Splits and Sorting, Buddies and Brownies

Ruth and her jazz teacher doing the splits during warm up.

Tuesday 26 saw Brendon, Asher and I head into town for her follow up appointment with her neurologist. Her appetite has been compromised over the last couple of weeks from her drug increase, and we noted today that she has only put on 100g in the last 2 months. So it's not ideal. It sounds like there are only 2 other drugs to try though, so for now we have just made a tiny increase (over the last weeks she went from 10 to 14ml, it's now going up to 15ml a day) and it sounds like that will be the max on that drug.

Rachel was very nervous about
giving a lesson at St John tonight.
A part of her leadership training.

So I have to change my thinking about her food. I need to accept that she has just "gone off" many of her previously enjoyed food and I need to focus on getting as many nutrients (and good fats) into whatever she is eating.
It was also good to discuss a "plan of action" if we see any more long seizures. Both the 20 and 22 minute seizures started with a long vacant period where Asher had some degree of consciousness. As the seizure progressed, it almost got "deeper" and she lost that consciousness. Previously the doc had questions if there "conscious episodes" were actually seizures, and so this was why we had delayed giving her the extra meds during those long ones. It was only when we saw the Tonic phase start - that we felt sure we needed to give the extra drug. So it was good to have the doc say that we obviously know her very well and he feels confident that he can trust our judgement. If we feel there has been seizure activity for 5 minutes - then we give the drugs (even if there is that degree of consciousness).

Ruth created a "Buzz light-year"

We do need to do all that we can to stop long ones from happening. The more the body has time in a seizure state - the easier it is to go back there - and to stay there.
I was thankful for the time in the car with the girls in the afternoon (taking them to dancing and then St John). It gave me time to talk through Asher's food situation and we came up with a great idea to make Asher her own Apple Crumble. It's one food she always enjoys and so Rachel will make her one that has extra nuts in (quantity and variation) and then instead of using honey, we will use butter (replacing the stickiness of the honey) as well as coconut oil as we normally do. She will also get to eat it with cream. So really adding as many good nutrients and healthy fats as we can. We will even soak all her nuts to make sure we get maximum benefit from them for her.

Asher's homework of "same" has been applied to her unpacking the cutlery. She insists on doing this every day - so why not use it to re-enforce the principle. She learnt so quickly and now unpacks all the "same" items onto the step for me to put away.

I couldn't resist taking this photo of Asher. She was playing with the blocks and decided to make the box a pillow. So cute.
Hannah is really enjoying "playing" on Reflex Math. The first time she played she looked at me after a while and asked "so where is the work". :-) She has already gotten so quick at a number of addition and subtraction sums. It is boosting her confidence wonderfully. She is already sitting at a 32% fluency - which is excellent when I look at how much (or how little) she knew when she started.

Hannah thrilled with the new game she opened today.

Ruth and Rachel are having a race to see who can have all their addition and subtraction facts at "reflex" speed. Ruth is currently just ahead with 81% and Rachel already has 76%. So they are all doing well having only had it for less than 2 weeks.
Once the older girls have gotten to 100% on their addition and subtraction - they will both move onto multiplication and division. That will be new to Ruth who is only just starting to learn her multiplication facts - but I think the competition with Rachel will push her to work hard.
If you would like to treat your child to this game (and in so doing help boost their skill and confidence with their math facts) - then you can use this link. And if you have 3 children who can use it - you can save 44%. And becoming a member of the homeschool buyers co-op - it's free - no strings attached. You will get free smart points when you join and I will get some points too. :-) Their link is also on the right margin of my blog (at the bottom). I have gotten some wonderful deals and free products through them over the years.

Wednesday fun with Hannah and Hezekiah.

Thursday at Brownies. It ended up being just these 3 girls today. This "peg tag" had them burning up some energy and having a load of fun. At one point Ruth had managed to get almost every peg (I think the other girls only had 1 each left). And then I looked again and Hannah had almost all of them. :-)

Learning the actions with Edelweiss. Rachel still remembers doing this as a Brownie.

Lost of concentration for Hannah. And then they even changed and did it the other way around. Their goal is to practice often enough so that they can change direction constantly through the song. I wanted to try get a video but couldn't find the right spot.
Even though Hannah has not said her promise yet, she was allowed to take the prayer book home last week. So she read her prayer today. She will be having her promise ceremony in 2 weeks time. So she is very excited about that. The main thing is getting her sash and all the badges she has been working on (and earning) over the last few months.