[Nicole]

Love it Shelley!

Can we pre-arrange dates for 10 years or so?

[Tamara]

Meleliza so glad you had fun rummaging through your old things. I used to keep swatches but found that my filing system was quite dismal and they went missing anyway. I love that you found the old patterns. I have been searching high and low for some vintage type patterns that weren’t included when I moved the bulk of my sewing things to the current nest. I have found them since though as I went down to the cottage to have a good look this morning. Fil and the new wife are coming out on Friday and I would never get the chance when are here. Its a bit of a thrill when you find something you’ve been looking for for a while. Like meeting up with old friends you haven’t seen in years. I also found a farbenmix pattern I haven’t used and sadly can’t for Imogen at least. But I am so glad it actually turned up.

We are in for some rain hopefully tonight. There is a severe weather forecast and Perth is tipped to get 50mm. Its already blowing a gale. I’m just waiting for my summons out the paddock to help “wet and dry” the ewes (sorting the ones who have had lambs and those who haven’t). It’s my chance to help out a bit and I quite enjoy the process.

[Nicole]

No sewing on the weekend for me, I turned 40 and my love took me away for Saturday night.

We stayed in a dear little pub in the Adelaide Hills in a very swish spa room.

Jed had booked us into a good restaurant but my feet wouldn’t fit in my posh shoes so we stayed in and ordered room service.

The next day, we walked the town, investigating Antiques shops, did a quick Spotters run (for drafting interfacing, velcro and plain navy rugby buttons) and drove home the long way.

Perfect weekend.

40 is looking like a very good year!

[Tamara]

Happy birthday Nicole! Sounds like you had a weekend of being absolutely spoiled!

[Nicole]

Thank you Tamara, I was, thoroughly.

[Robin]

Happy Birthday Nicole! There is something magical about being in your 40s. More confidence and less caring what other people think.

[Tamara]

That actually sounds rather liberating Robin. I will get to experience that December next year – did the 30’s drag for you? I found my 20’s whizzed by but this decade is going a little slower.

[Tamara]

Does anyone know of some very good homeschool programs in Australia? I just arrived home from spending the day being happy and having my first trimester scan to find out that school is demanding a meeting with us next Tuesday afternoon with the principal and a whole conglomerate of admin staff plus the teacher and the school psych to tell us that Noah’s behaviour is “beyond a joke”. I asked him today if he was in any sort of trouble today and he said no I did my work and the school is making it all up.

I have gone past my wits with this. With all the other stresses in our life at the moment this has to break the camel’s back. It makes me very sad to think they want to do this now when the teacher could grab five minutes to tell me what happened when I am in the classroom. The last time she spoke to me she told me that he had a great day! That was last Tuesday!

I am going to see if I can get an appointment to see the GP tomorrow and plead for an urgent paediatric referral to be done! And then think on options as to what I can do to educate him elsewhere.

[with love Heidi]

Tamara, can I suggest you get a referral to one in Perth not Gero. This is purely based on working in the health system there over 10 years ago. But if you can manage the trip to Perth this may be a better option. I wanted to send you a Fliker message but I haven’t dealt with the no Facebook/google so I’m locked out of the website and only have the app available.

[Nicole]

Thank you Robin, I agree %100 with you!

Tamara, sleep on it and think on it. It will be hard but try and be calm and listen. Take notes, if they are genuine they will see you are on the ball, if it is nit picking, that will bother them.

Is he old enough for Boarding school?

[cybele727]

Happy Birthday, Nicole! I found my 30s freeing, but when you experience censure for leaving someone practically at the altar, you’re very free! 😉

Tamara- I am so sorry to hear about school. Frankly, their professionalism is beyond a joke. No matter how a child might be behaving (not that Noah is a problem child), no matter the behavior, you simply don’t say that. A true professional educator does not have that mind of attitude.

School is a system. Those gears inexorably grind and children who are outliers in any way are often harmed by it. A school’s goal is to get every child to be the same, with small variations. Some children thrive. Some don’t. I am sorry.

[mcholley1]

Nicole, Happy Birthday! It sounds like Jed treated you well!

Tamara, I wish you a peaceful resolution and a good fit for Noah’s education, whatever that may be.

[Tamara]

Heidi, I have to pull out all stops! I just want a referral to someone independent from school with no pre conceived ideas. School asked if we were seeing the paediatrician who visits town? Had no idea one came here but there is no wise choice in acting on school’s advice these days. They want me to “do something” well, if the road blocks would disappear, I’d have more luck. There is a current nine month waiting list for an appointment but school is going to continue to jump up and down and make life unbearable. I want to have lockdown and keep my babies at home because of it!

Nicole, he goes in year 7 to school where I believe he will absolutely fly! Imogen goes in year 8 and I just wish we could send her earlier just to get her to a better school. But she doesn’t have the issues Noah seems to have now that is and believe me they did their fair share of jumping up and down with her too. It is just too long in between now and then though.

This particular woman who rang does nit pick – at habits! And makes a public point of them which humiliates the child. Unfortunately she still teaches and is not full time locked away in a little office somewhere. Placing a tissue box in front of my son would be a very clear message without humiliating him publicly – we use this strategy at home.

I bet these “issues” happened weeks ago as the teacher has not mentioned anything untoward but then I don’t find that I can chat to this teacher and be heard as I can with Imogen’s teacher. I walk past this “flapping” woman often at school and never does she pull me aside and say we need to talk. It shouldn’t be her who talks to us anyway. The teacher did say she would like a meeting but I asked her for her list of concerns which I took to the doctor who told me the list was ludicrous and that I would be on the right path to get an appointment to the clinical psychologist (roadblocks here). I was wanting a “professional opinion” first in order to “present my findings” to them. Unfortunately they are becoming quite cranky with us, thinking we are hiding and doing nothing.

If you ask me, it is them who are doing nothing. They need to look at the environment and think what would be triggering his behaviours. I asked them to do this when I had to have a meeting about Imogen (also in year 3) because she was being bullied. They went away and found that we were right and backed off. With this situation though they are taking a different tactic and won’t back down.

So today after I have to take the kids to school ( and I feel like I have to feed them to the lions) I have to call the GP and see if I can talk to him and plead for a referral to someone relevant and then spend the day on the phone trying to get an appointment somewhere. And I will endeavour to act as civil as I can to any teacher I “have” to talk to. I want to ask the music teacher if he has issues with my son. I would love to ask each teacher he does have if they have issues with him. Because this exclamation of “behaviour beyond a joke” is rather subjective to certain members of staff and it is certainly isn’t what I see at home.

I mean do I have to video his birthday party to prove my findings? Like I said, looking at pulling out all stops.

[Nicole]

Good luck, try and take it one step at a time.

[Tamara]

Thanks Nicole!

I sent and SOS email to a child psychologist in Perth last night and we have just had a phone call where she has made some suggestions as to what we can do. One major thing is an IQ assessment which is what I would like anyway. So I am still going to go anlong to the doctor and I will ask for a mental health care plan as per her suggestion just in case there needs to be some counselling happening down the road also.

I just really hope this can all be sorted within the month (fingers crossed) as we don’t need a referral to go to this lady.

I feel as though we are getting somewhere already – an appointment to see her next week would be awesome and that way we can not be at school to have the negativity around us and maybe we can give them answers to think about ready for next term. We will talk again this afternoon.