We.ve had a pretty good week. Beth has been happy to go to school as she has her ‘Disney room’ set up for her so the fear of going into the classroom has been removed. I’d still love to know what’s going on there but I doubt even she knows as it’s been going on for a while now.
We had Sensational Kids on Wednesday and as usual Beth enjoyed herself. She was full of beans so when we did speech therapy with Rod he got her an exercise ball to bounce on so as to regulate herself. The aim for Wednesday’s session was to build on the emotional side of an experience. For example being able to express emotions verbally and to explore another persons feelings or opinions by asking why they feel a certain way. Beth knows the names of all the emotions and can act these out but can’t expand on why she says she is feeling an emotion. We played a game called Elefun which is an elephant whose trunk is plastic and sticks up with a fan blowing underneath it. The job is to put butterflies in under the trunk that blow up through the trunk, we then have to catch them with nets. It didn’t work very well and not many butterflies came out. When asked what Beth thought of the game she just said ‘good’ but didn’t expand what she thought was good about it. Rod said that he was disappointed in the game and I said that I had been bored. Rod then asked me what I found boring about the game and I told him. This was to show Beth the too-ing and fro-ing of a conversation. Beth’s engagement is always better when there is something fun going on. Rod kept putting a ‘T’ on to the end of Elefun when he spoke. Beth would say ‘elefun’ and Rod would say the sound of a ‘T’ over and over again with Beth in fits of laughter. They also had fun playing Kerplunk but determined that the winner was the one who got the most marbles instead because they both got lots. Beth got in between Rod and I but of course insisted that she won anyway!
In occupational therapy Whiskas (not her real name) the O/T showed me that they had been working on Beth’s handwriting. We talked about Beth having crushes with Whiskas telling me that Beth was talking to her imaginary boyfriend – Taylor Lautner?, an actor from the Twilight movies I think. Not that she’s seen them but she’s seen pictures in a magazine which she kisses. I said that she hadn’t done that before (talking to him) but was told that it is fairly normal for Beth’s age. We talked about Emerson and I had a little cry when talking about what things are acceptable for other kids just don’t seem to be acceptable for Beth. It must be so confusing for Beth to see other kids with boyfriends and girlfriends yet to be told that it’s not ok for her to say she fancies somebody or worse still laughed at when she says she does. I’m looking forward to her being with others like her who think in a similar way.
I’ve had several Beth funnies this week so I’ll share. I’d say some of her friends from school and her have been making up words. She used the word twitterpated. When I asked what this meant Beth reeled off the explanation as she’s clearly rehearsed it. The funny thing was the way it had been interpreted until I explained it to her. She said it was when you were walking down the street and your business was being minded. I had to tell her that the expression was in fact ‘you’re minding your own business!’ She took it all in her stride and started again with the new way of saying it. It seems to be when you’re falling in love and your eyes meet and fireworks explode in your head. For some reason she thinks that your head falls off at the end though it may be that your head feels like it’s going to explode!
Another funny was when Beth walked in the door from school last night. Paul was home early so picked the kids up for me. Beth looked at me and said ‘the girl with a passion for fashion is home Mum!’ She’s a crackup!
Lastly the cheeky bugger was trying to get me to get her a drink last night. She came in to bed with me and I was falling asleep. Next thing I heard her voice, sounding like it was trying to be a ghost. She was saying “You have to get Beth a drink of water.” I asked her why she was saying it in a ghost’s voice and she told me that it was in fact my conscience speaking! I told her to get up and get her own bloody drink!
