Monday arrived all too early for Mom this week. After being woken up every 2 (yes you heard right two, deux, twee, zwei) hours by my obsessive Mother (you’ll recall last week I ended off Sunday by sustaining a gash to my head followed by a visit to triage – Mom kept checking to see if there were any signs of concussion, or worse). I thought a mild punishment was in order. Four a.m. was my conclusion, that way she would never get me to school on time. For those of you who don’t know my mother, the phrase “not a morning person” doesn’t even begin to cover the extent of her inability to function before 11 am.

Well did I underestimate the situation. Granny left at 6am to see to Tammy who was having a hard time at home. Mom was up by 6:30 and I was firmly deposited at school first thing. I decided to let Mom know who was boss by screaming but her firm resolution to me was that this was not the behavior she expected and I was expected to continue my good work. Knowing full well I lost this battle (but not the war) I took my school book and sat down. That was it; I just sucked it up and got on with the school day.

On the way back home I fell asleep with my bunny’s ear up my nose. I only know this because Mom laughed so loud that I woke up and enquired the nature of her giggles. Back home I spent the day abusing my Mother by jumping on her repeatedly and making her ride races on my push bike, with me on the beetle, Mom on my push bike! It was hilarious. We headed off to speech and I picked a flower for Vicky from the garden. I had a good session and sat still for most of it and invented stories with Vicky prompting me. I was very keen to show Daddy my new skills and especially my Wally Whale that I made so we went home to meet him a few minutes later.

Tuesday we discussed all sorts of things on the way to school. Mom was secretly dreading the day as she had to change the Steri-Strips on my head. I believe that she was trying to assess my mood before she did it. I used her as my personal jungle gym following school and that rather tamed her. However following my bath sure as anything she tried to get the offending (and very dirty) Steri-Strips off. After much negotiating, I darted away and off they came. My response was &*@$#@$. The folks quickly distracted me and ice packs were administered. Granny kept completely out the way, it was her last night with us and I think she wanted to sleep well. I was very hyped. In the evening Mom and Dad went to the movies, while I stayed home to look after Granny.

Wednesday Granny left early and I asked where she was from then on. Mom spent the rest of the day telling me that Granny had gone home. While I was at school, Mom went and did some shopping. We needed a box for Roxy to crawl into as the thunderstorms are really frightening her at the moment. I was thrilled with the dog box and immediately climbed into it to test it out for Roxy. Mommy also surprised me with some new toys – wooden building blocks! They were lying on the study floor when Dad came home and he and I immediately got down to building towers.

On Thursday I received a Gold Star at school for listening! Mom and Dad were thrilled. Continuing the week’s themes of countries we covered England. Earlier in the week we chatted about China. During the course of the day I received another Gold Star, for weeing in the toilet, and moved to the top of the class. Mom and Dad were thrilled. When Mom collected me from school in the afternoon, teacher Sasha asked if Mom knew I could slide down the fireman’s pole on the jungle gym. Shock, horror and then pride crossed over Mom’s face. She was thrilled and immediately let Dad know. Dad was having a really hectic day at work, as he was ‘affected’, and also had to let his entire team know they were affected too. I asked Daddy if it was a disease – as it sounded like one. Daddy giggled, and said it meant that everyone had to once again reapply for their jobs or face retrenchment. I gave him big hugs and told him it would all be ok.

Friday I left school a little earlier so Mom could take me to OT with Lauren. She was thrilled with my progress, and I enjoyed seeing her again after a break. I did a major amount of painting at home. Once Dad was home we vegged for the rest of the afternoon.

On Saturday we decided to go to Brightwater Commons for a walk-about. Little did we know it would be so busy; there was an expo on and shows to celebrate the Chinese New Year – the year of the Dragon. We walked around in awe of all the stalls and art on show. We decided the martial arts show wasn’t our cup of tea, but did find a face-painter. I didn’t like the look of the dragon face, so I opted for a tiger face.

Driving home I fell asleep in the car and later, when waking up in bed, I was really confused by my pillow being orange. Mommy reminded me that it was from my tiger face paint. Most of the afternoon, and into the evening it rained and drizzled.
We met Michelle, Daneel, Emma and Liya for dinner at Doppio Zero. All the kid-friendly places were out of the question owing to all the rain. It was a great evening, and Emma and I sat really still and watched Pooh’s Heffalump Movie on my iPad.

During my shower on Sunday morning I drew a map on the door of the shower with my bath crayons. I explained to Mom and Dad where our house was, our holiday house, our car, Granny’s house and a few other places. Mom and Dad were gob smacked, and I was thrilled with my progress! I should off the route we needed to travel to go on holiday, i.e. from home, to Granny to fetch her, park the car, and then to our holiday home.

Although it was really overcast on Sunday morning we opted for a visit to the zoo. We need not have worried about the rain, as by the time we left the zoo at midday it was a hot 30?C. We had a superb time at the zoo, with my leading the way most of the time deciding which animals to see. When I got tired I hopped into my car and Dad pushed me. Just before leaving the zoo we spent a little time riding the mechanical rides.

In the afternoon it rained but it didn’t deter me from playing outside between downpours. While swinging, Dad taught me to swing on my own, by extending and tucking in my legs at exactly the right time. Another success!

Well, that’s it for this week. I’m happy to report that the gash on the back of my head is knitting nicely, but there’s still some healing to be done there. It will more than likely leave a scar, adding to the huge craniotomy scar I already have.

If you’re wondering about tonight’s title, Whatever, it’s my latest response to anything I don’t want to do.

Love,

Jarrod

Photo 1 Whally the Whale – that I made at school

Photo 2 In the ball pit at OTs

Photo 3 I’m in there, somewhere

Photo 4 One jammed in my teeth

Photo 5 Happiness

Photo 6 I’ve decided I’m going to have a pirate birthday party here

Photo 7 High-sky, with bubbles

Photo 8 Testing out Roxy’s dog box

Photo 9 The tower Dad built for me

Photo 10 Dad dared me to dash out into the rain

Photo 11 I decided Mom’s ‘Baguette et Formage’ board would make for great tool practice

Photo 12 What’s next? Pat or Rusty?

Photo 13 Rusty!

Photo 14 And not to forget Dusty to do some cutting

Photo 15 Love playing with flour

Photo 16 Floury grin

Photo 17 Making breakfast

Photo 18 Sleeping Tiger, Scared of Dragon

Photo 19 The map I drew in the shower

Photo 20 Ready to roll at the zoo

Photo 21 Strolling

Photo 22 Peek-a-boo

Photo 23 Baby pine cones

Photo 24 Mom and I on the spinning shells

Photo 25 Golfing on the trampoline

Photo 26 Jumping

Photo 27 Playing mesh-face

Photo 28 A new habit I’ve picked up – hands-in-pockets

Photo 29 Mom and Dad forced me to add this pic – something to do with ’embarrassment value’ at my 21st

Photo 30 ‘Til next week

1 Comment on Whatever

  1. Karina says:

    Lovely photos! Love the title!

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