Friday, October 24, 2003
Tired, so tired. It's been an appalling week. K melted down spectacularly at childcare last Friday. He'd spent the day playing with a little girl and when she left, he just lost it and spent 2 hours searching for her. Fay stayed an extra hour because she couldn't bear to leave him but I do wish someone had called me and we would have brought him home.
Saturday was No Fun either in the morning and in the afternoon. OMFG. He went nuts for 3 hours. We were not allowed to sit or stand or talk or do anything, he was just frantic. Totally heartbreaking stuff. G had formed the theory that he was reacting to the clonidine and I conceded the point in the end. He's not supposed to react, clonidine is a drug with few side effects.
Sunday he was better but he woke up at 1am and didn't go back to sleep. Monday I had to go to an open day at his new school. I'm totally impressed with the new school, really like the head teacher of the unit and I think we can make this work. We talked about the level of work he is doing and it appears we'll be fine to do some subject acceleration. I'm compiling a portfolio to take to the placement meeting.
Monday afternoon we had the gastro appt at the Mater. Can I just say it Was Not Fun either. We waited for an hour and a half to be seen and we were the first appt of the afternoon. M was marginally well behaved and K ran around a lot. I like the gastro. I talked my way into seeing him privately as I cannot face the clinics at the Mater with both kids. Theoretically we should be waiting 6 months to see him at the Mater anyway. We're doing enemas on a daily basis and seeing him in a fortnight. His receptionist was her usual bitchy self but she finally rang back with an appt.
The enemas are awful :(.
Tuesday went by in a sleepless haze. I've gotten accustomed to sleeping in the last couple of months.
M's not been too wonderful in the last couple of weeks. He's handwashing and picking the skin on his fingers and is very reactive. The dreaded tone of voice is back -- the one where you know he's losing all self control and chaos is around the corner.
We saw Michael on Wednesday afternoon for a medication review. I'm so blessed in having this paed. It turned into a long appointment as we were discussing both boys.
Michael's new office has a round table so we all sat there. I like this set up as M was unable to zone out and had to join in the discussion. M shared his theory on the Loch Ness Monster ::cackles::. At first we decided to up the effexor but after watching M struggle to write my favourite dinosaur and seeing how close he is to losing it, Michael put up for discussion switching to risperidone. He pointed out that we have never really gotten M's anxiety under control and that while the effexor is making some difference, it's not enough.
Risperidone for those of you who are not intimately familiar with meds is heavy shit. It's an anti-psychotic used for bipolar and there's recently been research into using it to relieve anxiety in Aspergers kids. I'm not ecstatic at going this path but realistically and sensibly it's got to be trialled. So we start to wean him off effexor next Monday. Which is going to be a barrel of fun in itself I'm sure.
K came off the clonidine entirely. Michael was aghast at the paradoxical reaction as he's never known it to happen with other kids. Just my luck eh? Another couple of sleepless nights and then we retry the clonidine to see if it will act as a sleeping pill again.
I got his email address and his cell phone number so if we have a crisis on the weekend I can actually reach him.
Thursday was respite day. Meagan brought us some DVDs to watch over the next few weeks. G and I went out for sushi and then went to Kmart where I bought the lego castle at $50 off. One of the kids will want it for Xmas.
Looked in a few op shops. Bought a hysterically ugly pink budgie china ornament to go on the wall in the toilet with my flying duck collection.
Today has been spent trying to get through to people on the phone ::sigh::. Deeply frustrated that I need to talk to Meagan and I've lost her cell phone number. Her housemates suck at passing on messages and claim she's at work, work says she's not working. She organised more respite hours for me starting next week.
I got $50 of free passes from the cinema in response to my furious letter of complaint and a grovelling apology. Heh.
G has a script editor interested in his screenplay. Progress definitely, progress. Now they just need to attract a producer and then apply for funding. Like it will be that easy ;)
Saturday was No Fun either in the morning and in the afternoon. OMFG. He went nuts for 3 hours. We were not allowed to sit or stand or talk or do anything, he was just frantic. Totally heartbreaking stuff. G had formed the theory that he was reacting to the clonidine and I conceded the point in the end. He's not supposed to react, clonidine is a drug with few side effects.
Sunday he was better but he woke up at 1am and didn't go back to sleep. Monday I had to go to an open day at his new school. I'm totally impressed with the new school, really like the head teacher of the unit and I think we can make this work. We talked about the level of work he is doing and it appears we'll be fine to do some subject acceleration. I'm compiling a portfolio to take to the placement meeting.
Monday afternoon we had the gastro appt at the Mater. Can I just say it Was Not Fun either. We waited for an hour and a half to be seen and we were the first appt of the afternoon. M was marginally well behaved and K ran around a lot. I like the gastro. I talked my way into seeing him privately as I cannot face the clinics at the Mater with both kids. Theoretically we should be waiting 6 months to see him at the Mater anyway. We're doing enemas on a daily basis and seeing him in a fortnight. His receptionist was her usual bitchy self but she finally rang back with an appt.
The enemas are awful :(.
Tuesday went by in a sleepless haze. I've gotten accustomed to sleeping in the last couple of months.
M's not been too wonderful in the last couple of weeks. He's handwashing and picking the skin on his fingers and is very reactive. The dreaded tone of voice is back -- the one where you know he's losing all self control and chaos is around the corner.
We saw Michael on Wednesday afternoon for a medication review. I'm so blessed in having this paed. It turned into a long appointment as we were discussing both boys.
Michael's new office has a round table so we all sat there. I like this set up as M was unable to zone out and had to join in the discussion. M shared his theory on the Loch Ness Monster ::cackles::. At first we decided to up the effexor but after watching M struggle to write my favourite dinosaur and seeing how close he is to losing it, Michael put up for discussion switching to risperidone. He pointed out that we have never really gotten M's anxiety under control and that while the effexor is making some difference, it's not enough.
Risperidone for those of you who are not intimately familiar with meds
K came off the clonidine entirely. Michael was aghast at the paradoxical reaction as he's never known it to happen with other kids. Just my luck eh? Another couple of sleepless nights and then we retry the clonidine to see if it will act as a sleeping pill again.
I got his email address and his cell phone number so if we have a crisis on the weekend I can actually reach him.
Thursday was respite day. Meagan brought us some DVDs to watch over the next few weeks. G and I went out for sushi and then went to Kmart where I bought the lego castle at $50 off. One of the kids will want it for Xmas.
Looked in a few op shops. Bought a hysterically ugly pink budgie china ornament to go on the wall in the toilet with my flying duck collection.
Today has been spent trying to get through to people on the phone ::sigh::. Deeply frustrated that I need to talk to Meagan and I've lost her cell phone number. Her housemates suck at passing on messages and claim she's at work, work says she's not working. She organised more respite hours for me starting next week.
I got $50 of free passes from the cinema in response to my furious letter of complaint and a grovelling apology. Heh.
G has a script editor interested in his screenplay. Progress definitely, progress. Now they just need to attract a producer and then apply for funding. Like it will be that easy ;)
Friday, October 17, 2003
G finished the screenplay yet again. Gee, I wonder how many more days it's going to take? I know that if it sells, that would be a seriously good thing but OTOH it's a hell of an investment of time and effort which could be better spent. IMNSHO.
Still waiting to hear about the two books which are at the committee reading stage at K books. I do hope they sell as he will be diabolical if they don't.
Went to do a tiny bit of shopping this morning and came out having spent $42. ::sigh:: The Neil Perry fresh sauces were marked down to half price so I bought 7 of them, rice noodles were very cheap... doesn't take long to spend money.
K's apparently having a 'perfect' day which is a relief. G's supposed to go out for dinner with his men's group but it's still up in the air until I see what I am dealing with this evening. M's at my parents as usual.
I did a vanity search on google and the first three hits for me were an article I recently had published, a book I co-wrote and a conference I presented at recently. It made me look like I had a life.
Still waiting to hear about the two books which are at the committee reading stage at K books. I do hope they sell as he will be diabolical if they don't.
Went to do a tiny bit of shopping this morning and came out having spent $42. ::sigh:: The Neil Perry fresh sauces were marked down to half price so I bought 7 of them, rice noodles were very cheap... doesn't take long to spend money.
K's apparently having a 'perfect' day which is a relief. G's supposed to go out for dinner with his men's group but it's still up in the air until I see what I am dealing with this evening. M's at my parents as usual.
I did a vanity search on google and the first three hits for me were an article I recently had published, a book I co-wrote and a conference I presented at recently. It made me look like I had a life.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Clonidine ain't no miracle cure that's for freaking sure. Really distressed this morning, had a bad day at childcare and had a severe meltdown after coming home. It's really hard to watch him.
I got _children with starving brains- read today and it's given me a few ideas to follow up. I seriously doubt we are dealing with mercury poisoning because I can't see where he would have gotten it. Of course it suits me to believe this as testing for mercury would be very difficult here. I'm gonna pursue testing for herpes viruses with our GP when she gets back from holiday. I'll email Tracey and brainstorm what to do about supplements which he will actually take and that I can actually afford.
Meagan took M to a local play place which was apparently full of bouncy castles and blasting music and he was *fine*, no meltdowns at all. then they went to pet shops. She's a gem. I didn't get anything done at all while they were away. G finished up his screenplay for the nth time.
I got _children with starving brains- read today and it's given me a few ideas to follow up. I seriously doubt we are dealing with mercury poisoning because I can't see where he would have gotten it. Of course it suits me to believe this as testing for mercury would be very difficult here. I'm gonna pursue testing for herpes viruses with our GP when she gets back from holiday. I'll email Tracey and brainstorm what to do about supplements which he will actually take and that I can actually afford.
Meagan took M to a local play place which was apparently full of bouncy castles and blasting music and he was *fine*, no meltdowns at all. then they went to pet shops. She's a gem. I didn't get anything done at all while they were away. G finished up his screenplay for the nth time.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
::sigh::
Yesterday got a tad difficult. Ma rang at midday to say that K was in the second half hour of a total meltdown and panic attack. He was hammering his fists on the floor and totally unreachable. He's been trying to micromanage childcare and make Fay make the children do what he wants. We've had a couple of catastrophic meltdowns at home and he's also been insisting on doing everything himself.
My take on it is that he is emerging from his autistic shell and it's exhausting and stressful. We're seeing some really positive stuff at the same time but he's overwhelmed.
We brought him home from childcare and he was fine all afternoon. OTOH I didn't put any stress on him whatsoever. He just did what he wanted to do.
Rang Michael but they're frantic and he couldn't talk to me yesterday and didn't get back to me in the evening. I rang at 8.30 and caught him before his day's appointments started. He agreed with my analysis and we talked about what environmental changes we could put in place. Short answer -- none really as nothing we've done has worked. Talked about new stressors -- there's none I am aware of.
We decided to trial clonidine in the morning and in the afternoon if needed. I'm heartbroken. I'm also grateful for the wonders of modern medicine because he couldn't go on like this. He's so unhappy and so tense :(.
We did his birthday today. Yesterday was his real birthday but it was also a childcare day and I felt it would have been too stressful to combine the two. He got lots of presents and this year he unwrapped them all and engaged with all of them. Huge step forward from last year :).
I better go and help him assemble a dinosaur.
Yesterday got a tad difficult. Ma rang at midday to say that K was in the second half hour of a total meltdown and panic attack. He was hammering his fists on the floor and totally unreachable. He's been trying to micromanage childcare and make Fay make the children do what he wants. We've had a couple of catastrophic meltdowns at home and he's also been insisting on doing everything himself.
My take on it is that he is emerging from his autistic shell and it's exhausting and stressful. We're seeing some really positive stuff at the same time but he's overwhelmed.
We brought him home from childcare and he was fine all afternoon. OTOH I didn't put any stress on him whatsoever. He just did what he wanted to do.
Rang Michael but they're frantic and he couldn't talk to me yesterday and didn't get back to me in the evening. I rang at 8.30 and caught him before his day's appointments started. He agreed with my analysis and we talked about what environmental changes we could put in place. Short answer -- none really as nothing we've done has worked. Talked about new stressors -- there's none I am aware of.
We decided to trial clonidine in the morning and in the afternoon if needed. I'm heartbroken. I'm also grateful for the wonders of modern medicine because he couldn't go on like this. He's so unhappy and so tense :(.
We did his birthday today. Yesterday was his real birthday but it was also a childcare day and I felt it would have been too stressful to combine the two. He got lots of presents and this year he unwrapped them all and engaged with all of them. Huge step forward from last year :).
I better go and help him assemble a dinosaur.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Surfacing again.
We did go to the beach for my birthday. It was pretty cool although K had a meltdown when it was time to leave. We saw thousands of crabs on the move which was very groovy indeed. I managed to steer M clear of the 2 two year olds who were torturing a crab :(. He would have totally lost it at them. The rest of the day went well enough. G has a record of totally and utterly stuffing up my birthday and this year he didn't.
Thursday I took M on the train to see the gastro paed. Definitely changing practitioners. The gastro felt that the positive IgG of 85 was not enough to go GF and that M is not symptomatic enough of coeliac to do an endoscopy. I'm undecided about that. I think his degree of irritability is marked and prior to the endep he was skin and bone and was never on the height/weight charts. I said I would run the blood tests every 6 months and the guy looked at me as if I were nuts. He also didn't listen and kept telling me stuff which I know already. M's adamant he won't go GF without major bribery or an endoscopy and I don't really want to do it without active coeliac disease or a positive antigliadin result.
Friday was great. Meagan collected M at 9am and they went off for the day. G and I watched FOTR, went out for sushi, did the banking and came home and watched more FOTR. It was just so nice and relaxed.
Meagan brought M back at 3pm. They'd been to the wallaby park and to the movies. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which they loved. V grateful she took him.
She had a barney with the ticket seller though who refused her respite carer card. I am pissed off to the max about it and I am writing a stiff letter to the theatre manager. She actually said that M didn't look disabled to her and that she thought Meagan was trying to scam her way in for cheap. Meagan said he's got Aspergers and dumbo said what's that? Never heard of it. I'm very very angry that this was said in front of my child.
Saturday as was documented below sucked the big one.
Sunday went OK. g and I had a spirited debate of the foolishness of not checking the map when going somewhere you have never been before but we found the restaurant OK in the end. Fabulous fabulous decor. Lots of 50's and 60's kitsch. The waitstaff all wear authentic 50's clothes and there's a fashion parade which is hilarious.
My parents came dressed as bodgies which was a shock. If I had known they were dressing up, we would have dressed up too. My father shaved his beard and wore an Elvis wig. It was quite the sight.
My kids were impeccably behaved. My sister's kids weren't. ::snark:: I'm really dismayed by the food issues in that family. Both boys are overweight and their sister hardly eats. She had a fight with my sister over having lunch and chose a tiny portion from the children's menu. Scary stuff. My BIL is ecstatic to be on Atkins and I truly hope it works for him because he is morbidly obese. Sister of course lost 4 pounds in the first week and only has 4 to go.
I got presents ::beams::. A cookbook from my sister -- The New Farm Deli Cookbook
http://www.greatsoutheast.com.au/gse/archive/2003/2003-03-16/story06.asp
Some cards and stationery from my aunt and this stunningly ugly pottery wheelbarrow and scarecrow from my grandmother. It's scarily ugly and it's hard to imagine that anyone would voluntarily buy the thing. My mother suggested I keep it boxed and give it to someone but honestly I'd be embarassed to.
Monday went past in an exhausted blur. Did the shopping. Was frightened by the price of lettuce.
Must go and finish nastygram to theatre manager. Showed it to my mother who said it was nowhere nasty enough. Pack up mortgage stuff and maybe, just maybe finish getting a mortgage. Deal to plants on front veranda which look tired and need repotting or tossing.
Thanks for all the comments :) over the last couple of days.
Accccccckkkkk! Ma just rang to say that they have chickenpox at the centre! K's definitely been heavily exposed so pray with me that his difficult behaviour is caused by chickenpox. While I'm not looking forward to the idea of chickenpox, I'd be grateful if he could catch it and get it out of the way.
We did go to the beach for my birthday. It was pretty cool although K had a meltdown when it was time to leave. We saw thousands of crabs on the move which was very groovy indeed. I managed to steer M clear of the 2 two year olds who were torturing a crab :(. He would have totally lost it at them. The rest of the day went well enough. G has a record of totally and utterly stuffing up my birthday and this year he didn't.
Thursday I took M on the train to see the gastro paed. Definitely changing practitioners. The gastro felt that the positive IgG of 85 was not enough to go GF and that M is not symptomatic enough of coeliac to do an endoscopy. I'm undecided about that. I think his degree of irritability is marked and prior to the endep he was skin and bone and was never on the height/weight charts. I said I would run the blood tests every 6 months and the guy looked at me as if I were nuts. He also didn't listen and kept telling me stuff which I know already. M's adamant he won't go GF without major bribery or an endoscopy and I don't really want to do it without active coeliac disease or a positive antigliadin result.
Friday was great. Meagan collected M at 9am and they went off for the day. G and I watched FOTR, went out for sushi, did the banking and came home and watched more FOTR. It was just so nice and relaxed.
Meagan brought M back at 3pm. They'd been to the wallaby park and to the movies. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which they loved. V grateful she took him.
She had a barney with the ticket seller though who refused her respite carer card. I am pissed off to the max about it and I am writing a stiff letter to the theatre manager. She actually said that M didn't look disabled to her and that she thought Meagan was trying to scam her way in for cheap. Meagan said he's got Aspergers and dumbo said what's that? Never heard of it. I'm very very angry that this was said in front of my child.
Saturday as was documented below sucked the big one.
Sunday went OK. g and I had a spirited debate of the foolishness of not checking the map when going somewhere you have never been before but we found the restaurant OK in the end. Fabulous fabulous decor. Lots of 50's and 60's kitsch. The waitstaff all wear authentic 50's clothes and there's a fashion parade which is hilarious.
My parents came dressed as bodgies which was a shock. If I had known they were dressing up, we would have dressed up too. My father shaved his beard and wore an Elvis wig. It was quite the sight.
My kids were impeccably behaved. My sister's kids weren't. ::snark:: I'm really dismayed by the food issues in that family. Both boys are overweight and their sister hardly eats. She had a fight with my sister over having lunch and chose a tiny portion from the children's menu. Scary stuff. My BIL is ecstatic to be on Atkins and I truly hope it works for him because he is morbidly obese. Sister of course lost 4 pounds in the first week and only has 4 to go.
I got presents ::beams::. A cookbook from my sister -- The New Farm Deli Cookbook
http://www.greatsoutheast.com.au/gse/archive/2003/2003-03-16/story06.asp
Some cards and stationery from my aunt and this stunningly ugly pottery wheelbarrow and scarecrow from my grandmother. It's scarily ugly and it's hard to imagine that anyone would voluntarily buy the thing. My mother suggested I keep it boxed and give it to someone but honestly I'd be embarassed to.
Monday went past in an exhausted blur. Did the shopping. Was frightened by the price of lettuce.
Must go and finish nastygram to theatre manager. Showed it to my mother who said it was nowhere nasty enough. Pack up mortgage stuff and maybe, just maybe finish getting a mortgage. Deal to plants on front veranda which look tired and need repotting or tossing.
Thanks for all the comments :) over the last couple of days.
Accccccckkkkk! Ma just rang to say that they have chickenpox at the centre! K's definitely been heavily exposed so pray with me that his difficult behaviour is caused by chickenpox. While I'm not looking forward to the idea of chickenpox, I'd be grateful if he could catch it and get it out of the way.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
I'm about to go down in a screaming heap. Major screaming heap. M's berserker boy again and why why why does it have to happen on a weekend? I've *got* to talk to Michael about after hours care. He used to have a cell phone number and no longer has it on the answer phone. M totally and utterly lost it this afternoon over an missing issue of Real Robots. I'm certain I bought it, he's not got it but before I committed to buying another special order of it I needed to have him show me why he was so certain he didn't have it.
OMFG. Screaming, ranting, raving. He totally lost it. At one point he was sitting on the kitchen floor howling. Then he got it together to ask me calmly and politely if we could go straight out and re-order a copy. Ummmm, no. In retrospect I should have done it, $12 to avoid what came after that would have been cheap at half the price ;). He was a mess. I gave him a half endep which calmed him in about half an hour but I can't keep increasing the amitrytilline. I need to figure if the effexor is no longer effective. In which case apparently we will be going through withdrawal hell. I'm soooooo looking forward to that. Not.
He's been on the verge of a breakdown all week. He nutted off in Myers when buying my birthday present and there's been inappropriate meltdowns all week.
I was talking with Ma about K last night and this morning. She's saying she is seeing panic attacks and that he's trying to micromanage his environment. He certainly had a meltdown this morning when we picked M up from my parents place.
My MIL rang and talked for an hour and a half right over dinner time. I think she's losing the plot big time too.
Big family party tomorrow at the Seabrae. Yuck. I'm just not in the mood for wrangling my kids in public with my sister being her charming self. Ma has promised to sit by M and make him behave.
I'm so tired, just so tired.
OMFG. Screaming, ranting, raving. He totally lost it. At one point he was sitting on the kitchen floor howling. Then he got it together to ask me calmly and politely if we could go straight out and re-order a copy. Ummmm, no. In retrospect I should have done it, $12 to avoid what came after that would have been cheap at half the price ;). He was a mess. I gave him a half endep which calmed him in about half an hour but I can't keep increasing the amitrytilline. I need to figure if the effexor is no longer effective. In which case apparently we will be going through withdrawal hell. I'm soooooo looking forward to that. Not.
He's been on the verge of a breakdown all week. He nutted off in Myers when buying my birthday present and there's been inappropriate meltdowns all week.
I was talking with Ma about K last night and this morning. She's saying she is seeing panic attacks and that he's trying to micromanage his environment. He certainly had a meltdown this morning when we picked M up from my parents place.
My MIL rang and talked for an hour and a half right over dinner time. I think she's losing the plot big time too.
Big family party tomorrow at the Seabrae. Yuck. I'm just not in the mood for wrangling my kids in public with my sister being her charming self. Ma has promised to sit by M and make him behave.
I'm so tired, just so tired.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
40 today! w00t or something like that! All I can say is I deeply hope this coming decade is a damned sight easier than the last decade.
G bought a DVD player for me and the EE of FOTR and two beautiful knobs I have no idea what to do with. He made me bacon and eggs for breakfast and I think we'll go to the beach and have fish and chips for lunch.
My MIL actually sent me and K a card each this year! And included an apology for misspelling our surname! It's only been 14 years why on earth would she have bothered to learn how to spell my name? Usually she sends one card with both names on it, $20 and the instruction to either spend the money on myself and buy K something with the change or vice versa.
It's stopped raining so now I have megaloads of washing to do ::sigh::.
G bought a DVD player for me and the EE of FOTR and two beautiful knobs I have no idea what to do with. He made me bacon and eggs for breakfast and I think we'll go to the beach and have fish and chips for lunch.
My MIL actually sent me and K a card each this year! And included an apology for misspelling our surname! It's only been 14 years why on earth would she have bothered to learn how to spell my name? Usually she sends one card with both names on it, $20 and the instruction to either spend the money on myself and buy K something with the change or vice versa.
It's stopped raining so now I have megaloads of washing to do ::sigh::.
Monday, October 06, 2003
Rant alert
I'm getting really really really annoyed on one list I'm on. I've been on that list for 7 years and I've made a lot of friends on and off line from that list but god grant me patience with the newbies. There's a change of moderation at the moment and we're taking the chance to discuss changes. Like having a FAQ. There's a fair amount of weird/wrong info shared on gifted lists and to my mind it is essential for people to evaluate info from the source, not rely on some random opinion from some random person on an email list.
Well, it turns out that some of the newbies don't want a FAQ. They want the personal touch of responses from people on list. Well, hell. I need to stop responding to idiot questions in that case. Or start responding honestly which nobody is gonna like. No, if your child tested on the 95th percentile with no ceilings, then there is no fricking way they are profoundly gifted even if you think they are a genius for doing something at 5 that my kid with autism did at 2. Yes, I think no matter what you want to think, you need to have your kid thoroughly tested for LDs because it's not normal behaviour in a classroom you are describing.
Wheeeeeeee, I could really have fun there.
A minor rant is a small local homeschooling list where people with 18 month old kids are solemnly discussing Doman and teaching reading and maths and I am like what is your point with that? I did offer to find them some URLs which show it's not an effective teaching method but nobody took me up on the offer. I'm especially taken by the people who say they are going to unschool and who are also doing Doman. Bit of a psychological disconnect there wouldn't you say?
I'm getting really really really annoyed on one list I'm on. I've been on that list for 7 years and I've made a lot of friends on and off line from that list but god grant me patience with the newbies. There's a change of moderation at the moment and we're taking the chance to discuss changes. Like having a FAQ. There's a fair amount of weird/wrong info shared on gifted lists and to my mind it is essential for people to evaluate info from the source, not rely on some random opinion from some random person on an email list.
Well, it turns out that some of the newbies don't want a FAQ. They want the personal touch of responses from people on list. Well, hell. I need to stop responding to idiot questions in that case. Or start responding honestly which nobody is gonna like. No, if your child tested on the 95th percentile with no ceilings, then there is no fricking way they are profoundly gifted even if you think they are a genius for doing something at 5 that my kid with autism did at 2. Yes, I think no matter what you want to think, you need to have your kid thoroughly tested for LDs because it's not normal behaviour in a classroom you are describing.
Wheeeeeeee, I could really have fun there.
A minor rant is a small local homeschooling list where people with 18 month old kids are solemnly discussing Doman and teaching reading and maths and I am like what is your point with that? I did offer to find them some URLs which show it's not an effective teaching method but nobody took me up on the offer. I'm especially taken by the people who say they are going to unschool and who are also doing Doman. Bit of a psychological disconnect there wouldn't you say?
Monday again and it's going to rain. Yay, can't do washing and hang it out if it rains.
Can tidy house though. Shame that :(.
Busy weekend. Meagan came on Saturday night and we went to my parents for dinner. K was not keen on the whole idea but he coped. Kinda. He apparently wailed every 10 minutes Muuuuuuuum is gooooooooone and she's not coming baaaaaaack. Poor wee dot.
We had splendid food -- Ma and Pa had made chicken consomme with prawns, then whitebait fritters, then we had a duck from Chinatown which was amazing, roast pork, baked potatoes with herb butter, mushroom salad with truffle, asparagus and dessert was fruit salad with a frozen chocolate mousse. Much wine was consumed.
Came home to find both children still awake but my dishes were done.
On Saturday, G did his storytelling session at the festival and it went well. Sunday he left at 12.30 for a 1.30 start but when he got there, they had decided to cancel the children's program because of poor attendance. He was shifted to a panel discussion at 4.30. It apparently went well but he found it hard. He got home at 6.30.
I'd had a long afternoon with M being a snot and I didn't handle it well. ::sigh::. K's doing well since I limited chocolate in his diet.
I'm wearing my green shorts which zip up easily and the button is comfortable again. This is cool and groovy. My sister is now going on Atkins and I know she will lose weight very quickly. I have to remind myself that it is better to lose slowly and evenly than quickly and then rebound. She was very thin on Weightwatchers last year but it's come back the moment she began to eat normally. I'm finding the carb addicts diet to be very easy to manage and it's the long run picture I need to keep in mind. I will never be 105 pounds again and that's OK.
Can tidy house though. Shame that :(.
Busy weekend. Meagan came on Saturday night and we went to my parents for dinner. K was not keen on the whole idea but he coped. Kinda. He apparently wailed every 10 minutes Muuuuuuuum is gooooooooone and she's not coming baaaaaaack. Poor wee dot.
We had splendid food -- Ma and Pa had made chicken consomme with prawns, then whitebait fritters, then we had a duck from Chinatown which was amazing, roast pork, baked potatoes with herb butter, mushroom salad with truffle, asparagus and dessert was fruit salad with a frozen chocolate mousse. Much wine was consumed.
Came home to find both children still awake but my dishes were done.
On Saturday, G did his storytelling session at the festival and it went well. Sunday he left at 12.30 for a 1.30 start but when he got there, they had decided to cancel the children's program because of poor attendance. He was shifted to a panel discussion at 4.30. It apparently went well but he found it hard. He got home at 6.30.
I'd had a long afternoon with M being a snot and I didn't handle it well. ::sigh::. K's doing well since I limited chocolate in his diet.
I'm wearing my green shorts which zip up easily and the button is comfortable again. This is cool and groovy. My sister is now going on Atkins and I know she will lose weight very quickly. I have to remind myself that it is better to lose slowly and evenly than quickly and then rebound. She was very thin on Weightwatchers last year but it's come back the moment she began to eat normally. I'm finding the carb addicts diet to be very easy to manage and it's the long run picture I need to keep in mind. I will never be 105 pounds again and that's OK.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Still raining but clearing now which is a Good Thing considering the washing build up that is happening in the laundry. I grew up calling the laundry the wash house -- I wonder at what point we stopped using that terminology?
I'm feeling a tad ranty so bear with me. It's to do with judgment and plain old courtesy in sharing information. It seems to me that it's rude to pop up in someone else's blog and announce how their shitty marriage makes you appreciate the wonders of your own marriage and how you will willingly perform sexual manoeuvres of great dexterity to prove your appreciation.
When my marriage was going through hell last year, I really would not have appreciated hearing that my shitty life at the time made someone else feeling all warm and glowy about how good they have it. Now by all means rave away on your blog about how fantastic your partner is but why on earth choose to share that when someone else is sharing their pain?
It's not any one person and there's a lot of blogs and livejournals I read which are not linked here and not necessarily linked to the place you know me from so don't assume it's about you but for Maud's sake, think about your audience before going all smug on their blogs.
Thus ends the rant of the day. If you wanna pick a fight with me over it, be my guest. If you love to read how fantastic other people's marriages are when you're feeling tender and delicate about your own, then well, I guess you get the masochistic plaque of the week.
I'm feeling a tad ranty so bear with me. It's to do with judgment and plain old courtesy in sharing information. It seems to me that it's rude to pop up in someone else's blog and announce how their shitty marriage makes you appreciate the wonders of your own marriage and how you will willingly perform sexual manoeuvres of great dexterity to prove your appreciation.
When my marriage was going through hell last year, I really would not have appreciated hearing that my shitty life at the time made someone else feeling all warm and glowy about how good they have it. Now by all means rave away on your blog about how fantastic your partner is but why on earth choose to share that when someone else is sharing their pain?
It's not any one person and there's a lot of blogs and livejournals I read which are not linked here and not necessarily linked to the place you know me from so don't assume it's about you but for Maud's sake, think about your audience before going all smug on their blogs.
Thus ends the rant of the day. If you wanna pick a fight with me over it, be my guest. If you love to read how fantastic other people's marriages are when you're feeling tender and delicate about your own, then well, I guess you get the masochistic plaque of the week.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
It's raining! ::pause for happy dance::
I wrestled the bathroom, the toilet, K's room, the living room and the kitchen into submission. Go me! Now I just have my room which is a doddle, M's room ::blech:: and the laundry, the workroom and G's room to do.
I won a dinner out for two with free wine and beer. I am thoroughly suspicious that it will involve serious marketing stuff at us but Ma and I are going to go. I might negotiate with G about him picking us up so Ma can have a glass of wine or two but that depends on how his day goes energy wise.
I have no idea what's going on with the homeschooling park day. The organiser pulled out of the first one on the day and nothing has been said since. Given that it's raining, I guess it's cancelled. I might email her privately and find out WTF is going on with it and whether she's got cold feet.
Ma just rang to say she would come and babysit on Thursday so G and I can go to the free dinner. Hmmmm.
Spent too much money on Amazon this morning. Must not go and look at books and buy them. I bought _Children with Starving Brains_ and a writing book for M.
I wrestled the bathroom, the toilet, K's room, the living room and the kitchen into submission. Go me! Now I just have my room which is a doddle, M's room ::blech:: and the laundry, the workroom and G's room to do.
I won a dinner out for two with free wine and beer. I am thoroughly suspicious that it will involve serious marketing stuff at us but Ma and I are going to go. I might negotiate with G about him picking us up so Ma can have a glass of wine or two but that depends on how his day goes energy wise.
I have no idea what's going on with the homeschooling park day. The organiser pulled out of the first one on the day and nothing has been said since. Given that it's raining, I guess it's cancelled. I might email her privately and find out WTF is going on with it and whether she's got cold feet.
Ma just rang to say she would come and babysit on Thursday so G and I can go to the free dinner. Hmmmm.
Spent too much money on Amazon this morning. Must not go and look at books and buy them. I bought _Children with Starving Brains_ and a writing book for M.
