The fog has cleared....

I really needed that little break.I have gradually been thinking about blogging again and tonight the opportunity arose to get on the PC whilst Emily is otherwise engaged, so here I am.

Al has been off work today with a rotten cold/cough.

Emily's best friend was due for tea but due to her Mum being unwell has blagged a sleepover and the two of them are upstairs in Emily's room.Slight giddiness but so far not the full blown hysteria Emily can sometimes be capable of, A finds her funny and of course this makes her worse as she loves to make her laugh!!!!

They both seem to be tired,I was going to say that they will probably be asleep soon but they have come down to cuddle Beauty!! A has been quite wary of Beauty ( understandably as she can be quite overpowering)but Al has kept her in her bed and the two of them have been cuddling her and she has stayed quite calm so A (who is desperate to have a dog of her own) has loved it and Emily was in her element as for so long A has been scared and she wanted her to see Beauty as we do when she is calm and loving,just have to find a way for A to walk around without Beauty being so excited by her presence she has to pounce every time she moves !!!

We have had a quiet week as Emily is still under the weather,took her to Dr's to get her checked over (We don't tend to see a Dr very often but she had Pneumonia when she was around 4 and whenever she gets these lingering coughs we take her to get checked out just for peace of mind, usually Alan's) the Dr was saying that so many patients were finding that the virus's were taking 6 to 8 weeks to clear and added in to that Emily has had a growth spurt so no wonder she is pretty weak.

She had a session of cranial osteopathy this afternoon to help to clear her congestion.She first had this treatment as a baby to help with colic and reflux and I swear by it, it was the only thing that worked. She started having sessions again about 3 years ago and I am amazed at the results from such a gentle therapy.The lady is really lovely and is always interested in how home ed is going, she has two sons in secondary school.Judith also did some pulling and stretching (sorry can't be more technical) to assist in lymphatic drainage and to help to boost her immune system.There were a number of different techniques she used and Emily loved all the pulling and stretching and found it quite funny.She was on good form today and had a conversation with Judith rather than her more usual tactic of talking to me about our animals or other things she really wants to talk to the person about but is too scared to in case they aren't interested or don't want to talk to her.I have been trying lately to revisit strategies to deal with this and we have talked once again about eye contact and how to engage in conversations and at one point in the car as we were waiting for A off the school bus we were chatting away and she said, are you impressed at the amount of eye contact I am giving you, cue staring into my eyes as she said it, she really cracks me up ;-))

Emily has been going through a period of rest and assimilation I think and consequently lot's of TV watching.I have just said yes when asked and have accepted that this may take a while.I am well aware that it is being used as an easy option when she can't think of other things to do or isn't keen to do anything I suggest,I have also accepted that she is learning from the TV and that this is what she needs at the present time.I strongly believe she will then move on to another phase whatever form that may take,when much less TV will be watched .Will be quite interesting to see if that one proves to be correct ;-)) Check back in a while!!!

I too have been assimilating all the info I have read in The highly sensitive child.I didn't expect it to affect me as much as it did.I felt quite low for a while, some kind of an adjustment period I suppose.I am so glad I bought it, I have a much deeper understanding of how things affect Emily and that translates into a much more patient attitude (hormones permitting;-))

We haven't seen many people over the holidays and I have to say that I have not put the effort in to arrange things and have been quite glad with the few get togethers we have had.Over the coming months, now the weather is getting better I am thinking of travelling further to the next nearest home ed group where there are apparently more girls, our home ed group is predominately boy's. Nothing at all wrong with that as Emily has formed friendships, but I think it would be good to have a few other girls to get together with.

Alan and I were discussing our plans for the veg plot and we are thinking of turning the whole side garden over to veggies/herbs/fruit.This will involve transplanting a lot of flowers and shrubs to the rear garden but this will work well as there are areas we were needing to redo and refill there.We have good size gardens on three sides and have planted them in a way that makes it quite a low maintenance garden even though it is quite large.Neither of us are "gardeners" and have learnt over the years by trial and error and tips from family and friends.We still feel as though we are learning but enjoy the process. I do the planning and "assist" usually involving lot's of directions and making tea, whilst Al does the heavy work,I do look forward to the day I can pick up a spade again, it is quite frustrating not to be able to get stuck in.We were planning to start the work this weekend, then the overtime came up and we could certainly use the extra so Al planned to go in, then he got the cough, so it looks like we are not fated to start it just yet and will have to set to next weekend.I will post some pics as we progress.

I went to my first Yoga class last Friday.I was still aching on Wednesday !!!
I was going to go back tonight but couldn't leave the weak and coughing husband to look after the two girls in giggliest mode.So I will return next week and she said she can devise some alternatives for me so I don't overdo things again.

Obviously been a lot more happening but this gives you an idea of whats been going on.It's 11.00 pm and the two girls I had thought looked tired are still up and watching A Series Of Unfortunate Events.Always a mistake to assume things......Al has also just reappeared having gone to bed over an hour ago,He can't sleep either so is now watching a bit of telly.Think I will pop up to bed and he can make sure the girls go up at some stage.A has another sleepover with a group of schoolfriends tomorrow night as well but luckily she has amazing stamina so will cope well with two very late nights.Girlies have just come in (11.30) having decided to go to bed but apparently are planning to stay awake until 4.00pm!! I will go and tuck them in and read for a while and perhaps they will get so relaxed they will nod off!!