G'day, folks.
TM, easy child 2/difficult child 2 has never been good when she misses sleep either. Sorry your washing day is wet - hope you have a good dryer!
Sharon/WO, a four mile walk with a wet dog - I can smell it now! I hope you can get some helpful answers with your knees. You might need to change the sort of exercise you do, to ease the strain.
Andy, difficult child 3 has been nagging me to organise a bowling party with all the autistic/Aspie kids in the social group. Possibly on the weekend, but it IS Anzac Day and I do need to avoid booking anything for that day. And the turkey hunting - you wouldn't have to go far here, I reckon most of the Dept of Ed district office here are turkeys, your husband is welcome to shoot the lot, as far as I'm concerned.
I am still very tired, hoping to have another early night tonight (assuming I can get to sleep!). It's the second week of our school holidays but we're still busy.
Today we had an afternoon appointment in the city to get the report on difficult child 3, the neuropsychologist report. Because it's a long trip for us, I gave difficult child 3 plenty of warning about our planned departure time and suggested he use the time to finish his assessment task. Amazingly, after about an hour or so of gaming, he did go to the computer with little reminding and finished the work all bt himself. I was so pleased! Mind you, I don't know if he's done a decent job of it, but from what I have seen I think he's done as well as he can do, without someone sitting beside him talking him through areas where he needs to answer the questions in more detail. HE thinks he's done it right, which for an assessment task is what is required.
The neuropsychologist report - I need to post deparately. No surprises, just vindication from an expert and some useful material for the school's SpEd to get working on. One interesting thing - she said that even at difficult child 3's age, he needs to be playing computer games like Zoombini because it's brilliant for assisting the development of executive skills, an area where he really needs a lot of work now. He scores in the top 1-5% for academic stuff requiring memory and problem-solving, but bottom of the pile for executive functioning and abstract reasoning. He will make progress but we need to give as much help now as we can, throw everything at him.
So on the way home we headed to our favourite computer shop to ask about the latest version of Zoombinis - to find we already have it and yes, it's too old to run on our new computer.
Since we were in the area, we stopped by the Chinese grocery shops in the same area and stocked up. Bought some barbecued pork strips too, difficult child 3 & I were nibbling those on the way home. I'm bering a bit naughty on my diet, I also bought some custard tarts. husband loves them and the shop in that area makes lovely ones, still warm from the oven. I stopped in at the butcher in the Chinatown area too, and because the meat prices are set according to supply and demand I was able to buy some strictly European/Western cuts of meat ridiculously cheaply. It's crazy - all the recipes I was raised on, the "poverty food" of my childhood where we make some delicious casseroles from forgotten scraps discarded by the wealthy; all these cuts of meat are now so sought after that we can no longer afford to buy them. Except here - osso bucco at half the price we normally pay. Of course the cuts so loved by the Chinese community were a bit beyond my budget, but I get those cheaply in our neck of the woods, where the market is set by more European tastes. I just wish the Chinese community ate more lamb, so I could get some cheap lamb shanks!
I bought a boiler chook as well, so tonight difficult child 3 helped me set up the crock pot so I can make a batch of Chinese-style chicken stock. It should be just perfect by morning! Imagine - waking up to the smell of fresh chicken stock, flavoured just a little with fresh ginger, star anise and Szechuan pepper! Tomorrow night I'll throw in some fresh vegetables from the garden, chopped chicken meat and some frozen wontons I bought tonight also.
It's cold here, tonight was windy, rainy and cold. Not full-on winter cold, but I'm not out dancing in THIS rain! I'm still wearing my summer cotton dress, but with warm leggings, socks and thick cardigan. Tomorrow will be much the same, so having some chicken soup available will be lovely. Probably help me get my diet back on track, too.
difficult child 3 sees the Occupational Therapist (OT) tomorrow for a typing test, for our special provisions application for his exams later in the year. We're also having a serious talk to difficult child 1 and daughter in law about the finance situation. Somewhere in there, more shopping at the mall.
It's a matter of planning it all so it happens with a minimum of effort. At least tomorrow I don't have to drive into the city, it's all regional.
Then on Wednesday - a day at home, to teach difficult child 3 how to make osso bucco. THat's going to involve teaching him to identify the herbs and vegetables we're growing - how to identify them by look and smell, and how to chop them for the sauce in the dish. How do I motivate him? Quid pro quo... works every time!
Enjoy your Monday.
Marg
