End of Year Events

We've had the ECIS Christmas BBQ. The kids had lots of fun. Loo got his face painted (a fire-breathing dragon); and Shmoo and Beanie even joined him on the jumping castle (although Shmoo did wear his ear muffs).

 All 3 boys performed with their performing arts classes in a Christmas concert at an aged care home. So, so proud of them all. Shmoo was quite nervous but did beautifully once up there. I didn't think Beanie would even get up there but Loo held his hand and, unprompted, helped him with his props and actions... what an awesome big brother!

Piecing it Together

We've been trying to piece together exactly what happened.

As best as we can figure out, going around a rather sharp, downhill curve, they hit a bit of a dirt patch at the edge of the left side of the road. The OH over-corrected and somehow they ended up crossing right over to the other side of the road and beyond, unfortunately hitting a culvert which caused the car to flip several times, coming to rest lying on the passenger side and facing the opposite direction to which they'd originally been travelling.

They were so, so lucky not to suffer serious injuries. Or worse. Particularly for Shmoo. The passenger side, where he was sitting in the rear, came out the worst. Both the front and rear passenger sides were fairly well battered in the flipping and the landing. Somehow, by some miracle, the spot where Shmoo was sitting held together comparatively well.

Scrap Metal

We spent today sorting stuff out with the towing company, the wreckers and Service Tasmania. The tow truck driver couldn't believe that anyone had survived the crash, given how trashed the car is. In fact, there is hardly anything salvageable and it's now worth $100 for scrap metal.

It took my breath away to see it... To see the front passenger door ripped off; the underside of the car ripped and pushing right up to the passenger seat. To see The OH's blood on the seats and windows. To see shoe prints on the windows. The boot bent up and pushed close to the back of Shmoo's booster seat.

The back windscreen was gone. The OH said that he actually found neat little rectangles of glass at the crash site, shattered glass held together by bumper stickers. Maybe all those stickers helped Shmoo to avoid being showered with so much broken glass.

And Shmoo's booster seat... an old style Safe-n-Sound MaxiRider. If I had to buy a booster seat now I'd get one with the better head protection wings on it (Shmoo's Hi-Liner SG in my car looks really good as far as head protection goes, and in fact, I'm considering buying another of those for Loo as he's ready to move from the 5 point harness to a lap sash belt).

The OH is hoping he managed to recover all of his library books from the car. It was hard to check though as he could only really get access through the front passenger door, none of the other doors would open, and there was so much broken glass and metal on the inside.

 

 

   

(And, yes, those are dandelions tucked into the car - the boys had to give it a proper farewell.)

Thankful

It might not look like it but this is lucky. This is blessed.

The OH and Shmoo were in that car. I got a call from The OH just before 3pm this afternoon, saying that there'd been an accident, that the car was a write off.

They walked away from it with nothing more than bumps, bruises, cuts and grazes. Lucky.

This afternoon The OH was driving Shmoo to his karate lesson. It had been raining and hailing all day. They got 3-4 minutes away from home when, going around a curve, The OH hit a dirt patch at the edge of the road, over-compensated and the car rolled several times, coming to rest on its side - front and back smashed up and the front passenger side totally crumpled in. The OH had to get Shmoo to crawl through the car so that he could pull him out. People from other cars and a nearby property came to their aid, wrapping Shmoo in a blanket and looking after him while The OH was busy with the car and police.

I got there just after 3pm and was in shock when I saw how damaged the car was... how they managed to walk away from that I don't know. I scooped up a very shaken and teary Shmoo and carried him to my car, out of the rain and with the heater going, until the ambulance got there. The dear boy was so worried about how we would fix the car. I had to keep reassuring him that the car didn't matter at all, all that mattered was the he and The OH were okay.

Shmoo got the all clear from the paramedics but they forgot to check The OH so we ended up taking him to the A&E to make sure a couple of cuts didn't need stitches. Had a bit of a funny ASD moment when the doctor was trying to get Shmoo to talk about the accident. The doctor got down on Shmoo's level in front of him and poor Shmoo was desperately trying to look everywhere else to avoid the eye contact. The doctor asked him a bunch of questions about the accident, including if he had rolled. Shmoo looked puzzled and eventually replied "No, not me, the car did."

Thank goodness for car seats. Shmoo is 8.5 years old and we occasionally wonder when he will be old enough to sit in the car without the special kids booster thing that he currently uses. Well, he'll be using the booster until he no longer fits in it. His only injuries are a bump to the head, grazed face, grazed neck from the seatbelt, and a sore finger.

Tonight I am so thankful that my husband and son are okay. It could have so easily turned out differently. When I think of my eldest baby flipping over and over in the car like that... *shudder*

 

Slipstream Circus

The OH, Shmoo and Loo went to the Slipstream Circus schools performance today in Ulverstone with the local homeschool group. They loved all the acrobatics and juggling etc, and I was regaled with stories about people climbing up knotted scarves hanging from the ceiling. The OH said that he thought it was the best performance they'd been to yet.

My Kind of Flowers

The boys know that I much prefer my flowers to be growing out in the garden rather than dying in a vase inside so Loo Bear made me a gorgeous bunch of paper sunflowers :)

Walk Carefully

Today at ECIS the kids made reindeer biscuits - milk arrowroot biscuits topped with chocolate frosting, pretzels for antlers, smarties for eyes and a jaffa nose. One of the TAs bagged them up for the kids to take home and as they were given out at the end of the session she said "Walk carefully so the antlers don't fall off."

Beanie solemnly took his bag and gingerly held it high up out in front of him. He then proceeded to take slow, careful, measured steps all the way out to the car.

 :)

Reading

Gotta love the different reading preferences...

 Loo Bear with 'Spies', 'Hannibal' and a book about monsters and mythical creatures.

vs.

 Shmoo Bear with Dyson vacuum cleaner catalogues and a dictionary.

Peg Fairies

The peg fairies have been at work again.

"They have to be with the matching ones." he said.

Hmm. A touch of Aspie-ness there perhaps.

Spot the Aspie*

I looked up to see Shmoo walking circles around the iPod Touch. It took me a second to work out what he was doing: experimenting with the pedometer. The voice over instructions had told him to "walk around to activate the sensor."

*I know he's not actually a diagnosed Aspie, but The OH is and we suspect Shmoo is too... and it's easier to say than PDD-NOS.