"Although I speak from my own experience, I feel that no one has the right to impose his or her beliefs on another person. I will not propose to you that my way is best. The decision is up to you. If you find some point which may be suitable for you, then you can carry out experiments for yourself. If you find that it is off no use, then you can discard it." Dalai Lama...

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Bratz bargains,deals to keep and writing frustrations.

It has been a glorious sunny day and we have spent a great part of the day out in the garden,managing to eat both lunch and tea out although it was a little nippy at 5.30 when we were eating tea;-))

We had to go into the hospital yesterday for Emily to see the paediatrician and then went shopping and had lunch out.We went into Home bargains to see if they had the blank canvas's in so Emily can create some more masterpieces( they didn't but poundland did;-) )Emily found a bratz pixie called Sasha that she has been hankering after and it was " a bargain price of only 9.99 " I was informed!! She suggested she would do odd jobs for people to earn the money for it if I lent it to her,I did so and today she had to keep to her end of the bargain:-( Not a happy bunny when she woke and remembered her deal.

So today the car has been washed, with a little help from a friend :-) I felt a bit of a party pooper though as she wanted to have a bit of a water fight but unlike her father I am not keen on getting soaked.After lunch she decided to clean her trampoline down,we have two rooks nesting in the trees in the back garden and they are making an almighty mess!!!She scrubbed and sung and scrubbed some more before asking for some assistance and then my Mum and Dad and I sprang into action and assisted in the final push;-))
Last summer we used to get the hose out and Beauty loved to chase the water around and bark as she played, great fun then but a tad annoying when you are trying to clean the car and she can't understand why she can't get out from the side garden and chase the water and is barking to let you know about her frustrations!!I made sure she got her fill of jumping around in the water and getting soaked after we cleaned the car but will remember to keep her in the house next time,it is so funny she just has to hear the outside tap hiss and she legs it to get to the hose ;-))
Milly is going to think of some more jobs that need doing to earn the rest of the money....

We had an appointment to see our Homeopath this afternoon and managed to pick up a few plants and veg for the plot from Wilkinson's along with a watch for Emily,she had a watch but it stopped working a while ago and she hasn't been interested in wearing one til now and a reporters notepad as she is wanting to be a journalist when she grows up.That reminds me she was going to interview me when we got home(the headline she had put down was Arty Mother I think) however when she got home she remembered her trampoline was now clean and decided to go bouncing.

We had a bit of a melt down last night.Over the last few weeks Milly has been writing in a journal she has started and is choosing to write short amounts more and more and I had thought she was quite content to go along slowly.However, we watched Miss Potter last night and afterwards she was keen to get out a sketch pad and paints and set about drawing Beauty and to write a story about her, within minutes she was tearing up the paper and stabbing the pencil in the table and was really angry which then turned to tears and wails of why can't I write, I'll never be able to write.It was hard to watch and I don't think I handled things as well as I could of,I was tired and got angry when she started stabbing the pen down and regretted it immediately as it stopped the behaviour but also stopped her getting it out,I should of just done what we have done on other occasions and punched some cushions and had a good scream which helps her to get back on an even keel.We went to bed together and she seemed much better this morning.We talked about it and I said I felt I hadn't handled her anger very well and that it was OK to be angry but there were better ways to deal with it than damaging the table and she accepted that but suggested that next time instead of raising my voice I should just stay calm and encourage her to calm down and we could punch some cushions!!!

The first thing Emily wanted to do this morning was to write a story about the Bratz pixies,she asked me to write her words which I did and although it is not ideal for her she likes to see her story written out.When she writes herself she reduces the words she uses because it takes so long for her to write but when I write it she narrates beautiful intricate stories.We have talked about the possibility of recording the stories on a tape and then Alan or I typing them out and she did mention that again so I will look into it and see if it would be a viable option.I have also thought about the voice recognition software you can get for PCs but need to find out more about them.

When she was at school she was frustrated because she had no options and had to write whatever was set in the lesson and she felt so out of her depth and unsupported.I think she has become frustrated now because she is really wanting to record her thoughts and ideas and she sees her friends writing effortlessly in their journals and her limitations have been highlighted. It is a really positive thing that she is wanting to record things and we just need to ease the process so she doesn't get disheartened,she is such a perfectionist and is so hard on herself.She doesn't want to practice writing or spellings and I don't think for one moment that is the right way to go,she needs to go at her own pace but it is hard for her to believe that she will get there,she doesn't see the improvement in her writing and spelling since leaving school she just knows she has difficulty and that it makes her unhappy and hurts her hands:-(

6 comments:

Michelle said...

hugs for the frustrations but the rest of it all sounds good. I photograph Clo's writing regularly and then she can see the improvement else she would get demoralised too. Same with guitar. xx

Grit said...

hugs from here too; we have had the same rage and frustrations over reading. but it will come; it will.

Stacie said...

what are her issues with writing? i am asking because levi has issues too. he hates writing. except he doesn't get mad, he just tries to avoid it, and when he can't he either complains or writes fast and sloppily.

Lynn said...

Michelle,
Thanks, she seems to have got over the frustration now and is back to just having a go at writing.Good idea for her to be able to look at photo's to see her improvement during those times. xx

Grit, thank you too ;-)
That is my new mantra "it will come" xx

Stacie, Emily has dyspraxia which is a condition that causes an impairment or immaturity of the organsation of movement and associated problems with language,perception and thought.She did avoid it when she first came out of school and wouldn't pick up a pen but now she really wants to do it which is the reason she is getting frustrated.xx

Lisa G said...

Hi Lynn.
My ds has dyspraxia along with the Aspergers and writing has always been difficult, almost impossible until this past year since we started home edding. She's just gone 11 now but your description of Emily could have been Girl 2 at the same age! Girl 2 never stops writing now, it's amazing to see notebooks filled with stories, she did little bits over time when she felt like it and it built up until there was no stopping her, i'm sure emily will be the same,I did exactly the same as you and got her to dictate stories so she wouldn't be so frustrated, she would dictate some then write a little until it was less dictating and all her own writing.Emily's lucky that she came out of school at a younger age than Girl 2 so she's in a supportive environment so the writing will come, there's no rush and no need to do it to order for the teacher either, I guess the main challenge is actually dealing with her frustration in the meantime and saving your furniture!
Bws, Lisa

Lynn said...

Hi Lisa, you are so right about the challenge of dealing with her frustration.I was thinking today,in all the things Emily has had "difficulty" with it has taken a will from her to learn whatever it was and time to "practise" over and over again until she "gets" it.I can see the same thing happening with writing,but it is so good to hear from someone who has been there!! xx