Back To School Night

Is apparently a national thing and was tonight. 
It was good to get an introduction to the upcoming year and events. I’ve popped a couple in the calendar and even signed up to volunteer for a couple. 
Given that I stay at home with TT I can’t help as much as I’d like – #1 Son’s teacher did say I could bring her in, but I don’t think anyone wants to see that!!!
I also got a glimpse into his daily school schedule and, honestly? It’s no wonder he’s been having trouble. 
I’d be kicking against the pricks if I had to do all that. 
So I’ve signed up to ABCMouse and will hopefully be able to support him better. 
I’ve also scheduled a meeting next week with:

  • The SENCO
  • His teacher
  • The Guidance Counsellor
  • Principal
  • PPS lady
  • School nurse

And we should hopefully be able to hammer out a support plan. 
When we met with his teacher we were told to sit at our own child’s desk and they had drawn us a picture. 
Even here he’s unique 😂🤣😂🤣


I’m so proud, if greatly amused!

Things for me

Self care is important yes? I think we can all agree on that. 
I’ve been finding this transition tough. Really tough. 
And honestly? Forgetting about myself a lot of the time. 
So. 

Unicorns, dinosaurs and owls oh my. 


Also the Cheshire Cat – because I’m a princess dammit!
They sold out of the narwhals 😩😭😩😭
Oh, and I have signed up for a Mystery Knit Along (I may have already mentioned this) and I’ve dyed up about half the yarn for it:

There’s been a Fuscia mini and a (hopefully) light grey main skein added since this photo was taken, but we lack natural light right now. 

Add in a hot shower and a glass of wine and I’m feeling pretty good right now. 

School run crisis

May be resolved. 

Today I met with and “interviewed” a lovely fellow SAHM who is looking for part time work and is happy to drive Nathan to school and pick him up. 
I’m going with her on the drop off for at least the first day or so, so that school are fully aware of the new arrangement and to ensure it’s a good fit. 
Both children were very comfortable with her, although TT was extremely put out by her gorgeous five month old son – #1 Son was enchanted however. 

So she received the most important seal of approval – his. 

She’s from the next town over, but her dad lives a mile away from us, and her partner (well I presume so as she referred to him as her children’s dad) works ten minutes away and she drops him off. 

So maybe I have also made a mummy friend? I can but hope. 

Today TT had cake pops and sunglasses:


Daddy took #1 Son for a haircut after school, as it is Picture Day on the 12th!
 

I also have “pram tan” from 12 miles in a mere 2 days in blazing sun:

Merf

I need to go back to writing my posts through the day and not just at the end when I’m too bloody knackered to do it.

I will therefore categorise our days:

Tuesday:

  • Around 3am I was woken by a bookcase falling on my leg.  Hard.  I currently have a very fetching bruise on my left thigh.  We suspect feline sabotage.
  • 7am we decide that we will walk to school rather than take the car to establish the route and how long it will take.  We leave at 07:30.  #1 Son was not happy about it.  Before we got to school he was tired, cranky and we knew he was not going to have a good day.  It took 45 minutes and he was exhausted.
  • 08:05 I handed him over to his teacher, who commented that he looked tired.

This is NOT sustainable long term.  It just isn’t.  A five year old cannot be expected to walk over three miles a day (and at least half of it uphill) long term. And certainly not as the snow starts to fall. 
The hus-creature requires no convincing, so we are looking into our other options.  Until the house is sold we have no capital for a car beyond a rust bucket and I want and need some lessons on USA driving before I take the kids anywhere solo.  Which I can’t get, because I cannot take my theory.  Because I do not have an SSN.  Which I can’t apply for until my work permit is processed.  Which will take a further 4-6 months.  So that’s out.

Cycling might work.  Except I cannot cycle.  And don’t have time to learn beyond weekends.  Oh and there’s the impending snow.  So that’s out until spring when I’m hoping to learn.

 

So we are currently looking for someone who will pick him up and drop him off.  It’s not an ideal solution, but it’s better than the other alternatives – taxi or walking.

 

See, when I went to pick him up, the SENCO was waiting for me.  Because his day had been that bad.  Mostly the usual, but seriously exacerbated by sheer exhaustion. We therefore had an impromptu meeting where the following was covered:

 

  • They want to start their own assessments – it’s not that they don’t trust the NHS but they want their own experts, both scholastic and medical, to assess him.  I do not have a problem with this.
  • She gave us details of PPS (Parent-Pupil Services)  She thinks its ridiculous that we have been placed so far away, and given his needs, they might be able to help us with transport.  This would help immensely but doesn’t solve the immediate issues.
  • She recommended that we enquire about, and apply for, any programmes that #1 Son qualifies for.  I thought about it for a nano-second, then jumped on it with both hands outstretched. Pride be damned, it’s clear he needs support.  Also, if it helps us to help him I don’t see a downside.

So I sent some emails with relevant attached documentation.

Unpacking progressed a little.  It is however being more than a little hampered by the feline overlord – who keeps finding brilliant but awkward places to hide:

 

Wednesday:

The walk to and from school went better.  A judicious use of playing ‘I Spy’ and application of water bottles helped keep him on an even keel  Enough that when I picked him up there was only a small meeting with his teacher.  And that was only to tell me that they’ve devised a separate school-home journal for them and us, and also come up with a pictorial daily schedule for him with the day broken up into tasks that are either ticked or crossed accordingly.  It helps.

She missed her brother yesterday 💗💕💗💕💗💕 


Hus creature returned the car.  He left the car seats in it.  We have reported them as lost and are waiting to see if they turn up.  They will be a pain in the proverbial to replace.  Also expensive.  Does mean that we cannot go to the zoo this weekend as previously planned.

 

Having said that, the Melrose Victorian Fair is this Sunday and it’s the 35th Annual one and it seems to be a big deal here, so we are planning to attend that and try and meet some local people and join in some community stuff.

Not to be outdone on the stupidity front, I decided that I would cook the kidlets their tea.  Set the oven for what I believed to be 8 minutes and went back to pottering.  Only to wonder 10+ minutes later, why I hadn’t heard bleeping.  I wandered in to realise I had set it for eight HOURS!!!  Thank all the gods that I noticed!!!  One adjusted time later and all good.

 

TT still appears to be on hunger strike.  I’ve pretty much given up at this point and she just eats what is on the table or she doesn’t.  She has however finished cutting those remaining three molars more or less.

 

TEETHING IS OVER!!!!!!


🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊

 

So now what is her excuse?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Which leads us to…

 

Today:

School run was uneventful.  He’s already improved immeasurably.  And, I can get there and back from memory and without the use of Google Maps!!!!

 

For me this is a major achievement.

 

As previously documented earlier today, his teacher didn’t want to see me today beyond telling me he had done awesomely.  So his reward was ice cream  Honestly this daily walk is so obscene that he needs all the positivism and reward that we can muster.  And, after a yummy snack, a re-hydrate and perhaps most importantly, a rest, he asked if we could stop at the park we pass on the way home.

 

Well I wasn’t going to say no was I?

 

Both children had a whale of a time, though I did catch him doing a country wee – which worried me somewhat given where we are now.  But to give him credit he took himself off behind a tree away from the park proper to do it.  Sadly he peed facing the road but he tried!

 

I also had an email back from the PPS woman confirming that they will be doing assessments with #1 Son and asking to arrange a meeting with me at school, so as soon as we can arrange it (as daddy will need to watch Tiny Tyrant) I’ll do that – I’ll do anything I need to do to make this work.

 

Right, I’m tired.  Going to sleep now.

 

I’ve been too tired to knit or crochet all week!!!!

 

Brief update

Today (Thursday) #1 Son has had an awesome day at school. Direct quote from his teacher. 
So much so that we stopped for ice cream at a close by cafe I’ve been eyeing up. 
Both kids with a “Kiddie” sized chocolate serving:
 
My “Regular” sized serving of Death by Chocolate:

And the aftermath:

I had planned (day depending) to come here after school so had thrown a pack of wipes into the pram. He cleaned up okay. 
However I don’t think one pack of wipes will be enough for this:

It took three spoons but she finished it:

It also took three wipes to clean her!!!

Oh Gods

Otherwise entitled:

How our Monday has gone*


*told through the medium of emoji and emoticons
😩😭😱😤😫👀👀😬😪😔😣😶😧😮😵☠️🙇🏼‍♀️🙇🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏻‍♂️🙇🏻🙇🏻🙎🏼🙎🏻‍♂️🐔🐔🐔🐔
We are shattered. Exhausted. No words. 
#1 Son is safely in his own bed in his own room
Tiny Tyrant is in the travel cot in her own room. She didn’t even flinch. This, for now, bodes well. 
We’ve unpacked around 20 boxes out of 83 confirmed boxes. 

Items include things like paintings, big ticket furniture items etc. For example #1 Son’s bed counts as roughly 6 items.  

160 boxes/items left to sort out. 

Plus the vast amount of stuff from eight weeks in temporary accommodation. 

Don’t make me do this again. PLEASE!!!!!!
Blinds are not up in all the rooms. Door handles are all in place… more or less…

Casualties of war so far include:

  • The tv. 
  • The legs of our laundry basket – this will be a $20 replacement part from IKEA
  • My kettle – the hus-creature smashed it this morning in the move from Cambridge. This was a $35 replacement that is not made of glass. 
  • The ice cream – I left it in the freezer 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀

I have now met the downstairs neighbour (who for now will be referred to as H). She has twin 6-year old boys. One of them shares #1 Son’s name. 

They are also on the spectrum, but apparently even more severely. She has been warm and welcoming and given me some basic help and advice already. I have suggested that she comes up for a coffee and she agreed once we are settled. 
Dear H thank you so much because right now I’m totally overwhelmed and shell shocked and I don’t know who I am, what my name is or which way is up


🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 


And this is a taste of it:


Sunday’s efforts

So. Yesterday was a bit more productive for both teams. However the poor hus-creature feels like he got nothing done. Despite more and more boxes being flattened. 

There’s 180 of the buggers


Therefore, I feel he should be less hard on himself. 

Sadly, after he had signed off on the crate delivery he found this:

Yes it has been smashed. Fortunately (🙄) it was only a cheap one so to the mall went he. 

The new tv purchased on Saturday is where it was intended to be, in our room. 

In the mall he discovered a taste of home for TT, which is a useful thing to remember for the next time she gets sick.

So, although we do not yet have a “main” tv this one works and so whilst unpacking we can ensconce the kidlets here:

We now own a shower curtain, which means we may now bathe.

Why the second new telly cannot yet be installed:

Amidst the unpacking, he discovered that my keep flat at all times for the love of GOD quilting cutting mats had… not been…
So to mitigate my presupposed fury (he wasn’t too wrong there) I was sent this picture:

With assurances that they would be flattened toute suite
And as you can see, he has his priorities in order 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

Sadly as yet, our gorgeous new pillows have not surfaced (we suspect they are in one of the boxes marked garage) but look, isn’t it beautiful. 

And whilst he was doing this, I was entertaining the sprogs and packing things up into yet more bags and boxes ready for today’s final move. 

Day Two: The Unpacking Continueth

So the hus-creature allowed himself some of his normal Saturday morning lie in and arose at 08:30.
He set off by 10:00. Today’s loading of car was foiled slightly by the car park lifts being busted up again –  but as (thankfully) no one was trapped inside them this time they haven’t been deemed an emergency to repair… how they expect people to move out though is beyond me…

There is a liquor store close to our new place – and believe me this is a miracle!

And it’s saying something when this is a taste of home I’m happy to see!!!

And no, on no planet is this affordable!!! 🙀🙀🙀

Priority purchasing for the win 👍🏻😂🤣

And look, we found a way to utilise both the currently useless space in the kidlets’ walk in closets and use the lugged-across-the-ocean Expedits from #1 Son’s former room:

And my back thanks the hus-creature for prioritising building this:

I did smile when he sent me this picture:

I last wore that whilst still pregnant with the Tiny Tyrant. 

Whilst he was unpacking, I was doing this:

He sent further evidence that “he wasn’t slacking” to quote him. 

So endeth Saturday.  

Sunday and Monday to come. 

Other things achieved on Saturday 

Included finishing the majority of my homework for my Colorwork Craftsy class:

These are my “neutral” and “temperature” swatches:

These are both “temperature” and “chroma” swatches. 
I don’t like the red one. I don’t know why. I just don’t. 
The purple one is much more pleasing to me. 

This is my three-colour triad attempt. Red, blue and yellow. Looks much better in natural light 😂🤣


I’m really proud of how well my stranded colour work is progressing. 
I’ve signed up for the 2017 Mystery Knitalong run by Stephen West – I have his only Craftsy class and he got me into shawls – I love his stuff. I can’t wait to dye up the yarn for the project 😊
I finished and sent off a big crochet project I’ve been working on, but no spoilers on that until the recipient has it in their hands.  
The hus-creature also told me about Masterclass. Which is just like Craftsy only more elite. 
Anyone got a spare $90 to let me take either of these? 
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/gordon-ramsay-teaches-cooking
 https://www.masterclass.com/classes/james-patterson-teaches-writing
I would love either of them! Favourite chef and favourite writer – at least of crime/thriller. 
Ah well, a girl can dream. I’ll add it to the wish list 😂🤣