Sorry, I just realised that it was May since I last wrote. I had to read over what I had written to see where I was up to! Lots of things have happened this year. I turned 50 in July. I got a job. I became a finalist in the Rapid Challenge competition. I go to Bondi in 10 days and 21 hours for a few days with the other finalists for pampering, yoga and makeovers. Not that I’m counting…..
Beth has been rather excellent I must say. After going and having a look at the media school in Ringwood she had a trial day which she loved. The subject she chose was creative writing so I believe she wrote for their newsletter. Next year she’s booked in for one day a week. For the first term it’s the creative writing class that she’s chosen. I think it’s partially because she likes the Wednesday as currently she’s doing cooking at school and doesn’t like standing on her feet all day.
She’s currently at school 3 days each week. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. When she starts at Your DNA one day a week next year she’ll still only be gone for the 3 days at this stage. We’ve upped her medication which has done wonders but going part time has also worked a treat. She knows that she’s not allowed to whinge about going on the other days. Even if she’s not feeling fantastic she has to suck it up for those 3 days, otherwise we go back to the other way.
I’m trying to get Beth involved in doing things with me on the Thursdays and Fridays but it’s going slowly. She does art class with me every second Friday morning and is going fairly well. The compromise is working for an hour, then she’s allowed to read for the second hour. Tiff is really good with Beth and we’ve had varying success with artwork. We’ve also started family tennis lessons on a Friday night. We’ve done this twice. The first time she was more interested in perving on the boys. She’s needing to wear her glasses most of the time and she forgot them that time so wasn’t great. She worked ok for 5 or 10 minutes though. Last time she was pretty good. She wasn’t happy about going mind you. Gilmore Girls finishes at 6.30pm and we can’t tape it. Lessons start at 6.30pm and we walk there. So she carried on big time but ended up going. The deal was that if she played well for the first 15 minutes she could read her book for the rest. She chose to take her dictionary. She did really, really well actually and played for a big longer, then she sat down and the rest of us continued on. It worked well and I was ever so pleased with her. When walking home she was nearly running up the hill, something I’ve never seen her do before. Unfortunately her pants seemed too tight so half the lesson she was pulling them up! I got her Disney workout leggings yesterday though so she can wear them now! The other exciting thing (let’s hope I say the same thing next week) is that I’ve got her into personal training! She starts next Thursday morning at our local gym. They have a special 3 for $90 to try it out. I’ve spoken to the trainer who plans on organising games to get her into doing it. I’ve explained that Beth will whinge and carry on and say that she’s sore but she needs to do something and it will be really good for her mentally as well as physically. And I can do a workout while she’s doing it so it’s win win. I’ll let you know how we go.
Beth has been so good since I started work. I was working all weekend plus 2 days during the week and she was just fine with Paul taking her on those days. Once she even had to change her day off but it didn’t worry her at all. Now I’m just on the weekends until business picks up. I’m missing being with the kids but the money is good as I get penalty rates and after Christmas I can change my days around hopefully. It’s actually been really good for Beth I think. She’s ok about me going to Bondi too and wants to come with Paul to pick me up from the airport.
I’ve got a few things up my sleeve but until I know further details I won’t share yet. Suffice to say I’m sussing out a promising lead that links the gut to some symptoms of autism. Beth has always had gut problems so hopefully there’s something we can do about it. I’ll keep you posted.
See you after Bondi! xx
