A couple of days ago, I sat down with the kids to make Visual Memory Aids to help them with their morning routine -
This is because the mornings have become a real struggle of endless prompting and repetition, taking up literally half the morning.
DS was receptive to the idea, and sat and drew his pictures and was happy with the whole concept, but OH MY GOD DD was not!!! It took 2 1/2 hours for her to do it and she has been half-dying of rebellion ever since! This is because I am convinced my DD has PDA (Pathalogical Demand Avoidance) - a particular form of Autism that many Doctors are reluctant (to say the least) to diagnose. But, believe me, it is very, very real!
Yesterday morning, she screamed at me for 2 1/2 hours and refused to have breakfast - just so she would not submit to the order of the visual memory aid. DS on the other hand had a great day and had his hair brushed for the first time in months!! :-)
Today has been better, much calmer, quieter. The kids have been largely self-motivated. DS needed a few prompts to make it through his list, and DD submerged herself in any self contained activity possible so as to avoid submission!! Lol. This was fine as, either way, I got the lions share of the morning to myself to sort out a whole load of chores :-)
Other than that, we have had a really peaceful (!) day.
DS uprooted the dead cherry tree (yes, that counts as peaceful!) :-) :-) and decided he would do some sawing (under supervision) -
DD on the other hand, submerged herself in a morning of art :-) She drew and coloured countless pictures, mainly of me! Cute? Yes, to the untrained eye :-) To the Mummy who knows the ways of PDA this was a process of her reclaiming control and boxing me back in to certain contained circumstances and roles - a picture of the family with her in the centre, slightly larger than everyone else, a picture of me as a mermaid, underwater, contained and another picture of me, wearing purple (I HATE purple, it is my LEAST favourite colour and she knows it) to again display her dominance and ability to assert control over the situation (and me). But it got it out of her system. I took the pictures, smiled vaguely without making eye contact. "I'll go and put them in your room" she persisted 'on your desk." Fine, I thought, I'll bin them when you're in bed :-) :-) :-)
Once she'd got that out of her system, she knuckled down and made a beautiful collage from her old pet and wildlife magazines -
After lunch and a bit of free play, we settled down for some Listening Time in the lounge. Our listening time tends to look a lot like this -
The kids are allowed to bring something (quiet) downstairs to do and I read, then we discuss what I've read. This works WAAAAAAAY better for us that Table Time!
Today we read a book on The History of Chocolate (to tie in with a trip and workshop earlier this week) and learnt about Mayans, Aztecs, Rainforests, Cocoa beans and the history of chocolate production.
After this we ate some chocolate from our chocolate making workshop earlier this week (naturally! It would've been rude not to :-) )
We then spent the rest of the afternoon finishing reading the gloriously gruesome RatBurger by David Walliams, during which the kids made these -
Finally, we decided to make the Glossy Dark Chocolate Sauce from The History of Chocolate (Usbourne) book we'd read, for our pudding tonight :-) It was DELICIOUS with vanilla ice cream and strawberries!
Perfect tend to the day :-)
Have a fab weekend all xxxxxx
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