Is it nearly the end of the holidays? No, it’s Wednesday of week one and I’m already over them. I must admit that it’s been a busy few days so far. We had a party at the pool yesterday and friends over today. Tomorrow is Sensational Kids and Friday Bridie has a playdate. And that’s just this week.
Beth went to a pool party yesterday. It was about 1/2 an hour away so I offered to meet them there and help out with Beth. I didn’t realise how long they were planning to be at the pool though. We got there at 10.30 and about 12.15 I asked how much longer they were planning on staying as they were also going back to their house to do party cake decorating. I had arranged to take Bill and Bridie to Bec’s house to play with Will and Kasey and they were getting toey wanting to get going. When the mum told me it would be about 3 I asked her if she minded if I did leave Beth with her. Now that she’s 11, most of the other kids are fairly self sufficient so it was really only her they had to keep an eye on. The other mum told me it was ok so with a little trepidition I set off with Bill and Brides.
We had a lovely few hours of playing and went to pick Beth up at 4.30. She had of course taken over the house and was watching Shrek on DVD. I was told that she went missing twice but it was ok, she was just wandering to look for the other girls or off to the toilet and of course doesn’t think to inform anybody. I guess if it were any other 11 year old you’d just assume that that’s what they had done but with Beth you just never know. All was well anyway and she had an absolute ball. She doesn’t get invited to parties hardly at all anymore and it’s certainly the first time she has been without me so I really appreciated the fact that she was one of a handful of chosen kids.
We popped out to the shops this morning before our visitors. It was our turn today to have Bec, Will and Kasey. I love having them over as all our smaller kids get along so well. Bec got to see Beth and I in full argument mode when Kasey and Bridie wanted to put on Alvin and the Chipmunks and Beth was adament that no way would they. She did state correctly that the dvd wasn’t in the case but clearly didn’t want them to find it. There was a lot of back and forth from the 2 of us. I think one of the most frustrating things when I argue is that Beth’s voice gets higher and higher so it is very shrill when she’s in full force. As I pointed out to Bec though, I was so pleased with her reasoning and arguments, I could have been having the same argument with any 11 year old adolescent girl!
Bec made a point about when we yell at our kids. Beth will argue back or ignore me as do my other kids at times. It often just washes over them! Beth will accept me telling her off, she may not like it but it doesn’t faze her. If Bec does the same to Will he gets stressed out and it overloads his senses, sometimes ending with a meltdown, and she may not be yelling that loud. It’s funny what things trigger our kids, they’ve got the same diagnosis but have totally different stress levels.
We’re off to Sensational Kids tomorrow so the littlies are off to Bev and John’s for the afternoon. I have to fit in hair cuts for the girls at some stage too. School holidays are exhausting!
