Production, karate and patterns

Monday 19th: Production day has finally arrived. Rachel and Hezekiah watch the production at 1pm today. I managed to get some photos before it started.
Don't they look great.

I only just managed to get this one of Ruth as she was in the main cast, and just about to go in. For some videos of the production, have a look here. I took them on Wednesday night when Brendon and I got to watch it.


Just look at how lovely those blossoms are looking.


With Brendon spending most of the day in bed today, he didn't go to karate this evening. Hezekiah got dressed in his gi as he often does when the girls get ready. So I asked him if he wanted to with them tonight. He was SO excited.




I expected to stay for just 15 minutes with him and then bring him home. He surprised me by staying really focused and listening so well.
Thankfully the 2nd sensei arrived and gave Hezekiah some one-on-one time while the others practised their complicated katas.
At one point Hezekiah was a bit distracted by their loud shouting (kiai) and so Bernie asked if he wanted to watch them for a bit. So he watched for a bit and then Bernie called him back to do some more work.
Bernie was so very good with him.


Hezekiah was struggling to stand on one leg for his kicks, so Bernie got onto the floor. I only got a photo of him explaining the blocks to him, but he also helped him so much with the kicks in this position. Hezekiah could hold Bernie's one arm while Bernie used his other arm to direct Hezekiah's leg and explain exactly where it was meant to be on each count.
It was a great first session and he is very excited about going with them next term (they will miss Wed because of production and then it's 2 weeks school holidays).


Tuesday 20th: Hezekiah is learning about bees and pollination (in a simple way) at preschool and so had this song to sing for us today.
I'm having a Math week with Rachel. She has been plodding away with her Math on Monarch, but has some gaps. Unfortunately I only noticed after a couple of months of her struggling. So we got the Math-U-See DVDs out. I had bought the Algebra 1 by mistake when she was meant to go onto pre-algebra - but then started Monarch, so never used them. Already the videos she has watched have been a great help to her. So she is going back and filling in the gaps.
Over the last week or two we have been looking into Rachel starting with her NCEA Levels once she turns 16. She can do these through Te Kura - The Correspondence School for free from when she is 16. If she plans her subjects well, she can also potentially get University Entrance with her NCEA Level 3. She is very excited about it all and is motivated to get it done as quickly as possible. Now to just be patient as she waits for the next 6 months to start.
Wednesday 21st: I remembered to get a photo today of the big drum and the frogs. It was even better today as she included the vertical chimes in the pattern. She would make a nice long stroke along all the chimes and then place a frog. Ali sang a song along with her and really enjoyed it.
Ali explained to me that these music sessions are normally totally child led. She does however see now that Asher does get very stuck into routines. So she is happy for me to introduce new ideas (like the frogs on the drum) to stimulate her creating new patterns and games. I am so glad we had this breakthrough. I am so excited to see what she will come up with in the months ahead.
As it was the last day of term, a teacher was away, and Ali had to leave early, the whole day was a bit different. Most of the children just enjoyed free play in the two play rooms. Mariana is very aware though how much Asher enjoys routine, so she offered for Asher to at least have two early sessions - the one with Ali and then one with the speech therapist. I was so thankful for this. It did help Asher so much today.
Once she had her two sessions she headed to morning tea. It wasn't long and she wanted to get out of that play room though. I wonder if it's because of how busy the room is. Not only with all the pictures on the walls and toys around, but also 4 other children with their carers. She was thrilled when she was allowed in the play room next door (where she normally does fun physical activities with Mariana). I think she thought it was just a normal session with Mariana, but then other children came in to join her too. It was great to see her coping well with changing her game slightly (like taking turns) when others came to play with. She had so much fun with the bean bugs and frogs. Asher and one of the boys sat for ages on that swing and threw bean bugs into this big bowl or a bucket that I had. At one point it was a game of throwing them bean bugs anywhere but into the containers. It was a really fun morning for her and wonderful for all of us to see her interacting so nicely with the other children. A clear benefit from her regular time at preschool.

I got a lovely surprise this afternoon. Ruth brought a pile of cards and a present from the Whero class - for helping with making their tops for the production. So sweet of them.
In the evening Rachel stayed home to look after Asher and Hezekiah and Brendon and I got to go and watch the production. What a treat for us to go out in the evening, and wonderful to see the girls doing so well in their production. It's been a tiring week for them with the production on Monday afternoon and then the two evening performances which only finish at around 8:30.
Thursday 22nd: I always have a big of a challenging morning on Thursdays at home with these two while Rachel is at work. Thankfully Asher is quite used to following me when I say I need to go to the toilet. She just knows to go with me (as I can't leave her on her own for even a couple of minutes). It's always lovely when Asher and Hezekiah get to enjoy a game together. I was hunting for something metal for them to use the magnets with, and this worked nicely. We are going to miss him next term once he starts school.
I'm starting to really look forward to the ballet travelling as we have started listening to the Kingdom Series. Rachel got these audio books ages ago (and I listened to them at the time with Rachel). It's so nice that Hannah and Ruth are enjoying them too now. Hannah especially enjoys telling me about all the biblical links that she picks up on. They are great books and I can highly recommend them.
Hannah is very excited as she is also going to join Ruth now in the opening scene at their production.
Friday 23rd: I often have washing to put up on a Friday morning and I try and get it done before Josie arrives to watch Asher - as Asher always wants to help. Today she was not happy to just pass me the hangers, she wanted a 2nd thing in the pattern and so started putting pegs on the clothes horse after each hanger passed to me. It's incredible how much she enjoys having 2 activities going at the same time.
I was especially thankful for the time that Josie was here today. Rachel and I had so much to do in the kitchen and got so much done.
This afternoon I suggested Asher try throw the balls into a bucket (rather than just across the room as she does every afternoon). After our Champion Centre visit on Wednesday I thought it would be really good for her to work on her aim in this way.
It was the last day of term today. The girls are looking forward to the 2 weeks of holidays. They both came home with colouring in competitions.
This was Ruth's creation.

And Hannah's one.

Car seat, countries and cuteness

Monday 11th. Ruth had a follow up appointment at the hospital this afternoon. She continues to be a bit of a mystery with excessively high B12 and inflammation. Thankfully her knees havn't been too sore lately and there are no swollen toes or fingers. The doctor plans to see her again in a couple of months, in the middle of winter, so we can see if things get any worse with the cold weather.
We had a few things to get on our way home and because I can't just buy her a food treat (with our FAILSAFE diet) I treated her to some flowers for outside their container.
Wednesday 13th: Ruth had a choice if she wanted to come to Champion Centre with us today (because now with the small car I can travel with Asher on my own). She decided she wanted to have one last visit before she starts school. She always enjoys doing some art work. This was her creation today.

This ended up being the only photo I got of Asher today. I spent quite a bit of time talking to a different Occupational Therapist about Asher's car seat situation. We had discussed some of the issues we have (one being she is just too good at undoing buckles, even Houdini clips). I had a form to fill in and the therapist answered questions on-line too. At this stage it looks like we will even be able to get funding for the car seat that the therapist is suggesting would be good for Asher. It will give her good postural support if she has a seizure in it, and it will be impossible for her to unbuckle herself. It will also last for many years (the age goes up to 13).

This evening Hezekiah and I enjoyed playing with the dominoes while the others were out at Karate. He is getting really good at setting them up (without bumping them over).

Thursday was a longer day than usual because after Rachel's ballet I dropped the girls off at the St John rooms to get some extra training done. Normally the Golds (older children) practice on Thursday night, but they invited the younger children to join to this week as they have competitions coming up on Saturday.

Thankfully the time wasn't drawn out for me because today I decided I would just leave them at dancing and head to the Amberley Library so that I could get some work done on my home computer (I do love the internet and clever programs that allow things like this). I got loads done in the almost 2 hours I had there and then I got the shopping done while they were at St John. So a long but very productive afternoon and evening out (we only got back after 8:30).

At 5:30 Asher had a 1 1/2 minute Tonic Clonic. She went very blue around her mouth and it was rather sad that she had only had a short 4 day break since the last one. Thankfully is was only a once off though and for that we are grateful.

Friday 15th: Rachel, Ruth and I headed to an International Day that the home school families were hosting. I was so glad we heard about it. Perhaps next year we could do a display on South Africa. At least we now have loads of idea of how they do it and what works really well.

Brendon came home at lunch time so that I could head off with them and leave the younger two at home with him. He is such a wonderful father and I am so very thankful for him and his dedication to the family.

Ruth enjoyed taking her "passport" to all the different displays and writing about her favourite things and things that she learnt. They collected stickers at each display too.

The Japan display was HUGE. The family have lived in Japan for a number of years (I heard) and so have collected a lot of things. There were other displays that were much more simple, so we are not too intimidated to have to try and compete. It's all about learning and enjoying the variety of country and display. All in all a very nice afternoon.

I took this photo of Asher in the evening just as a reminder of how much she loves doing her buttons. She is really good at doing them too. She will button them up and then un-button them a few times. Another very repetitive activity which keeps her fingers busy. Such a sweet girl.