A quiet few weeks on the blog front. Makes me wonder what on earth I have been doing?!
I guess just living, surviving.
Sleep is still a challenge with Sammy. I am not biting the bullet. I feed him about every 3 - 4 hours at night. I know everyone will tell me that he doesn't need milk, that I have created a habit/need of his to have me settle him to sleep. But you know what - 75% of the time I really don't mind doing it - I love the dreamy, hazy, hormonal head spin of breastfeeding in the quiet, in the dark and I love just feeling S's warmth and fuzzy hair head and squishy arms. 25% of the time I am a walking zombie though, that really just longs to remain horizontal and for the crying to stop. I guess when those percentages start to shift I will start doing things differently. Sammy still is playing with his food, so no real nutrition from that yet so I guess I don't mind all the feeding as it is all being used for good benefit.
William is delightful. A real joy to be around. 90% of the time. I love children at 4 years old. I would keep them between 4 and 8 years old if I could. I still love Tom as he nears his 8th birthday - I hope I continue to love the ages. Tween and teens are apparently challenging! William's language and thoughts expressed through language give such insight into his little brain workings. He is so affectionate and loving and passionate. He says random things like, "Mummy I love the moon", throughout the day.
Eddie is a tyrant when he is with his brothers, but such a gorgeous boy on his own. He is really quite striking with his blonde hair and greening eyes. He runs like a toddler still with pumping bent arms and a distinctive wobble. His language too is terrific and he mimics me or his brothers so well. For example, Tom takes ages to eat his meals, mainly a delaying tactic in the morning for piano avoidance, so I have been known to yell, "Eat!" to him. Well Eddie has picked this up and yells it all the time now to Tom, with my exact intonation and pitch and volume - oh dear. Tom is not charmed. Similarly, William has some little speech peccadillos like saying "Where you are, Mummy?" which Eddie now copies. William also is a great mime. If he is concentrating on something else, he uses gestures very effectively, like, "Talk to the hand!"
Thomas is growing up. He recounts stories now so well, he has deep and obscure thoughts. He reads voraciously. He still has lapses of concentration and focus, for days at a time. It worries me dreadfully and I wonder what I am going to do, and then it seems to come good again for a while. I am sure it is gluten related, but also tiredness and lack of physical activity. Lesson Number 27 for mothers of boys - run them till they drop. You can never do too much physical activity with boys - it helps them concentrate, eat well, sleep well and just generally be happy. When we have a few days without - we all go crazy.
We are back into piano after the broken arm. We finished Book 2! What a milestone - just some touching up on the pieces and we will have our big home concert and party (hosted by us, where the teacher presents his trophy - we will probably invite some other piano friends as well). Then we have a mission to learn to read music - should be pretty straight forward as he knows how to 'talk' so learning to 'read' is a natural next step in Suzuki method piano. Also we need to do more scales and chords - Tom loves this for some reason - I hated it - maybe because he has never had to do any yet - not like classical piano where it is all scales it seemed. For those in the know, Book 2 Suzuki is the equivalent of Grade 2 or 3 AMEB. So T, at close to 8, is doing terrifically well.
I am LOVING my Thermomix. It has completely changed how we eat. I experiment a lot - some successes, some failures. Gluten free bread still alludes me. But amazing discoveries - like making our own butter and peanut butter (so easy, so cheap and so clean of the additives you find in store bought goods). Tonight, for example, I made almond milk (from almonds and water) and we had almond milk banana smoothies for dessert. This afternoon after cooking mashed potato for dinner (didn't even peel the potatoes - too much effort and Mr Gray (I discovered I am misspelling this - but it does prove my point that I never read the books) whizzes it up in 20 minutes while I do something else), I made some 'rawlicious' lunchbox treats. I made coconut cream (from dessicated coconut - nothing else - amazing) which was used as the 'glue' for muesli snacks (that had goji berries, craisins, pepitas, sunflower seeds, cacao nibs, dates) - freeze for 15 minutes - they were so so popular in this house by all. An awesome lunchbox treat. And it takes longer to pull the Tupperware out of the cupboard than it does to make in the Thermomix.
Tomorrow I am going to a business information session on becoming a Thermomix distributor. I am thinking it may provide a bit of income between now and January next year when I go back to real work. I am clearly passionate about Mr Gray and actually would love to share this with others. I can do all of it out of hours as well like weekends and evenings when D can look after the kids. We'll see.
I am back into my running. Joy! Really, joy! I have been doing it after my pilates classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Tonight I outdid myself and ran over 6 kilometres. I was going to run 5 kilometres but a friend remarked that I should 'punch out 6 km' and I never could turn down a challenge. I know I will move like a robot for a few days - but the endorphins are awesome.
I had a cleaner come to our house today for the first time. It took her 5.5 hours to clean the house. She was exhausted, poor love. I am thinking of getting her fortnightly as I never seem to get to the heavy duty cleaning like dusting, mopping, mirror cleaning etc. It is always a cursory clean that I do which is not sustainable long term. Gina, today, was very particular in her cleaning - I need someone like her as the voice of my hygiene conscience.
Our 'Managing Your Children Program' has been very enjoyable and successful. I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who would a) like to be more calm in their parenting day to day and b) have more clear, effective strategies to make their children do what you want. Both of these goals are really important to me, but mainly point a). I think I am 80% there. We are still going to the sessions and D is yet to do a session (he still needs help with a) and b) above so I can't wait for him to attend and practice the techniques). The kids love the sessions and actually get upset if they are left out. We are doing permutations and combinations now of children. That is, Tom and Eddie, then William and Eddie etc working up to all three of them together. The sessions are taped and so at some stage I can post a few highlights on youtube. Some of the early sessions are quite funny - with William checking out mid session (ie not wanting to follow my instructions) and hiding behind a cupboard, and also William, when my back is turned, doing the opposite of what I asked, but then going back to as instructed before I turned back (I only knew he did it when I saw the tape!)
One of the keys for managing the kids is to praise like crazy when they are doing the right thing. Specifically if one is not, go crazy praising the others that are and, presto, the other comes in line to not miss out on the mother-praise. It is heart breaking actually to see how much their little faces light up when you give them genuine, gushing praise. Even my tough nut Tommy. To me it seems way OTT but for them it doesn't. Eddie (my challenge child currently) is like a compliant puppy when I do this - but ask him directly to do something and 'No!'. Kids just want you to think they are wonderful really. Honestly I can say my stress and yelling has come down 80%. I just want D now to get them same stats for him!
So that is the last few weeks in a nutshell. As mentioned in previous posts I had the pleasure of my Dad's company for a week - so nice to have an adult with me all day. D's M&D are back in town after six weeks cruising the Mediterranean (tough, I know). So let the sleepovers recommence! Also they are going to have a day a week with E as well - he is so excited about a train ride with Poppy and Nanna.
One thing W has been asking me is to go horse riding. Specifically he asks to go on a horse when it is running (none of this being led around at a fair at walking pace thanks, Mummy). So I have teed up with an old friend whose children have a pony to see them this weekend. Well it is like I bottled Christmas for William. I am looking forward to the day trip to beautiful Samford and catching up with our friends.
Tom is playing Under 8 soccer for the local club. I have somewhat deliberately not been involved this year. I find the soccer parents a little overbearing. Well this has come to a head lately - with unsportsmanlike behaviour from some of Tom's team (from both the boys and the parents) as well as Tom not being selected for the 'special' team behind some boys who are poor sportsmen/selfish players/uncoachable players (but with a big kick and big tackle - foul or otherwise tackles). I am so not fazed re him not getting selected - but the selection process seems inappropriate for 7 years old. Being soccer tactics smart, Tom often gets placed in defence which he enjoys but he doesn't get to kick goals like the aforementioned boys. Anyway, other parents are also up in arms - so we will see how it pans out. It might be rugby for us next year - better sportsmanship, perhaps?
Well it is late and I have downloaded most of our activity for the last wee while. Hope you made it through the epic saga that it was. Catch you around.