It doesn't seem like a week since I last wrote, but the dates confirm it. From last week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were normal days, though I was starting to feel pretty crappy by Saturday. I was hoping it wasn't the same virus my kids had had, but I'm sure it is. Sickness always affects my moods so I walk around looking like someone has died (or so ex tells me).
I've also acquired another student. I didn't want another one, but his mum seemed so desperate I coudln't say no. He's a chinese kid, around 7 years of age without a word of English. He happily speaks in chinese, not understanding that I don't understand him and he's obsessed with mechanical pencils. He's spent some time in a normal school this year because his grandparents don't believe there is anything wrong with him and that he'll grow out of it and so disapprove of his mother putting him anywhere else. it's often like this with chinese families. They just don't want to accept that their children or grandchildren could be flawed in anyway.That's not to say that all Chinese families are like this - certainly not. Of the seven or eight kids that I know with disabilities, all of them have dedicated parents that have accepted their children for who they are - relatives can be a problem though.
So I'm going to start this child off with one hour a week and I've recommended that he go to the autistic centre for 5 days a week - that is why I helped to set it up, so that I wouldn't feel guilty about not accepting more students. In between kids, the house and my meltdowns, I don't really have the time for any more. I know my limits. He's not attending anywhere at the moment, which is why I agreed to take him. Perhaps I can get him started on some basic skills - like 'you must do what the teacher says' and 'sit down when you eat'. He'll be interesting, I just wish I had a translator because he's a lot more talkative than the other three I have. We'll see how we go.
Sunday came and we took the kids to Muar for a day out, which is a sort of seaside town but I've never really seen the seaside - I've seen the river banks, and the river, but no sea. They say the seafood is good there but the river looks so dirty, that I can't imagine anything good coming from it. We saw some monkeys that hang around in one of the parks, who are just there because the people throw them nuts. We took the kids to the playground, ex met a friend for 10 minutes who we didn't see because apparently this guy was too shy because he doesn't speak English. OK, then. A lot of people are shy of me here, because they don't trust their English - I can understand that, it's the reason I don't speak Chinese.
So Muar was good - we had a nice country drive up and then a nice dinner of chicken rice (rice with yep, chicken, but the chicken was really good) and ex had 'o chien' an omelette that includes oysters in its ingredients.
Oh yes, I wanted to write about being a 'special case'. In the last 6 months or so, ex has been 'letting go' of a lot of things, so he doesn't get angry so much anymore with my mistakes. I told him he'd changed, alot. I found myself wishing that he could have done that while we were married. I talked to him about it and he said that he was just doing it that way for me, because I'm a 'special case'.
In other words, he's only doing it because he knows I can't handle it any other way. That realisation alone, made me glad that we are not together anymore because if we were, things would not have changed in the way that they did. I'm glad that he lets go... I think he should do it because getting angry never helps anyway and while one or two lectures about how things can be done better is OK, ten is not. He told me he will be harsher on the kids, than he is on me. I can't do anything about that, because he thinks it's the right thing to do. I think my daughter will be able to handle it, but I'm not so sure about my son. He's sensitive like me, yet I know he needs to be told a few things about his behaviour. It's going to be tricky with him as he's growing up - he can be so odd sometimes and when he's hurt, he's really hurt and he takes a lot longer to get over it.
I'm think I'm rambling because there doesn't seem to be a point to all of this. It's late, I'm still feeling below par and my hands are itching and I can't take anything because I've taken 4 medicines a few hours ago, courtesy of my already being sick.I hope they don't get worse tonight because it'll keep me awake and that's the last thing I need.
Today my little student Feng Ying made another leap with me - she initiated a game of hide and seek. She ran behind onto the sofa and waited for me to come and find her, giggling all the while. That was good enough for me, you've got to take what you get. It's much more normal for her to just walk in and ignore me. She didn't talk much today, but she did that, so I was happy. She's improved so much, yet she still has such a long way to go to be even close to her peers.
So it's late again. I slept for almost 3 hours today, to try and catch up on the sleepless nights of the past week so now sleep is a long way off. No matter, Adam Lambert videos will fill the gap. :)
Here's a video of his that I watch at least a few times a week. :)
Mad World
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