I'm feeling rough

I hate having that feeling when you wake up that things aren't going to go right. I took Kayne to school on Friday, we nearly had a funny because there was a new teacher doing his welcome group and he didn't know her. But i managed to settle him with out him getting upset. Got home and did the normal bits and bobs on the pc and cleaning etc. About 10:30 i suddenly thought 'have i been crying?' which i hadn't but my face had that feeling...then my eyes were itchy and i thought damn maybe my hayfever had come back. No; i woke up this morning with my eye glued shut - i think i have conjunctivitis.

I left the meeting feeling a bit crap. I don't think their plan is going to work and i'm so worried that Kayne is going to bare the brunt of it...i don't want to ever see him depressed again. i have a sneaking suspicion that they don't really know what he can do. I felt like i was being scoped for how much i had 'taught' him. It has removed my confidence that i was gaining in the fact that he is different. I was sure we were going to go to the NAGC weekend but now (again) i'm riddled with doubts over whether he fits the 'gifted' label. I'm annoyed with how secretive all this gifted stuff seems...no one will come out and say X,Y and Z, it's winds me up. They said 'he's at the top of the Early years curriculum in academic subjects', ok but does that mean hes in Yr 1 level or what? I mean i can look it up online but i'm not a trained teacher. I'm also not stupid, i am also pretty good at sensing when people are being evasive or not telling me the whole truth. Which is how i felt about what they were saying. Or at least they were hiding something/thinking something about the situation that they weren't saying (paranoia anyone?).



On the other hand he is ok there as he has 'come alive' again in the past week. He talks about everything non stop right now. He told me today ' if I went to town and Grandma went to town and they we that would be a coincidence.' Which was kind of shocking. And 'if you are going to cross the road you must look around and use your conscience. ' We played 4 games of Quixo and he has won 3 times... and i'm not letting him win. I've been thinking about buying him Rush Hour Jr. because he likes the logic puzzles. I guess i'll have to get Checkers out and play with him again, maybe he'll take a little longer to trounce me with that. He's chosing to pick books up and read them. I've noticed him reading in his head occassionally; i was playing a Wii game and he started talking about something one of the ingame characters said except it was written on the screen and not being spoken, so he must have read it.

She is growing up...

Lani has 2 or 3 new teeth.. i think it's 3 the way shes been with it. She is suddenly talking in 2 word sentances, she is making up signs because we aren't keeping up. She has something like 60 words, rough estimate. She is pretending to be a frog?!? She can't jump yet but she bends her knees, springs up whilst yelling ribbit! ribbit! She makes the little people kiss with sound effects mmmmwah! Is just growing at an astonising rate!!

Here we go again....

Last week Kayne stayed home because he was ill.

Monday i got a phone call asking to pick him up becuase he said he was 'poorly and needed a nap' so i obliged although he was happily playing all weekend.

Tuesday, he complains a bit and i said to him that he was fine, i also told the teacher i would not come and get him unless he was hysterical or obviously sick. Sounds evil but i know he could convince them that he was unwell just to come home.

Wednesday, he doesn't want to get dressed for school, he begins the slow walking he did at Winchcombe. Tells me he doesn't like it anymore. but comes home telling me about what he's done.

Thursday, 'I don't want a polo-shirt, i want a shirt. I can't put my shoes on, my tounge hurts (in fairness it probably does but hasn't stopped him doing anything else), i don't wanna go'. Walks to school so slowly tortoises could over take him. When i pick him up he is fine; telling me he has a new book, a new friend etc. We go to the shop and he walks normal speed.

Friday, he didn't want to get dressed walked really slow but was ok when we got there, just a little reserved. he came home telling me about going to the allotments with the school and making another friend.



I feel confident that he is not bored. I don't understand how he has gone from racing me there to lagging meters behind. I don't understand what is going on in his head.

He doesn't talk anymore he whines about everything, somedays i wonder if he is really unhappy and that we are missing something obvious. He is so draining right now, Lani is really getting into the independence/tantrum stage and i'm finding myself out of my depth sometimes...which is new to me and i will admit a bit scary too.
I think we need a new strategy to combat the whining as nothing seems to work right now. I want my happy 2/3 year old back. Not this grumpy, whingy, unmotivated 4 year old. Maybe thats the key and i just haven't realised how deep it goes or maybe i'm using it as an excuse.

All sorted now!

Lani is fine after her op. We got there and had to inform them of contact with said chicken pox, but as neither have had spots yet they said that they would do it.
She had Elma put on her hands for the sleepy stuff, which we've used before for the blood draws after the injections, though we warned them that they are unlikely to find veins on the back of her hands.
She was really good with not messing with her mini boxer gloves. She played happily with the crayons and a little boy about her age.
She was called down around 10:15. They decided to use gas and although she didn't like being held (she wanted to play with their bubbles) she fell asleep without any struggle or crying. I didn't cry either as i knew what was going to happen and that she was in good hands - i mean these people do about 20 ops a day so the chance of anything bad happening is slim.
We went and got something to eat and drink and got back to the ward at 10:45 and theatre had just called and said that she was out.
We went to get her and she was sitting on a nurses lap. The other nurse said that they didn't get chance to do observations on her as she was moving as soon as she was awake. She had gone straight to the nurse with glasses and then when we got there transferred herself to me. We went back to the ward and after a bottle, she was running around the ward about 15 minutes after she had woken up!!
It was funny she was like the poster girl for the NHS; a gown on, a cannula in her foot, running around with a big grin on her face as if nothing had happened.
Two days on and her eyes are lovely and clear, no gunk, no tears unless she is crying. Although we have noticed how little her nose had run until this point. She is sneezing a bit which i think is because her nose is not used to it but it'll get better. So now we can have pictures without gunky eyes and sticky eyelashes.
She weighed 11.6kg or 25.5lbs

A picture of her 'new eyes' :

Sickness and operations

Well I mentioned that Kayne's friend was away - turns out he has chicken pox. So now Kayne is at risk of having it. He had a temperature on Friday and it was worse over Saturday and Sunday. Monday he was better, barely a temperature, and wanted to go to school to see if M was there. The nursery called me at 10 ish and asked if I'd collect him as he told them he was 'a bit poorly'. I walked over and he was very hot again, they suggested he was getting chicken pox as he had blotchy hands? He fell asleep at 4:30 and woke the next day at 11 am. We've been dosing him with Calpol and Neurofen (fever combat style!) but his temp was still up. Then i noticed his glands and looked in his throat - ewww!! Booked an App for this morning. He has bad tonsillitis and may still possibly get chicken pox.
As he has had it for 5 days we've had to have antibiotics, if he doesn't improve in 2 days then we have to go back....

Tomorrow is the day of Lani's eye operation. The past 2 days her eyes have been disgusting. I'm glad that we have decided to get them sorted but it doesn't make you worry any less. I can't imagine how I'm gonna feel tomorrow holding her when they send her off to sleep - i won't let Mark do it (even if she decides not to like me after). I think the worse thing is going to be that she can't eat for several hours before hand - she is going to be so cross.

Video montage for Kayne

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I wanted to put text in it but apparently you have to pay beloved bear which you see in the show too.

I'll do one for Lani soon.

Holidays in May, late....

Oh gosh! i've just realised that i haven't posted anything about our holidays. We had a great time in the New Forest With Grandma and Grandad. Kayne wasn't interested in the ponies, but Lani kept signing that they were dogs. We finally managed to go in the amazing toy shop. It was great! and we spent monies.
Butlins was just as good but more tireing, but we had fun.
I've made my first video montage. I think i may have to make on for both Kayne and Lani...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A bit of everything

This is gonna be a tired ranty kind of post. I have the knotted feeling in my stomache and i have no idea why.

i think Lani is teething again. She's grumpy at best. The only taking one brand/flavour of medicene is annoying as i can't keep her pain free. She is waking early, then is overtied at nap time. Today she had 45mins instead of the normal 2-3 hours. I'm so worried she is going to drop her nap. There will be no hope for me when she does. I haven't figured her out yet. She gets so frustrated sometimes and i'm not used to it. Or aleast not like she does it. Kayne got frustrated but he had more verbal ability (at the same age) than she does, i could talk to him about it but with her she just screams, stamps her feet and cries.

It's strange that they are so different, some how i seem too think that he had better language than Lani at the same age but i'm not so sure. Maybe the difference is that she NEEDS that thing right now! she MUST look at that particular blade of grass even though we have seen a gazillion in the past 3 steps....maybe this is the intensity i read about in other children that i feel Kayne is lacking in the assigned title of 'giftedness'.
Maybe i am looking at her too closely in comparison to Kayne. So lets see what does she do that is different to Kayne, that is unqiuely Iolani....
~ Pretend play... She loves her bears! She has been feeding them, puts them in push chairs etc, since she was about 13 months. She makes tea for everyone at Grandma's with their tea-set.
~ Mimicary... she repeats words, sounds, and sentance sounds instantly. Diego: can you say larga, lani: lar -ga . Her signing is good too, she understands the concept of signs and so when i show her one she repeats it quickly (the latest one is 'again').
~ Birds... I have just this second realised that she is obsessed with birds. She gets so excited when she sees one. she stamps her feet and shakes herself, shouting birdy! and signing at the same time. Nature i suppose is her big joy.
~ Climb...She is very physically gregarious, she climbs everything, up slides, onto our bed, moves toy boxes so she can get things.

Kayne is his uniform on his first day.

I was really pleased to get kayne's reading age, i thought it would help. But it seems weird, the books at his reading level he won't touch. The school ones he gets are good so far, i've noticed that they are slowly getting more lines on a page. Hopefully then he will be more inclined to pick books that aren't 'learn your ABC's' or something similar.
We've had a wobbly school week, 'i don't like it', 'it's got too much playing' 'i don't like it when they call me a star', comments which threw me a bit until i found out that the boy he likes is away at the moment - so i'm hoping that it's all to do with that.

I think i need to reconnect with my children. It sounds weird but i think that when you get comfortable with how things swing you forget that they grow, change and become new people right infront of you and in such a small space of time. I think that i have been trying hard to look at whether i am parenting the way i want to. I have needed this time to adjust myself and my goals - now though i need to be involved and relax (not that i've been letting them run riot, just been very introspective).

Adorable

Anyway on with a new day...

The English School System

Private Nurseries:
These take children from around 3 months old. The children can continue to attend until (and including) the term preceding their 5th birthday. e.g. children have to be in full-time education by the start of the term following their fifth birthday. These are open all year round and you have to pay monthly fees, cost depending on how long your children are in their care. You are often able to use the government pre-school place money against the cost of a session from the term after your child turns 3.

Pre-schools:
Most start from 3years until 5years, although sometimes there are places for 2 year olds. Mainly open during term time, they generally offer morning or afternoon sessions. Some may have all day session. They are often run in village/church halls and are sometimes called play-groups. you may have to pay a small fee for each session until the term after your child turns 3, after which the governments pre-school place money should usually cover the cost.

School Nurseries:
These usually take children the term after they turn 3. It is usually free e.g. governments pre-school place money should cover the cost. The first year is usually foundation (F)1 and the second is F2 or Reception (although some schools do use other names to tie-in with the rest of the school). Having a place in F1 does not guarantee a place in the school(ie: starting in F2), you still have to apply for a school place through your local council. Some school nurseries have a waiting list which accepts names from when they are 2.

I believe all of these settings follow the Early years birth to five 'curriculum'. Everything is based on learning through play.