It is a good thing that little man is so cute! His one liners are certainly keeping the staff entertained at school. I learned a little story about him during the week, I would have just died of embarrassment but his teacher thinks he was cute. The class was sitting on the carpet going through their morning routine, when Callum announced (rather loudly) "Not this again! This isn't living, I want to live!!"
He really doesn't watch a lot of TV, but the little he does watch sticks with him. He is quoting a scene in "Wall-E". Wall-E must have made quite an impression on him. Just before school started this year, Callum began saying "What the?". It was never followed by another word (thankfully) and we wondered where it had come from. Then watching Wall-E over the holidays, we heard it - when Mary's hover chair gets switched off and she sees the actual ship.
I much prefer his scripting of Wall-E. We got "Mr Popper's Penguins" for Christmas. He loves to script the scene where the penguin comes out of the bathroom it has been swimming in, and poops on Jim Carey's character.
What is it about boys and toilet humor??!!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
It's gonna be a long year
It's amazing that out of 700 odd kids in a shed for assembly, I can recognise one voice! Mind you, everyone else was pretty quiet when that one little voice decided to yell out. I can't even remember what he was yelling out, such was my embarrassment that all my colleagues would recognise that one voice too.
It's going to take a while for me to be able to sit at the back of the assembly, I just can't drag myself away yet to not be able to see him. (I sit on the other side of the shed, so that's a start!) It's going to take me a long time (let's be honest, I will NEVER achieve this) to not worry about what other people think, particularly about my son. In his short time on this planet (and my relatively short time as a mother) we have already had to deal with our fair share of people's uneducated opinions about our child - about how they think they are observing a naughty child and how we should raise him.
So not only is it going to be a huge learning curve for my boy, but one for me also. Letting him be his own person and realising that these things will happen as they make up the beautiful person he is.
I spoke to my husband about assembly this arvo - I wish I could have his outlook on life. I told him all about my embarrassment and how he had to be spoken to a few times. My husband's response - "Did he stand up and expose himself?" Me - "God NO!" Husband - "Well he doesn't take after his father, nothing to worry about." WHAT?? I've been married to this man for 22 years, it's the first I've heard of it! Lord help me, if that ever happens, I'll not only be down the back of the shed, I'll probably be half way down the road, and I won't know a single thing about what anyone else thinks! Bahahahahaha! :)
It's going to take a while for me to be able to sit at the back of the assembly, I just can't drag myself away yet to not be able to see him. (I sit on the other side of the shed, so that's a start!) It's going to take me a long time (let's be honest, I will NEVER achieve this) to not worry about what other people think, particularly about my son. In his short time on this planet (and my relatively short time as a mother) we have already had to deal with our fair share of people's uneducated opinions about our child - about how they think they are observing a naughty child and how we should raise him.
So not only is it going to be a huge learning curve for my boy, but one for me also. Letting him be his own person and realising that these things will happen as they make up the beautiful person he is.
I spoke to my husband about assembly this arvo - I wish I could have his outlook on life. I told him all about my embarrassment and how he had to be spoken to a few times. My husband's response - "Did he stand up and expose himself?" Me - "God NO!" Husband - "Well he doesn't take after his father, nothing to worry about." WHAT?? I've been married to this man for 22 years, it's the first I've heard of it! Lord help me, if that ever happens, I'll not only be down the back of the shed, I'll probably be half way down the road, and I won't know a single thing about what anyone else thinks! Bahahahahaha! :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
What a week!
So last week, like so many other children across Queensland, my little man started Prep. He was so excited, we were so excited. Callum completed a 'Prep for Prep' course just two weeks before school started. (He blitzed that). He wasn't too keen on photos before we went to school, but he relented and let us get a few. He just wanted to get going.
He had packed a lovely gift box for his teacher - full of teacher essentials - hair ties for little girls, clips to hold pages of work, pens, bandaids for those little emergencies, post it notes (the heart shaped ones because he LOVES his teacher) and flavoured coffee. We had to deliver that straight away.
A little wait in Mum's classroom and then it was time to go and line up. Callum took off straight away with his teacher and left his parents behind. He put all his things away and then went to the carpet to read a book. Not a tear in sight.
He continues to happily leave his mother far behind when he walks to his class in the morning, completes all his jobs and sends me on my way. There are a few little people who are upset when their parents drop them off in the morning. Callum asks me why they aren't excited to be at big school like he is.
He received two playground awards in the first week. We were thrilled. And then on Saturday I checked my work emails. There, staring back at me from the screen was an email from his teacher sent Friday afternoon. Apparently little man has been lashing out when sitting on the carpet, pushing, laying on the classmates around him. I wondered why he walked out with a beanbag cube the other day when I picked him up at home time. Apparently he has been given the cube to try and keep his hands busy and to himself, so far it hadn't been working.
My week was crushed! We've had a discussion, told little man that he needs to use his words and ask to use his rolling pin or big smash cushions when he needs that extra sensory input. He is also under threat of losing his iPad for the weekend if I get another email like that this Friday. (So far, he tells me - 2 days - that he has been using the cube and being a good boy.)
But, apart from that hiccup, it was a great first week. He is still so excited to go and comes home excited about his day. We have a challenge at our school to ask our children "What did you learn today?" I ask this of Callum and his response is - "I learned lots of stuff." So then I have to ask him to be more specific and choose one thing that he can tell me about. According to Callum the only work he does is trains. (I sure hope that isn't true, he used to say the same thing about Kindy and I was assured that he did lots of other stuff.)
He had packed a lovely gift box for his teacher - full of teacher essentials - hair ties for little girls, clips to hold pages of work, pens, bandaids for those little emergencies, post it notes (the heart shaped ones because he LOVES his teacher) and flavoured coffee. We had to deliver that straight away.
A little wait in Mum's classroom and then it was time to go and line up. Callum took off straight away with his teacher and left his parents behind. He put all his things away and then went to the carpet to read a book. Not a tear in sight.
He continues to happily leave his mother far behind when he walks to his class in the morning, completes all his jobs and sends me on my way. There are a few little people who are upset when their parents drop them off in the morning. Callum asks me why they aren't excited to be at big school like he is.
He received two playground awards in the first week. We were thrilled. And then on Saturday I checked my work emails. There, staring back at me from the screen was an email from his teacher sent Friday afternoon. Apparently little man has been lashing out when sitting on the carpet, pushing, laying on the classmates around him. I wondered why he walked out with a beanbag cube the other day when I picked him up at home time. Apparently he has been given the cube to try and keep his hands busy and to himself, so far it hadn't been working.
My week was crushed! We've had a discussion, told little man that he needs to use his words and ask to use his rolling pin or big smash cushions when he needs that extra sensory input. He is also under threat of losing his iPad for the weekend if I get another email like that this Friday. (So far, he tells me - 2 days - that he has been using the cube and being a good boy.)
But, apart from that hiccup, it was a great first week. He is still so excited to go and comes home excited about his day. We have a challenge at our school to ask our children "What did you learn today?" I ask this of Callum and his response is - "I learned lots of stuff." So then I have to ask him to be more specific and choose one thing that he can tell me about. According to Callum the only work he does is trains. (I sure hope that isn't true, he used to say the same thing about Kindy and I was assured that he did lots of other stuff.)
Friday, October 31, 2014
I have an email to write!
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| supermarket gingerbread train |
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| LEGO monster train |
Callum could not go past this stand. In fact, I was able to go back outside and get a trolley while he stood there, lovingly holding the box and examining every detail. "Please Mummy can we get the Lego Monster Train?" We don't celebrate Halloween in our house, so I was happy that he wanted to make the LEGO train. It does look similar.
"We have to wait until it is dark Mummy, it's the scary night." Nothing gets past this kid. We have settled that we will make it tomorrow, when we have more time. We have read through all the instructions and are pretty impressed that this kit comes with a tray to help keep the gingerbread pieces in the right position. Something that the Christmas train kit did not.
I have an email to send to the Create a Treat company. They don't even have this train on their website in the Halloween section (it wasn't in Valentine, Christmas, Easter or Frosted Cookies either!). We know about the Christmas train, but I need to let them know, that for the train obsessed Junior Master Chef, we need a train to cover all the special days.
They could just have a plain train and we could decorate it ourselves for each holiday. January - Australia Day, February - Valentine's Day, March - St Patrick's Day, April - Easter, September - birthday, October - Monster Lego, December - Christmas!
I could become their best customer!
Thursday, October 30, 2014
What a cutie!
What wonderful friends I have who have been so supportive (and a little outraged as well) about my last post.
When we return from Kindy our first stop is always the Library station. I love that he loves books. We usually read a few then select one to borrow. (That might be the next staff complaint - usually the students are limited to a set number of books they can borrow, Callum borrows lots of books, far more than the specified limit) He found a penguin one straight away "How did that get there?" at the top of his lungs - he returned it at his library lesson this week. Then he read a dinosaur book, he couldn't borrow that one - too scary. He settled on a train book - surprise, surprise.
We then moved on to the DP's office where little man put on quite a performance. He happily chortled away about trains, when a friend told him that her brother drives a train he replied with "I don't believe it!" (It really is hard to convey the way he says these things in printed word - just know it was cute)
He had already had his marshmallows (weekly treat) and had also scored a lolly ring. When he was offered another sweet treat, he replied " I think I had enough." He enjoyed looking through the treats to see what was available, but didn't want anymore.
He asked to look at trains on the computer. He happily stood and watched (little arms moving like the chugging of big engine wheels) and then happily sat and watched in the chair when it was offered to him.
He then sat in my lap, happily announcing "Mummy I love you."
He is such a cutie!!
When we return from Kindy our first stop is always the Library station. I love that he loves books. We usually read a few then select one to borrow. (That might be the next staff complaint - usually the students are limited to a set number of books they can borrow, Callum borrows lots of books, far more than the specified limit) He found a penguin one straight away "How did that get there?" at the top of his lungs - he returned it at his library lesson this week. Then he read a dinosaur book, he couldn't borrow that one - too scary. He settled on a train book - surprise, surprise.
We then moved on to the DP's office where little man put on quite a performance. He happily chortled away about trains, when a friend told him that her brother drives a train he replied with "I don't believe it!" (It really is hard to convey the way he says these things in printed word - just know it was cute)
He had already had his marshmallows (weekly treat) and had also scored a lolly ring. When he was offered another sweet treat, he replied " I think I had enough." He enjoyed looking through the treats to see what was available, but didn't want anymore.
He asked to look at trains on the computer. He happily stood and watched (little arms moving like the chugging of big engine wheels) and then happily sat and watched in the chair when it was offered to him.
He then sat in my lap, happily announcing "Mummy I love you."
He is such a cutie!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Building Resilience
What a week for building resilience my little one has had! I think he has handled it really well.
First - he can't go into the staffroom at work anymore. He loved going in there to sit at the table and have his afternoon tea. He also visited one of the Deputy Principals and got a tasty treat. Such is teaching, I do not finish work when the kids go home. I still have work to do, so Callum often comes to my room while I work, then on our way out to various therapy appointments, we would stop and have a quick afternoon snack in the staffroom (it's where the fridge is, I don't have one in my room).
He would also go to the ladies toilet with me before we left.
Someone at work complained, so now he is not allowed in there. I can understand that it is a teacher's space, but it wasn't crowded and I certainly didn't do it when social gatherings were being held. I wasn't ready to send him off to the toilets on his own (he'd have to use the older kids toilet and I'm not ready for the teasing and comments about the weird boy who acts like a train. I'm sure there would be a complaint if I went into the boy's toilet with him, and if he went into the girls toilet.)
So he has had to wait outside the staffroom. He did get teary and upset, but it didn't last long. Luckily the Deputy Principal is very understanding and she came outside to him.
His second resilience lesson was on the weekend. We went away for the weekend, our sole purpose really was to go on a steam train. Callum has a very clever daddy who decided that we would go into the town where the steam train was, to check that we knew where we were going the following morning. We went to the local information centre, who informed us, that the steam train was not currently operating on account that they hadn't completed the necessary government paperwork on time. (We did ring a fortnight earlier to check that it was still on, yes we always run was the reply!) Imagine if we had shown up Sunday morning, complete in our train engineer costume that we had packed?? Endless questions about why the train was broken, but other than that, he handled it very well. "We can come back another time, when it's not broken."
The third lesson was his show and share on Monday. He has daycare and school on Monday. Callum thought he had his show and share (a pamphlet of the steam train from the weekend that we were supposed to go on) at daycare but we couldn't find it. He thought someone had stolen it. Some little tears but then after talking with him, and reminding him that it might be at school, that he could check the next day, he was happy.
They don't seem like big things, and not that Callum has huge meltdowns, but they pretty important to him. Learning to regulate his emotions and calm himself quickly are important skills that he needs to develop. I'm so proud of how he has handled himself this last week - especially the second one!! :)
First - he can't go into the staffroom at work anymore. He loved going in there to sit at the table and have his afternoon tea. He also visited one of the Deputy Principals and got a tasty treat. Such is teaching, I do not finish work when the kids go home. I still have work to do, so Callum often comes to my room while I work, then on our way out to various therapy appointments, we would stop and have a quick afternoon snack in the staffroom (it's where the fridge is, I don't have one in my room).
He would also go to the ladies toilet with me before we left.
Someone at work complained, so now he is not allowed in there. I can understand that it is a teacher's space, but it wasn't crowded and I certainly didn't do it when social gatherings were being held. I wasn't ready to send him off to the toilets on his own (he'd have to use the older kids toilet and I'm not ready for the teasing and comments about the weird boy who acts like a train. I'm sure there would be a complaint if I went into the boy's toilet with him, and if he went into the girls toilet.)
So he has had to wait outside the staffroom. He did get teary and upset, but it didn't last long. Luckily the Deputy Principal is very understanding and she came outside to him.
His second resilience lesson was on the weekend. We went away for the weekend, our sole purpose really was to go on a steam train. Callum has a very clever daddy who decided that we would go into the town where the steam train was, to check that we knew where we were going the following morning. We went to the local information centre, who informed us, that the steam train was not currently operating on account that they hadn't completed the necessary government paperwork on time. (We did ring a fortnight earlier to check that it was still on, yes we always run was the reply!) Imagine if we had shown up Sunday morning, complete in our train engineer costume that we had packed?? Endless questions about why the train was broken, but other than that, he handled it very well. "We can come back another time, when it's not broken."
The third lesson was his show and share on Monday. He has daycare and school on Monday. Callum thought he had his show and share (a pamphlet of the steam train from the weekend that we were supposed to go on) at daycare but we couldn't find it. He thought someone had stolen it. Some little tears but then after talking with him, and reminding him that it might be at school, that he could check the next day, he was happy.
They don't seem like big things, and not that Callum has huge meltdowns, but they pretty important to him. Learning to regulate his emotions and calm himself quickly are important skills that he needs to develop. I'm so proud of how he has handled himself this last week - especially the second one!! :)
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Maybe I do have patience afterall
Yesterday I went to seminar on transitioning to Prep for ASD students. It was being presented by two ladies whom I have come to know well (they made a joke about me being a frequent flyer and requested if they have a loyalty card! :)
I was reminded that you can never rush a person with ASD. (One of the ladies favourite sayings, reminding us parents that organisation is key.) I thought I had followed all Callum's rituals for the morning and so was trying to move him out the door and off to Kindy.
Just as I got to the front door, Callum told me that he wanted to read his book to me. This is an A3 book that he made at his ECDP class of nursery rhymes. "Sure honey, that would be great." So he promptly sang all the nursery rhymes in his book - all 5 of them, complete with velcro parts that have to be acted out. (Imagine 5 speckled frogs that all have to take their turn jumping off the log.)
When he got to the end, he returned to the front cover and named all the pictures. He stopped at one delightful picture of a woman (imagine Mary Poppins) holding a gardening fork. "What's that song Mummy?" "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary." "That's not in the book, the picture has to come off!"
Luckily I was able to persuade him that the picture could stay and we were able to leave the house. I must remember to hide that book tonight. :)
I was reminded that you can never rush a person with ASD. (One of the ladies favourite sayings, reminding us parents that organisation is key.) I thought I had followed all Callum's rituals for the morning and so was trying to move him out the door and off to Kindy.
Just as I got to the front door, Callum told me that he wanted to read his book to me. This is an A3 book that he made at his ECDP class of nursery rhymes. "Sure honey, that would be great." So he promptly sang all the nursery rhymes in his book - all 5 of them, complete with velcro parts that have to be acted out. (Imagine 5 speckled frogs that all have to take their turn jumping off the log.)
When he got to the end, he returned to the front cover and named all the pictures. He stopped at one delightful picture of a woman (imagine Mary Poppins) holding a gardening fork. "What's that song Mummy?" "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary." "That's not in the book, the picture has to come off!"
Luckily I was able to persuade him that the picture could stay and we were able to leave the house. I must remember to hide that book tonight. :)
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