Dyson Engineer in Training**

 

Ever since Shmoo Bear inherited the old Dyson he has totally immersed himself in investigating its parts. He even asked for a screwdriver so that he could pull it apart... except he soon discovered that not all screws are the same and a Phillips head won't work on Torx screws.

So while we were out today The OH bought Shmoo his very own foldout Torx screwdriver set. Within minutes of getting home Shmoo had completely taken apart the vacuum head. And, just as quickly, he reassembled it again. And took it apart again... The inner workings of a Dyson should keep him occupied for months :)

**Shmoo's fave item of clothing is a hoodie we bought for him from Simply Colours. It says 'Dyson engineer in training' on the back.

Australia Day 2012

 

Australia Day celebrations in our little town. The boys (well, mostly Loo) stuffed themselves silly on sausages. Loo must be having a growth spurt - it was "I'm hungry" all day. He was a bit disappointed that they didn't have a jumping castle this year but both he and Shmoo had fun joining in the other games (gumboot throwing, tug-of-war etc). We left when they did the egg throwing game though. I was a bit surprised that anyone would do a game that involved throwing raw eggs around when so many kids these days have allergies. We just couldn't risk Loo coming into contact with the raw egg white that inevitably ended up all over the grass and probably on a lot of the people who participated in the game (particularly as we no longer have the epipens). Poor kid. After all these years of dealing with his allergies he was quite understanding but I could see that he was awfully disappointed that he could no longer run around and play and it made him feel very different and isolated from the other kids there.

[We didn't deliberately try and make Loo and Beanie all matchy with their outfits by the way. I got Beanie dressed in the morning and Loo chose his own clothes. It just so happened that they both ended up wearing the exact same shade of pink. And the hats are the same because they're great hats with a wide brim all around plus a neck flap and we have several of them.]

Farewell, Trusty Old Vacuum

After nearly 7 years of much (ab)use, our beloved Dyson DC08T vacuum cleaner passed away peacefully last week.

3 kids + 2 cats + no vacuum = big mess. A new vacuum cleaner became our top priority. Thank goodness we were saving my tax return from last year. A decent vacuum isn't cheap and, with a Dyson obsessed 6.5 year old, we couldn't very well consider any other brand!

So Shmoo is currently in vacuum heaven. Not only did he inherit his very own Dyson to play with, but today we also got to go shopping for a brand new Dyson. We already knew which one we wanted (the DC39 Allergy) but Shmoo was very excited to have a look at the display and pick up some new catalogues. The sales assistant was also a bit of a Dyson enthusiast so  Shmoo  enjoyed asking her questions. She was quite taken with  Shmoo and his passion for Dysons and at one point laughed and said "Look at him, he's like a little professor!". The OH and I just looked at each other and smiled. It's very common for children with Asperger's Syndrome to be called 'little professors*'.

Can't wait to see how the new vacuum performs. It looks quite different to our old one. The technology has come a long way in 7 years!

Now off to investigate the James Dyson Foundation.


*The link is to an article that is, in my opinion, the best description of an Aspie child. Definitely worth a read if  you are interested in ASDs or if you have a little Aspie in your life that you would like to better understand.

Santa Snacks

Choc full of choccy goodness

Today we did our traditional biscuit bake in preparation for Santa's arrival. The boys made double choc chip bikkies (a slightly altered Nigella recipe). Shmoo ended up making the most biscuits. Loo made a few of various shapes/sizes and then proceeded to lick his fingers and nibble on choc bits so Shmoo made him put the biscuits he was working on at one end of the tray to keep them separate LOL. Bean had fun squishing his dough, mouthing it and flicking bits onto the tray. We put his biscuits down the other end of the tray too ;)

I made a few for the OH and I as well. I did white choc & macadamia and milk choc & pecan... a little less kid-friendly (the boys don't like nuts) so more for us.

I hope Santa enjoys his biscuits.

Learning Together - Leathercraft

   

Christmas Stars

  

Making Christmas gifts

Watching Shmoo playing outside this afternoon... digging in the dirt; throwing a ball; swinging around on the old Hills Hoist clothesline using the makeshift swing that the OH rigged up for him; drawing and making up and solving maths problems with the new pack of sidewalk chalk; and rearranging his 'Kitchen Christmas Tree' - a small, thin branch that he has propped up in front of the kitchen window and decorated with old kitchen utensils.

This afternoon Shmoo and I had to brave some rather extreme fog to head into town. First stop was the doctor's where I had to have bloods done. Shmoo was fascinated and the GP was happy to answer Shmoo's questions about how she got the blood out of my arm and into the vials.

Then it was on to the post office so that Shmoo could post the drawings he and his brothers did for their dear little friend. We bought a prepaid envelope and Shmoo carefully wrote the address on the front, sealed it up and put it in the postbox. Then he noticed all the PO boxes on the wall so we investigated those and watched as some people came to check their box. Shmoo counted along with the numbers on the boxes and puzzled over why there were some missing numbers. We then discovered that at the bottom of some of the columns there were a few unused and unnumbered boxes, so Shmoo went back and counted again, working out what the missing numbers were. We noticed that the rows of boxes were grouped into threes so were able to have a go at counting by threes and figuring out what 6 sets of three equalled.

As we exited the post office we heard a ding ding ding and Shmoo was delighted when he realised that a train was about to go through the crossing. We ran up to the end of the block so that he could stand by the fence and watch the train go whizzing past. After the last containers had gone past we raced halfway back down the block and peered up to the end of the street, watching as the train went through the next crossing.

Before heading home we stopped by the bakery and bought a special little treat to share with everyone. Back in the car I asked Shmoo to count how many biscuits were in the container (6). But, as there are only 5 of us, what should we do with the extra biscuit? Shmoo's solution: feed it to the cats. :)) I told Shmoo that I didn't think the cats would be that keen on a biscuit, plus it would be pretty tricky to divide 1 biscuit up to share between the 5 of us... so he could have the extra one to eat on the way home.

 

Play/Learn

A morning at the park and beach with another homeschooled friend. The kids had so much fun playing in the park and then exploring the beach. They searched for shells and fossils (and Loo found lots of fossilised dinosaur poo apparently); examined the little creatures growing on the rocks; played in rock pools; explored the seaweed; watched someone kitesurfing; watched a boy spearfishing and then (cautiously) examined the pufferfish that he mistakenly caught; and so much more! Natural learning in action. :)

   

 

Getting There