Tinsel, Reindeers, Santa and all things Christmas!

Christmas is here and all is well in the McGrath household. We have just returned from 2 weeks holiday. We had a wonderful week at Noosa Heads, the weather was perfect (very hot) and the kids loved swimming in the pool, I especially enjoyed the break from cooking, making the beds, cleaning etc. The second week we were nomads and visited our families from Bribie Island down to New Brighton. As much as I love going away it is always a wonderful feeling to come back home. Mariah and Milo were very happy to see us and made sure that we spent lots of time with them over the weekend as penance for leaving them for 2 weeks.

The veggie patch is overgrown and the cucumber seedlings I had planted have gone berserk, I didn't realise they grow so big and spread out so far! The tomatoes are growing beautifully and may need rescuing from caterpillars, I am not sure what to put on them as I was hoping for "organic tomatoes" I will have to do some research. I am finding it very hard to grow veggies in Summer as the bugs are raging a war against me and I am afraid they are winning at the moment!

Another war that is quietly raging away in our house is Jack versus the Christmas tree. I know it is his age but he cannot leave the decorations alone, as fast as I put them on he pulls them off, I suppose by the time Christmas is over I won't have to remove any decorations as he will have removed them all for me!

ROAR.........Leo is well and truly taken with dinosaurs so much so he moves around the house by stomping like Brachiosaurus and roaring like T-rex and his favorite DVDs are Ice Age 3 and Dinosaur King. I am feeling a little on edge as I love a bit of peace and quiet and it feels like I may never experience this again! On the upside this is very age appropriate and it shows Leo is progressing very well. ROAR!My little Jack is no longer a baby. When we were away we decided to try him out in a bed and he took to it like a duck to water. So off came the rails on his cot and it is now a little bed and he is now a proper little boy! I am amazed at how well he is doing and also sad that baby life as I know it is now coming to an end! As Christmas day is not too far away, I still have quite a bit to do. The house is still in a mess from unpacking and I have this urge to make sure everything is in order before the "man in the big red suit" makes an appearance, see you all in 2010!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR XO

Lifestart

Every Wednesday morning for the last year we head off to the Lifestart "open playgroup". They are a wonderful organisation that provides intervention for children with special needs. When I first went with Leo, our diagnosis was very new and I was feeling very raw and apprehensive about the whole life ahead of us with Autism. So every Wednesday I would head off with Jack and Leo and sit, learn and watch Noni and Fiona (the therapists) and all the volunteers interact with the children, then the mum's would leave the children for some structured play and have a little "down time" away from the children. It has been during that "down time" that I realised I am not the only mum with a child with special needs, there are many out there, by talking to other mums it makes all the days ahead easier and in some ways very "normal". Leo will attend kindergarten on Wednesday next year 2010, so he will no longer attend Lifestart on Wednesday mornings, I think I am more sad than he is, so I have decided to sign up to be a volunteer, they have given so much to us, so it is now time to give back! Thank you Lifestart for all the wonderful help you have provided for our beautiful Leo!