Fun on the tramp and tramping fun

Wednesday 15th: Hezekiah had an accident at school today and got a nasty bump on his nose.
He was very brave about it all.
Saturday 18th: An early start for Ruth today as she headed off on the Kiwi Watch with some children from school.











Her best friend was also going, and her mother was going too and taking their car. So Ruth drove with them. Around a 1 1/2 hour trip to where they park. And then a good hike up to the campsite. The friend's mother was also a great help in sorting all of Ruth's food. She is very experienced in tramping (hiking in NZ) and so she said she had enough to bring extra for Ruth. That took a load off my shoulders as we only heard about this trip during the week (while I was in hospital with Asher).

I bought a 2nd hand bike for Hezekiah last week before heading to hospital. The person selling it works on the farm, but Brendon kept forgetting to pick it up. So he finally brought it home today. I am so glad he had forgotten through the week, as I got to experience the joy of watching Hezekiah riding on his own for the first time. (It doesn't really count when Brendon had to help him get started and be right beside him the whole time). The previous bike was just a tiny bit too big, and now we realise the back wheel was also really stuck. Hezekiah is finding it SO much easier on this "new" bike.

He called me to watch him going over the bump. Extra work having to go up a little hill. Good job Hezekiah.

And then I had to come and watch, as he had learnt how to stand while riding. Such a clever boy.

Hannah then showed me how she stands on her bike. :-) Thankfully Hezekiah knows he has to get a lot stronger and more balanced before he can give that a try. ;-)

In the afternoon Brooke and Logan came over for a visit. Logan used Hezekiah's old bike and Brooke borrowed Ruth's. It was so wonderful for me to see Hezekiah being able to join them with their bike games around the garden. Previously he always ran along. Now he is fully a part of it all. It was so special to watch.

And they got a restaurant game going again. Rose Cottage gets it's most use when they are here. It's always so much fun for me to watch. :-)
The "table" and chairs to the right. They were all busy on the chalkboard, writing up the menu (I think it was).

Sunday 19th: Church, lunch and then I headed off to pick Ruth up. It was lovely hearing all about their overnight adventures. They had a long hike of at least 7km to their campsite, checking and re-bating traps every 100m. The Mum was telling me how it is a bit daunting when you start and there are 72 still to go. It is a help on the way back though, as the countdown to being back at the start is on. Ruth and her friend were really quick on the return journey because of this. She said Ruth is a really good walker. They did around 15km over the two days - so well done Ruth. They didn't get to see any Kiwi, but she did have a great time.

Asher always enjoys putting socks and shoes on - especially if they belong to someone else. :-)

Hezekiah was so pleased when Brooke and Logan came over for a visit again this evening. This time they brought their own bikes.
Some mid are photos.
So much fun.










Ruth and Brooke had some interesting cooking game going on. Here she is creating something with flower petals.

I think I get as much enjoyment from watching them as Hezekiah does from having Logan over to play.

And then all 5 of them on the tramp playing a game to end of the evening.
Funny how a trampoline is called a tramp and if you go hiking you are tramping. I am sure most of you (non Kiwis) are used to me using tramp for trampoline, so tramping is your new word for this post. :-)

With Ruth back on the FAILSAFE diet, I had to think of a bread option for her without the rice flour (she reacted to a rice trial last time, so we want to just make sure and be really strict to start with). I first tried oat flour, but it didn't work well at all. Last weekend I made her a small loaf with chickpea flour (that I quickly made from chickpeas I had). Just switching the rice flour to chickpea flour in our daily recipe. It worked really well although looked a bit dark as it was half the amount but the same cooking time as a full. So today I made a full loaf. It looked really good and Ruth said it tasted good. The only problem was that it doesn't last as long as when it's a bit over cooked. And it doesn't freeze well. So although it looked great - we will be doing the smaller loaves in the future.

Experiments and a special menu

Tuesday 7th: I got a few more photos at Champion Centre today. She is adjusting really well to the new visual plan with Alex (EIE). They took turns today with the magnet drawing board.

Enjoying some painting in the play room. At first we were concerned that she was going to put the brush in her mouth, but she was just having a look at the colours.
She wasn't too interested in seeing the butterfly she created.









A better picture today of Asher on the computer.

Enjoying the drums today.

Thursday 9th: Asher had a 1 minute Tonic Clonic at 8:15 this morning. She had a couple of jerks during breakfast, and so we were watching her a bit more closely. She had been standing at the back door (ready to leave to take the children to school) when it started, so she had a nasty fall on that hard floor.
It was rather tricky getting the lunchboxes finished and lunch started without Rachel home (she works from early on Thursday morning). There was no time left for the children to walk to school, so we were thankful when Asher woke up a bit and I could take them in the car.
I was pleased it happened today and not yesterday. All the photos from her birthday cake yesterday are on a separate post. :-)
Dancing only starts up next week, so Ruth had time this afternoon to do some of her Guiding things. This was creating fog.
And then creating currents with the heat from a candle (it was supposed to be from a lamp - but we don't have one - so this tealight cover worked really well to keep it a safe activity).
On Thursday Ruth has Technology. She is doing cooking this term and today they made biscuits. As they are not gluten free she could not enjoy them, but she did enjoy decorating them for her teacher and two friends.

Asher at another 1 minute Tonic Clonic at 7pm. Thankfully she had a good nights sleep afterwards.
I showed the girls how to play Around the Clock Solitaire and they have been enjoying that in the evenings. I remember playing it at my grandmothers when I visited her.
Friday 10th: Ruth had created this "volcano" out of fondant when we made the flowers for Asher's cake. She finally got to make her volcano erupt today.
Not the best of photos - but it did work.










Saturday 11th: Hezekiah helping in the garden.

Rachel joined me at the Church's ladies lunch today. Then we managed to get some shopping done in preparation for next week. It was a nice treat for Rachel for all the extra work she will have next week with me away.

Some shopping items were specifically for Ruth. She is back on a strict FAILSAFE diet. So I made her a chicken and cashew nut meal (with a number of portions heading to the freezer) and she was really happy with it.
It was perhaps not the best time to start a "new" diet for Ruth, with her needing all different food. Thankfully we got so much done today (including a chickpea bread) and so at least I know she is sorted for the week ahead.

I also stocked her up on red lentil pretzels. We haven't had these in a while, so they thankfully also tasted really good to her.

As she has to be off gluten and we have to take her off rice too for FS, we ended up using oats to make a lasagna and we attempted to make some sausage rolls. Ruth was happy with them all and I made her some "no tomato sauce" to go with the sausage rolls too. She was always the one who liked that sauce the most. I think it was also beneficial that she helped with quite a bit of the food prep. She loves helping in the kitchen and being a part of it all helped it to be a really positive thing.

I love how she is coming on with her guitar playing. I can't remember why I took this photo in the evening. Her and Rachel are helping motivate each other to keep playing. Now we just need to get Hannah practising too (as she also wants to learn guitar this year).

Anakin decided this was a nice spot for a nap this evening. :-)

Sunday 12th: Someone at church gifted these drums to the children. They are already having so much fun with them. I'm not mad about instruments outside, but they know they have to be very careful with them and not leave them lying around. They did have so much fun though - so it was worth compromising my standards a little. :-)

And then on Sunday afternoon we headed into town to take Asher and I to the hospital. I have written a separate post with all that info. I just wished I had taken a photo of Hezekiah playing with Toby - Asher's main nurse for this week. They had so much fun and Hezekiah was especially pleased with Toby's Star Wars top. :-)
I was so pleased that we could do the drop off this afternoon with the whole family. It helped that the children could all see where we were and it was a help having them around so I could unpack a bit too.

Play, point, pink and pizza

Monday 16th started off very busy. With the girls having been at camp from Wed to Friday last week, it seemed a bit harder to get everyone ready for school this morning. Hannah had mentioned that her stomach was sore, but I wasn't sure if that wasn't just the normal "Monday morning" complaint that often seems to happen after a weekend off school. So she headed off to school and I headed to the play centre with Asher and Hezekiah.
The big issue for me today was working out what to do with "mat time" at preschool. A few suggestions had been made but I felt after the very successful time in a high chair at church yesterday, that was a very good option for mat time. I chatted through it with Nicky and once she understood what my idea was (with fine motor "games" for Asher) she made it her mission to find things around the preschool for Asher.

She found so many perfect games for her (of which she only needed 2 today). So she sat in the high chair a bit back from the group so that all the toys that she may need are around her and easy to get to for Lynda. Asher could then listen to what was going on and when she is ready to participate, she will be able to. The comfort of the chair and the busy fingers helps her to accept this totally "new" situation and allows her to learn and absorb without any pressure. They sang happy birthday to one of the girls and just after that I heard her singing it softly too. So she was most definitely listening. There were a couple of times she looked up and watched what they were doing. So that was great and I was really pleased with this set up.
The ideas is that she will be able to go and sit with the children when mat time starts (as she did on her own last week). But as soon as she gets up (which can be after just a minute) then she can get into her chair and keep her fingers busy.

And the games were also so good. This one was perfect. She has to push the drawing pin in quite hard to get it into the cork. But because there are so many shapes and colours to choose from and a blank cord board to decorate - it encourages creativity wonderfully. The bead one above catered to her desire to do things systematically - with filling each little tray with beads.
While they were busy with morning tea I headed home. I wasn't home long before I got a call from the school. Hannah had complained of a sore stomach and was in the sick room. Because there is a stomach bug going around the school they asked if I could come and fetch her. So she spent a few hours in her bedroom, until 3pm exactly, when school finishes. Then she came out saying she feels better.

Tuesday 17th saw Hannah and I head off at 8am for an appointment with a Homoeopath who had been recommended to us. She did loads of tests and we hope that we have been able to find some key issues that are causing Hannah to be so sensitive to the non-Failsafe foods. Although dairy and wheat are accepted as Failsafe foods, there are some people who find they can't tolerate either. We had noticed that wheat was an issue for Hannah, but the tests today showed that gluten and dairy are both issues for her.
We did come away with a list of foods that she should be able to cope with. So our plan is to get her off dairy and then slowly start introducing the other foods. She will also be on drops for the next 4 weeks to help her body heal. So once healing has happened she will most likely be able to start adding more and more foods back into her diet.

It was such a blessing to be able to leave Asher and Hezekiah at home with Rachel while we were out.
In the afternoon we headed off for Rachel's ballet practice and I wished I had had my camera with. Rachel did one of her routines on point AWAY from the bar. Rachel was the only one comfortable with moving away from the bar when the teacher said they could. Rachel has actually been hoping for this for weeks now. She is doing so well on her point shoes and just loves it.

Wednesday 18th: Josie joined us for our morning at Champion Centre today. It was so nice to see Asher using the above "toy" on her own today. She was able to rock her self so nicely. Previously we had always rocked her. But today she held on nicely and Mariana let go and encouraged her to rock. She loved it.
She again had a really good session with Mariana and tolerated Mariana doing something totally new and different with one of the toys. Previously this would have upset Asher, but today she just ignored her and eventually with encouragement even joined her.
Right: I had to smile while watching Asher with these shapes. She took them off and put them back in her own clear little routine. And obviously put them nicely together in shapes on the table.

Hezekiah made this bird in a nest at preschool today. They had young chooks at preschool on Monday and one of the children had wanted to get a nest for them that he had seen outside. So I think they just used the opportunity to learn about birds and nests.
In the afternoon I ended up leading the Guides session as the leader had to stay home with a sick daughter. Ruth coped with the busy afternoon much better this week than the first week of term. She won't be able to cope with the second session of Karate on Wed evening, but at least she can still go on a Monday.

Late Wednesday evening Shadow decided to go run about when we let her out for a wee. Normally she comes to the door and we hear her when she is ready to come in. This time she found a way out the property. For the first time I just didn't allow it to stress me. The week has been so busy and I was exhausted. So driving around looking for her was just not an option. I was pleased when at 1am I heard her bark and so could go and let her back into the property and into the house. I don't know what she got up to though because she stank so bad.
Thu 19th: Rachel worked this morning and was such a great help and washed Shadow once she was home. It would have put too much strain on my back, so I was really glad she was willing to help with this. Thankfully I got to see my osteopath while the girls where at dance practice in the afternoon - so hopefully my back will just keep improving from here.

Friday 20th: Pink shirt day at school today to support "anti-bulling". Ruth was inspired by the girls "pink day" at Guides on Wednesday, so she really went full out. After I had taken this photo she even found a pink scarf and pink socks to add to the collection.
I headed off at 8 this morning for my appointment with the homoeopath. Again so thankful that Rachel was home with the youngest two. She had a bit of help today as Josie came and watched them for 2 hours so Rachel could get a few jobs done.
As can be expected from the strain of the last 2 1/2 years, my body is really run down. So although the homoeopath wasn't able to pin point a clear area that is causing my body to be so sensitive to foods, she saw enough to start working on healing. We again tested food sensitivities and I also need to be off dairy and gluten. There are also a load of foods that my body should be able to cope with that I can slowly start re-introducing.
Ruth came home with a pizza voucher today. She has been working on it for the last month. She had to read and report in to the librarian on 7 books. Ruth was so excited about getting this done by today as she wanted to give it to me to use on Saturday afternoon. She has such a precious, giving heart.
Saturday 21st: I had a day in town today at a Renew course that Parent to Parent / Altogether Autism was hosting. It was held in this lovely old house, so Ruth asked me to take a photo of it. She said it looked like a castle. It was as cold as one when we first arrived, but thankfully heaters in the two rooms we used managed to warm it up.
I benefited from the day in so many ways. I learnt a lot, but was also really encouraged in so many ways.
It was so good to meet other mothers, who although at different stages, are on very similar journeys.
The course finished at 4 and so I used Ruth's gift to get myself a pizza for dinner for the trip back. It was pouring with rain and really cold out, so a nice warm meal was much appreciated (it was delicious too). I told Ruth I would take a photo as she wanted to know how big it was (it was a Kid's pizza - and the perfect size for me.)
Just for those who were wondering - this was my last day to have a treat, as from this evening I will be going off dairy and gluten for at least a couple of months to help my body heal. I did note on the menu that there are options (with extra cost) for gluten free crust and a dairy free cheese. I decided however to just fully enjoy this "last day treat".
Ruth had so much fun this evening when she found 2 tins of pears - with NO pears. The time stamp on the two was just a minute apart - so there must have been a glitch with the packing machine. She thought it was so funny. Thankfully they weren't our last 2 tins. :-)
Sunday 22nd: Last night Asher hurt her arm and was in so much pain. We put ice on it and I gave her some pain relief so that she could get to sleep. I also called the health line to get their advice on if she needed to be seen by a doctor. Their suggestion was that if she was still in pain in the morning, that we get to the hospital. When she woke she was still unable to use the arm. I couldn't dress her properly and she just let the arm hang (every time she tried to use it, it caused her pain). So we were making plans to have Asher and I dropped at the hospital before the others headed to church.
Amazingly, just 15 minutes before we needed to leave, Brendon picked her up and she put BOTH her arms around him. I noticed her use of the arm and so watched her for a few minutes. She was finally able to use her fingers (she was so upset last night and this morning with not being able to do and undo her pj buttons). Brendon thinks it may have just been really stiff this morning (from her keeping it so still through the night). We were so relieved to see the quick improvement though, and could then change our plans to just head straight to church.
After church Asher had a 1 minute Tonic Clonic seizure. It was just minutes before we were going to leave, so the children understood that we would rather just head straight home and not go to a park on the way. It was also very cold out, and I don't think it would have been wonderfully pleasant out of doors. So we headed home and watched a movie together.
Unfortunately Asher had another seizure at around 6:45. She was very restless and eventually vomited. She has had it before where she gets sick after a seizure. Thankfully that did help her to feel better and she got into a good sleep after that and slept through the night.
The last two pictures are of Hezekiah's creation at Sunday school today. It's always so nice to have his excitement at showing us what he did.