missed you. She also made him a card that she made the other kids write on. Out of all the kids Bridie is by far my most difficult and also my most lovable. She loves to pamper us and really just wants to have our full attention.

We had another playdate with Cat and Jose this week and organised for our family to go with theirs to Inverloch for a few days the week after next. I had a road trip to IKEA with my mother in law Bev. I love that place! I had bought the expedit shelves that are 16 squares so wanted some boxes for them. I want some more shelves now, I’m a bit obsessed. I’ve even ordered my new phone (my contract is up) with a free xbox and kinect so that I can sell them when they come and buy another shelving unit. We can’t really afford them at this stage so I figure as I’ve sacrificed getting a smart phone for a crappier one I can get my shelves with the proceeds.

We’re going to the drive in tonight to see The Muppets. Beth has been asking when she can go to the movies with her friends from school but I think they’re away. I’ll have to send them an email. I think school ending has hit her worse than I thought as she was distressed last night telling me she was missing her friends. She knows she wont be with them this year and as she hasn’t made new friends yet it’s heartbreaking to see her feeling like this. They are her safe place as far as social interactions go, they like her for who she is and she knows they’re not going to be mean to her. I hope she makes friends soon at the new school. Still, it’s good to see that friendships are important to her, that she wants them so badly. Poor love, high school’s horrible enough without the added anxieties that our kids have.

Happy New Year!

Wow, another year gone! Unbelievable. I can’t believe that my big girl is starting High School this year, it’s just flown by. I’m not a big one for new year’s resolutions (I always break them) but it is nice to reflect on the year and to look forward to new beginnings. We have some huge changes this year, Beth’s schooling for one and moving house for another. We’ve been in the process of subdividing my inlaw’s block for 4 to 5 years now, finally the building work has begun. It has stalled for the Christmas/New Year period but it’s looking good so far. I’m very excited! We’ve always lived in a ‘renovators delight’ in the past. Much as I love character homes there’s a fine line between character and old and crappy. I’m looking forward to living in a real grown ups house where things don’t need fixing and everything’s new. I’m also looking for a part time job. I’m hoping for Bunnings or IKEA as I want lots from both of them so a discount would be handy! Also, they both have stores close to Emerson so I could just drop Beth off, go to work and get back in time for school pickup. I’d also like to be on my way to writing a book if I can organise myself. I have a few ideas in mind, all of them around life with my girl. I just need to make a start.

It’s going to be a huge year for Beth starting at her new school. It’ll be a battle to start with which I’m dreading. Beth’s going to find it hard to do things for herself and get independant but, difficult as it’ll be to start with it’ll be well worth it in the end. If we want Beth to be able to live in society with even a semblance of independance then this is the place she needs to be.

Christmas this year was exhausting as usual. Some of you may remember that I went into hospital last Christmas Day with pneumonia and pleuracy. Horrible as it was it was much more relaxing than the Christmas rush! This year especially was tiring. School didn’t finish until the 23rd of December. We had Bethie’s graduation on the night of the 20th and Christmas Carols at school on the 21st. We were already buggered even without Christmas. Christmas Eve we went down to Rye to my Dad and Helen’s house so we didn’t get home ’til about 10.30pm after having to slow down at every house with lights. Christmas Day we went to Paul’s family at Bon Beach and Boxing Day we went to family friends at Frankston. Individually these were all lovely days but for me (I’m a real homebody) it was just a bit too much. Add in visiting interstate relos and popping in to other friends and I was a wreck by the end! The kids did well as always. Beth got her ipad 2 which she of course loves. I’ll have to download some apps onto it to help with speech therapy which Rod (our speech therapist) is going to send me. She’s content with youtube though and checks out Disney like it’s the stock market.

This week is the opposite of last week. Paul is in Perth for the World Sailing Championships. I’ve been dreading this week ever since Paul told me he was going. Paul took the kids out over the weekend and a couple of times last week so I took the opportunity to take the Christmas tree down and sort a bit of the house out. It’s amazing how much better your mind feels when your house is somewhat clean. It’s stinking hot at the moment, three days in the high 30s and today is meant to hit 40 degrees. I’ve told the kids that we’re not going anywhere while it’s this hot so there’s nobody nagging to go somewhere or to have a play. So far so good. It’s only day two but we had a lovely day yesterday. I must admit I am letting the kids play on electronics a lot and watch dvds when they want but hey, whatever gets you through the night. Happy Mummy happy kids. I’m reading my new Stephen King book, we’ve bought the series of My Name is Earl which we all love, we have food in for a whole week, I’m prepared.

I’d just like to wish all of my readers a Happy New Year. 2012 is shaping up to be a huge one. 2011 was a funny year. For me it was full of socialising which I loved! I cemented some true friendships and found room for fantastic new ones too. I did lots of procrastinating, lots of worrying, lots of crying. More importantly, lots of laughing. I feel like this year is a whole new start and I can’t wait. Thankyou for sharing our journey with us so far, I’ve loved your support and look forward to continuing with lots of news in 2012.

ps

Please note that I have now added the links on to the previous page, just scroll down from here on the main website and click on the little coloured words! x

Carols and finish

I’ve just gotten home after picking the kids up from their last day of school. Beth is of course going to high school next year, Bill will be in grade four and Bridie will be in grade two. Gee time flies!

We had the Christmas Carols last night at school. We have a wonderful music teacher this year who has created a massive choir. With a fairly small country style school of just under 150 kids we have about 50 in the choir! Some parents and I were so jealous of how good they sounded, we asked if we could have a parent’s choir too. We had our debut performance at the carols last night. When we were announced and I got out of my seat to go up my boy Bill was mortified. He had a smile on his face to start with then it disappeared and he mouthed “you!” Even on the way home he told me that he couldn’t believe how much I had embarassed him. Sadly he believed me when I told him that is why I did it. I finally told him that that wasn’t true but that it was a bonus! I was petrified as were most of us I think but we managed to sing our way through our ‘community’ song – Lean on Me, followed by the Christmas song Feliz Navidad. We did get lovely comments afterwards, don’t know if people were being polite or not  but a few other parents said they would like to join.

I was so happy with Beth at the carols. She hadn’t practiced with her class at all and had in fact refused to go to music all year, saying that she had an issue with the music teachers voice. I do believe that anxiety heightens senses and as Beth’s main oversensitivities seem to be to do with noise, she wasn’t coping with louder situations more than usual. Yesterday before we left she told me that she didn’t want to go to the carols, then that she didn’t want to sing. I told her that it didn’t matter, she could just come and enjoy them. Well she ended up getting up with her class, holding hands with one of her lovely friends. She didn’t sing but she had a huge smile on her face. Later on when the raffle was being drawn she even put her hand up to go and pull out a raffle ticket. I was so chuffed, it was like the old Beth was back.

The other lovely development was that she was chatting to her teacher. As Beth had a fear of the classroom this year she didn’t get to bond with her teacher like she has with other teachers in previous years. We weren’t sure if it was because he was her first male teacher or if it was the classroom. A new ad is on at the moment with a man with a beard and shaggy hair like her teacher. Every time it comes on Beth waves and says “Hello Mr So and So.” (I wont use his name on here.) Apparently she was telling him this at the graduation dinner. He laughed last night and said he’ll call the ad company and complain that they didn’t show the ad earlier in the year. At least then he would have known that Beth liked him!

For the last assembly today I took a box of tissues just in case but it wasn’t a sad one at all thank goodness. Unlike all the other girls trotting around to say goodbye and having a few tears, Beth got into the car and played on her DSI, eating lollies. I was pleased actually, rather than build up a big deal in her mind it’s nice that she’s ended on a positive note. She’s happy that it’s holidays and summer and especially Christmas. I’m going to add a few more photos on here that I’ve been sent of graduation, also a couple of films of Beth’s speech and award at graduation. Please forgive the crappy quality, my darling husband isn’t known for his camera skills! Still, you’ll get the picture. Even though the microphone disappears into Beth’s mouth at the end you’ll still hear her lovely speech.

Graduation

We had Bethie’s graduation from grade six last night. Wow! It was a fabulous night. All the girls looked stunning and so grown up. Of course I thought Beth looked the most glamorous but that’s my job as her mum! I was pleased that they were all so dressy as Beth didn’t look out of place at all. I was worried that I had gone a bit over the top as I tend to do, especially when it comes to my Beth.

We arrived at 6pm and the place was already packed, people taking photos and no parking to be found. We had been to Bev and John’s (my inlaws) to get ready as the kids all had haircuts for the night and they live around the corner from the hairdressers. Beth was all excited, I was so pleased as she hasn’t enjoyed spending time with her friends lately and I was hoping it wouldn’t follow over to graduation. As she had her hair washed and cut I painted her nails a pretty pink. We wolfed down a meat pie to keep the kids going and got ready. I had bought Beth a lovely necklace with a heart that she wore and a blingy pink ring. We fitted the dress and off we went.

As soon as we got to the reception venue Beth was in her element. Everybody oohed and aahed over her dress and she positioned herself for photo opportunities for her friends and their parents. The kids were lovely from her grade, grabbing her hand and making sure they were all photographed together.

We went upstairs for the speeches and Beth waited fairly patiently until it was her turn. She got up to do her speech with her friend Megan by her side. She did it in a clear voice, the only issue was that by the end the microphone was in her mouth so it was a bit muffled! I’ll put a video link on to here with some photos. She also went up to receive her mathletics award from her teacher and principal. The only wardrobe malfunction was when she loosened it at the back and her boob popped out slightly before one of her aides sprang to her side to fix it! She then stayed on for dinner with the other children and staff and Paul picked her up at 9.30pm. Today she’s still in a great mood and has gone to school happy as Larry. We’ve got the carols tonight at school then tomorrow is the last day. The grade sixes are having a sleepover tonight but Beth doesn’t want to do it so I wont push her. She’s ending her schooling on a more than positive note and for that I couldn’t be happier. What a wonderful community we have, Beth will miss our little primary school and I’m sure she’ll be missed by them too. She’s an amazing kid with a fantastic sense of humour, very self assured and beautiful to boot! Here are some photos of the girl :

Sensational Kids and some Beth funnies

Beth had a fabulous session at Sensational Kids yesterday. We met the new Speech Therapist whose name is Cassandra or Cass for short. She seems really lovely. Beth was alert and on task, in fine form actually. Rod was still in session with us and he told us that we all had to write a sentence. Beth’s was “I am 12 years old and I am inventive – because I am an inventive chef and artist.” When asked to elaborate on this she explained that she had made fritatas and pancakes at school. She then drew a picture of herself with a chef’s hat. My sentence was “I love Christmas because I love chocolate eggs.” Beth corrected me and made it presents. Cass’ sentence was “On holidays I like to stay at work.” Beth corrected this with “sit in a pool at a hotel.” Rods was “I like to drink socks.” Beth made this a banana milkshake and explained step by step how to do this. She enjoyed Rod pretending that she was in a blender on a chair on wheels, turning her around and around and whizzing her. We all had to draw our sentences and Beth had her last carry on Rod’s shoulders to the ball pit. Beth was happy and ‘there’ which often is not the case.

Beth’s next session with Whiskas (not her real name), our Occupational Therapist went well too. They discussed big girls things and school and Beth drew an excellent poster.

This morning I went to school and helped Beth write her speech for graduation next week. She put a bit of her ‘Beth’ humour in there, I wont tell you what because I’ll put a link to the film that we’ll do of her speech and I don’t want to spoil it. One of the things that tugged at my heartstrings was when we asked about her friends in the final paragraph. Beth said “I’ll see all my friends next year when we come back to Primary School.” I thought that was so sad, she clearly doesn’t want things to change. I would imagine there would be quite a few other grade 6 kids feeling similar things. Beth does know that she wont be with them, it wasn’t that, she was just letting us know how she feels. We ended up putting in a paragraph about seeing them at next year’s school fete and talking about their new schools together.

Now I’ll share a few Beth funnies.

Bree told me yesterday that I missed out some of Beth’s comments about the dogs having sex. Apparently after telling us all that the dogs could have puppies if they had sex, she went on to say “All dogs need sex, just like all people need sex. We all need sex, just like mum and dad!” Hmmm maybe I shouldn’t fall asleep when we’re watching tely. I certainly haven’t told her these things, in fact I am by far one of the most prudish people in my friendship circle. Not sure if Bree’s mum knows that though of if she thinks I’m a very forward parent!

When at Bree’s mums house Beth noticed a pram in the spare bedroom where she was getting changed. When she came out she asked Bree’s mum if she had a baby. BM thought she meant the doll that she’d seen on the dressing table. As BM makes realistic baby dolls she got one out and brought it out to the loungeroom to show Beth, stating something like “Here is the real baby.” Beth looked at it and said rather scornfully ”That’s not real, it’s plastic!”

Also while we were there Bree picked up her mums cat for a cuddle and it scratched her. Beth started off concerned about Bree’s scratch saying “Oh, how is your scratch, and your heart?” When told it didn’t hurt the heart she asked “The lungs then?” We told her that no, it’s just Bree’s skin. “How’s your skin and your kidneys then?” Clearly things have to be more dramatic than they actually are.

A good day

Beth had her proper transition day at Emerson today. I was a bit apprehensive as last time hadn’t gone as well as the first two times had. I read Beth her social story last night. She had worn her new school uniform, bag and hat and I had packed her a yummy lunch of cold roast veggies and lamb. I had covered all bases! As we drove to Emerson this morning we talked briefly about the other new kids that would be there. I didn’t want to harp on about it too much. Beth was happy enough to go in and we went into a hall area to see a powerpoint presentation.

I was impressed with the talk that we saw. Even though I have done three or four tours it was good to get an overview of the school. They do such a lot of activities there. The school is very sports oriented which will be good for Beth as she needs encouraging in that department. Mind you if she’s anything like me at school she’ll  bung on a sickness or period to try and get out of doing sports! They have a rule that there cannot be any piercings other than studs in the ears. The vice principal said that the kids are welcome to get  piercing on the last day of term four and keep it all holidays but it WILL be out on the first day of term one. They have lots of incursions and visitors to the school such as footballers and basketball players. Maybe if they had Disney Stars on show Beth might have been interested but she sat through the whole presentation looking bored shitless! I however thought it was great. I was amused at the attitude towards mobile phones. Under no circumstances would they be allowed. If one was brought to school it would be confiscated. If the child refused then the parent would be called and the phone and or the student would be sent home. If the phone is brought to school and is lost DO NOT call asking if it has been found as it shouldn’t be there in the first place! It’s good to see that they are not slack at all and have some fairly strict rules.

When I went back to pick Beth up all the new kids came out in dribs and drabs with each other or with a staff member. Beth came out with some girls already at the school. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not but I like to think that she was already so at home there that she was either comfortable with the kids or confident to come out to find me. It may be something entirely different but that’s what I’m going to believe!

We stopped in at the shops for a hot chocolate and to buy Beth some new pyjamas. How lucky that the ladies pjs in Big W have got Cookie Monster and Elmo on them. Beth was rapt. We then headed off to Bree’s mums house as she is fantastic at sewing by all accounts. The fairy princess dress had become too tight for graduation next week (thank goodness we tried it on again), the little bugger just keeps growing. Bree’s mum (don’t want to mention her name as I haven’t asked her) lengthened the straps and gave me a few hints and once again it looks perfect on her.

Beth enjoyed playing with their dogs. They have three dogs and two cats and Beth lay on the floor cuddling them and not trying hard enough to push them off as they licked her face. At one point she suggested that the boy and girl have puppies. When told that they wouldn’t have puppies Beth suggested that they started having sex so that they could! Classy Beth! She was in a very entertaining mood which is always nice to see. It’s so nice to go to places where people get Beth and don’t mind her being herself. She had a ball playing with all the pets and even scored a jewelled shell at the end.

My Beth funny for the night is about the Big Bang Theory. Beth has become obsessed with Sheldon and keeps quoting him or worse still asking me to quote him from various episodes. She also likes me to play the part off Howard’s mum. For those who watch the show and know me you’ll know it’s not such a stretch for me to do her! Beth always puts the sub titles on so that she can get the full benefit of all the Sheldonisms.

We’ve got Sensational Kids tomorrow. I’ll let you know how we go.

Emerson social story

Here is the social story I wrote for Beth for today – her first official transition day. Hopefully it’ll go better than the last one.

One day Bronte was going to her fourth transition day at big
school. Bronte was 12 years old and was a bit nervous as she was finishing off
at her Primary School. She loved Primary School and had been there nearly 7
years!

Bronte had been three other times to her new school. The
first two times she really enjoyed herself. It was a bit different to her other
school though. At primary school Bronte had a lady to help her all the time. It
wasn’t always the same lady but she always had somebody with her. Bronte loved
this as sometimes she didn’t want to do things for herself! At the new school
there was no lady to help her, just a teacher at the front of the classroom who
was there for all the kids.

Bronte did worry a little bit about a boy, who she told her
mum had bullied her. He had called her names and made fun of her dancing. When
Bronte went back a third time she didn’t enjoy it as much because she was
worried about the boy. She was also worried about some other kids who had been
a bit mean to her.

Her mum spoke to the lady in charge when she dropped Bronte
off the third time. She was told that when kids are new to a school it takes a
little while for them to settle in with the other kids who have been there for
a while. It will take Bronte a little while to get used to the others. It will also
take the other kids a little while to get used to Bronte. She reassured
Bronte’s mum that the school wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

When Bronte’s mum picked her up she was told the Bronte
hadn’t had a very good day. This made her mum sad. Bronte said she really liked
the school but she was in a bad mood and didn’t want to do anything. She had
also tried to get the teacher to put things away instead of doing it herself.
She didn’t like having to do lots for herself.

Bronte’s mum explained that it might be hard to get used to
the new school at first. She said that Bronte would start to feel really good
about being able to do things independently which means by yourself. She also
explained that there would be other new kids starting on the forth transition
day and that Bronte might make some new friends who were a bit nervous too.

Bronte started to feel excited! She had already had three
days there so she didn’t feel like the new kid anymore. She also had the school
uniform ready to wear on the day. She got up excitedly on the day and had a
fantastic time! Her mum got to stay for a while and make friends too and Bronte
felt really proud when she did things by herself.

At the end of the day she went home happy and excited to
tell her mum and staff at the primary school about the good day she had had.
She was very excited at the thought of having lots of new friends the next year
and her mum promised that when they moved into the new house Bronte could have
friends over for sleepovers! She couldn’t wait!

I can’t sleep

It’s 6am on a Monday morning and I’ve been awake for over two hours and up for one. Before I was diagnosed with depression six years ago I used to wake up really early. It started with waking at 3am and not getting back to sleep. By the time I went to the doctors about it I would sleep until 12.30am and that was it. It didn’t matter if I went to bed at 8pm or 10pm, I would still wake at 12.30am and not go back to sleep. By the time the kids woke up I’d have been up for a good seven hours and was already exhausted. I remember going to the doctors to ask for a weekend sleeping pill. I figured that if I could get one good night sleep a week then I could function ok. Bridie was a baby then and it wouldn’t have been fair to expect Paul to get up every night but on the weekends it would be ok for just one night. The doctor asked me about my life and I collapsed in tears. He gave me an anti depressant with the side effect of sleepiness and it’s worked wonders for the most part ever since. I did try to go off of them after a year. During that time I had given up drinking, started pilates and been to counselling. I’d sorted myself out. It didn’t work though. I started waking at all hours of the morning and ended up back at the doctors in tears. He told me that there’s no shame in depression, it’s a medical problem and if medicine could fix it then take it. If I was diabetic would I be ashamed to have medicine every day? Also, much as I had tried to sort myself out there was (is) lots in my life that I can’t do anything about. Sometimes life is shit and you have to deal with that. If something helps you then why not take that help.

Anyway…. back to today. As I said, for the most part, the sleeping is great but every once in a while I have an early morning and I realise that there’s nothing I can do. I’ve been really tired lately so I’m tipping it the whole end of school thing for Beth and the transition day tomorrow that has me stressed and waking me up. I read Beth the social story for primary school and she hated me reading it. Maybe I made it too similar to her situation and it made her uncomfortable, I don’t know. She of course wont tell me, she just doesn’t want me to read it again. I do have another one that I wrote about the new school, also starring Bronte, the girl in a similar situation to Beth. I will read that to her tonight.

Beth tells me that she’s looking forward to her transition day tomorrow. I’m making a roast dinner tonight so she can have lots of cold potatoes and pumpkin for lunch tomorrow as she’s been awfully fussy with her lunches lately. To keep her busy and happy she’s been cooking her lunch at primary school. I haven’t minded as she’s enjoyed going to school but obviously she wont be able to do this at Emerson next year so I have to try and make up some ploughman’s style lunches for her as she’s gone off bread big time. We’ve got Beth’s uniform for tomorrow and there is a parent information time so I’ll be there for some of the day. Also, it’s only from 9.30am to 1.30pm so it’s not like the other trial days that Beth did last term. Hopefully I’ll meet some other parents that live around here, maybe we can do a bit of car pooling? If not it’ll be good to meet other parents anyway. I don’t know if they have a parent support network or not, there’s a few questions I’ve got so tomorrow should answer some of them.

We’ve had our old cat Henry inside for the past couple of weeks. She’s 16 and was sent outside when the kids were born. She hurt one of her feet so after taking her to the vets and getting medicine for her I decided that she could come back inside. She had pooed on the bed last time I tried this so I made sure she had kitty litter handy and she’s got used to using that again. She can still get outside but I think because she’s so old she’s getting a bit senile. Beth’s loving it. Henry got up on our bed last Thursday and Beth was cuddling her but rubbing her eyes afterwards. The next morning she woke up with the biggest swollen eye it was awful! I took her to the doctors on Friday afternoon and all he could say was that yes, it looks like an allergy. It went down by that night. Beth must have rubbed some fine hair into her eye because it hasn’t happened since. I’m so paranoid about graduation and something happening like that on the day. The dress is already a bit too tight for her so a friend is adjusting the straps tomorrow. I’d hate it if her eyes were all swelled up too! Beth’s also been having staring competitions with Henry. She keeps telling Henry that she’s (yes Henry’s a girl) won as if Beth’s letting her win. As if she has a chance at a staring competition with a cat!