24 weeks and 2 days and counting...

Life sure has a funny way of catching you unawares. Well it does for me anyway. Apart from a few hiccups I have been coping well with the pregnancy and haven't dwelled overly on the frightening start the boys had to life. BUT this weeks has been a time for tears and worry. Mitch and Harry were born at 24 weeks and 6 days and all of a sudden I have been keenly aware of reaching that milestone with this baby. Added to this Kev has been working lots of odd shifts - coming home at 2.30 am some days and working weekends and so I suppose I have had more time alone with my thoughts, which isn't always a good thing.

But in amongst all of this there has been a bright side. I have been motivated to make visual schedules for the boys to assist them (and us) in streamlining their routines. Visual schedules are typically used for children with learning difficulties, speech disorders or behavioural issues. They may be used to specify acceptable behaviours, specific daily routines or even break down a single activity into small steps (ie going to the toilet). In Mitch & Harry's case it was first suggested at kindy that they may find a visual schedule useful as they were unable to recall the activities required each morning at kindy. After 3 terms of telling them each morning what they had to do, it became apparent that they were really struggling with the planning required to get ready for kindy. One of the teachers made a simple schedule and Harry in particular flourished. He now rushes to his visual schedule and tells me what he has to do - it has been a wonderful way for him to become more independent. So I finally buckled down this weeks and revised the boys' daily schedules and made a weekly one too. We are now just trailling it to see how it goes and whether it helps (or hinders)...but so far so good.

This is the weekly schedule which tells the boys what activities the family has planned throughout the week - like swimming, meeting friends, kindy, child care and quiet time...




This is the daily schedule which reminds the boys about their "jobs" - clearing the table, getting dressed, toiletting etc...





Next thing on the agenda is moving some of our furniture to Dad's place - that way we can start to set up the nursery and get the boys' bunk bed organised. I will of course be in my element - cleaning, tidying and organising :-)

Love to all,
Lisa xx