Sunday, 24 July 2011, Day 243/365.
These two dogs played non-stop for just over two hours. The labrador was getting a bit worn out but she kept going. The staffy could have kept going for longer – he’s just a bundle of energy.
However, after the walk home, he just slept and when we went to put him to bed later on, he did a bit of a drunken stagger and we didn’t hear a peep from him the whole night.
Saturday, 23 July 2011, Day 242/365.
This is me out and about last Saturday night. The Surfer and I had a really good night catching up with friends for this and that and bumping into people we hadn’t seen for a while.
It was one of those nights where we thought it would be a fairly early one but we ended up at another place dancing to an Elvis tribute band and didn’t get home until about 1.30am.
It was worth it though as we had a really good time. It is expensive to go out for dinner and drinks though, but sometimes it’s just so worth it.
Friday, 22 July 2011, Day 241/365.
The school holidays are finished now and I worked for most of them now that I have a job and might not have one in a couple of months.
I did, however, have both the Fridays off and last Friday JJ and I went into the city to meet some people for a social media get-together. JJ lasted pretty well there for about an hour and then it was time to move on because he was getting bored.
We walked to the museum and as it was NAIDOC week there was a heap of Aboriginal themed activities on. Most of them were a bit too young for JJ except for making this key ring. He did most of it with some help from one of the activity workers and a bit of help from me.
After we’d finished we had a good look at all the minerals which JJ is right into. He wants to save up his money to buy a huge crystal and has bought a $40 amethyst already. I can’t imagine many other nine or ten year old boys spending their hard earned money on something like this.
Overall it was a really good day and I’m pleased with how we’re going at the moment. We made a pact a couple of weeks ago for me not to yell at him and neither of us to swear. I’d not been modelling the best behaviour which I’m not proud of at all.
I bought this book, ‘10 days to a less defiant child‘ and I’ve had a quick read of it and I’m sure I will revisit it. A lot of it makes sense and I could have been reading about my own child because so much of it described our exact situations. It talks about emotional intelligence which JJ lacks sometimes and I believe it makes him a bit silly which drives me crazy. I’d never thought of him in this aspect before and I know The Surfer doesn’t get it sometimes because his kids have more of this type of intelligence so usually act better in social situations.
It has the ten steps mentioned in the title, one of which is no yelling. It’s so easy to get caught in the yelling trap when you’ve asked your child to do something three times and when they still haven’t done it you think the only way to get them to hear you is to yell. When you yell at your kid, especially your defiant kid, it just makes them more defiant. In the past this upping of defiance just made me yell louder which of course made it a lot worse. I’ve always envied those calm parents who don’t seem to rise to their kid’s defiance and stay calm. How do they do it I’ve always wondered.
I know from bitter experience that yelling at him doesn’t work but it’s felt like the only avenue left open to me at times. Kate wrote a blog post ‘How to stop yelling at your kids or at least try to‘ and it has some great suggestions about the yelling thing. In the two weeks since I’ve been a recovering yeller I have noticed a difference. He’s been more considerate. He’s listened more. He’s been doing his allocated jobs in the morning and evening mostly without me asking and we’ve walked out the door for work and school calmly. He even offered to get me some water this morning when he saw that the glass near my bed was empty.
He has been a bit silly but I’ve not fallen into the trap of yelling. If it really gets on my nerves I ask him to calm down because he’s acting a bit silly but mostly I try to ignore it. I haven’t been severely tested yet so that’s what I’m waiting for to see if I fall off the yelling wagon, or is it on?
Thursday, 21 July 2011, Day 240/365.
I see plenty of graffiti around the place but I don’t normally see tags crossed out.
Was this someone who didn’t like the tags?
Was this an ‘authority’ who’ll get around to cleaning it up properly later?
I don’t know. It just gives me questions.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011, Day 239/365.
I try to remember to drink as much water as possible during the day. I have a glass of water at my side and when it’s empty it’s a good excuse to get away from the computer to go and fill it up.
On the weekends when I’m not at work this routine goes out the window and I might get to the end of the day and realise I’ve hardly drank anything.
I used the iPhone camera+ app to take the above photo. It’s kind of similar to Instagram except the end resulting photos are in a higher resolution which I like.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011, Day 238/365.
Within ten metres of a main road is a 40km/hr sign, and end of 40km/hr sign and then the stop sign.
I don’t know how much planning goes into the placement of road speed signs but it seems pointless to me to have two opposing signs so close to each other.
Whoever thought 40km/hr was a good idea in some suburbs mustn’t drive very much. I live in the next suburb over to this one and it’s 50km/hr through there so it can get quite confusing.
Monday, 18 July 2011, Day 237/365.
I think Mondays might become my objects found on top of fixed objects theme as you will see when I do today’s photo in a week’s time.
The nearest shopping centre to where this was left isn’t really really close so it was pushed a little way and we all know how unwieldy shopping trolleys can be.
I wonder if the little sign on the wall depicting no skating or skateboarding should also have no shopping trolley image on it.
And below is a picture I took a while back now of another shopping trolley in an unusual place.
