School Holidays.

I'm very glad that school term is over, it was getting quite long and full of sickness. The weather has been icy cold, the coldest we have had in something like 50 years. Brett even had ice on his windshield one morning when he left for work at 6am, which is completely unheard of here. It will be so nice to not have to herd everyone out the door to get to school on time, to have to argue with Ruby about what she is not allowed to take to school (such as Declan's dressing gown cord), to have to cajole and calm Declan through the morning and to have to convince Simon to put his jumper on.

Speaking of Dex, I have an appointment for him at the osteopath i took him to when he was a baby. I'm trying to find something that will help to smooth him out, relax him a bit and maybe help with his sensitivities. These past couple of months I have noticed marked behaviours that haven't been there previously- such as an intolerance to the feeling of certain types of clothes. One morning a couple of weeks ago, after half an hour of Declan stomping and fuming around the house, muttering "I'm annoyed! I'm annoyed!" I managed to decipher that he had spilled water on his shirt and I had to take off every item of clothing he had on, and start again, until he could tell me which piece of clothing was the annoying one, which I then changed and then we could go to school. I think a lot of it is to do with over tiredness and stress, as when he's having a good day he's completely perfect and lovely.

Last Saturday was my birthday, and i am now completely on the wrong side of 35. Wow, how did that happen? But I had a lovely day. Brett gave me a diamond pendant on a white gold chain, which came as a complete surprise. The card said that it was a combined gift to show how proud he was of me for getting into Uni, and to say thank you for staying home with the children for the past 9 years. That really blew me away and I felt like a weight had gone from my shoulders, because, as every stay-at-home parent knows, it is the most under appreciated job in the entire universe.

Ruby has an appointment with Dr McKay, the ENT guy in a couple of weeks to recheck her hearing and to look at her tonsils and adenoids. I really should just set up a direct debit from my bank account with the man. I genuinely have concerns over her hearing still, even though she did pass the hearing test she had 18 months ago. But she mispronounces so many words, even when you correct her. Like yesterday we were outside and she wanted to play that we were looking for wild animals and Josie could be a 'wool'. I said, "A what?", "You know, mum, a wool, what growls at you." "Do you mean a wolf?" "Yeah, a wool". It took several attempts to get the word right.

Well Brett has just come home from the oral surgeon where he went to get a referral for getting his wisdom teeth out and he looks depressed, so i'd better see what has happened.