Library, friends and seizures

Wednesday 4th: These two were so pleased to see the sun this morning - they headed out before breakfast to have a practice.

With the library open today, Ruth finished off her oil pastel for the colouring in competition so she could hand that in. I just love how much she has learnt so quickly. It was such a perfect gift for her.

Some cute kitten photos. Hezekiah often asks me to take a photo.

Rachel was excited about starting the guitar lessons that she was lent and has been practising every day. I loved how Asher got the little toy guitar out to play with. It's only got 2 strings left, but she doesn't mind. So cute.

The girls headed back to the library after lunch and Hezekiah wanted to join them. As the girls were riding their bikes, they didn't want to walk with him. So I let him walk up on his own. Ruth kept him company on the way back.
Asher was so cute with these animal shapes. She would take one out the container and find its spot on the trays. If the spot was taken, she would take the previous one out, and the new one would get a chance. Only after I took the photo did I realise the 2nd frame was upside down - so although she was finding the correct shape, the animals wouldn't fit (except for the butterfly). So she was pleased when I flipped it over for her.
I needed to get some shopping done, so I asked Hezekiah if he wanted to come with me as our outing. He was very pleased with this, even though it was too wet and cold to go to a park (which was what I had hoped and planned). He doesn't often get to go shopping with me as I always do it when I'm out with the girls with extra mural activities. So it was a nice change - and he loved getting some chocolate coins to share with the friends that are coming tomorrow. We also had a great time chatting as we drove.

We also returned something to the vet and while we were there Hezekiah spotted these cat toys. He used some of his pocket money (with the refund that I got) to buy it. He was so pleased. And both Anakin and Little Miss just love it.
Thursday 5th: It was lovely to have Kerry and her youngest 3 come for a visit this morning. Hezekiah and Hannah had a great time (and we hardly saw them). Asher spent ages sitting with Kerry, so it was nice to get this special photo.
At 6:30pm Asher had a 1 minute semi-conscious seizure. I call them this rather than "vacant" because she is able to still track with her eyes. She followed Ruth as she moved past, but could not talk at all. I was glad it was short and that it didn't affect her much. When it stopped she just hopped off my lap and was off playing again.

Friday 6th: The library was open again today and Hezekiah had a couple of books he wanted to return. He wanted to listen to the one book again though, so Hannah read him both his books and a special book she had gotten as a gift a couple of years back. It was so special to see this. Hannah has struggled so much with her reading and it was wonderful that she offered to read to him. Only now when I see the photo do I realise she wasn't wearing her glasses - so I need to be more diligent with reminding her. It's tricky as she is doing most of her reading practice digitally, and then she doesn't need her glasses.
I had two friends pop over for a visit this morning which was great. They both attend the church we have been attending closer to home in Amberley since Christmas. The teenage daughter who came with headed up to the library with all the children except Asher. I had to smile when they arrived though as Asher just forgets what she is doing when a female adult arrives, she asks (or tells) them to "sit down" and she starts throwing her balls to them. She was a little too quick for me to get a photo of her giving cuddles, but she gave a few out this morning too - which is always appreciated. :-)

The girls have been talking about getting the bean bags down from the ceiling of the garage for a while, and Ruth finally asked Dad this afternoon. The older 2 girls have taken the big leather ones (one for each room) and then these two got the big soft material one. They had so much fun with it today. It's amazing what something new can do for creating immaginative play. Their plan was to sleep on Hannah's big bed with it - using it as a pillow for both of them. It didn't last long though.

Hezekiah fell asleep quickly when he went to bed at 7:30, but when Hannah went she found it wasn't comfortable. And then she came through later saying that the bed keeps moving. She is still so sensitive after the earthquake that we had to move Hezekiah back to his own bed so that she could just relax and get to sleep.
Asher had a little bit of fun with the small bean bag. She sat for me to take the photo, but then spent a bit of time just playing on it.
At 6pm Asher had a 1 1/2 minute Tonic Clonic. She had been riding on her bike on the deck for about 20 minutes when it started.

She went really blue and it took quite a while for her to get her normal colour back. Brendon had been feeding her the last of her dinner as she was riding around, and she had some food in her mouth when it started. So we were really pleased that she didn't choke. Thankfully she wasn't too rigid and we could get her into a recovery position and the food could just come out with the drool.
Saturday 7th: We watched Avengers as a family this afternoon and Hezekiah just loved it. So many super heroes in one movie. He was just so excited. He says his favourite are Captain America and Hulk.
Ruth got some art supplies out and gave Hannah and Hezekiah some ideas of what to create. They had a fun time with their art this afternoon.
As they were busy with art, Asher didn't have them to join her on her ride this afternoon, so she got Dad to join her. :-)
Unfortunately after about 25 minutes of so much fun, at around 5:15, she had another 1 1/2 minute Tonic Clonic. She again went quite blue, but got her colour back better today.
That makes it 3 seizures in 3 days though, so not a great start to the year for dear Asher.

My project for today was to make a visual "pocket" for Asher for while we are at church. Lynda (her EIE at preschool) made one to use with Asher a couple of months back, and it has been working really well. So I decided to give it a try. The visuals are attached with velcro and I have a whole lot of extras on the back. The idea is to have 3 (or 4 in my case because I had a few too many to fit on the back) on the front and then she knows what activities are coming. Once she is finished, she can take the visual off and "post" it (the board is folded up so that there is a little pocket under the finished sign). New visuals from the back then get added to the front.
NOTE: I may as well mention here that it worked SO well on Sunday morning. As soon as Asher saw it (Lynda's one is also red) she just relaxed into accepting that I was going to tell her what activity was first (and next). Most of the activities were the same as what we have every Sunday, but Asher is often very determined in which one she wants to do next. So I was thrilled with this. I also added a couple of extra things, and was able to keep her busy in church for 45 minutes. We then went to the foyer to play with balls, and she played there for 40 minutes. She was rather loud though, so I couldn't hear the message easily. So next week I plan to switch it around and do the ball game first. We have a bag of 100 balls (that we got for just $10) that she sorts into the 4 colours. She did this so many times I lost track. On the whole - a wonderful success.

Art results: Above: Beach paintings of Hezekiah and Beth (a very good friend from preschool who turned 5 in December and so is starting school this year) and Hannah with Anica and Grace (two special friends from school).
Right: Their monster creations. Ruth did the one of the left as an example and they were really creative. Hezekiah's was voted the best (I think the stars on the background did it). He plans to give all his artwork to Beth. ;-)

They actually started with this painting first. When I saw they were trying to paint on such thin paper I got them the board that they used above. The theme for the painting today was obviously the sea.
Thanks Ruth for your effort and getting them to have so much fun.