Well the tooth fairy finally came. & with Brad not working at the moment money is tight, & just our luck Joshs tooth came out the night before pay day. So before first light I was walking up the street in 0 degree temp. But I didnt mind a single bit. When the boys got up no one remembered about the tooth fairy. It wasnt untill lunch time ( Josh comes home most days in winter for a hot meal. ) that Josh remembered as the school was having a cakes & toffee stall, & he wanted money. So I asked him if he checked the Tooth Fairy glass, his eyes lit up when he saw a 5dollar note in the glass.  He was so happy. I didnt want him to spend it all on crap food, but when I seen how happy he was to have it I let him go. He also didnt eat the meal I had been cooking for 2hrs either. He ran out the door with a sanga in one hand & a 5er in the other. Now he loves 5 dollar notes & asked if he could get 5 dollars for pocket money instead of 20. Not careing that it is less, so we made a deal, instead of banking ten he will now bank fifteen & spend five. But then he saw a toy he wants that is $80. So he is saving up for that. He loves putting money in the bank. I often ask myself how I manage to raise such a good polite boy? I couldnt have asked for a better son.

Josh got into trouble for the first time at school on friday. The fact that he done something wrong didnt bother me untill his teacher told me what all the boys were doing. They were all pulling their pants down to show their bums, & were flashing their bums to each other. As its a small school of 70 students the big kids play with the younger ones & sometimes lead them astray. But as far as Im concerned Josh is 6 & knows what is right/good & knows what is wrong/bad behavior. I dont care if all the other kids are doing it! I was very disapointed in him & although I didnt punish him, I made it very clear that I expect better from him. He was upset with himself as he knew he'd let me down. I thought that was more than any punishment could acheive.

Jeremy had 3yo kinder on wed, ( he is in this kinder at 4 due to his delay, ) & he had to do poo's normaly I have to wipe his bum as he was unable to do this for himself. We brought baby wipes & put them in a special container. They are his special bum paper, to keep it as similar as possible to loo paper. When he first transferred from 4yo kinder to 3yo kinder he started having accidents, but it was always poo, never wee. He had two accidents when he first started, which we put down to changing kinder & having new surroundings, new people ect. Last wed he went to toilet for poo's & another boy was also doing poo's, he saw the boy wipe his bottom & decided to also wipe his bottom. So now Jeremy is wiping his own bum. He wont let me help anymore.

Josh is shareing his lunchbox with some other kids that are sent without lunch. There are a few, which is sad. The school runs a breakfast program to also help the students. One of the teachers told me that there are certain kids that never have anything at all to eat & as Josh has so much he gives these kids some snacks that I pack for him. I pack alot into Joshs lunchbox more for variety. I thought he was having a growing spurt when his lunchbox was coming home empty, as he has 10 differant things from museli bars, le snacks, breakfast bars, yoghurt, fruit, chips & other things, his lunch is normally pastizzies, hot chips, nuggets, things that kids normally want, but I make them myself so then its not full of oil as I bake them, & things like nuggets, I make with chicken breast. I wouldnt call it healthy but its better than what the shop gives the kids. & Josh is skinny  like me so Im always trying to get some weight onto him, hence all the stuff in his lunchbox. Im finding it hard to look at the parents of these kids with no lunch, as I know they get $200 more a fortnight than I do, & I know that they arent paying off a 106cm LCD tv or xbox 360 or a $2000 home theater system like I am, ( which I started smoking tabacco instead of normal smokes saving me $300 a fortnight, exactly my repayments.) I live on a tight budget so my kids & I have all we need as well as nice things. So it kills me to see parents spending all their money on alcohol & drugs ( this is the parents of these kids Josh shares his lunch with & no one else as there are alot of other parents on benefits doing what I am. ) & their children suffering as a result. The school have reported these parents but nothing has been done. So Josh being the sweet boy he is will continue shareing his snacks & Ill continue packing a few extra sanga's & snacks.

Tonight I am meeting my friend K & we are going to another friends house for drinks. I generally cant afford the money or time to do something like this so I am really excited. Neither of my friends can afford the money or time so it is a big deal for us. A girls night out/in, both my friends are carers, so they have  stressful lives & really deserve tonight. Im about to jump in the shower & get ready. I splurged & spent $30 on a bottle of bundy, ( which is alot for me. ) & Brad is staying home with the kids. He is a good Dad. Im so excited. So Ill sign off here.

Take care of yaselves Sherrie81 

My oldest, Josh has a wobbly tooth. It will be the second tooth to come out as his first wobbly tooth was knocked out during a game of footy. So toothfairy still came, but she did'nt get a tooth. So naturaly she is looking forward to getting her first tooth. Even though she still has'nt found a place to keep them. Does she keep them? What do all the other tooth fairies do with the teeth they collect?

Anyway, each day I am checking Josh's mouth to see how loose the tooth is, at the moment it is hanging on by a tiny bit of gum. As a child I would have pulled it out by now; but Josh is a good boy. He knows that if you pull your teeth out then tooth fairy wont come. ( I knew this as well but still pulled them! ) We have a special glass with Tigger & hearts that is for the tooth fairy. ( & so Mum or Dad don't tip the water down the sink with the tooth in it as my Mum did a few times by mistake! ) The glass is in a special place on the kitchen shelf, nice & easy for tooth fairy to find. Oh I cant wait for that tooth to fall out!! But then what do I do with the tooth??                                                                   Take care, Sherrie81                                                                                          

Well as you all know I have two boys, Josh 6yo & Jeremy 4yo. Jeremy has some behavioral problems & some development delays. But because they are so mild & living in a small country town I was unable to get him any help as most of the services up here are for disabled kids or for kids in government care with behavioral problems. As my son is not ADD or ADHD there was no where my Dr could refer me to up here either. & drugs are out of the question. ( they give out pills like lollies up here, terrible!!) But today we finally met someone that could see the help Jeremy needs & found a way to make it happen for him, even if he didnt meet the critera. So now we are on the waiting list, but I am happy to wait a few months cause I know he will soon have the help that we all need!! Take care  Sherrie

We thought that we had our bedtime worries of the boys playing after lights out solved when we put them in separate rooms. But it didn't stop the problems, it just gave us a new set of problems. My oldest, Josh, now gets out of bed to ask for a million & one things. & Jeremy, my youngest likes to go into Josh's room & play. Now, I had done all the parenting courses, programs, spoken with other young families for DHS in footscray; mother baby live in programs, read all the books as well as child psychology. (Which I have just started doing again online as a refresher.) I wanted to learn all I possibly could about children in order to be the best parent that I can be. But the one thing that I never took into account was that what the books & experts say may not always work for a particular child.  So where did that leave me? Well it left me asking other PARENTS for advice. So I found someone that I thought would know as I had tried everything in the book & none of it could solve such a simple but frustrating problem. & what did I get? A simple but effective solution. A piece of paper with a clock printed on it to go on the fridge. Each time one of the boys got out of bed, I moved their magnet forward by 10 minutes, (Each of my boys has their own magnet.) & what is on the clock when they get up the next day is time that they owe me & I can use it for whatever I like! ie: cutting short computer time, activities, tv, but what gets my boys is bedtime. They HATE going to bed early!! So I sent them to bed minus the 20 mins that they owed me. & you will never guess what, I had far less  bedtime troubles tonight. We still had a little bit but I know from all the parenting programs & courses that it will take about two weeks for any new thing to work its magic as thats how long it takes for a child to fully ajust to any new routine or program in their lives. But I am truly amazed at just how much this has worked in 24 short hours. I also learned that no book or program or course can compare to the wisdom of another Parent that has been through it themselves. Take care of yourselves, Sherrie81.