I won't deny it, Brendan's assessment sent me reeling. I know I have a lot on my plate, I won't deny it for a minute, but being busy and focused is how I work. Anything less and I am walking around aimlessly trying to find things to do. But it was his assessment that has me re-evaluating me, who I am, how I parent, my other commitments which keep me sane outside of parenting... and then something changed.
Brendan's DS (developmental specialist) whom he works with on a half time basis in our home suddenly was called home (in BC) on a family emergency. We had a week of no support and this week we had a new DS come in to substitute. I cannot tell you how much Brendan's attitude (his behaviours) have improved in the last two weeks! Here we had her coming in to help with his language skills only to have him slide badly behaviourally, and I was blaming myself. Now we never see a temper tantrum (which happened several times a day only two weeks ago) as they declined dramatically in his DS's absence. I won't fault his DS entirely, it is all about personalities and he being a strong choleric was quite simply too much for his DS to handle effectively. She would be wonderful with say a sanguine or phlegmatic child, but not so much with my little livewire. We don't know when she will return and neither does she. His new DS doesn't let him call the shots and it makes all the difference... and I told her supervisor as much. I know we won't be able to keep our new DS (as she is a sub only) but it sure would be nice. Time will tell how this works out.
On the dh's career front, we are not moving and neither are we going into the construction field for the time being. Allan is settling into his new store and working out some major issues he was handed to test him... and he is doing superbly. We now have carpet in our basement (and my office) which I love! Trim and painting the trim... oh and finishing the basement bath and we are done this house, yay! Allan is getting itchy though, he is thinking we need to build again. It hasn't even been two years since this house was built! But he has a point, our house has appreciated almost 100,000 since we purchased it and that is a huge chunk of change we could put on another house :-)
On my career front, I taught two workshops since I last weighed in, the most rewarding job in the world for me! I have also been working hard as president of both the CDA and ICAN/AIIC Canada. Two amazing organizations that are growing so fast in this great country I live in. I know I am going to have to weigh my priorities carefully in working with both organizations, as I can only give so much of my time and energy to volunteer work. But it's so much fun and I love doing it... so I tend to spend more time doing this than I should
Oh, and one last thing. I haven't mentioned this before, but I love RPG's (role playing games). I have finished Myst, several Tomb Raiders and lots of older ones (I have been a computer geek since I first laid my hands on a computer in high school when the computers were sooooo simpl!). Well my sons... and my husband... and myself, we are all having a blast with the online game Runescape. Be careful, it is highly addictive! If you do or plan to check it out, I am Norse Queen... hailing from my scandinavian roots. See you there when I am between parenting and working and volunteering.
