Failing

Due to various unforeseen circumstances, my 2 trials had slight bumps in their otherwise smooth roads. Regarding not eating chocolate, my boss took me to the chocolate factory with a visitor we had on Sunday. At the chocolate factory there are massive bowls of chocolate free for the "tasting". I exercised great self control and only had two teaspoonfulls of the little buttons and bought boiled sweets and an Iced Chocolate (so not worth the price.) Also today I had a little bit of rocky road shared by my boss.
Regarding the early morning walking, I fell in a hole on Saturday. I twisted my ankle and it swelled up a bit. Not too much and I could still get around pretty well but I did not even walk to church on Sunday because I would get frowned at by loving people. I therefore did not go for a walk on Sunday or Monday with the boys because it was revolting weather and my foot is still sore.

Walking again

Last night there was a HUGE rainstorm that woke me up. I turned off my alarm because I can't take kids for walks in a massive rain dump. Sadly it was not to be. I woke up naturally a 5:55 and it was not even raining a tiny bit. I woke up the 7 yr old and then, as part of last nights deal, the 5 yr old. It took a long time to argue 7 awake and into his clothes. This was interspersed with getting 5 into his clothes and me into mine. Unfortunately while we were arguing quietly we woke up thee 3 yr old. So she came.

Once we were all ready, and I had written a note to explain the absence of not one three children, we left. As we walked off down the path Annie, the cat, had the same bout of curiosity that the younger kids had about where we go and what we do. She followed us for maybe 2 kilometers around the block, calling out and complaining the whole way. She is a ragdol, that is probably more then she has ever walked in her life.

I am seriously running out of energy because I keep staying up late. However after a tired middle of the week due to too much physical activity, 7 gained more energy at school again. I only have eight more mornings to do before we review if it is still worth doing. Or even before I stop the morning thing and just do afternoon activity to tire him out. I will see how quickly he slips back into a late sleeping pattern.

Interesting result

This morning we did not go for a walk, however he was very easy to wake up and he stayed awake in bed reading and playing. This was good because it obviously meant he had run out of sleep. Interestingly though the lack of walk this morning did effect his ability to get ready effectively. He was not as dawdly this morning as normal and he ate breakfast, he just got distracted easily.

Will be interesting to see if he sleeps early enough tonight.

Unfortunate interruption

I have kept up waking the 7 yr old for a walk every morning and even a short walk seems to really help. It is especially effective if coupled with afternoon exercise. Yesterday though was only a short walk in the morning and barely any afternoon exercise because of physical tiredness and lack of time. Last night he was still awake at 9 pm and we a re not sure what time he went to sleep.

This morning he woke up easier but I was too tired to push the walk so I let him have a choice. He decided no obviously. I am fully aware that this will make next time twice as hard however there may not be able to be a next time for a while. In order to support a friend I will not have time in the morning to take him for a walk. I would like to use this morning as a test to see if it is necessary for a walk to wake him up or if plenty of sleep does the trick. I will still keep up that after school activity plan when possible although it does tire out his little brother who insists on keeping up.

Lovely days

Because of going out to make the most of possibly the last bit of sun before winter, we have had 2 lovely, tiring afternoons. Yesterday we rode to the beach and back, about 3 kilometers round trip. Today we stuck the bikes in the car and took them to a park with a bike track. The boys rode up and down hills for about 45 minutes and the little 3 yr old girl rode carefully around and didn't fall off. This was why we took bikes, yesterday she had a painful stack so we needed to have a go without falling off.

Then we went and got pizza for dinner and took it to the rocks by the water and watched the most stunning sunset I have seen in a long time, complete with pink water, fiery clouds and dolphins swimming close to the shore.

As a result of all this physical activity, I went to sleep this morning at 930 (the only way I could get out of bed was to promise myself a delayed sleep in) and Jake went to sleep by 8 pm tonight. Today he did more exercise then me because he ran in a Macathon at school and rode his bike at the park. Our walk this morning was about 4 kilometers and he was still full of energy this afternoon. He is happier and sleeping better and getting more happy time with me and his mother. I think his concentration is better and he is complaining less about headaches and drinking more water. He is not a fat child, if anything he is skinny, but he has some of the same difficulties overweight people have. Difficulty sleeping, unhealthy, constantly tired, unwilling to move, headaches, picky about eating good food. 


Will see how he copes towards the end of the week or fortnight. This is really hard on his brother and sister because they are getting tireder rather then more energetic. 

Operation Tiredness

So this morning I woke up before the alarm went off at ten to six. It is dark. I got dressed then went and woke up the child. He took longer to come out of sleep but once he was awake, he lay there waking up for a bit and then complaining about how much sleep he still needed then he got up and got dressed.

Because we left earlier, a bit after 6, we were able to walk all the way to the beach, and long the bike path, and back. I reckon we did about 4 kilometers in about an hour. We stopped for a biscuit break when we got hungry and when we got back, at five past seven, the child who usually can't stomach breakfast had a bowl full of mini weet-bix.

He was asleep by 9 pm last night which means he got at least 9 hours sleep.

After just one day of early wake up and lots of exercise, benefits seen are 1. Ability to eat breakfast, 2. more energy later in the day, 3. no need to hound him through the morning jobs, 4. able to go to sleep at night.

We are trialing this for 2 weeks and see if the constant physical activity wears him out too much. We will keep the morning walk going but the afternoon thing might get dropped if it proves too much for him and the rounger two.

I am really tired, I could only get up this morning by telling myself I could go back to bed after breakfast.

Getting Tired

So this morning I woke the 7 yr old up at 6am and, after some initial rejection of the idea of leaving bed and sleep to go outside for a walk, he gave in and got up. We went for about a 1/2 hour dawdle around the street to a park and back. He was not energetic at all. On the other hand, he ate breakfast and got ready for school and did piano practice and had playing time with a minimum of argument.

Then he went to school, I went swimming. When I picked him up from school, I asked his teacher how he had been and she said he was fine, he was still clearly energetic, more so then he usually is. This afternoon, after music practice, we all hopped on bikes and rode or walked to the beach. When we got there we walked along, splashed across the river outlet and climbed the rocks. Then we walked back to the bikes and rode home.

Tonight he was as energetic as ever at bed time and I am COMPLETELY stuffed. I nearly fell asleep reading to the 3 yr old. My feet are sore and I am very tired. The "getting tired" plan worked on one of us.

Waking Up

The 7 year old here has HUGE difficulty functioning in the morning. He also has difficulty getting to sleep at night. I was thinking about this, as he was coming out of bed at 1030 pm and sleeping till 830 or later if allowed. I was thinking there are two problems here, one is he is not tired enough at night and the other is we can't get him to do anything in the morning without complaints. I thought up a plan. This plan is to help this child get physically tired so that he is tired at bed time and so he sleeps easier and quicker, thus running out of sleep earlier and waking earlier.

This plan has two parts. Firstly waking him up early and going for a walk. It is a pity it is nearly winter because it means it is dark and not remotely inviting to get up. Also there is huge potential for rain. This will help him function in the morning while getting ready for school, help him eat his breakfast since he should be hungrier for it, and be awake earlier so that he is tireder at night. 

The second part of the plan will happen after school and will involve going for a walk or ride to the beach or a park and a play that will include running and climbing and other physical activity. Swimming at the indoor pool will also be happening on days when not much else is available due to rain. This will hopefully make him physically tired so that all he wants to do at night is to sleep. 

This was my plan in Campbelltown, to make my 4 yr old charge tired enough to sleep in the day and at night. It would have fallen through if I had kept at it much longer because he was getting fit. By the time I left he could walk 3 or 4 kilometers before lunch, have a sleep, then swim for an hour. Therefore one more bonus, if we keep this up, is that we will all get fitter and able to do more things.