Reading, writing, playing, keep fit, Victorian bakers, animal facts and games.

Sam has been in his new medication for a few days now, I really noticed a difference today, so did he.

It made his learning activity so much easier for him. I honestly couldn't believe how much better he was concentrating. He did four pages of writing ..which is incredible and he found listening to my directions easier, sat still for periods of time and just looked so pleased with himself. I felt so emotional about this. He normally finds it so hard to settle and work through a task, but he was even doing self directed work today..I am stunned.

Despite still feeling under the weather with his asthma he was so funny and we had a great time. He even woke up this morning and starting reading quietly to himself.

Owen read some more of his book, he informs me he is on book 2 now and still enjoying the series.

He then played Guess Who with me whilst he ate his boiled egg.

After 10 games he was declared the winner, much to his delight.

He then asked to do some writing practice.

Sam came back in to join us and decided to do some more writing, on his own. He didn't need help getting his pens or paper and happily wrote messages for Owen,  telling him he was doing well.

After this we played more Head Bands together and did some keep fit on the Wii.

Over lunch Sam was very excitedly telling me how ' I feel like I can concentrate on one thing at a time, I  enjoyed my learning more' and could explain how everything was jumbled previously. We knew he was struggling to focus but he couldn't put it in words. I am so relieved he feels better about himself and can see how capable he is..it's already helping his confidence and he's seems less fraught about ..well everything. Fingers crossed it continues to help him.

I was up most of the night with Sam because of his coughing, he still got up early and decided to do some Wii fit. After I had stashed the shopping I joined him. Owen came down very grumpy, all the coughing is keeping him awake too. He ate breakfast and joined us for a quick work out afterwards.

Following this , they both did some writing practice.

And wrote some thank you cards.

We then played 'Guess Who' ..not easy when facial recognition is hard but they are getting much better with perseverance. They are finding crafty ways ( as ever) to work round this issue, by remembering the previous cards used. It s serious stuff....*plays mastermind music* 

After numerous disturbed nights we are all pretty much dead on our feet and things are a bit twitchy here.

Sam informs me they are building a Spleef Arena with his friends on our Minecraft server....they have explained it..I am non the wiser. I am also listening about what you can do with command blocks..I can feel the facts flying past my ears and over my head at warp factor ten. Even if I had more sleep, I am not sure I would understand it any better.

Jujitsu tonight ,so off the menfolk go and come back tired but happy. Sam still struggled to get to sleep  with his cough, but I think he maybe a little better.

Thankfully Sam managed to sleep through the night last night, I hope he's turned a corner. Both boys are keen to do some more Wii fit today, so I set it up while they are eating breakfast. They both practice their running, balancing and try their luck on the step class program as they watched me earlier doing mine. Both agree, it's much harder than it looks.

After we have 'fitnessed' I suggest they may like a history program about Victorian Bakers. 

They look at me sceptically but 2 mins in are engrossed and chatting furiously about various aspects of the program. Sam is googling facts about Bakehouses as we go, I tell them about the coal fired Bakehouse in Stoke and they would like to have a visit. We also bake some bread and feel very loved up about our theme.

The boys start to wonder if we could have a Victorian themed day, no electricity, cooking on a fire etc. I smile to myself about how that could pan out but agree in principle to giving it a go. I can't see them eating cheese and bread for supper some how *chuckles*.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vn7sj

Blokey and I wrap up warm because we are out dog training tonight. Blokeys parents are looking after the boys, so they are in board game duty tonight.

Sam had another disturbed night and his cough doesn't seem to be going anywhere a hurry. He has lost another tooth this week.

Whilst Owen finishes his breakfast Sam is quizzing my knowledge of animals. I am blown away by how he can now pull the facts he needs together. Some of the stuff he is telling me, I thought he had lost/regressed away from. It's all there, he's giving me questions and answers whilst googling pictures and proving his facts and answers...he's multitasking beautifully and he's loving it! I sit back and enjoy his new found confidence.

These are just a few of the animals he was telling me all about.

He was telling me how Cheeta curbs have fluffy heads to mimick the tenacious Honey badger, to keep predators at bay.

He is face area by Sun Fish.

Owen looks on bemused. I don't think he's quite got his head round the changes in his brother yet. He decides to look up some science facts for himself and we spend time discussing those.

We play Guess Who and then watch the rest of the Victorian Bakers series. The boys thoroughly enjoy it and we talk about going to Blists Hill in the next few days. The beam with excitement at the prospect.

We have lunch after which, they choose a present for Blokeys birthday and write on his card. They settle into their free play. Owen with friends online and Sam continues to research animals on the Internet and watch films. It's a very calm household today and I spend some time doing some of my own research and reading..prepping food etc.

It would be absolutely perfect if it wasn't punctuated with continual coughing...despite it I have two happy boys.

We played Black Jack and Rummy too, the boys enjoyed pretending to gamble...Owen enjoys being reckless , Sam plays it safe.

We had an asthma review today, Sam's still not well and the nurse felt he needed to see the Doc immediately. This will be his 5th appointment about 'le cough'. We are now awaiting an appointment to become available for him at the Children's hospital. He's still not getting much sleep (neither are we) and it's been going on since before Christmas now.We did a quick shop and chemist run after he was seen and that wiped him out, so back home for board games and quiet time.We also did some Wii fit and I watched Goosebumps with Owen whilst Sam dozed. I was glad Blokey was home today and that I had the extra pair of hands onboard.

The next day we needed to go into Stafford ,both children needed new clothes and I was collecting my spectacles. We weren't in town more than an hour or 2 before Sam started to show signs of fatigue, so we quickly finished off and headed back home.

He perked up enough in the afternoon to play cards with Owen and I . It was tense stuff..Owen checked out the rules on some new card games, so we played Cheat, Black Jack and something Owen insisted was a game but didn't make much sense. Sam had a few tears but recovered enough to play with Blokey helping him.

Tomorrow is  Blokeys  birthday, he wants a 'weekend pass' to go to London and catch up with friends, so that's been arranged. We also got him a small gift to give him on the day..the boys are excited.

Today we went swimming early but had to leave early because Sam was getting so tired and breathless. After doing some chores at home, we headed off to a Chinese buffet to celebrate Blokeys birthday. Owen was a little perplexed by the many food choices but tried a couple of new things. He wasn't keen, so stuck to some known favourites on offer. Sam was quite adventurous and had a few different options, including noodles and 'red' pork. Both thoroughly enjoyed sampling all the dessert choices. Blokey worked his way round the buffet and enjoyed every dish he tried.

Afterwards we visited the large Hospice Charity shop that Blokey loves. The idea was to drop some things off...but we started wandering and bought glasses, clothes, a book and an oven dish. The menfolk tried to convince me they needed a full sized drum kit, which was on display, but there I wasn't having any of that ...*killjoy*.

Sam liked trying on this hat...

Back home we chilled out with our own stuff and finished the day with a family card game session.