The light at the end of the tunnel.

If you've been a reader here for any length of time, you'll know about our many and varied struggles to get Firstborn and Second Son ready to face the world independant and hopefully self sufficient.   Autism is not an easy condition to live with, nor it it easy to live alongside it.   The highs can be oxygen depriving, the lows can make six feet under look like a day at the park.   I have walked so many angry frustrated miles, mostly up and down the footpath at the bottom of our street, while trying to work out the best way to do things that should come naturally but don't.  We've done button phobia,  food phobias,  waitng-for-the-traffic-lights-to-change-to-the-same-colour-they-were-last-time phobia.   We've tried medications that helped and others that were a catastrophic disaster.   And we've started again.  And again.  And again.   We've struggled with relationships,  school programs and bullies.   With organisational issues and bus timetable freakouts.   With unknown substitute teachers and unexplained classroom changes.  And today, Firstborn's case manager rang me to announce that she's going to have to jab him with a fork to elicit some bad behaviour from him, in order to set his next lot of IEP goals.   He's made the journey from frustrated, fearful and unwilling to face any change to a calm, responsible student in the mainstream academic program, looking at University placements.  And we rejoice.  And are thankful.  Always and forever.

Live from the Tipi.....

We had a major shift around at Planet Hartwell over the weekend....Second Son decided that he was in serious need of preteen privacy,  so FF and I swapped rooms with him, giving him a room with a view (and a door), and leaving us living in the Tipi.  It's not really a Tipi, but it has no door, no windows and the only daylight filters through a skylight in the roof, so the name kinda fits.  It's also the main inland route between Planet Hartwell and Nannaland, where the mother of all mothers resides in solitary splendour, so there's fairly constant traffic flowing in both directions.  And I love it.  I wish we'd swapped years ago.  The boys make frequent pit stops,  while on their way to nanna's to feed the cat/walk the dog/take the rubbish out.  The cat spends mornings with me, the dog does the afternoon shift.   In the evenings, I can guarantee at least one child and two animals will be perched on the end of my bed, learning their times tables and grooming their ears, while I fold the laundry and watch Bridezillas.  Space is in short supply....the mother of all mothers says it looks like a cross between a Lifeline Shop and a Moroccan brothel ( and she would know how???)  but she's just jealous, 'cos her room has four straight  walls and a door. 

Don't argue with crazy people.

Witnessed the following at the school crossing.....

Lady in a maroon car pulls up in the No Standing area.   She's a daily offender, we've all spoken to her numerous times.  She's of Asian heritage, and speaks English with a pronounced Asian inflection.

Crossing Guard. "Ma'am, you can't park your car there.  It's an absolute No Standing Zone"

Lady.  Proceeds to unload two children from the car and walk them across the road (not using the crossing)

Crossing Guard.  "Ma'am, No Standing means you can't stop your car there AT ALL"

Lady.  Walks children into school,  reappears several minutes later.

Crossing Guard " Ma'am, if you'd just take a look at that sign, you'll see that you're breaking the law."

Lady (at top volume)   " I KNOW I NOT PARK THERE!!!  EVERY DAY YOU SAY MA'AM YOU NO PARK THERE!!!   I KNOW NOT GOOD PARK THERE!!!  YOU TELL EVERY DAY!!  EVERY DAY!!!  I HEAR YOU EVERY DAY!!!   I KNOW!!  NO PARK THERE!!!!

* have you ever noticed that if someone starts yelling at you in broken English, for some reason you start doing it too??

Crossing Guard (equally loudly)  "IF YOU KNOW, THEN WHY YOU PARK THERE??  EVERY DAY YOU PARK!!  EVERY DAY WE SAY "NO PARK THERE, NO PARK THERE!!!"  WHY YOU NO LISTEN??"

By this stage I'm creased up on the footpath, having ruptured something small but important, trying not to hee haw like a hyena.   I'm so glad I'm off till Easter.

Travelling in circles.

I've entered a wormhole and I'm back in 2006.   I don't know what it is about Grade Six that turns ordinary kids into feral animals, but this is the second time round for me and things haven't improved.  Part of it is the age I guess, and part of it is that Second Son is probably as different from the norm as he is ever going to be, and that is pretty much all it takes to make you a target.  At a time in life when being the same as everyone else seems to be the only aim in life, those kids who don't fit the mold are in for a hard time.  Aspergers will do that, every time.  And second son is getting it both barrels.   He's doing his best to cope, but is showing the same signs of stress that Firstborn did at the same age.  So I'm taking a sabbatical from work for a couple of months so that I can concentrate 100% on his needs and hopefully implement some strategies that will make things easier for him.  We've also got a couple of other options on the back burner as well.   Panadol sandwich, anyone?

Reading Jan 29th-Feb 6th

                            is for reading
 A trip to the library last week set me up with the three latest installments of the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles, including The Fallen Kings, which was a first time read for me, and almost regrettably brought WW1 to an end.....it's amazing to think that the first book in the series covered almost seventy years, and the last four have covered only about six years in total.  Of course there was an awful lot happening, plus the fact that there are so many dedicated records and source materials to provide background and details.   I found myself getting out my atlas and retracing some of the battle lines, just so I could have the settings clear in my head as I read about them.  Brilliant!!  
On the audio front, I'm working my way through the Sookie Stackhouse series, although I'm kinda holding back till my blackberry arrives, hopefully some time this week, so I can get FF to load all my current lists on to my new toy!!  Love me some reader friendly technology!!

How to lose friends and alienate people.....

I'm feeling supremely unpopular this week, thanks to the boys in blue turning up on Thursday and Friday and booking large numbers of stupid parkers on both streets outside the school.  I must have had two dozen extremely irate parents doing their fingerpointing/chest poking routine at me, wanting to know who was responsible for them getting a ticket for parking in a no standing/bus zone/2 minute zone.  Seriously....'I've just found a ticket on my windshield for parking in a no standing zone....who's resposible for it??'.   And when I asked them who parked the car, I was rewarded with lazer beam eyeballs and requests for my superior's phone number.  (She's gonna have a busy week). Plus one threat to inform the Prime Minister that I was behaving in a totally unreasonable manner and putting small children's lives at risk by not allowing their parents to double park in the face of oncoming council buses.   All in all, probably the two most supremely satifying and enjoyable days at work I've ever had.
And Julia.....if you're reading this,  don't worry about responding.  I know you're on my side.