Our week

But not in pictures.

It was pretty normal up until Thursday.

On Wednesday I went up to my yarn shop to their “Sit ‘N Knit” class – which is $7 per session and you can pay in blocks but as the current block finishes in three weeks, I’m paying the instalments until then, then I will buy the block.

It’s been lovely to hang out with like-minded ladies. I’m hoping they will teach me the Continental style.

Now, on to Thursday.

#1 Son has been pretty stable at school for the last few weeks. His days average around 50:50 with some escapes out of the classroom but usually only into another kindergarten classroom.

Which does make me feel a little sorry for the other teachers. But they don’t seem to mind too much.

The overall actual classwork amount he completes varies day to day. But he is at least managing some per day. Although I can’t shake the feeling that he is starting to lose the advantage he had from a year in reception class.

However I think I got cocky. I was starting to feel that just maybe he was settling down. Thursday put the kibosh on that one a bit.

I missed a phone call from the school at roughly 11 o’clock. That will teach me to change the Tiny Tyrant’s nappies!!!

They then rang the husband creature who texted me in a bit of a flap. Actually that is unkind of me, as he was really very calm and controlled. (This normally doesn’t herald anything good).

The school were ringing to tell us that #1 Son had escaped out of his classroom and actually managed to escape out of the school. This has been something they have feared since he started playing this particular little trick.

They didn’t have a choice and this time had to call the police to go and find him. They apparently allowed one of the paras (which seems to be the equivalent of a teaching assistant) go with the police so that he had a familiar face. Which was a good thing as the whole “stranger danger” conversation is not one we had really been focusing on because of his tendency to focus on the exact opposite point of the conversation.

This has now been rectified.

With some urgency!!!

It was all hands on deck. Daddy raced home from work and I called the lovely J for a lift to school to collect him.

Gave TT a chance to model her new coat which is for three year olds:

So we got him home. School were apologetic and we would “start again tomorrow”

I rained hell fire on him without shouting. I never thought I could do that but it is possible.

I also docked his allowance. Which he was more upset about than losing screen privileges. (Which also happened)

It’s not been a fun day, and I am then dreading parent-teacher conference but onwards and upwards.

Friday was much better. I had to pick him up from school so as he had a very good day, we went for ice cream.

After ice cream we went to the park.

TT decided that swinging for an extended period (rather than < 30 seconds) was fun and #1 Son was playing appropriately!!!

I did find myself saying “I don’t care what the other little boy is doing, he is not my son” when I caught #1 Son trying to climb up onto the roof of a playhouse to copy one of his new little friends, and was outraged that I wouldn’t let him follow suit.

And, perhaps most importantly, we met another little boy and his older brother, who is also on the spectrum. There was only a day’s difference in their ages too.

Although he seemed further along the spectrum, they played together so nicely. Both boys played with both #1 Son and TT, and I had a lovely chat with a mom who “got it” and could advise me on Stateside services.

I’m hoping that we might catch up with them this Friday too.

The Tesla Saga

There is some background required here:

 

We begin, dear readers, with a car accident in 2016. An accident wherein our hero, the wonderful hus-creature and his faithful steed the Chevy Volt were stationary waiting to turn into the local rubbish dump, and got rear ended by a stupid (woman) driver in a very old Skoda.

Cue the exchanging of insurance details and immediate admission of fault from other stupid driver.

Addendum: I am completely convinced she was on her phone somehow at the time, as she never quibbled once.

But you see, our beloved steed was no longer road safe. Bits were hanging off the front, but fortunately the battery cage protected the car’s vital organs.

 

So the insurance company provided us with a courtesy car.

A VW diesel Passat. Which was apparently Car of the Year in 2013.

But it is Diesel. When we are used to a true hybrid.

It handled like a cow. And not a graceful one. Nico Bellic was feather light in comparison.

Your courageous author merely had a provisional licence at this time, and so was unable to drive it, and so I am therefore only able to repeat what the usual driver told me of his experience.

He drove it three.miles.

 

Came home, declared that we were never having a dinosaur powered car again. And how did I fancy a Tesla?

I fancied one very much thank you. But never, for a moment did I imagine that he was serious.

The next moment I am handed proof of a reservation for the upcoming Tesla Model 3.

Which is due for release in the UK late 2019.

 

Please note that this is for the UK.

 

The observant amongst you will have noted that we are no longer in the UK.

 

As soon as we moved, back in July, we headed to the Central Boston Tesla Store (it is not a dealership) to see if we were able to transfer our current Model 3 reservation cross-continent.

 

We were-assured that as production had not yet begun, and the hus-creaturehad already switched the address of the reservation to a USA based one, that there would be no problem.

 

He even checked with the high ups.

Their website also confirmed this in their FAQ Section*

So we muddled along under the assumption that our reservation would be brought forward to Spring 2018.

Well, that still left us car-less. So we began to consider our options.

Front runner was to use house sale profits to buy a second hand Tesla Model S.

Yes, a luxury car, with no tax breaks or state benefits, because not new, but we would be entitled to free fast charging as that was a service transferred with the vehicle and not its owner.

And, frankly the S is sexy as heck.

Then we would use the S as collateral for our new Model 3 and get some tax breaks.

But lo and behold our “easy” house sale drags on. And on. And on.

And in the meantime the resell price is used Tesla’s increases. Which means that by end of September, they are way out of budget by over $10K

😱😭🙀😰

And Tesla have not backdated our reservation. At all.

And when husband type person contacts them directly to enquire as to why this might be, is told “oh no, that cannot happen. You will need to re-reserve” But have to put down another $1,000 deposit, and lose our place in the queue.

He points out that this contravenes both the information given in person in July and what is stated on their own website FAQs. They hem and haw and bugger off for over a week. Then tell us that if we cancel our UK reservation and make a new Stateside one, they will refund the second money (as refunding £1000 into dollars will cost more) and backdate the reservation date.

Except that was over four weeks ago and none of this has been done.

Our USA reservation still shows our UK delivery date. No sign of the money.

And their customer service has been shocking. Totally non-existent.

So we started looking at options. And, frankly, I was (and am) so grumpy with Tesla that even with it being a dream car I had gone off the idea.

The Chevy Bolt is new. It is shiny. I know how to drive it. It has all the shiny gadgets, and Chevy has excellent customer service.

And we can knock $10,000 off the initial cost due to federal and state incentives.

Ok some of that money won’t be returned until tax season, but it was a big carrot.

So, I have put on my big girl grown up pants and said goodbye to Tesla for now.

We haven’t cancelled our second reservation – yet – since it may prove useful longer term. But I’m just going to forget about it for now.

And stroke our new shiny:

*And in fact it still does

Pray excuse my absence

Gentle readers, for it has been a hectic week.

First, we come to you live from what appears to be the Tiny Tyrant’s first night terror:

We have been curled up together since about 21:00. She has been crying pitifully since 20:00.

She’s woken up enough to demand “tabbit” (her tablet – which I had foolishly left upon the duvet) and then pathetically “more fish”

I am not sure if she meant Skin Wars or Finding Dory.

¿Porque no los dos?!?!?

Neither of which is she allowed at over two hours past her bedtime.

Man she’s wriggly though. And currently snoring, so I write a post and lie here.

The landlord came two weekends ago and helped us install our former Bennos (IKEA* storage units) and so I have been able to make dents in the remaining boxes. Not literally (though both TT and #1 Son are making a spirited attempt at this!) and we think we are down to the last seven!!!!

W00t w00t. Dear god, I might be able to begin sorting and finalising next month.

I am bloody well not doing this again, I can tell you that for free.

Now, as you know dear readers, our hose sale concluded on Friday 13 October.

However. Due to the vagaries of international money transfer, it was not available to us until last Friday. 20 October.

So yesterday a new shiny thing of wondrousness was purchased:

Now the observant amongst you may notice something fundamental.

THIS IS NOT A TESLA

 

No, it is not.

It is a brand new, all mod cons Chevy** Bolt. In blue. Because goddammit. If I had to give up (at least temporarily) my dream of owning a Tesla, I was bloody well getting the car I wanted in the colour I wanted.

I have sat in it. It is lovely. It has new car smell. It has swishy blue lights in the dashboard trim. It has heated seats. Front and back. But it is not my Model 3 😐

But, you see, Tesla cocked up. They cocked up big time and if you piss me off enough, well, let us just say, I hold grudges. For a long, long time.

I feel that The Tesla Saga ™ should be covered in its own post.

À bientôt mes amies.

*This post is not sponsored in any way by IKEA 😂🤣🙃

**This post is also not sponsored in any way by Chevy

It’s the little things

That make your heart sing.

We just had to rouse #1 Son for a toilet trip (if he doesn’t have a bedtime wee we will have an accident).

After telling daddy “no thank you” and trying to go back to sleep, we did the necessary.

I gave him a little cuddle, told him I loved him and the smile I got from him as daddy carried him back to bed just melted me.

I’m currently an emotional not-tent.

He also got another REACH sticker today which is two weeks in a row.

💗💗💗💗

A day unlucky for some

But not for us.

For today Friday the 13th October 2017 we have sold our house.

Yes that bloody Millstone that was hung around our neck’s since April yes, April finally belongs to someone else!!!!

I mean okay we have not yet actually received the funds from the sale yet. No more dealing with shitty conveyancers!!!

Please excuse me while I do a little dance in celebration. It might even be the squirmy happy puppy dance. (Which I’ve not done since I left the office).

We can buy a car!!!!!

#1 Son also had an excellent day.

He received today’s REACH Star For doing his writing work without complaint and generally being awesome.

Yes I know the shirt is too small he insisted on wearing it and quite frankly I’m not sure I’m going to bother washing it before getting rid of it.

(Ok that’s a lie, but it was fun to consider however briefly 😂🤣)

Got to speak to his teacher today because our lovely J was unable to pick him up from school due to a previous appointment. And the lovely teacher confirmed that he has improved greatly, and she is very very pleased with him.

Yes we got our normal ice cream. Yes both children were a giant mess at the end of it. They had fun. I’ve even bought some very expensive oatmeal pouches to try and tempt TT into actually eating breakfast. Standby for the results on that one dear audience.

Oh and before I forget my wonderful boy and I had a conversation about Christmas. He was explaining to me how it was very important that J, her partner, and her two children, (and especially the baby) should have Christmas presents from us this year.

(It was hilarious that he referred to J’s partner as her dad because he knew him to be the baby’s dad. I did explain)

😂🤣😂

I forgot how literal a child’s view of the world can be.

But the best part of this conversation was the discussion about him giving the baby his toys and perhaps most importantly a previous favourite toy. He explained to me how he felt it was important that toys that were less favourite should go to other children.

No I’m not crying you’re crying. Or maybe someone is cutting onions in here. Just proves what a wonderful sweet boy he really is. And finally on the way home he asked to go to the park unfortunately his sister had other ideas (in the nappy area) so we played outside once we got home. Our lovely downstairs neighbour H said that we were able to use her grandson’s outside toys as and when.

So I managed to capture this:

See Saw

They can be so gosh darned cute when they want.

💕💕💕💕💕💕

School Update

Well since I’ve ranted here, I feel I should also twirl with excitement.

We are seeing improvements!!!!!!

He’s had over a week of decent days, and at least one excellent one. Two that his teacher has termed awesome.

  • He has done work.
  • He has used words when upset.
  • He has told a teacher before leaving the classroom

And

  • He is leaving the classroom less

 

I could just burst with pride I really could.

He’s also undertaking homework with me with minimal fuss and getting it done.

I am so proud of my boy.

Here is his school picture, which is, quite frankly, his best ever:

Oh, and he wrote a book today at school (Well he illustrated it and dictated the words to his teacher, who was his willing transcriber) and wanted us to read it to him at bedtime.

We of course obliged.

💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗

International Girl’s Day

Is a thing.

While I understand the reason for it, the concept saddens me in a way, as it proves that as a race we still aren’t equal.

Which quite frankly boggles the mind.

How did TT celebrate this auspicious day?

By demanding “fish” whilst I was watching Skin Wars:

FISH

And by taking off her pull up and not doing a #2 in the potty 🤢🤢🤢🤢

Toddlers are gross.

Of indigenous peoples day and allowances

And visits to Legoland. So Monday was a public holiday here in the old US of A.

Apparently good old Christopher Columbus has been co-opted into a celebration of indigenous peoples day. so we’ve gone from celebrating the person who did the murdering to celebrating the people he murdered.

I guess that’s progress of a sort?

Anyway it meant that #1 Son did not have school.

We had rented a car, with the intention of going to the zoo. However the rain was appalling, so instead off we went to Legoland.

#1 Son had a whale of a time on the (two) rides, and built many things.

TT made a friend:

And woe betide any other child who dared to seat him or herself on this Friend.

😂🤣😂🤣🤣😂

We also discovered what rain does to her hair:

Daddy threatened to chop it off when she wouldn’t let us brush it over the weekend. I threatened to chop off various parts of his anatomy.

We called it even.

We have also started introducing the concept of budgeting to #1 Son.

He gets a weekly allowance with two options:

  • $5 cash in hand which he could spend on anything he wants within reason.
  • $10 in his bank account to allow him to save for a big item. (Well, in reality it’s notarised in a spreadsheet until he tells us what he wants to buy).

He has never asked for cash in hand. So, up until Monday he had $75 dollars earned (he had $5 docked one week for reasons).

He has been saving up for a big Lego model. The specifics of the model in question change a bit but they have always stayed within the $80-90 mark.

Well, we couldn’t visit Legoland without visiting the gift shop.

We bought TT some Duplo as she’s really into it right now, which was $30.

So we explained to #1 Son that he could have a set worth $30 which we would pay for or he could use some of his allowance in addition and buy a bigger model of his own choosing.

Well, he has $15 dollars left of his savings, and a huge Lego model that he and his daddy are building together and is only halfway done.

They are having brilliant quality building time and daddy isn’t needed per se, so it’s really nice.

The remainder of our week

So, it didn’t start out very well. But, #1 son improved tremendously by the end.

This was his journal entry from his teacher I was ecstatic.

He has actively engaged with school work which is a miracle!!!

Today is a public holiday (Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day) and we were going to go to the zoo, but the weather is awful for that, so after TT wakes up from her nap, we will head off to Lego Land instead.

It’s a fun couple of hours for both kids.

TT? Meh, not so good. She managed to destroy a treasured memory from our very first trip to Paris, but the hus-creature believes he can arrange for a restoration.

She also trapped her foot in a tight metal space, is hitting a lot, and just generally working my last nerves.

Her speech has come on amazingly, and she can get her own trousers on, so it’s probably a leap, coupled with boundary pushing Terrible Two-ness.

Butter wouldn’t melt right?

I have signed up for a two-day class on learning magic loop and sock knitting which I am so looking forward to.

$65 bucks for 4 hours 1:1 with other local yarny folks? Bargain!

I have the best husband ever

No seriously I do.

I have had what you might call a trying time this last few weeks, culminating in this last one.

Now it did improve by the end for #1 Son but TT? Ahhhh no.

So I have been a leetle stressed.

Today is/was my usual standing fortnightly date for nails.

They are purdy. And the patterns appeal to my twisted brain 💗

So as I left I noticed a message from the hus-creature.

He had paid for me to have a full massage.

So here I am, after a gorgeous steam shower, full body Swedish massage. I feel amazing.

He is a wonderful man

And I know what I may ask for when my birthday rolls around 💕💗💕💗