Well we’re half way through the school holidays. I can’t believe that it’s already October! Luckily I’ve already started my Christmas shopping. Beth is always a bit hard to buy for as she’s emotionally like a child often but wants to be like a teenager. The problem is that if I buy her teenage things she’ll say all the appropriate things but doesn’t really want them. If I ask if she wants something teenagey she’ll say “totally” or the latest abbreviation “totes” but only because she thinks it’s what she should want. What she really wants are toys but unless they’re something she really resonates with there’s no point in buying them either. I’ve found a Pepe toy from the muppets which is her favourite character so I’ve got her that. I’ve also got her a Miss Piggy wig, ears and nose. That’ll do for her younger side, I can plump up the presents with other bits and pieces. And of course all the kids have already gotten their big present of the tely’s for their new rooms.
We’ve had a very pleasant school holidays so far. We went to see Madagascar 3 last Monday with a few friends followed by hot chocolates at a chocolate cafe. Beth was very impressed that the marshmallows came on skewers to dip in the hot chocolate. We’ve had a day at Bec’s house where the kids mostly disappear except for my Beth who sits and plays on her ipad or watching her dvds. We’ve had sleepovers for Bill and Bridie and an extra special visitor from the UK, my Aunty Coral. I’m always talking about my family overseas to the kids, as I moved here when I was two we don’t often get a chance to visit. They were so excited to meet Aunty Coral and Bridie made her little cards to let her know how excited she was. Bridie finds it hard to talk to people but she’s wonderful with making cards and pictures for them. Beth came out to say hello in her usual ‘I guess I’ll have to pretend to be one of the family’ moments, happy to scurry back into her room as soon as a respectable time had passed.
We caught up with some friends today at Healesville Sanctuary. We didn’t actually see that many animals, I was walking with my friend Louise and our kids and we wandered into a beautiful area, walking around it for some time. It was like we were the only ones there but although it was part of the sanctuary it wasn’t the animal area, more like a marsh area for the birds. Still, kids are free and I didn’t pay either thanks to my companion card so you tend to not mind so much not seeing things if you haven’t paid anything. I think if we’d paid for all of us we’d have been in more of a hurry to see everything we could. Beth put her hand in bird poo then tried to wipe it off on me, much of the time she spent trying to pick the glittery bits out of rocks that we saw along the way. She had a parrot on her arm feeding it which she loved. She did amuse us by giving all the birds names, unusual ones not heard of before such as Alagel, almost like she was speaking in tongues. Apart from my coffee and icecreams at MacDonalds on the way home we didn’t pay for anything as I had taken lunch and snacks so I got away with spending under $10 which is unheard of these days.
A couple of other friends with kids on the spectrum were with us too, one who had her daughter in one of those leads you have to put on kids who run. It was nice to reflect back to the old days when I wouldn’t go anywhere with Beth unless she had one of those on. Or let her near the water like I did without her jumping in. Or be able to walk ahead a little way and not think that she’d pissed off in the other direction! Slowly but surely she is getting better.
We’ll do some more visiting this week and then it’s back to school next week. I’m having my gallbladder out the week after so might be out of action for a little while. I’m expecting the coughing and tummy aches to start about Wednesday from Beth in readiness for school next week. Poor love, I know how much she hates school but it’s just too bad really.
