summer days

One of my favourite things to do with the kids and Brett is for us all to go down to the beach in the evening after dinner. By then the weather has cooled off and there are only a few people on the sand. The kids splash and swim for a while and Brett and i throw the frisbee to each other, or kick the football. Then we head home, throw the kids in the shower for a quick wash after which they are ready for bed. I love that feeling of having all children tucked up in bed and knowing there's a good show on tv about to start and you can sit back and relax. Not the most exciting life, but pretty good nonetheless.

Last week I took the kids to see the movie "tangled", which i can highly recommend. I think I laughed louder than they did. After that we went to the Botanic Gardens playground for a picnic lunch. The playground is a very good one, well designed so that kids have lots of scope to make up their own games. There is a dry creek bed with a water pump at one end so kids can pump the water and make the creek run again. The council also supplies a big basket filled with buckets, spades and other sand toys for children to play with. As the weather wasn't the greatest that day we more or less had the playground to ourselves. We were there for a good 2 hours I think. Simon used some of that time to go for a walk by himself to other areas of the Botanic Gardens. I'm trying to gradually give him more independence, for example he is allowed to walk to some friend's houses on his own now, if he promises to ring me when he gets there. He also sometimes goes for walks around the neighbourhood- I give him a time he has to be home and he always arrives back right on the dot. While Simon was walking in the gardens, Declan and Ruby built a dam in the creek bed which created a pool about a foot deep. They then sat in the pool, fully clothed and had a great old time. I always laugh when we go to that playground, it is designed so that kids can get sandy and wet, but there are always parents who spend the whole time yelling "Don't get wet! Stay out if the sand!" at their children who are dressed in designer clothes.

Today I took Declan to the doctor for a check up, as he hasn't been for ages, being the only one of my kids who doesn't seem to get sick (touch wood). He was so run down and exhausted at the end of the school year that it was like he was losing cohesion- all the funny noises were coming back, the tics, the wetting his pants. I think it's because he tries so hard at school to keep it all together that is simply wears him out. Anyway, i wanted to be sure there wasn't anything else going on. The doctor declared him in good health, but agreed it would be a good idea to take him to the psychologist, maybe once every 2 months or so, just as a way for Declan to debrief and talk about any worries he's having. This year he has to do the Naplan test (the test that all students in australia do in 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th grades that benchmarks them), so i don't want him stressing any more than normal.

Simon also goes to the doctor this week- in this case it's his post op check with Dr Mackay. At the last appointment Dr Mackay noticed that Simon has collapsed nasal valves. Whatever the f**k that is!! I give up!!