Friday, 12.

What a week, just don't know where the time goes sometimes. Tonight is the first time for over a week  I have sat down and caught up on some craft blog reading (best thing to do when the footy is on tele). 

I have just spent the last 2 days at the most amazing PD (professional development) "masterclass" run by the new VDEI - Victorian Deaf Education Institute. There were about 30 people there, a mix of Early Intervention workers, teachers of the deaf, speech pathologists, social workers, and even an audiologist and psychologist  or 2. The first day was about working with parents, different adult learning styles and the problems that result when there is a miss-match of styles, connecting with parents etc.; and today was about "theory of mind" which is fascinating - we know how other people think, can predict how they will react when we say or do something, can understand that others hold different view to us, because we have a "theory of mind". Children need to learn/be taught this (especially deaf and hard of hearing children, because they miss hear, don't overhear things, can be very black and white about the world), and it all starts through imaginative/pretend play. When we talk out loud about how we are feeling (pleased, stressed, worried, frustrated, annoyed etc.) around our children, they can learn these 'emotive' words and concepts, and learn that we all have different thoughts and emotions.

Anyway, I could go on... but it was just AMAZING stuff - you could overhear people at morning tea and lunch, saying how fantastic it was, and concensus was that this was the BEST PD EVER any of us have ever been too!  Of course, we all want to go back to our respective jobs and COMPLETELY change the way we approach and do everything!

AND I got to catch up with an old work colleague from Bendigo I hadn't seen in, oh many many years, and another wonderful colleague from Bendigo (we are the only independant EIPA's left in the state), and we nipped into the Vic Market next door for a super quick shopping trip at lunch time today!

It is science week next week and there are a whole host of fun family activities at the Vic Market starting on Sunday - last year my H's research colleagues ran "the science of chocolate" and the kids got to make and taste some yummy chocolates! I don't think they are there again this year, but I'm sure there will be other cool stuff to do.  We might pop down there, not quite sure what the weekend plans are as yet. Hopefully sew another skirt, and bag maybe...