5.7km; School Supervision & one of the worst things about twins ;-)

It was SO humid this morning!  Every day the air is so thick and wet.  Now that I have a Garmin I have realised what I thought was 6km is actually 5.7km :-(.

Today was a day for me to knuckle down and get some of my nursing studies done.  In a couple of weeks uni will start up and I'll be juggling a part-time uni course and a full-time TAFE course.  But I've promised myself that no matter how stressful and full-on things get, I'm going to prioritise my running.  In fact, I'd rather fail a subject than go backwards with my running.  Its kind of like the safety talk on an aeroplane...you've got to put that mask on yourself before you help your kids, otherwise you'll all be toast.  I think its particularly apt for parents of kids with special needs.

This is what I do all day when the kids are at school (well-what I'm supposed to do!)

Today T2's BCBA (Behavioural supervisor) went to observe T2 at school for the very first time.  She dropped in afterwards and went through her observations.  There are so many positives, but still quite a few things he needs to work on.  Unfortunately some of the behaviours are tricky ones to eliminate,like non-functional language, conversation skills and attending.  But overall he is doing SO well.  And T1 is practically indistinguishable from his peers which is amazing!  It will be interesting to see what interventions get put in place for his IEP (Individualised Education Plan).

Tonight was Kindy info evening, which went well.  Lots of info to take in but unfortunately books to cover in clear contact.  That stuff is sheer hell to work with.  It sticks together, you get bubbles and bits of contact stuck to you.  And yes, if you're lucky enough to have twins you get double the books to cover!  Woo hoo!  I got home and did it straight away because just looking at them was going to make me nauseous.  Anyway I'm pretty happy with my handiwork - not many bubbles!

I'm SURE your evening was more exciting than mine!

8.5km & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A lovely 8.5km this morning at an easy pace.  I'm glad I got my run in before school starts as its going to be hot today.  Its the luxury of living close to school.

This morning is the first full day of school for the boys.  I was up before them (very rare) and heard the tap upstairs go on. "Oh no you don't" I thought, thinking that T2 was up to his usual tricks (he loves water).  As I approached the bathroom I saw smears of blood on the door, then blood all up my T2's arms and then I looked into his face and it was literally covered in blood!  "Is he cut? What's going on?".  Just a nose bleed - phew.  We are not a family of nose bleeders and this is actually the first time I've experienced a proper nose bleed from any of my kids.  Thanks for saving it for the first day of school buddy!

I cleaned him up a little and let him watch TV as I attempted to pinch his nose.  This is not an easy feat with a kid on the spectrum but luckily it stopped, and I was able to go for my run.  Fast forward to about 8am and it starts again - gushing everywhere.  He started wiping his nose and smearing it everywhere.  So he had blood pretty much all over him so I got him in a fairly cool bath and after a little while it stopped bleeding.  Meanwhile the clock is ticking....

My goal of looking half respectable compared to the coiffed and polished school mums began to fade.  I'm still in my running gear, hair unwashed.  I rushed downstairs and leaned over the bath to at least wash my hair (I have fine hair that really needs a wash after a run).  At 8.40 we headed out the door - my hair was wet, no make-up.

I'm walking a couple of metres in front trying to hurry the pace a little.  I could hear the principal on the megaphone.  I turned around and T2 had NO hat on.  "Where's your hat?" I asked, panic rising.  "Gone" said T2. "Well go get it!!" I yelled (I do regret the yelling part).  Then I asked "where is it?"  He led me to the drain.  At this point I thought I might crack and start sobbing on school grounds for the second time in 3 days.  Deep breaths, deep breaths..I held it together!  I peered down the drain and saw the hat, got onto my stomach and reached down as far as I could  My finger tips could just feel the hat.  At this stage I had my whole torso down a drain on school grounds.  I got the hat!!  And off we went.

I just know I'm going to be one of those crazy mums no matter how hard I try :-).  Its 9.30am and very quiet.  I'm drinking tea, but probably need something much stronger :-)

Now I'm just waiting for the phone to ring ;-)

Parkrun - no sun and no fun; Thinking about visual schedules

I woke up and for the first time on a Parkrun morning it was cloudy!.  Woohoo I thought, its going to be SO much easier today. Ummm...wrong.  I felt like I was running in a sauna.  I have real trouble pacing myself on these Parkruns and I think I might have to get my old Garmin going.  I decided to tag  this lady who overtook me (how dare she!) and see how long I could stay with her.  I hope I didn't tick her off too much because she overtook me pretty quickly and I stuck to her like glue for the first couple of kms.  Then I blew up a little and she sped away.  Unfortunately, not a PB today.  Man,  I really want to get faster. As soon as I finish my Lazyrunner program I'm going to start doing some speed work.

Then I got home and took the boys to the park.  Dragging T2 away from Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom took some food bribery of a little picnic at the park.  Also, when we got to the first park where we usually run around there was cricket going on.  T2 wanted to run through the cricket and started to play up, then T1 decided he wanted to go home. Aaah.  Initially I started to lose my temper, but I worked on staying calm and speaking without any frustration in my voice.  It worked!  We ran/scootered/walked to the park where T2 demanded his promised picnic while T1 and I played on the equipment.

There was a time I thought T2 would never scooter - now he loves it!

T2 preferred to look on while snacking.

T1 practising a little cricket on the sideline of eldest's cricket game

I haven't been pushing T2 since he started school.  Yesterday, when I picked him up he had tears streaming down his face.  Has the novelty of school worn off already?  I hope not!  His shadow said he had hit his head about half an hour before hometime and was upset after that.

Next week's mission is trying to get T2 on some kind of schedule so that he is using his time appropriately after school.

Some examples of visual schedules

I've had my eye on this dress for quite a while.  I was very happy to get my hands on it at an outlet store.  It was $49 down from $130.  Woohoo! There is no way I would pay $130 for it...but I do kind of love it.

No, this is NOT me.  I hope I look half as good in it!

source: Country Road

Do you use visual schedules?

Do you like this dress?

DAY ONE OF SCHOOL- SUCCESS!

Sorry, no run today!

The boys were so cute and so excited.  They got into their little uniforms and looked so proud.  Well actually T2's uniform isn't that little.... In the morning I paced around waiting for the minutes to tick by (we live minutes from school - a plus!).  When we got to school it was such a relief to see the familiar faces of their shadows.  It was so fantastic of the school to allow these shadows.  In Australia, there doesn't seem to be any specific laws or hard regulations regarding supporting kids with special needs.  The laws tend to be vague and generalised and much of the practical side is left up to the principal's discretion.

I love the way they hold hands

off they go !

Anyway, the classrooms are combined for the first two half-days.  After the parents were shooed out of the classrooms we went to the hall for tea and tissues.  I don't really know any of the parents well and my husband had to pop out to get my eldest to a swimming carnival.  Looking into a sea of unknown parents, hoping my kids were going to be ok, worrying more about how the other kids would treat them than how they will be at school...I promptly burst into tears...damn it!  In public, and I do believe I was the only one.  I went outside pulled myself together and tried again to go inside and be social.  I had a little chat with some of the parents and then headed off.   When we returned for pick up I was immediately greeted by a VERY excited special ed teacher (she is the main reason we chose this school) who told us they had been amazing.  The shadows also said they were great.  Hopefully this will last a little longer than the first day.

Does this pass the healthy test?  They ate ALL of it :-)

When they got home T2 immediately put on his pjs and lay on the floor!  T2, on the hand, was very excited and bouncing off the walls.

Just to add to the drama my eldest came home from cricket and told us that he'd been 'blanking out' ever since Wednesday when he came home from school very overheated.  His school had staffing issues and the kids had spent all afternoon in 30+degree heat (86F+).  At the time I thought oh my goodness, it might be his heart, or epilepsy or....There's a family history of serious cardiac issues.  So off my husband and son went to the Children's Hospital.  They had a long wait and didn't get home until 11.45pm.  Unfortunately he didn't receive a whole lot of tests.  I'm still abit worried about him, poor thing. We've been pumping in fluids and Powerade.  I hope he's ok today.

5km & 1 Sleep 'til big school!!

I went for a really enjoyable 5km run to finish Week 5 of the LazyRunner 10km program.  I usually lean towards morning running but it was just beautiful this evening.  It wasn't too hot and it was just a beautiful Summer evening.  I followed it up with a relaxing dip in the pool and straight into my pjs.  Tomorrow and Friday I won't be doing any morning running as the twins will be starting school.  I might try and do another evening run tomorrow as it was really great.

The uniforms are pressed, everything's labelled, the shadows are ready.  If you're wondering what a shadow is, its kind of like a teacher's aide.  My BCBA has recommended T2 have an ABA trained shadow full-time for at least the first 6 months. T2 knows the shadows who will be with him so it makes me feel so much better.  This morning all the Kindy kids and parents met at the park.  I was feeling anxious, actually nauseous.  Would the boys behave?  Would T2 cope or start doing really weird behaviours?  Would the mum's be welcoming?  When I first got their I felt so awkward.  The boys took off on the equipment.  And I took off to man the flying fox for all the kids.  It was a good strategy.  I got talking to a couple of parents while having something to do (dragging the flying fox up the wire many times!).  Then I found a couple of parents I'd previously met and it was all good and everyone was really nice.  I didn't stay long as T2 doesn't last much longer than 11/4 hours at the park and it was pretty hot. So we headed home on  a good note.

A metallic 'Sharpie' marker is fantastic for naming dark things

A permanent thin black marker

I bought this ages ago when my eldest was in preschool.
 You can buy iron on refills and sticky fillers.  Its been VERY handy.

Then I discovered I had to get new anaphylaxis and asthma plans done for school tomorrow, so made a last minute trip to the medical centre, boys in tow.  Whenever I go to the medical centre I take every electronic device we own.  Today it was a Leappad, an iPad, a mini iPad, my Iphone and a 3DDS (I kid you not!).  It makes the hour at the medical centre bearable...just.  But we did it and we are all ready for the big day tomorrow.

It took five devices for us to get through a double dr's appointment at the medical centre!

What is your favourite time of day to run?

8km & Novotel Brighton-Le-Sands

Today I started week 5 of the Lazyrunners 10k plan.  Today was 8km.  It all went fine as I'd had 2 days off running.  Not sure about pace but this program is all about the distance not speed.  After I've finished this program I intend to incorporate one speed session a week into my training.

On Friday afternoon myself, my eldest and mother-in-law headed to Brighton-Le-Sands Novotel for an overnight stay.  My mother-in-law was sick last time we went so it was her first time there.  She really liked it.  It's my last voucher that I had stashed and I'm now on a voucher ban (self-imposed) until further notice :-(

the view from our room - a little windy!

Comfy beds and the pillows weren't too fat

Love 1990s Decor

We decided to skip the hotel restaurant because although its very good, its quite expensive unless you have one of the Accor club cards (which we don't).  We were surprised how many good casual eateries were located along Bay St.  For dinner we had fish, chips and calamari at Ocean Heart seafood.  It was all very fresh and delicious.  The calamari was particularly good (no sign of chewiness and so tasty!).

We'll be back.

If you want good fish n chips in Brighton-le Sands, look no further

Chunky chips - but there was no salt and they didn't ask!  I kept looking in the bag...but no :-(

One of the running bloggers I follow is always eating frozen yoghurt (she calls it Froyo) so when I discovered a frozen yoghurt shop I thought I'd indulge in my first one. I had no idea what flavour so had a little plain, a little mango and a little coconut.  I think I actually like the plain best.  Then, for the fun bit- the toppings.  Mini m&ms, crushed Oreos & Hershey bars, fruit and unidentifiable coloured round balls.  I liked it.  Not as much as HungryRunnerGirl does but I'll definitely have another soon.

Yoganic  - Bay St Brighton Le Sands

A froyo mishmash

For breakfast we went downstairs to Mezzes cafe.  We ordered bacon, eggs and toast.  It was all delicious and I'm not sure what bread they used but it was beautiful.  It cost under $10 each for the meals!  We followed that up by hot chocolates.  The service was great and the food came out promptly.

SO yummy..under 10 bucks!

Delicious hot chocolate

We picked up some lunch boxes and drink bottles for the twins (4 sleeps til big school!).  What on Earth is going on?  There was literally a wall of different boxes - long ones, short ones, ones with mini containers and separate containers and freezer coverings........What happened to the gigantic Decor boxes and a popper (if you wanted a drink you went to the bubbler).  Why is parenting so confusing these days???

A night in watching Fedex and Nadal...poor Federer.

I love this derelict terrace right across from the beach. 

A short walk takes you to what used to be my Nana's place.  Many happy memories of a wonderful person.

I also discovered something frightening about my mother-in-law and eldest.  I bought some gummy bears for them, but I didn't realise the effect they had on them.  They practically inhaled the packet.  When they offered me some I backed away in fear of immediate addiction.  We bought 2 more packets when we went down to Coles.  I'm not sure if those bears are still with us-its truly scary watching them in action.  A word of warning. DO NOT buy the sugar free ones - have you seen the reviews? Don't click on this link if you are eating.

These are NOT sugar free...but if you don't like your in-laws....:-)

T2 has a loose tooth and is demanding all food be cut into bite sizes.  Hurry up and fall out tooth!

What is your favourite Froyo flavour and toppings?  I need guidance.

Do you have any lunch box recommendations?  I really need help with this.

5km & the countdown to big school begins! (1 week today)

Today I finished Week 4 of the 10km Lazyrunner program.  It was a breakthrough for me to run 5kms two days in a row without feeling stiff or having niggles.  I'm tempted to push my luck a little and run 8km tomorrow.  We'll see...

So, one week until big school.  My blood pressure and heart rate rise slightly when I think about it.  I'm trying to block it out while simultaneously getting organised.  Today was uniform day.  The list went like this....2 shirts x 2, 2 shorts x 2, 1 sport shirt...x2, 1 sport shorts...x2, 4 pairs of socks...x2, 2 school bags...x2, 1 jumpers.. x2, $149.. x 2 (are you seeing a pattern here?) for a grand total of $498!!!  Let's add black school shoes...x2 for $200 for a grand total of $698 (deep breaths!).  Still need to get stationary, new lunchboxes and bottles (their preschool ones will have to do for the first couple of weeks).  Man, that's some serious cash.  Today we went to the uniform store and I was a little anxious about T2.  He was perfect and wanted to keep his school shirt on (so cute).  But T1 decided it was a good time to fight with his older brother.  Unfortunately it was his worst moment of the day and the rest of the day he was really good.  Don't you hate it when bad behaviour is saved for public consumption?

I'm starting to think lunch boxes now.  Its much more enjoyable than buying uniforms and shoes.  I'm thinking of cooking batches and freezing.  I'm going to try really hard to be organised with the school lunches.  I'm pretty spoiled and don't do much cooking so I think I should take responsibility for the school lunches this year.  Hopefully I'll come through with the goods.

Any tips from fellow ASD parents about first day of school?

Favourite lunchbox recipe?