Peanuts blog

  Oh  man  some times I feel like this is not so much the  Family blog as it is Peanuts. 
He had an Op on Tuesday and he was not impressed but  5 hours after getting up from that table  he is riding his bike so  Thursday he is back at school.

 The hospital experience was  better than I expected but still  hard tears formed a few times ( from me not him)   he would not let many other people touch him and went down to the operating suit with  his  Gum boots still on and back pack at his side as he wanted to leave badly before the premeds kicked in. 
Even after then when you thought he was out cold  and I could poke him and move him as much as I liked as soon as someone elses touch came near him he would bolt up right and fight them. “ Get off my bed go away, get away from me"  as per usual in a crisis situation peanuts language comes on leaps and bounds LOL I even got a  comment on how nice it was he was so verbal LOL  and one man wished his son was quite like mine, the reason he is so quite is because anxiety is so high he has withdrawn completely LOL  Every one at the hospital  was really great and didn’t want to stress him out the ones that understood Autism let me do it all themselves and the ones who didn’t asked me first what they should do so I felt very supported.  After the op they  got me down to recovery as they couldn’t do any obs on him.  Once he was running around and trying to leave they discharged us.  It was the first time Peanut when under and I didn’t think I would be that scared but I tell you what watching your child lay there  still and out cold is a hard thing to watch.

We only have 4 weeks till the end of the school year here so  I’m trying to get things sorted with Peanut  without being pushy  little suggestions here and there  and emails asking for booklists to remind them we are here and waiting for news.

Shrimples is all good to go, orientation went well  teachers meeting went well  =) last day of daycare is end of term then I have 2 months  YES TWO months we no time off !! 

Now one thing I hate is the cost ( the government here gives us money twice a year which is more than enough for school supplies but they only give it to us a term into school LOL  so the outlay is high )

Ive worked out uniforms have cost me $250 for both  ( not including the navy shorts we already have and can use)

Shoes each god knows maybe $30 – 50  each

School supplies  at $20-30 per child per school so for peanut that means double as he will be at two schools

 And then class room supplies Tissues, wet wipes etc  not a lot and then the actual education which is only $25 a year LOL ( if you want to pay you don’t have to pay that either its voluntary)

So we have December - Christmas $$

Jan - Peanuts birthday  $$$

Feb - School year start  $$$$

March - Shrimples birthday $$$

And the rest of the year paying it all off the credit card to start again  LOL 

Ive gone Blogging crazy !!

 I really need to go back and add my pictures to these posts.

I've gone blogging crazy cause it seems so much is happening  Christmas is just around the corner and that means all the catalogues come in and Peanut and Shrimples love catalogues. this year Peanut has picked out a picture of a green fireman sam truck and Shrimples a spiderman glove ( even though he is in LOVE with Iron man and all things iron man )  and so we have cut out the request and stuck it on our  christmas list.  We wrote letters to Santa and  they went a little something like this

" Dear santa,

  dont get me anything cause I don't like presents, I would like a spiderman glove and maybe you could get me a green whistle and a toy caterpillar.

Love Shrimples"

and

" Dear Santa,

 I would like a green fireman sam truck.

Love Peanut"

So now they are all sent off  we have our fingers crossed for the best.

Peanut has also picked out a jake an a neverland pirates telescope for his birthday and is super excited about turning 5 and having a pirate ship cake.

We don't ever plan to get her kids much  just a few things they  would like but  usually I blow it and get too much. this year Im finding it very easy to stick to the minimal theme, Now both boys are telling us what they want its easier cause I don't have to think  ohh they might like this or that .. I know what they want and I can tell santa specifically what to get ( wink). Its also pretty excited cause  Ill get to see their faces when they get exactly what they wrote santa for.

Peanut is doing so well at school  his teacher has to amend his IEP as he has already reach most of the goals in the 4 weeks since it was written. Both his speechies are impressed.  He has been flapping more but the teeth grinding has stopped ( touch wood)  so Im taking that as a major plus. The teacher is really impressed with him and said there is no way you would know he only just started as he is doing so well.  he loves going so its such a huge relief to have found a great school.. now just have to get the mainstream to kick in and I will be emailing the deputy principle next week about how they are getting along.

Peanut has been playing alot of spelling and reading Apps  and  the other day I asked him to write Key and Dog and he  did it  so Im hoping literacy is not a huge a deal for him as it could have been.

We applied for a one off payment 2 months ago to help with expenses with  therapies and such and yesterday it got approved  so we paid of our credit card and put the rest in a high interest saver for peanut to pay for his therapies after his 2 years of funding runs out.

Every weekend from now until Christmas we have some sort of  Christmas party for kids with special needs I wonder if I will be sick of it towards the end but for now Im just happy for free activities to keep the kids busy.

Shrimples has his orientation for school next wednesday and so far is not super excited about going but Im sure he will get there.


okay well I think thats just about it for now I will touch base after Shrimples orientation he is bound to do something hilarious

headless men and missing shoes

There has been some weird happening around here

First off is the missing shoe debarckle  !!  I got Peanut and Shrimples loads of cheap slip ons  in all sorts of colors and it seems now we have lots of left shoes but hardly any rights. They have gone missing.

and now  playing lego with the boys there are no heads left !! like over night there has been some sort of massacre and someone has stolen the heads as trophies !!! all our lego men are headless!!

Well  the boys are going to have to wait for shoes and heads  as money is super tight here at the moment and  Im okay with odd shoes and headless lego men.  Maybe Santa can help  us out ;)

Is Peanut going to recover, to catch up, or be cured?

Do people think Peanut is going to recover, to catch up to be cured?  I think a few people in our lives think this is a case. 
Peanut improves and grows every day but he will never not have Autism. Even if he does well academically and even if we teach him all the correct ways to be self sufficient, social, blend in and put up with us all. He will still think differently  in the future he might just be very skilled at acting "normal" acting "neurotypical".  

His brain is wired differently ( its true, its science)  So please if you are one of these people please stop. Stop waiting for  him to catchup and stop hoping he will be cured and get over it. Its not helpful, what is helpful is appreciating his differences understanding how he thinks and works and loving him despite, regardless and because of his Autism. Work with the Autism not against it, we need people that think differently in this world.  

Short and sweet

Well this is going to be super short.

Week 3 of early intervention  school and new speech therapist and  Peanut is doing amazingly !!  Im so excited !!

Peanuts 5th birthday is not until Jan but we have been thinking about what to do  he doesn't really like alot of people so we took a party off the list  and thought a day out might be best.  But the other day looking through birthday cake books Peanut got really excited so I thought I would draw up plans for a pirate ship cake, Peanut loved it and posted it on the fridge  I asked him about it and he said " my Pirate ship birthday cake!"  I asked him how old he would be and he said 4   I corrected and him and said no you will be 5 and he got so excited squeezed me so tight and said I be 5 !!  I asked him again about an hour later how old he will be after his birthday and he said 5 in the most adorable voice and gave me another huge squeeze so put that together with how well he did ( socially) at our halloween party and a party is back on the cards.  He is also picking christmas pressies and we have written a letter to santa !

So excited about the progress he has made.