Magnificent Breakthrough!

   I'm quite a proud Mumma today.

Miss Maddison played Pass The Parcel at a party today!!

     For most parents, it's pretty much standard that their kid play games at parties. They all join in, and have fun, and laugh and enjoy the day, and blah blah blah.
Yes.
For most kids.
 Not for my Maddison.

Maddison loves going to birthday parties. She loves the idea of a birthday party. She loves the food, and loves the kids. But she doesn't quite understand them.
She doesn't get that you need to join in the games that are played. She doesn't understand that it's not a time to be off in your own little world and playing alone.

    At a birthday party, Maddison is often watching a movie, or watching tv, or playing by herself. Not surprising really, because when she does try to join in she's not very successful. 
At her 5th birthday party, her two cousins in attendance were bullying her - they told all the other kids not to play with Maddison, and completely ostricized her. She was found crying her eyes out, and told us what had happened. The kids were told off, but Maddison is still upset to this day about it. She often brings it up, and as much as we tell her that it's in the past and not to worry about it because it won't happen again, it's still upsetting for her.


   But today she went to a birthday party for one of the little girls in her class.
I hung around for about half an hour before I headed home, just to make sure she was settling into the party. It was an outdoors party at a local park. Since Maddison isn't a wanderer any more, I don't worry about leaving her there without me to supervise her.
   As I was about to leave, I saw Madd leave the playground and head over to a grassy area. She lay down on the ground and covered her face with her hands.
I went over to her to find out what was wrong, and she was upset that the other kids weren't playing with her. She couldn't quite understand that, at a party, not everyone plays with everyone. They all go off into little groups and play. They don't have to play all together, and that there's nothing wrong with that. Happy  again, she went off to play.
     It was quite good that she actually WANTED to play with the others, usually she's just off doing her own thing. But the best was yet to come.

    When I got back home after picking Maddison up from the party, it was mentioned on Facebook that Maddison had joined in and played Pass The Parcel! This is a first for Maddison. 


Since getting glasses, Maddison has been a completely different child. It's like a miracle. Glasses have been the breakthrough we needed to get through into Maddworld. 
And it's brought her out into the real world.


Hooray for parties! Hooray for pass the parcel. Hooray for glasses.


And HOORAY for Maddison!











 

Thomas - a really useful engine

    Miss Maddison got a Thomas the Tank Engine set for one of her birthdays. She LOVED it, and still does.
Fast forward a few years, and Cooper is OBSESSED with Thomas. He takes at least two of the characters everywhere. And now I have to make a tricky decision.
     
     Should I add to the diecast set that Madd already has, or should I get a whole new set so that they don't argue over them? Madd likes to play with the Thomas set, and often has trouble keeping Cooper away from it. He loves to play with her, but sometimes she just wants to play without him - which is fair enough.

     I've fallen in love with the wooden Thomas sets, and I've heard they last a lot longer and are more durable. 
And there are a lot more different trains, tracks and accessories. 

    So now I have to make the decision - and soon. Cooper's second birthday is coming up, and since Thomas is his one true love, there's not much point getting him anything else. So it will be a very Thomas birthday.

Is it rude to ask people to get him something Thomas? Most people ask what they should get him, but is it rude to ask them to get him some Thomas stuff?

     And should I go with wooden or diecast Thomas?

How to choose childcare

    It's a question that most mums or dads will have to ask themselves at some point.
HOW do we choose childcare?

There's many things to take into account as far as your needs as a parent, such as:

* Location?
* What hours does my child need to be in childcare?
* What facilities does my child need? 

I'll give a quick run-down of my feelings on this.


1. Location

 Does the centre need to be close to work or home? Do you mind travelling 5 minutes in the wrong direction if the best childcare (in your eyes) is located there?
This is a tricky one. If you work more than ten minutes from home, this will be a decision you need to take into consideration.  Bearing in mind that you'll be paying for days that your child is enrolled regardless of whether your child attends or not, you can choose a childcare that's close to home OR close to work, OR somewhere in between.


I have personally experienced both.
When my daughter was a toddler, I had to return to full-time work.  I chose to put her into a childcare that was very close to work, but about 45 minutes' drive from home. It was great, in that I could leave home a bit earlier, spend time to get her settled into childcare, and then get to work on time without having to rush.
BUT... when I was too sick to go to work but still would have loved to stick her in childcare to get a break from her to get myself well again, I had to drive 45 minutes to do so. Also, if the CHILD is sick and needs someone to get them, it's a lot harder if they're far from your personal network and people who can pick her up if you can't leave work.




2. Hours

  Not all centres are open for the same amount of time or the same hours.
Some centres don't start until 7:30am, but some are open from 6:30am. If you have a job that starts early, this may be something you need to take into account.
Some centres close at 5:30pm, or 6pm, or even 6:30pm. If you have a job that finishes any time after 4 and you need to travel, be wary. If you choose a centre that shuts at 5:30pm and you get stuck in traffic, it can be tricky. Picking a centre with longer opening hours can be crucial if you're working full-time.


 3. Facilities

   All kids have different needs, but I feel pretty confident in saying that you want staff to love your child. Or at the very least, like them a lot. No, I'll be honest. You want them to love your children. You don't want to feel like your kids don't need you, but you want a childcare that you can feel confident in leaving your children in. You want staff who your kid will get excited to see when they walk in the room, 
   I recently decided to put my youngest in childcare 1 day a week. Just one day a week. I'm studying at night a couple of times a week, and the workload and homework is amazingly huge. So I need a bit more time to get it done and hopefully rest as well! So off I trotted to a place that was advertising in the paper. I hadn't been there before, and when I arrived I was overwhelmed. 
There were kids running amok (not unusual for childcare), but the staff didn't seem all that interested in interacting with them. Not ALL the staff, but there was only really one staff member that I felt was really spending time with the kids and enjoying it. 
    The staff were very harsh with the kids, they weren't happy smiling staff. I spent 2 hours there, and at the end of it was really not comfortable with leaving my child there. So I decided to go with the place I'd previously sent Miss Maddison to, where she'd done her Kindergarten through the childcare centre.

    The staff at Master Cooper's new creche (Miss M's old one) are lovely. They are smiling happy people, who are stern with the kids when they need to be, but also dearly love the kids. They treat them with respect, and never get cross unless they have to. I shan't mention the creche's name, due to my child's recent enrollment and privacy reasons, but they are an amazing centre. 


So I urge you all - when enrolling your child in childcare, take the time to "orientate". All childcare centres recommend that you do an "orientation day", where you take your child in for a few hours or even a whole day, you stay with them and see how they settle in. I wasn't impressed with the first centre, I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my son there. You MUST go with your gut when it comes to picking a childcare centre. After all, our children are so important to us! If you don't feel 100% comfortable with the centre, don't enrol your child there. Obviously there are times where you have to enrol wherever you can get a place, but if you're not happy with that centre, go on a waiting list for a more preferred one.


GOOD LUCK to those who have to or choose to put your kids in childcare.
And remember, sometimes childcare is the only way that mums can get a break. Not everyone has grandparents or friends who will mind the child/children at ALL, not even once every couple of months.
So don't judge those who don't work but put their child in childcare anyway. 


Have a good day, everyone :)
And as always, if there's a topic you want me to write about, send me your suggestion, either on Facebook
or to jenna_cooksley@yahoo.com.au












  

"I hate you Mum"... plus "The wonderful world of toilet training"

  Ah, the wonderful words that are screamed from my frustrated 6 year old's mouth. 

"I HATE YOU MUM! You don't even WANT to be a Mum! You're a bad mother!"

   It's hard not to take those words to heart. It can be a very difficult thing to handle. The older your kids get, and the wiser you get, some of us understand the reasons behind those words.
She WANTS to stay up late, and she doesn't understand why she must go to bed at the time that you tell her - even if she's previously agreed to that particular time of night for a bed time. When she is woken up by you in the morning with a "Come on, you have to get up or you'll be late for school", you are met with dislike and disdain. Mine even throws it back at me when I've given in the previous night and let her stay up.
"It's all YOUR fault Mum, YOU should have made me to go to bed on TIME!". 

     One of the hardest lessons to learn as a parent is that, no matter what you do and what decisions you make as a parent, you can't please everyone. If your child goes to bed at 8pm, those who send their children to bed at 7 will believe it's too late. Those who send their kids to bed at 9 will believe it to be too early. If you smack, if you don't smack, if you choose public school, if you choose private school, if you give your kid lollies, chips, McDonalds, if you feed your child nothing but healthy food.... there's always going to be people who disagree with you. The sooner you learn THIS lesson and focus on your beliefs as a parent and NOT trying to make everyone happy, the happier you and your kids will be.

      
Master Cooper is currently toilet training. He isn't 2 until August, but he has had some success already and we're only a few days in. Sure, there are wees in the nappy. There are SO many people who have said that he's too young, and that I'm starting too early. Miss M wasn't toilet trained until she was 4. She just wasn't interested. Cooper, however, is very interested, and is motivated by adding a new sticker to his Thomas chart (Thomas the Tank Engine) that we have taped to the wall next to the toilet.
This morning, he wouldn't let me put a nappy on him - he ran to the toilet, sat down (with my help), and promptly did a wee. I made a HUGE fuss over it, and he was thrilled!

  Parenting is a lot of ups and downs. Last night we were at the hospital after Master Cooper decided it was hilarious to put peas in his ears. After a couple of hours' wait at the hospital, the doctor quite cheerfully fished them out - much to Cooper's delight. He LOVED the feeling of having his ears scratched so deeply, he must have had itchy ears!!

   So we continue on the toilet-training path, despite the nay-sayers. I'm not expecting instant learning, but he's definitely got the idea.

Life Update

   Hi all.

Just a life update.

Maddison is doing well at school, COMPLETELY different kid since she got her glasses.
I urge anyone whose kids have "behavioural problems" to get their kids to an optometrist who specialises in kids. Turns out most of Madd's behavioural issues stem from her being frustrated due to her very poor vision.

Cooper is currently being toilet trained. This is a feat and a half, because I'm not only fighting with a stubborn toddler but I'm also dealing with Daddy, who doesn't like pee "everywhere". He's "sick" of pee everywhere. And it's Day 1. REALLY??
Daddy believes that we (WE, unbelievable since I'm the one who has the kids 5 days a week AND is expected to be responsible for all the toilet raining 7 days a week!) should wait until he's "ready"... in other words, wait until it's easy. It's never GOING to be easy.. unless we do what happened with Maddison who refused to have anything to do with toilet training until she was over 4. I refuse to wait that long when I KNOW that, although Cooper may not have complete control of his bladder yet, he knows how the toileting stuff works.

I have an "oral presentation" to do at TAFE tonight. A talk.
I'm the person who picked Literature instead of English in Year 12 to avoid the ONE talk that we had to do in English!   I know the subject extremely well, I know word for word what I'm going to say, it's all memorised.
Now it's just down to nerves.

And there's a lot of nerves. I DETEST public speaking, but I'm trying to think of it as "informing a group" instead of "public speaking"... so we shall see how it goes.

School pickup begins in half an hour. I have to leave home in 20 minutes so that I get a decent car park, otherwise I could end up having to walk for miles. Not that it would do my weight any bad if I DID have to walk.. maybe I SHOULD start getting there later and walking a bit further!

     I'm sinking back into depression at the moment. I can feel it happening, and I'm trying not to get sucked back in. It's a battle I feel like I'm losing. I'll write more on that next update, which will probably be later tonight. I really don't have time right now to write everything I want to.

Hope y'all had a great day :)

Karise Eden

   I watched the new show on Channel 9 tonight, called The Voice.
I wasn't really convinced about whether it would be a good show or not, I've never really been a fan of "Reality TV", simply because it's all so doctored and based on opinion.
  
This show blew me away.

    Not just because of its way of the judges selecting the contestants solely based on their voices (the judges have their backs to the singer), but because of one particular contestant.

Karise Eden.

Karise is a young lady from Melbourne. She isn't "stereotypically beautiful" (thin and gorgeous), but she has amazing soul in her voice. She sings with amazing power, and then to hear her speak in such a shy tone after her mind-blowing performance was unreal.
     She definitely throws all her emotions and feelings into her singing. It's her "happy place".

For those who haven't seen it, I recommend you check it out on the Channel 9 website HERE

Words just can't describe how truly amazing and powerful her voice is. And within that power is an amazing ability to hold a perfect tone. It's not wavering power, it's strong power with perfect pitch.

JUST AMAZING!!

    WELCOME to the home of my new blog!


For those of you who haven't read my blog at the previous address and who don't know me personally...
I'm a 28 year old gal from Australia. I have 2 children, Cooper (born August 2010), and Maddison (born December 2005).
I have a very complicated family, which I shall do a blog about shortly.

I have a Youtube account as well, right here
with some great videos of the kids. I'm not really a "talking" sorta person, so none of me as yet.

I'm studying Certificate IV in Disability at TAFE at nights, and I'm about to begin volunteering one day a week at Nepean Special School.

I have many friends and kids-of-friends who have autism. I may have mild Aspergers, but I'll probably never get tested. It means I see the world differently to most, and often have trouble with emotions and feelings.
My daughter is being assessed in July 2012, she has severe behavioural and social problems.

If anyone wants to see a specific topic mentioned on here, please email me . I'm always open to doing new topics :)  and I'd love to hear from you.