School

Now I remember why I hate school.

So we've been dealing with what most would class as major issues with James at school. It started out that we were being called in to discuss his issues with a couple of kids on the playground. At the time I was a bit dubious because I felt that he was being singled out for stuff that I have seen plenty of other kids do. But because we were interested in dealing with issues instead of burying our heads in the sand about them we went along and discussed things with his teacher.

James has never been a talkative soul, in fact trying to get an answer to a simple question can be a struggle so when he made a couple of comments over the last school holiday's about 2 particular children we took him seriously because they were spontaneous and anyone who knows him knows he rarely says anything about serious things spontaneously. :) So when school went back we had a chat to his teacher about it, asked her if she'd noticed anything out of the ordinary and told her to keep her eyes out. Then just last week we had independent confirmation by both another teacher and a student in his class that what he had been telling us was happening was indeed going on. Turns out our boy wasn't the 'perpetrator' but was actually on the receiving end of these particular students. So of course we saw red!!!! Here we've been trying to deal with his unacceptable behaviour at school for MONTHS when it turns out that for months he's actually been harassed by these kids and anything he's been 'caught' doing is in defense of himself; no wonder the poor kid has had issues with anger and aggression lately as I suspect he feels like a) it's HIS fault, b) that no one is hearing his side and that c) no one cares because they can't see that he is the victim not the instigator. So to say the least, he's since been told that he is allowed to defend himself if necessary, within reason, because he usually tells a teacher or us about it where he would just lash out before and we'll deal with it then.

I know we can't protect them from everything,b ut it seems really unfair for him to be labelled as something he is not because these kids, when he tries to avoid them just follow him around telling other kids not to play with him or try and incite him to do something so he'll get in trouble. We are still deciding if we want to take the issue further, because at least one of the mothers doesn't seem that keen, or truly bothered, by her sons' behaviour unless he is the one who is on the 'receiving' end when James stands up for himself. THEN she wants to step in and stop whatever it is she sees that she doesn't like..........so it's okay for her son to run around not allowing James to 'get on with it' but if James in any way tries to get away or stand up for himself then it all has to stop??????

Academically, he seems to be doing really well. He's a great reader and his maths skills are coming along nicely.....though I think he's like me and would much rather be reading than doing maths. :) He's alot more talkative and seems to have mellowed out a bit in recent weeks since we've found all this playground stuff out so hopefully things will continue to improve.

AWOL

So I have been MIA and I'd like to say I have good reasons, but not sure I do. :)

So what's been going on since my last post you might ask? HEAPS! Gosh, I sound like a teenager.

We've been dealing with issues at school regarding James,
We've looked at a couple of houses to buy that unfortunately haven't really gone anywhere,
We've been going to bed obscenely early because we are just too tired not to,
We've been contemplating David's work situation which is enough to make anyone's head spin,
And on and on it goes...............

So hopefully I will get back into the swing of things and start posting more stuff, even if it is boring. :)

What I've Been Reading

So anyone who knows me well knows that I love to read. Once upon a time the only books you could catch me reading for pleasure were romance novels. Romance novels are very hit and miss, but when you've got small children sometimes you like a bit of escapism and an 'easy' read. About 12 months ago however, a friend of mine got me thinking about some serious topics so my choice of reading has changed dramatically over the course of that time.......mainly because I love to learn about new things, especially if it impacts on how I parent.

This 'review' if you will isn't about parenting though, well not directly anyhow. When my dad died there were a lot of complex and heart wrenching decisions that had to be made. One of the hardest ones was deciding how far he, and we, were willing to go to prolong his life; or as we viewed it his suffering. So I was having a nosy in the local library, as you do here because to buy books is just too expensive and I stumbled upon a book purely by accident. It is called "Rethinking Life and Death, The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics" by Peter Singer. I don't usually read books that cover 'serious' topics, but as it is something that I have had to deal with personally and that I think about regularly I thought that it might make for an interesting read and it did.

I won't go into great detail about what is in it, one because it would take forever and two it's quite complex. The basic premise though is that it looks to redefine what it means to be alive and dead and how that applies in allowing people to die with dignity, with assistance if necessary, instead of keeping people alive for as long as possible just because you can and it's what you are 'supposed to do'. It tackles things like our current understanding of what it means to be alive and what it means to be dead and how changing the way we think can make it easier for some people to die with the dignity they want and deserve instead of being forced to go on living when it's not what they want. He certainly asked some hard questions and challenges you to think outside the box when it comes to issues that deal with life and death, not just in defining what those two words mean, but how the quality of the life you are living doesn't usually enter into the equation when it comes to getting the death that you want. There's quite a bit about euthanasia in it and the controversy that surrounds it as well as the very different views on it depending on where in the world you live.

So definitely worth a read in my estimation, if you are interested in that sort of thing of course.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Here we are, another year gone and I still sometimes wish that I could just sleep through this day and wake up tomorrow. It's not supposed to be a sad day, it's supposed to be a happy day, but with you gone there doesn't seem much point to it all. It's been a somewhat quiet day with James off at school, though I did take Alex to morning tea at the midwife co-op who looked after us before and when he was born. Alex then decided that he didn't need sleep and only napped for about 90 minutes, when he usually has about 4 hours.

It's funny, last night at around 9:30 James woke up and refused to go back to sleep until after midnight...though I am not sure of the time as David was up and down with him while I tried in vain to sleep. He seemed restless and unable to sleep, and maybe reading too much into it now, there might be something to that. I am hoping he sleeps tonight, as very little sleep over the past few days is taking it's toll.

A poem seems appropriate somehow, but my brain is not engaged enough to even attempt to come up with one tonight. So this is just an acknowledgement for a life that enriched so many, who guided and shaped, who laughed and cried and who taught me so many things about life and happiness and fun.

So happy birthday daddy, and wherever you are I hope it's a good one.

Power

So after getting some much needed sleep after about 36 hours of not sleeping, at midday we get a power cut. I was just sat at the computer while Alex had his lunch next to me and all of a sudden everything just turns off. I ring the power company and of course they know nothing about it and as I am the only one at home during the day I couldn't really ask if anyone else's power was out. So what do you do when you have a small child and no power.....the only thing you can do, you go out.

So off we went to find me some lunch and to return the DVD that we borrowed from the video store the other night. We were gone about half an hour and when we came back the power was still off, but I had discovered driving from Pinehaven to Silverstream that at least the supermarket in Silverstream had power..........but then I would expect that from a supermarket. Luckily, after another 15 minutes or so the power was back on and 'normal' life could resume, as I was told that it could be 4-6 hours before power was restored.

So now all I have to decide is what we are having for dinner.

I need sleep

So I am new to this whole blogging thing so not sure how it works so will just ramble and see where I end up.

Now I shouldn't still be having sleepless nights now that Alex has decided that sleeping at night is a great thing to be doing, unfortunately someone forgot to tell my body that because I have been awake, except for the occasional doze for going on 23.5 hours straight. I went to bed relatively early last night, well for me, at a very respectable 9:30pm, by 12:30am I was wide awake after nearly 3 hours of tossing and turning and so was David. We decided since we were both awake that we'd watch the DVD we rented, expecting that we would be so bored by it that we'd fall asleep in about 30 minutes. Though the movie wasn't that riveting, it unfortunately didn't serve its intended purpose of getting us off to sleep so nearly 3 hours later David got up to do some work while I stayed in bed reading a book. I was tired by 4:15, though was well aware that one or both of the boys was liable to think that 5:30ish would be a great time to start the day........I wasn;t far off as James woke at 5am, just as I was trying to doze off again after a 30 minute 'power nap'. David sent him back to bed I learned later, but he was up for the day at about 5:45, shortly before Alex was at just before 6am. So I abandoned trying to get any more sleep and got up, feeling not nearly as tired as I would have expected for basically having no sleep in more than 24 hours as I had fallen asleep midday the day before while watching telly with James, spilling tea everywhere in the the process.

James was home again today, after I swore he had conjunctivitis yesterday so kept him home, he had a 2 hour nap about 11am, even though he said he didn't need one, yet I wasn't feeling tired enough to go to lie down myself, even though Alex had been asleep for nearly 2 hours by that point; in fact I was wide awake. I had lunch, tidied the lounge, did some washing and even watched the episode I taped of ER last night that I thought I was too tired to watch. Alex woke up about 1pm, with James not far behind at about 1:15. James got up and refused lunch, as did Alex really though he had a drink. David came home about 3pm, his usual time these days with his new hours and I had a few minutes to myself, where surprisingly I still wasn't tired. We all milled around until we had dinner about 5pm, the kids were bathed an in bed for about 6:45, though neither slept. Alex was cuddled for a bit before being put back to bed and James was up and down until he finally went off about 7pm. So I decided to goof off on the internet for a bit, fully expecting to want to get an early night, yet here I am, 9:07pm and still awake and not remotely tired.

This is similar to an experience I had about 10 years ago (potentially dating myself here) when I was up for 3 days straight. I nearly lost my mind and I didn't have small children to care for at the time for added 'fun'. I am not sure if I am going to attempt to go to bed, David has been in bed for about an hour, and as far as I can tell is asleep and if I'm not going to I don't want to keep him awake. Stay tuned for the next 'exciting' installment of my insomnia journey, hopefully this will be the only entry and I will have gotten some much needed sleep.