It’s Monday today. I’m having a lovely day as it’s the first day back to school. I really enjoyed the holidays this time around which surprised me. Friday was the only day we didn’t have anything planned though and Bridie was a bit of a nightmare. I took a leaf out of Bec’s book and collected all the old boxes and recyclables, bought a heap of sticky tape and let Bridie make whatever she wanted. We had fun for a while but it just wasn’t enough.
Saturday was Grand Final Day take 2. Once again we headed off for Bev and John’s for lunch and to watch the game. This time however the Saints got slaughtered with Collingwood winning by a landslide. I didn’t enjoy it as much as last week as when you know somebody is definately going to win there’s no challenge.
Beth was particularly naughty all day on Saturday. She didn’t want to go to Bev and John’s and let her annoyance out big time. It’s like when we go out for lengthy periods of time, Minka the dog will chew on something or pull rubbish out of the bin. Beth was like a naughty dog, doing everything she could that she shouldn’t. Firstly, as it was a nice day, she went out and dug in the garden. Usually I don’t mind this as it’s dry dirt and she often pulls a worm or a snail out of the garden to play with. It’s fairly harmless fun though Bev has said that she has found snails in the house crawling up the windows at times! There’s a hibiscus that John has planted and Beth decided, yet again, to pull it out. Now there’s heaps of weeds and other plants to choose from in this area so I can only guess that it was done knowing that it shouldn’t be. Last week she upended all the pots of rosemary clippings that John was trying to grow. Bev and I took Bridie across the road for a treat as she’s been so good with her diet. When we got back we found Beth smearing mud all over herself. I ran her a bath and while in there she went back and forth so that the floor would get flooded. She knows not to do that and wouldn’t even admit that she was in the wrong, instead coming up with smart arse (and I must admit amusing) comments such as “but it’s a work of art.” In the end we banned her to the room with the toys and books and she read nicely. Sometimes she can be so good and then she goes and does something so childish that it frustrates the hell out of me. When is she going to grow out of this behaviour?
Yesterday we got up and realised that that time of the month had come 4 days early. Not sure if that would explain the vile mood, I hope so. I was cleaning my teeth while she was attending to myself and she noticed that there was a bit of blood when I spat. Out came another Beth classic. “Your mouth must have a jawiod.” She decided this was the name for a mouth period! She does crack me up at times.
We went to the movies in the morning to see Cats and Dogs 2. It was organised by a lovely lady, Annette, from a group called Camp Autism. The movie morning was a fundraiser for them and it was designed for the kids on the spectrum to try out movies who don’t normally go. Lots of kids with autism have sensory issues with sound or lights so it was a good chance for people to check it out amongst people who understood where their kids are coming from. The whole theatre was booked out and there were 140 people all up. I think it’s a fantastic idea for the younger kids but as Beth doesn’t have issues with the movies anymore we’ve sort of grown out of that need now. It was very very noisy and the movie seemed to be lower to compensate for the kids with noise problems. Beth wasn’t happy because it wasn’t in 3D and Bill couldn’t hear at all bless him, because kids were running up and down yelling in front of the screen. Also, often when we go to the local theatre, there’s hardly anybody there. Here, it was packed and most of them were kids with autism. You get the picture! Anyway, I’m still glad that we went as it’s certainly for a worthy cause and I think Annette does an amazing job. We’re hopefully going to go to one of her camps in January. If anybody wants to know any more please let me know and I can send you some information.
Beth has camp on Wednesday til Friday. She still wont talk with me about it but she would concede that she is looking forward to it. I was worried about her getting her period on camp but I’m pleased that she’ll already have it if you know what I mean? At least then they’ll be prepared. I’ll miss her dreadfully, she’s so much  more dependant on me than the other kids and we do do a lot together. We don’t have swimming tonight for the obvious reason so not much happening on the therapy / treatment front. Enjoy your sanity folks, school’s back, breathe!
