How NOT to keep a hyperactive six year old on an even keel...

Arius Von Barius has been driving his father and I right up the wall, across the ceiling and down around the bend for the past couple of weeks. Like fools, we could not figure out why... I finally figured it out this morning... In the past three weeks, he's moved house, fractured his arm, fallen in love with his cousin who lives in Denmark (and who went home and did not take him with her!), and had a visit from his grandad, who he usually only sees maybe once or twice a year.

Cuddles with his cousin.

That's a whole lot of excitement for a six year old who is prone to spin off axis over an unexpected sports day at school.

His teachers have (gently) complained about him being extremely distracted in class, not being able to focus on a task for more than a couple of minutes at a time, or sit still for any length of time. At the same time, they say he's been yawning and almost dropping off in class. There were some rather strong suggestions we try to get him to bed a bit earlier (Earlier than 5.30pm? When is he supposed to eat, exactly?).

It would be nice if life was predictable all the time, or if everyone took change in their stride, but neither of these phenomena are realistic. In fact, with me going away for a few days next weekend (and I've never been away that long without him), and him starting swimming at school (which will completely upset the school time table), there isn't much hope of predictability or easy transitions in Ari's near future.

So, how will we all cope? Here is the plan (drawn from my many years of experience, and a little head scratching and resource relocating)...

1. Do a big grocery shop to eliminate fast food from the diet. All those additives and preservatives are no good, neither is going to a busy fast food 'restaurant' after a long day at school. What he needs is quiet after school, and a nourishing dinner and a very predictable, early bed time each night - especially once swimming starts, because all the excitement and change and swimming will exhaust him.

2. Lots of attention to detail. That is, make eye contact with him when asking him to do stuff or telling him important stuff (including 'I love you', even when he's being a right, royal pain). Lots of cuddles. A bit more 'in' time - reading a book together, or just having a quiet chat for a few minutes before going to sleep. Debriefing is important for kids!

3. Self-talk. This is for the Grumpy Old Man and me! Remembering to tell ourselves that he is experiencing all the challenging things for him. This is a phase. We will get through this. Losing your temper never helps. Wait until he's in bed, and then treat yourself - a long hot shower, download a favourite tv show or movie, eat chocolate if you have to! This is just another opportunity to teach resilience, by modelling it.

So, that's the plan... Get through the upheaval of the trip and of swimming, and before we know it, it'll be Christmas, and... D'oh - Christmas is not at all overstimulating, right?

The Amazing Race...

Yesterday, I participate in a really fun birthday celebration for the partner of a friend of mine. My friend organised for his partner's friends to meet up in the city, where they would be divided into teams and given clues to find destinations and to perform tasks, all leading to the final destination where they would received free unlimited drinks and food for two hours!

My friend and I did a dry run (ahem, walk) for the trail last Monday, in total it was approximately 7 kilometres back and forth around the CBD of Melbourne. Yesterday, I participated as one of the stop points, checking the teams had completed their challenges properly and them giving them an enforced break before sending them off with a new clue.

Everyone had lots of fun!

The teams receive and read the game rules - NO public transport, if you are caught taking public transport it's an immediate disqualification and you must pay a donation of $30 to Vision Australia.

The teams receive their first clue!

I then went to my pit stop destination - can you tell where I am? It was a lovely quiet place to wait, and there was awesome, fast wifi to be had!

The teams arrive and show me they completed their challenges - this one was very innovative, completely all three challenges in one go by photographing themselves a) posing in speedos, b) eating a grape, and c) emulating a film poster.

Some teams had to go back and redo their challenge because they didn't photograph ALL members of the team doing each challenge, but the results were hilarious all the same!

When all the teams had been through my pit stop, I headed to the final destination via Melbourne Central.

I was just in time to see the clock play Waltzing Matilda, so I had to stop and take photos (and get a little choked up, as I always do).

Then it was time for a refreshment while I waited for the others to reach the final destination!

The final destination was Spigas, which is situation in a lovely little lane above Melbourne Central station.

And the winners were... Team Xtreme!!!

Then it was time to party!

Party food, yum, yum!

Party drink!

Oh, and I popped my Tequila cherry, as well!

It was a great event. And I was especially pleased that one of the challenges each team had to complete was to give a homeless person a meal, so four homeless people received a meal yesterday in honour of our friend's birthday, which I thought was a really great thing to make happen!

The race wasn't all love hearts though, I heard one team alerted security to another team at my pit stop, so the second team was stopped by security and asked questions and had their bags searched, just to slow them down... It didn't work though, hahaha, as that team ended up winning anyway!

I tell you, after this last month of moving and preparing for the conference next week, it was brilliant to just do something completely different and to have some fun!

A little bit excited! First, ever, peer review paper comments are in!

The review notes from my very first peer reviewed paper came in on Wednesday. I had been expecting them last Friday, so was a bit worried they hadn't turned up yet. I needn't have worried! As is often the case, the two reviewers didn't agree on everything. In fact, they only agreed 100% on one aspect of my paper, which was it's originality. But hey, I'll take that! The reviews were, none the less, very positive, which was such a thrill for me! 

The guideline for the paper was that if the submitter had not submitted a paper before, they should not submit a paper for peer review (category X), however, I was advised to ignore this directive (ha!). So, I was quite nervous to be 'playing with the big kids', so to speak. However, I didn't shame myself, so it's all good, right? I now have until December 12 to make revisions and resubmit the paper for publication - SO EXCITING!

Reviewer One...

Reviewer Two...

I have no idea who reviewed these people (it's all anonymous, chances are, they have no idea who I am either - though anyone who knows me or my work could probably figure it out quickly, LOL).

We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical...

Wouldn't it be lovely to be in control?

I think so!

Hey there, long time, no see! A lot has been happening around here in the past four weeks, and by 'here' I mean somewhere quite different from where we were four weeks ago. You see, we moved house.

We didn't move far, only about two kilometres from our previous house. We are still renting. We weren't willing movers, but it had to be done. It became clear that MIL was simply not ready to pack up her house, and yet, we knew we couldn't stay in our previous rental (and utterly perfect as it was) because it is due to be razed to the ground in February.

The thought of moving in the middle of the school holidays, in the heat, with a deadline on us was too much for me, so I told The Grumpy Old Man we needed to bite the bullet and move before I went to Wellington at the end of November. That way we could enjoy Christmas without a move hanging over our heads. We had to find a house that MIL could also stay in once her legs gave up.

So, we're in a house where the boys have their own rooms, for the time being, at least until MIL moves in with us. So far since moving here we have discovered that Telstra cannot supply cable to this house, and their ADSL connection is crap. So, we've had to move to Optus, which I said I would never do. Also, the washing machine has died.

Ari fractured his wrist at school last Thursday, so we spent a fun-filled five hours at the new Box Hill Hospital emergency department, which cost us $30 in parking. Seriously, I think if you have to attend the ED and it turns out there really was something wrong with you, they should validate your parking, because the parking bill literally adds insult to injury!

I have also had mobility training and gotten my first white cane. I'm still too self-conscious to use it but I can see that I really do need to start using it. It just feels so odd to take it out around people who have known me forever and start waving it around.

My passport arrived. Also, this morning, though not without tears, I did finally manage to submit my reimbursement application. I'm really hoping I will be reimbursed very soon as I still have not booked accommodation in Wellington.

I have not received the peer reviewed paper revisions yet. I don't know if that is a good thing, or a really, really bad thing!

I think that's us completely caught up for now.