Back To School Tomorrow

And I can't wait!!!

The kids are excited. I'm excited. Well, actually I'm a little apprehensive.

I feel like I'm starting my first day back at school. My tummy has wee butterflies. I know I won't get much sleep tonight. Will the teachers like me? Will the other parents want to have a coffee with me? Am I wearing the right clothes? Have I run over a child in the parking lot?

I know - all a bit silly really. But it does feel like I'm starting and not the kids.

Miss 8 (who is in Yr 3) is going into a split Yr 3/4 class which was completely unexpected. There are only 2 Yr 3 classes this year, both of them splits. The other is a Yr 2/3 class and I had assumed she would go into that one. 

I'm not ready for her to be in a 3/4. Not too sure why but I'm just not ready. She is though.

Miss 6 (going into Yr 1) will be in a Yr 1/2 class with Miss 8's teacher from last year. Mrs R is the BEST teacher any of my kids have ever been taught by (apologies to the other ones but Mrs R was born to be a teacher and it shows). I'm hugely happy about that and so is Miss 6. Even though she has none of her "besties" from Pre-Primary she doesn't care because she gets to have Mrs R - just like her sister. 

I'm not ready for her to be in a 1/2. Not too sure why but I'm just not ready. She is though.

Master 4 starts on Thursday and will go every Thursday & Friday to Kindy. He has the most gorgeous teacher. He also has his 2 best mates in the world in the same class. He is so excited. He told me it's going to be great to have his fans in his class with him.

FANS!!!!

I've explained the difference between a fan and a friend, but he's still insisting that they are his fans so good luck to them. And good luck to the teacher. She's going to need it. I have a sneaking suspicion that these boys are going to be a handful.

I'm not ready for him to be in Kindy. I'm ready for him to be at school full-time :)

This should be an interesting week.

Good luck to all who have littlies starting back this week. And biggies too.

A Great School Holiday Week!

This week has been fantastic, well for me. Himself went back to work on Monday after 3 weeks off and was NOT happy about it. We, on the other hand have;

• Monday - Met up with some friends at the park
• Tuesday - had the neice & nephew over all day
• Wednesday - went into the city to the museum, then went out to the movies with himself that night
• Thursday - went to the beach
• Friday - spent the morning at Matilda Bay frollicking in the river, then out to dinner with Himself on Date Night....
• Saturday - haven't got there yet but tomorrow morning off to the beach at 8am with 4 other families (very close friends so should be great) to spend the day playing, surfing and building sandcastles.
• Sunday - haven't got there yet but it's going to be 42 degrees so we will be inside under the airconditioning vent trying to stay cool.

The first 3 days were nice. A really lovely way to get back into the swing of post-camping life.

Wednesday at the museum was wonderful. I (being the terribly neglectful mother that I am) have never taken the kids into Northbridge. They loved it, and so did I. The museum was so good. They have an exhibition called Dinosaurs Alive. As you walk in the front doors of the museum, a huge dinosaur (that I assume is motion controlled, either that or he is one very clever dinosaur) that sniffs the air, rolls his eyes and roars very, very loudly. Very cool. That night Himself and I had the first of our 2 date nights for this week. Very spoilt - this never, ever happens. But we're taking it while we can. It's been a while since we've had a night out. We try to do it every few weeks ago, but sometimes life (and Christmas) just seem to get in the way. It's a routine we love & need to have.

Thursday was a day at the beach. We only live about 10 minutes from the beach so we managed to get there around 9am. We were meeting one of the mums from Mothers Groups, and Miss 8 had bought along one of her friends too. The beach was beautiful and calm, the kids were excited and dripping wet within 30 seconds of being there. The kids walked out to the end of the jetty, and we followed not long after as we noticed that they had been noticing the people jumping off the side of the jetty into the water - and we figured that they figured it looked like much fun!!! What was most cool was that Sam the Seal turned up at the very end of the jetty to see what people were catching,. Imagine seeing a seal. Up close & personal. The kids thought that was the best thing they had seen all day, including all the starfish they were saving, and the fish they were snorkling after. And the seal did a little dive and showed everyone his tail and bottom. EVEN BETTER!

Today, Friday, was a catch up with one of my oldest friends and her 2 gorgeous little girls. Matilda Bay is just a beautiful reserve, right next to the University of WA. Huge, old trees line the banks and there's a bit of sand for the kids to dig in. There's also some very long pontoon type jetty's (are you seeing a pattern here???) that we stayed clear of because Master 4 and my girlfriends Miss 3 & Miss 18 months would have just thought they were the best things in the world to try and swim out too. Instead we stayed on this little bit of beach and watched the kids try to rid the Swan River of every jellyfish contained within. And they nearly got them all too. Including the one that stung Master 4. You know you're a Sandgroper when you get stung by a jellyfish. And many thanks to the lady that supplied us with a part of her aloe vera plant to take the sting away. Very much appreciated :)

Tomorrow will be wonderful but I have no stories to tell. I'll leave that for another day. But this has been a most SPLENDID WEEK. I just love summer in Perth. It is the best.

4 Year Old Tantrums...

And so it starts again. The 4 year old tanty. 

I love my children dearly and would seriously harm anyone that even looked at them the wrong way, but when Master 4 gets wound up - I would gladly give him to the first person that looked my way. And it seems to be getting worse, not better. 

Were the girls this bad at this age? I'm sure they weren't, or is that just that Parental Short-Term Amnesia that is kicking in (which often starts when we plan our second child "oh that birth thing really wasn't all that bad").

Himself didn't really get just how bad Master 4 had got until he (and the Grandparents, and the Uncle & Aunt) witnessed it while on our recent holiday. Even Grandpa was heard to remark how most unlike Master 4 that was, and that they had never heard him even remotely sound like a steam train at full roar!

• I've tried reasoning with him - of course that's the worst possible thing I could do. Who can reason with a 4 year old? Unless it's another 4 year old.
  
• I've tried threatening him - the second worst thing I can do, because when I carry through with the threat he has usually calmed down, and that just starts him back up again.
• I've tried the bribery - which has it's advantages, namely he SHUTS UP, but not always so this can be very hit & miss (and I certainly DO NOT want to use this all the time).
• I've tried having a glass of wine - and surprisingly that seems to work quite well for me, just not for him!
• I've tried ignoring him, but then he starts adding MUM MUM MUM to the horrible steam train roar.

So what to do about the tantrums?

I just cross my fingers and hope he survives to age 5...

Being Hounded By The Paparazzi...

Miss 8 does it again!

Miss 8 seems to be a favourite amongst our daily newspaper, The West Australian. This is the second interview they've done with her, their "Miracle Girl". My guess is they have had an awful lot of doom & gloom in the paper the last few months and would really like to have a nice, feel-good story for the front page. So silly old Mum says "Yes" yet again.

Will I ever learn?

The PR person from The Centre For Cerebral Palsy (http://www.tccp.com.au/Home) had rung me while we were on our last day of our best holiday ever, and had asked if I would mind doing a recap interview, to show everyone how well Miss 8 was doing. And in her next breath she admitted that I haven't been very happy with The Centre for the past 2 years, but would I mind still doing it? For Layne's best interests?

So I explained that I had no problem doing interviews and highlighting how well my daughter has done, but I would not (under any circumstances) praise The Centre for their help & support over the past few years because we have had NONE. 

I explained to her that we have been funding our own private therapy for Miss 8 since we have received perhaps 4 sessions over the last 2 years. She knew this because I have made quite a few enquiries as to where our therapy was, and where the funding (that my child is entitled to through her paid membership to The Centre) has gone over that period that pays for her therapy. I've also queried why we can't access that funding and put it towards our own private therapy - to help with the costs. Apparently, this is not how things work there - but they are more than happy for me to get in front of a journalist and praise The Centre for all of the wonderful things they do for everyone - just not for my child. 

She understood that, and I actually thought she was going to ring the newspaper and suggest they try somebody else. Perhaps she did, but they turned up anyway. And, fortunately (or perhaps they were forewarned?) they didn't ask me a single thing about The Centre. 

I wonder what the Channel 9 news crew will ask me when they turn up on my doorstep in half an hour? Will I actually have the balls to say what I want to say - or will I take the usual Amanda road and keep things pleasant and NOT rock the boat. 

Watch tonight at 6pm to find out...

Our Christmas Holiday

Well, another year over. Another Dixon Christmas holiday over. This year we decided to head north instead of south - so Ledge Point it was. I have never been to this lovely little sleepy hollow before. It was just gorgeous. A tiny little town, with a general store and a bakery. It has a beach, and, well that's about it. A wonderful place to relax. We swam, we surfed, we ate lots of icecream and we had a ball.

Master 4 learned how to swim overarm in the caravan park pool. He also learned how to boogey board & body surf with his Dad. He had a great time.

Miss 6 learnt how to ride her bike sans training wheels. Now she can go over speedbumps WAY faster than the recommended 8kms per hour!

Miss 8 showed her father & her uncle why she is the familys BEST fisherperson. She was the only one who caught fish on this holiday. And she caught 2 of the little things. She also likes to give them a big squishy hug before releasing them back into the surf. UGHHHH.

Even the grandparents got into the action. They each took up boogey boarding and had the best time showing us how it's done! Well done to you both. I attempted my first boogey board in probably 25 years and managed to get myself dumped (yeah, yeah - stop laughing NOW) and sustained a rather sizeable bruise on my knee which broke my fall during the dumping. I wore it very proudly during the holiday - making sure EVERYONE knew about my war wound.

We've been home 24 hours now and am missing the laid back lifestyle already. I'm on the 10th load of washing (because, for some reason, caravan park washing machines do not wash properly). As well as washing the 6 new pairs of sheets I bought from Grays Online Auctions (which I forgot to mention to Himself, mainly because I hadn't realised I'd bid on so many - OOPS).

Anyway, back to work. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into my books this year. I am feeling so enthusiastic about this year I don't think I can wait for it to start. I have so many plans and ideas that I'm not really sure if 365 days is enough. Oh, make that 357 (already lost 8 days). So I must be off. Have stuff to do - and I haven't even written up my new calendar yet which means I've already missed a birthday (sorry Uncle F, Happy Birthday for Wednesday xxx).

Hope your New Year is full of happyness and laughter. If I can get over this PMT mine will be too

Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa...

On the weekend we had been out visiting some friends with kids the same ages as ours (our old Mothers Group). We see alot of each other - even holidaying once a year with the group which is most fun. This conversation occurred the next day so I'm assuming there were some discussions going on that night that we weren't privy too.


I overheard Miss's 8 & 6 discussing that age old question: Is Santa Real? So I thought I'd eavesdrop to see what the outcome was.


Miss 8 "Do you believe in Santa?"
Miss 6 "Yeah, do you?"
Miss 8 "Well, yeah. But. Well, yes. I do. If you don't believe you won't get any presents." (Now, we haven't had to pull that old saying out yet so not sure where that one came from, perhaps she's just really perceptive!)
Miss 6 "Yeah, me too. I want presents".


That sums up Daughter Number 2 completely. As long as she gets something, sometime, somewhere - she'll believe the moon is made of cheese if she has to.

And God bless Miss 8 for bringing it up. Now we shouldn't have to tackle that again until this time next year. And where was Master 4 during this exchange? Demolishing the Lego Restaurant that Miss 6 had spent half the day constructing.


In spite of this (and the HUGE tantrum from Miss 6 that followed) we have had an excellent week. The lead up to the 25th December is usually a stressful time. Last year we actually went camping a few days before Christmas, and stayed over the Christmas break - and if you think you're stressed now, try having to hide 3 lots of presents in a tent while camping just before Christmas. And having to leave signs attached to EVERY tree in the caravan park so Santa would know which tent The Dixon's were staying in.

3 Sleeps Left...

Oh what a busy, busy 7 days we have had.

That last week of school was just chaotic - as you ALL would know. It started on the Monday with a phone call from the school saying Miss 6 wasn't feeling well could I come and pick her up?

Sure.

So got her home - "Mum, can I have a towel and a bucket? And can you please put ABC Kids on"?

Miss 6 has a tendancy towards hyperchondria (not too sure where she gets that from...) so I made some hmmm noises and got her the towel & bucket. Then half and hour later she started. And kept going until nearly 9.30 that night. Poor little thing. She just looked exhausted by the time I carried her to be for the last time.

But she was fine the next morning - which was good because her class was having a fun day at school with bouncy castles, face painting and a clown, and she was NOT going to miss that for anything.

Wednesday was Master 4's Pre-Kindy party. That was heaps of fun. First stop was at the icecream van, second stop was to get his face painted just like spiderman's, and finally a visit from the Big Fat Man himself (and of course it had to be my child that loudly let everyone within hearing distance know that this wasn't the real Man but one of his helpers).

At 2.30am Thursday morning I was awakened by a noise.

It's funny how, as a Mum you can wake up immediately on hearing a sound as small as a half cough half dry retch. You can sleep through the sneezes, coughs, snores & other various bodily functions that come from your children, but this small sound can have you out of bed and running to the EXACT right area of the house before you've even woken up properly.It's also funny how, as a Dad, they can sleep right through it all.

There was my poor little man trying bravely (and very unsuccessfully) to not be sick all over my kitchen floor.

That went on until around 4am, until he fell into a very deep sleep. And woke up feeling as right as rain.

I, on the other hand, was feeling very very seedy. I felt like I'd drunk 4 bottles of wine - and anyone that knows me at the moment will remember that I am off drinking almost completely (much to theirs & my disgust). So I dragged all of my healthy children for their last day of school (well, except for Master 4 who has finished his school for this year), dressed in my warmest tracksuit and jumper. I was frozen - and it was 32 degrees celcius. Dropped them off and came back home to bed.

The call came from the school at lunchtime. Miss 8 had decided it was her turn. So up to the school we went to pick up both girls. By then I was starting to feel better, which was good because I needed a strong stomach that afternoon.

And then, to top off a fantastic day - Miss 5 ran into my bedroom, and as the words "Don't run in the house" left my lips, she tripped and fell forehead first into the base of my bed and immediately grew a tennis ball on her brow.

We had a great end to our school year. I guess we've now managed to get rid of all of our bugs so this week will be germ free! We've eaten our chocolate from the Advent Calendars. We've wrapped EVERYTHING we needed to wrap. The prawns are in the freezer. The house is slowly getting organised to cater to 30+ people for Christmas lunch.

I'm really looking forward to having a drink on Christmas Day. This usually wouldn't be a problem for me, but as I mentioned earlier - my body has decided (without any consultation on my part) that I need a break from any alcoholic beverages and water or tea will suffice. I hope my body will understand?