Thursday 30 September 2010

A little bit of what you like...

Firstly... I know I have linked this blog before, but I love her.. she is one of my favourite bloggers to read simply because she always causes a reaction of some sort in me, be it to make me think or to make my morning coffee come out my nose with the first true laughter of the day..so please check out her blog!

What else... umm... well I thought I would give you an update on family matters.. seeing as I have not done that in a while..

Daniel - Sweet little baby-bear..  This child amazes me everyday, as I have mentioned before, Daniel's command of the English language is incredible!  At 23 months he uses words like delicious and exhausted - not only does he use these words, but his enunciation and inflection are darn near perfect.  Daniel is still eating like a horse, and growing at about the same rate too - one thing I never have to worry about with him is his nutrition.  When Caleb was younger, his nutrition was a constant battle as he was not keen on eating.. Daniel is more like a hoover...and I love it!  We are also in the early stages of potty-training with him - this is not our doing, but rather his.  I know that he is slightly young for it, but he is showing us all the signs of being ready.  He is very interested in the toilet, and will frequently ask me to take his diaper off so that he can go potty on his own.  I am in no rush however, and am just letting him do it at his own pace.  We are struggling to get Daniel off the bottles, and I know that this is almost a pre-requisite for successful potty training.. he is rather hooked on his - he uses it as a "blankie" more than anything else.  I am rather calm this time round though, and am not forcing the issue.. I am just slowly and gently limiting his use of the bottle if and where I can.. I know that he will let it go with a mixture of help from me and maturity from him.. all in good time..

Caleb... brave.. strong... turmoiled Caleb!  I sometimes believe that Caleb is just too far ahead of himself.  He has been identified many times, and by many different people as an Indigo child.  Now, while I recognise that this term is highly controversial, let me just say that Adam and I are both staunch advocates that too many children are labelled with ADHD or ADD these days.  We both feel that parents and doctors are far too eager to label children with this illness and then administer drugs, rather than to find a way to help the child without turning them into zombies.  Having said that, let me just make it perfectly clear that we know that there are very real instances where a child genuinely has ADHD and requires medication, we just believe that it is used too easily these days as a means to control and subdue wilful children.  Right, now that we have cleared that up, lets get back to Caleb..  As I mentioned in this post, Caleb has been having some difficulty at school - this is also now spilling over into home life.  Without going into too much detail, we have just felt that Caleb is struggling a bit, and we do not seem to have the right tools, or the right "map" on how to help him.  So, after much deliberation, as well as consultation with trusted friends, family members and Caleb's teacher, we decided to send Caleb to a Play Therapist.  This is someone who is a clinical psychologist, but who specialises in children.  The therapist we chose is a lovely lady who I was actually in school with, but we did not realise this until we met her.  We were referred to her by another parent (who we trust implicitly) and who is sending her daughter to see this therapist.  Adam and I want to try and help Caleb before he gets older and it becomes a real problem.  If we can find a way to reach him now, and in turn allow him to reach us, then we can build trust rather than resentment - we believe that this is critical in his early development so as to avoid larger problems in the future.  Anyway, Jo (the therapist) is one of the people who has told us that Caleb is an Indigo child - and this is one of the reasons we like her so much!  She is trained in the science of psychology, but she is also a believer and follower of alternative and holistic healing - which means that she is open to whatever avenues the child may need, rather than just medication!  Caleb has been for 3 "play dates" with her so far, and he loves it.. and she has picked up in 3 sessions things that we have not told her.  I am very hopeful that she will help us find a way of making it easier for Caleb to be understood, and therefore less frustrated all the time.

Adam - Ahhh.. what can I say about this man... (that won't get me into trouble tee hee hee)!  Work is really heating up for him at the moment and my usually laid-back husband is taking some strain - add to that the fact that his wife has been causing him all kinds of headaches lately, it is a wonder the poor man has not been carried off to the funny-farm - although the jury is still out on that one, because anyone who has been in my house at suicide-hour will know that our house is very much like a funny-farm.  I am still in the process of trying to persuade my husband to take up cycling with me, but I don't think this is going to happen... For starters, the other day as I walked through the house, I caught Adam looking at the bike as if it had been spawned by Satan himself.. so I am getting the idea that I will be cycling alone.. or at least not with Adam lol!

Me... ah well, the family grapevine has been doing a good enough job of telling everyone what is going on with me, but for those not in the know, I will elaborate.  Almost three weeks ago now I was arrested for a DUI.  It was past midnight and I was driving home with a friend.  The legal limit in South Africa is .28, I was at .45.  I had had two drinks - I thought you were allowed two?  Turns out you are only allowed one..  Anyway, I was pulled over in a regular road-block - it is not like I was all over the road, or caused an accident...  So they pull me over, and because I was driving someone else's car, and my licence was in my car, I red-flagged myself... So they take me over to the van to check my ID number and breathalyze me.  Needless to say I failed and was subsequently arrested.  I was arrested with tons of other people that night and we were all thrown in prison.  Due to there not being a detective on duty when we were brought in, we were forced to spend the night.  It was a very traumatic event, the details of which I am unwilling (for a number of reasons) to share here.  I was released on the Saturday morning and appeared in court on the Monday.  All the charges against me were dropped and life goes on.. enough said..

Even just recalling the event in such minor detail here for you is enough to make me feel agitated and snappish.. so based on that, I will end this post now and go and hop on the bike... A brisk 20 - 30km cycle should clear out some of the agitation!

hi ho hi ho, its off to cycle I go..

4 comments:

Ang! said...

Friggin' hell, if an ordinary woman such as yourself can get picked up for being over the limit then I'd better hang up my drinking gloves for good. These daysI get tipsy just walking past a bottle store!

By the way, I think your kids are lucky to have parents who are so involved in their lives! Happy day to ya!

And thanks for the link-back...much appreciated!

Kerren said...

Hi Ang, thanks for the comment..

And yes.. who knew that sweet little (exageration? lol) innocent housewives are now such a threat on the roads as to warrent the need to be locked up overnight..So.. we all know how badly you behave, perhaps its time for a driver?

And thank you for the kind comment about the boys.. being a parent is such a tricky job; there is no manual, so it is always nice to hear some positive feedback!

Unknown said...

You meant to put the '(exaggeration? lol)' after the innocent - right?
Never a dull moment!

Man said...

This too shall pass, except if you on that non - bicycle cause that sucker ain't got no wheels