So yeah, last week kicked my butt big time. One of those weeks I’ll look back on with a shake of the head and a loud exhale of air.
But there was good in there too. The phone call from a Sydney Children’s Hospital social worker who is going to action some things for me.
The most ridiculous care package of magazines, a DVD of the first episode of the Australian Grand Designs, a card of kind words and another CD tackling something else I’m dealing with from the lovely Leisl.
I won a magazine subscription over at Woogsworld.
You know that first big meeting at the Pain Clinic and how something had unsettled me? I had the follow-up meeting today. It went for over an hour, talking about Oscar, things that we find challenging, changes I have seen (this was really interesting because there have been loads) and some ideas to help us as well as talking about other agencies who might be able to assist. I had walked away from the first meeting feeling judged, that we didn’t fit their criteria or something, that there’d be a big red flag on our file as a family in crisis or failing to cope.
So, at the end of our meeting today, when the psychologist and physiotherapist said to me that what they see is an incredibly capable mother who adores her children and is very skilled at identifying problems and in-turn problem solving I was, well, I was really touched. The psychologist said that after the initial meeting their view was that we were doing such a great job and that their role would be to simply provide some icing on an already well-baked cake.
Bloody typical. I walk away from a meeting feeling judged and inadequate and meanwhile the real situation is the complete opposite.
These guys are there as another resource for us and that is so bloody refreshing.
Sunday saw us finally return to some level of business-as-usual with Jasper having an extra dance practice for the upcoming end-of-year concert and Felix having his best mate’s birthday party to attend.
Jasper and dance. He loves it. Sunday’s extra session was unique in that parents were allowed to stay in the room. It seems a strange quirk of dance school etiquette that parents are not allowed to stay in the room for the whole lesson. Weirdos. Anyway, I’ve kinda got a total girl crush on his teacher, Miss Jen. She can totally wear those weird not-quite-harem pants with her metallic multi-coloured hightop Adidas sneakers, kicky singlet top and incredibly good haircut. She is awesome with the boys (can you even imagine getting 25 5-7 year old boys to all face the same way let alone do dance moves in unison?), seems to be having fun and well yes, girl crush.
So it stands to reason I totally embarrassed myself on Sunday, going up to her following the lesson and telling her how amazing she was and how much I appreciated her energy and effort. Yep. Creepy.