School is almost upon us! Master 5 went out with a bang!!!

As the holidays come to an end we have started to slowly get back into a routine. Bed times are being enforced, rooms are being cleaned and order is being restored and the search for lost school items has begun.

Holidays are always wonderful, the children are usually well overdue for rest and relaxation and I enjoy not having to run around and stick to a schedule every minute of every day. That being said, the school term has its plus side as well.

Routine and order are paramount to my children. It makes them feels secure and focused when they know what is coming next. It also helps with their anxiety and stress. It also means they are not stuck in their own little world 24 hours a day. They have to socialise and function with others.

My children, like most I assume, both love and hate the holidays coming to an end. We try to avoid to many outings and activities in the last 3 or 4 days as it takes them way to much time to recover and I want them as fresh and rested as possible for that first week back as it usually sets the standard for the rest of term.

Keeping that in mind we have spent most of our time at home. I even avoided a friends birthday party today as none of the children slept well last night and I can only imagine it would have ended in a disaster. Instead we headed to our local park for some outside time.

Unfortunately, it ended in a disaster anyway. Master 5 is still not doing well. The lack of control over his own body and inability to measure distance has resulted in several falls and head on collisions with doors, walls and other people.

Today was no exception. While playing and having a great time, his little body simply could not keep up with his brain. He fell a few times and was able to shake it off and keep going. Then, he somehow managed to run head first into the metal fireman’s pole.

The fire pole definitely won this battle. Master 5 came stumbling over. He was unable to speak and was scratching and punching himself in the face. As I hadn’t seen what happened, I didn’t know he was hurt. The self harm and screaming often happen when he is frustrated, upset or confused.

It want until someone else’s child came and explained what had happened that I was able to asses his face and discovered the giant lump that was now emerging on his forehead.

Needless to say, this brought an end to our time at the park and we packed up and headed home for some much needed rest and an ice pack for Master 5’s little head.

The rest of the afternoon had been spent lounging around and the little ones have caught up on some much needed sleep.

As he was now in possession of a lovely head injury, I had to keep Master 5 amused for the afternoon without letting him go to sleep. So I decided he could start practicing helping make the school lunch’s for everyone. He was very excited. Anything that involves order and organisation is a big winner.

I started by getting him to wash all the fruit. He of course had to pile it into groups on the sink before it was allowed into the lunch boxes. Then his favourite job (mainly because he ate more than he packed) he divided his rice crackers into their individual bags.

He then spent a good 45 mind taking each of the grapes of there stems. I was very impressed with his effort as he doesn’t like grapes at all but seemed very content to count and pack them for his brothers. This little task had inadvertently now been added to his fine motor skill task for the day as the effort it took him was evident.

He then helped me pack each lunch box with all the different foods each of my children will eat. Master 7 has the tomato, Master 10 gets 2fruits and of course Master 5’s lunch box’s is all food of a neutral colour.

Yes, that is a doughnut, as these are for tomorrow and not actually for school I let him pack a treat!

It was a great way to spend the afternoon with my little man. It kept him occupied so he didn’t go to sleep, he used some fantastic fine motor skills and counting as well. Plus, I now don’t have to make any lunch’s tomorrow as they are all packed and ready to have a picnic on the lounge room floor.

Although we definitely could have done with out the giant egg that is undoubtedly going to last well into the first week of school on Master 5’s head. He really enjoyed having some time with mummy and I am enjoying getting things well prepared for Tuesday when they all head back to school for term 2. The year is flying past.

As always, thanks for reading.

@mumofmany