I had a lot of washing, unpacking and shopping to do after the holiday, so the boys busied themselves. They watched videos and played with friends online. After being away from their fav foods all week chicken strips, potato waffles and peas were treated like a gourmet feast.
Owen had a tricky day today. Despite warnings about hacking he found himself banned from his favourite server by the moderators..it took a good few hours before it hit home and he felt really sad. We are going through stages of grief..denial was a toughie.
At jujitsu tonight he also got a light telling off for messing around and due to the other issues regarding his 'hacking' it felt like the end of the world, so we had a cuddle and a chat before bedtime. Sadly, for Owen, natural consequences seem to be the only way he accepts certain things can't happen...it's a hard way to learn and I think he will be upset tomorrow but no amount of explaining can change his mind sometimes.
Sam has had a chilled day working with a friend on our server, reading and watching videos.
Wildkratts kicked off the day followed by Life of Mammals. After which we did birthday cards for Nanny S.
I the afternoon we met up with friends to play and chat...after our evening meal we all cuddled up to catch up with Dr Who. Perfect.
Sam was struggling so he decided to read in his room for a while. In the meantime Owen and I got our new games out to play with. First we played 'Pop to the Shops' a fun way to practice money skills. Afterwards we played 'Tell the Time'...he beat me at both.
Sam came down and asked to try the shopping game, he just missed out on winning and thought of some new rules to make the game more challenging next time. He had some anxiety about playing the time game, so I showed him how it worked and he decided to have a go. The fact he thrashed me both games made him very happy and come to the conclusion that it was a good game after all. We then battled it out in a game of Frustration and he chuckled as he won by one throw of the dice.
I was at neurology in the morning first thing. Getting Owen up and out the house before 8:15 was...erm....challenging. I dropped them off at their grand parents and enjoyed a quiet walk to calm my nerves.
After we came home for lunch and played chess and some of our new board games. Blokey started early too this morning, so he was home about 3 ish and we all hung out and played games together.
The boys are rather camera shy this week so apologies for the lack of photos of the better looking members of the family .
Things have taken a turn for the worst here with the boys lately. I won't lie I have found it really hard to deal with. I have watched the children withdraw into their own worlds more and become increasingly reluctant to try new things and deviate from one task. Blokey and I have been talking and we agree we really need to find a way to address it.
We are not talking forced socialisation here..that's not what we are about. We talked about a special school but still can't see that being a change for the better..more a desperate last resort...so it's been discounted. What the holiday away taught us, was the boys (and I) benefitted greatly from another pair of hands onboard, more time outside the house, seeing friends and doing an increased number of activities...BUT...the demand avoidance aspect of their difficulties is strong and me trying to manage it all alone is proving incredibly challenging...I can just about do it but it's leaving me totally exhausted, grouchy and it's causing my neurological issues to flare up.
Once I get the children into the car they are fine..but getting them ready to go out and in the car can take a great deal of energy. I have just got one sorted and the other disappears , I get that boy sorted and I have lost the other...and round it goes. They enjoy activities so I am looking at organising some more tubing at the ski slope with friends and maybe a sports group in the evenings once a month, with the local ASD charity.
Local services have never understood the children's complex needs, so there's a great chance that if any help was offered it wouldn't be appropriate. We need someone who knows how to deal with the individual needs of the children and understands them.
Blokey and I mulled it over and over, we have had no joy sourcing a suitable local childcare specialist..most genuinely don't want to take onboard the myriad of considerations that come with our children. So Blokey, my partner, my tag team mate in this little dance, decided he would approach work about flexible working hours. We both know he has to go to work but if there could be some leeway we can see a way through it.
Under UK law, parents are supposed to be able to request flexible working hours. Blokeys Manager so far has been very open to the idea but he needs to attend a meeting with HR and his supervisors to thrash it out ....I will keep you updated.
We had a busy morning doing chores and having a walk, then in the afternoon we drove over to Rudyard Lake to see friends. Mary, Chris and Gem ( their beautiful Newfoundland) used to live locally but moved away. We try and catch up when they pop over to visit relatives. Today Gem was partaking in a doggie event , so we managed a quick catch up.
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