I’m blue do ba dee do ba daaaa!

…Actually…

Not so much blue as purple and black. My knee that is… It’s like a hybrid blueberry/blackberry/raspberry with a hint of the nice, sheen of a lychee. So pretty. I like that I can compare an essential joint with fruit. Yum. Makes me hungry.

The pain has all but gone (unless one of my clumsy children crash into it) so I’m not hanging around being a sook. I’ve got a dinner out with a new Military Spouse group on Thursday and I’m hoping to meet some nice gal’s. After that it’s off to speed skating lessons. Friday night is a night on the town with the wiffies (wives) from Jimmy’s Unit and then skating Saturday with the Family Readiness Group (FRG – this is the mob that help you get prepared for deployment so it’s kind of important). After skating I’m headed to the Derby again to support my local team and I’ve managed to wrestle some extra cheer leaders to come which is nice. The rest of this week is going to be jam packed and I’m feeling tired just thinking about it.

Sunday was supposed to be trials for Derby and I might go along just to get all the info. I think I’ve decided to practice and wait until the trials in September. They’re only held twice a year but together with insurance requirements (I won’t get my health insurance cemented until I’m hitched to the big man. We all know with the crappy state of health over here that getting into Derby and not having health insurance is almost laughable) and being as out of shape as I am, I should probably be a little more organised about this. So yeah… might go along for the info session, to play meet-and-greet and hang out but it’s not likely that i’ll try out until I have planned out my skating dominance a little better. A bit disappointing (I’m impatient) but ya know…

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Got an e-mail from United Airlines AND Air NZ… They have fares includes taxes and fees for $1100 to the U.S in June.

Heh. Heck, that’d make me go!

No really… I’ve had a little bit of a difficult time lately. I’m a bit down about my friends not really wanting to come for the wedding. As I’ve mentioned, whilst one part of me knows why this is, I also feel like it’s a direct hit on me. Maybe I wasn’t a good enough friend? I know for sure that there are at least 6 people in Australia who mean so much to me that I would fork out my last dime for a ticket to their wedding. It’s hard knowing that most of my beloved’s won’t be there.

I’d love to open up a bit more and really talk about some of the things I’ve told people in private but the truth is I feel like it rips open a new wound when I do. There are also unresolved frustrations between myself and a few people who I feel were my closest friends and I don’t want to write anything I would regret. My Mum says I need to get over it but it’s hard unless you’ve been here, this far away from everything and feeling this disconnection.

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I suspect one of my daycare kids has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Now I’m not the foremost on diagnosis but I have been exposed to children with behavioural deficits on Ped’s wards. I look after both siblings (him and his sister) and I can readily see that there are disturbing behaviour trends in the boy that don’t look great.

He’s 3, his sister is 17 months. "Lucky" is away with the fairies, anti-social, can’t follow commands and talks as though he is directly quoting people all the time. He flaps his arms too and I suppose this ws the first thing that alerted me that something wasn’t quite right. My cousin had low functioning form of Aspergers and used to do the same thing. He was obsessed with video games (and this was some 25-28 years ago – he’d be  about 37 now – so we’re talking about those old fashioned hand held dot matrix things) and had no abilities when it came to conversation. What conversation he did have was stilted, un-emotional and monotone. This is how Lucky behaves. he also squeals randomly and freaks out at the slighest thing. Simple requests like putting shoes on and picking up toys will either see him stare off into space for about 5 minutes or him flapping his arms or squealing. His 17 month old sister on the other hand grasps the request perfectly. I’m not trying to compare apples with oranges but it doesn’t seem right. Not for a cchild who is nearly 4.

So I decided to suck it up and call Mother. Now Mother and Father are both ADHD. When we initially met they told me that they thought Lucky had it too but having observed this child, his behaviours and interactions, I just realised that there is something much more than that going on. So I explained this and told her that I would rather he was tested now than getting to pre-school and suffering at the hands of uneducated staff/Teachers who had no idea how to deal with him. Trust me, looking after this child is probably one of the most enormous challenges I have ever faced. It takes a lot of time, energy and patience (not virtues I possess all the time) to get through a single day, let alone 5 days of the week. It’s understandable that Mother might not recognise this… she’s worked full-time since Lucky was a baby and although she told me his behaviour is much the same at home, I just don’t think she is able to grasp how problematic it is.

So my days invariable see me collapse into bed and I count from the beginning of the week until the end of the week and treasure my week-ends!!!

So that’s about the extent of my energy for today. I was supposed to go out for dinner with a couple I met at the OzDenver group but they cancelled and I’m a little grateful. I have cramps, neck pain and I wanna curl up in bed and miss my boy (he’s out "in the field" playing soldier for 3 weeks straight).
 

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