little wins

So I have been going to the gym for a group training session three times a week for about 8 weeks now - 6.30 AM (still not sure that is a real time) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  My fitness and strength has been slowly improving, for example the first time the trainer said 'let's run' I said 'I hope there is a plane to catch cause that's the only time I am running', to now he says 'let's run' and I can do two whole minutes running at a reasonable treadmill speed.  I can also now do push ups without my arms shaking like jelly being poked - and yesterday I even tried a push up on my toes not my knees.

A person from google images demonstrating the awesomeness of Catriona's push up yesterday.  It was exactly like this.

 Bam.  Little win.

At work I have been encouraging communication with all the kids using PODD books as a strategy with some of them.  These books are full of pragmatically organised symbols and have lots and lots of vocabulary eg a page of pictures for family, for animals, for feelings - so you'll be playing with blocks using the blocks vocabulary and then be able to say my brother had a birthday and my foot hurts.  You know, random stuff kids say, except the kids I work with can't say it out loud, they have to use other ways to get their messages across.  These books are a little bit labour intensive to make, and I would like ten at my school for kids to use from, um, yesterday.  So I asked if there was any time available for a teacher aide to help me with construction of the books.  As it turns out, a rat had eaten through the heating wires to the pool and so the kids couldn't go swimming, so there were two spare teacher aides for a WHOLE DAY yesterday to help me make communication books.  It is worth being cheeky sometimes and asking.

This is a kind of PODD book.  It is amazing watching kids communicate.  It blows my mind.

Bam. Little win.

I have just realised that after months/years of having children that find it difficult to go to bed that for  the last month they have been putting themselves to bed, not coming out, reading a book and going to sleep.  It is amazing.  Especially because I pretty much stop parenting after 8.30 pm.

Catriona's children realised it was really not worth the trouble coming out of bed past 8.30 pm, as their mother really DID turn into an ogre.

Bam.  Little win.