Spring Broke

Wow...nearly two weeks have gone by since...well...two weeks ago! Almost made it to the end of Spring Break. Nearly there. Just...Got to...Keep it together...For...Three. More. Days. I feel quite exhausted. The first week I began work at the preschool. I think it's going to work out great. It wasn't an ordinary week because the school was closed for Spring Break and half the kids were away. Next week will be a 'normal' week. On my first day there was a howling wind storm and half way through the morning the power went out and the school was plunged into semi-darkness (to the excitement and delight of the kids). We had to cancel the afternoon class. Weird first day!

This week has been a week of trying to keep the kids entertained and trying to keep River from driving us crazy. He is going through a silly phase at the moment. He has bouts of laughing uncontrollably and screams and yells, or asks repetitive questions; it is not that easy to ignore. Nor is it easy to re-direct him. He loves to act silly in front of mirrors and this house, being an 80's rental, is full of mirrors. Mirrored closet doors have to be one of the worst inventions of all time. When we go to places he often refuses to leave and screams, yells, flops or runs away. It is impossible for me to take him grocery shopping. The only place we can go is the local IGA. It's a very small, local supermarket and the staff know River. They know that his favourite place to hang out is aisle 3. It's the tea aisle. He also enjoys aisle 3 of other stores, so we're not sure what it is. But I can grocery shop in IGA because I know he will likely stay in aisle 3 taking things on and off shelves.

Truth to tell we've become a bit worried about his behaviour lately; it can be exhausting and frustrating to deal with. We also have to get to grips with toileting. He will use the toilet to pee but refuses to poo on the toilet. He knows that he should, but he just won't. There is a strategy we are going to implement soon. It involves taking a whole weekend and getting extra help, but we've heard there has been some success. Hand in hand with that is a fantastic development in his communication. It's baby steps, but he is talking in some sentences and asking appropriate questions. He is also commenting on things, purely for conversation. Every day he comes out with something that is new and surprising. It is very encouraging. Autism is so unpredictable.

Mark was reading the Real Estate forums the other day and came across this post:

***** Says:
March 12th, 2012 at 10:58 am
@****
Yes I agree, but in my world proper ‘rental stock’ is apartment buildings, town homes or houses built for the express purpose of renting to long term tenants, properly managed and marketed as same. NOT living in some dysfunctional middle class family’s basement listening to the autistic child bounce off the walls, hearing the older sister scream that she wants to die.

We instantly thought, "Oh no...our neighbours must have posted that!" Who else? Mark quickly checked the timing of the post. Phew...they were on the way to their vacation at that point. It can't have been them. Also...as we read more carefully, we don't have a basement or a tenant living below us. Close call. So there is another family out there that resembles ours!

In my 'spare' time I have been knitting and trying to catch up on reading and writing. I started "Halfblood Blues", but after its early promise I've kind of lost interest. Think I'll read the Hunger Games. Helen and I continue to work at creating patterns and knitting up samples to put on the Stitches website. It's coming along great.