Paul ended up taking Beth to Sensational Kids this week as I’m still not feeling the best. I’ve been back to the doctors and had the usual blood tests but I’m still feeling dizzy and flushy all the time so I’m going back on Monday again to see what they can do. Paul only has one more week off work and it worries me if it’s not sorted out that I wont be able to look after the kids properly.
Beth has been a bit out of sorts lately anyway and Paul (and Rod via email) both said that she had a few issues at Sensational Kids. Once again Rod did the movie scenario, where they act going to the movies as a family. Rod says in his notes that Beth just wanted to read a book and was quite avoidant of playacting the movies again. In his words she has some functional pragmatic challenges around expectation of being able to accept others view. Rod must have added menu boards and Beth had an issue with that. Paul told me that she found it difficult to accept that this time there were no maltesers to choose, Rod (as Shopkeeper) told her that they had run out. She went on an on about the fact that she needed maltesers. Rod explained that she needed to make other choices.
This came out the next day when Beth wanted to watch Bugs Life on DVD. We couldn’t find it and were trying to give her alternatives. She started talking back in our voices, saying “of course Beth, here it is” and things along that vein. Paul tried to say she had to make different choices and she kept making the same choice over and over and getting more and more upset, hitting herself on the legs as she did so. As Paul isn’t as used to Beth during the daytime he doesn’t see her doing this as much as I do. Often talking just wont do and I called her into the bedroom with me and scratched her back while we talked. She still wasn’t happy about not being able to watch Bugs Life but she chose another. I think it’s important in situations like this to try to find the thing that is lost or to preempt it happening again. Just because I’d diffused the situation once doesn’t mean that I’ll have the same result next time. Of course it doesn’t help matters when you have a child who can lose things every day and has no idea where they are left. We’ve had week long incidents where Beth has lost her DSi every day and will come wailing to me to find it for her. Usually it’ll be dropped down beside the bed but if we don’t remember exactly where she was playing it it’s a pain in the arse to try to find it. Mind you, Bridie does the same thing though with her it’s usually in one of her many bags that she carries around with her, she’s a right bag lady is our Bridie!
One of the issues that has arisen with puberty is the dreadful BO smell. Beth sweats a lot during the night and last night came in with me. She covers herself right up with the doona and by the morning the room can stink like a teenage boys room. I’m wondering if it’s because she’s got hairy armpits. I put deodorant on her every morning which works just fine but by the next morning she’s ripe. I think I might have to start shaving her armpits. I thought I could get away with not doing it as her school dresses and tops have short sleeves. Most clothes these days offer more coverage too as strappy tops just aren’t sunsmart. Also, because she wears a bra, it’s nice to cover that up too. Even though it seems that that rule has gone out the window, I still like the bra to be covered as much as possible. It’s such a personal choice whether to shave or not but once again I think I’ll have to make the decision for her, at least once to see if it makes any difference.
