The children and I were discussing coding again, we have tried various subscriptions in the past but none have really appealed to them for any length of time. I saw a new set of sessions that focus on Minecraft coding and when I pointed them out, they were very keen. I am more skeptical, ( I have been here many times) so signed them up for a quarterly subscription initially to see how they get on. We have tried Tynker before but I must admit, the sessions offered are now more comprehensive and look a lot more appealing...we shall see. Owen has already completed two sections on skin designs...hmmm *runs chins*.
Sam watched me do some weeding. He decided to eat his breakfast outside in the sunshine.
He spotted a butterfly and spent time watching it..he suspected it had just emerged from the cocoon and was drying it wings in the sun.
He found a cocoon under the bay window:
And a branded snail on the tree:
Our strawberry plants we looking healthy:
The lettuce plants are still doing well:
Both boys played 'Simon' whilst I talked to them about what they wanted to do today with me.
Sam wanted to go back outside and do more gardening. I still had some plants that my mum had given me, so we worked out where we wanted them. I showed Sam where Owen and I had sowed wild flower seeds, we spotted a few already pushing through the soil.
He loved digging the holes with his trowel, Sam puts so much effort in he managed to fall over three times.
We planted night stock, cornflowers and lobelia. After that he spotted some weeds in the borders and helped me dig those up. He worked really hard and we headed back indoors just as the rain started.
Meanwhile Owen was continuing to work on his coding.
And got excited by a whoosh bottle:
And a bit of coding.
Sam started the Turings Towers programming section. I sat with him as he was a little nervous to start. When he realised it was like a platform game he soon was racing ahead and giggling.
He made some skins too:
I don't know where the day went! Jujitsu later, so best do some food. On coming home Owen got really upset. He seemed tired but had had a good session ..sometimes he doesn't know why himself.
The only way he could articulate it was that it was something to do with a glass of water and not wanting it...???....we got him settled but it was quite late. We are supposed to be seeing people tomorrow but Owen is saying he doesn't want to go. Again he cannot express why and questioning him makes him more upset. I explain to our friends that we may make it, but it will most likely be a last minute thing.
The sun is shining and Sam wanted ( quite rightly), to be outside . Owen is still not quite himself and I sit and watch him do his coding lessons. He brightens up considerably during this session but the minute I leave the room he becomes distracted and upset. I make sure Sam is busy and happy and Owen and I continue to work through his projects.
It's one of those days where I feel pulled in all directions. I would like to be outside too and Sam wants me to work with him , so I negotiated a trade off where Owen gets the attention for now and I promise to spend time with Sam afterwards. I get many cuddles off Owen all the time we sit together with his project. Owen is very camera shy at the moment, so I am contemplating using a stunt double in future blogs.
Afterwards it's time to head outside with Sam ..we start, at his request, with the weeding.
We did quite a bit yesterday so there weren't too many more to deal with. We moved on to mowing the lawn.
I have to hold the wire for him but he loves pushing it round and it's good sensory therapy for him.
Next we plant some courgettes and more beetroots. Sam enjoys watering the tubs and the very inquisitive dog, who loves to drink from the hose pipe.
Sam now wanted to do some exercise..so he hula hooped.
And ran laps round the garden.
All the time he talked and waved at anyone going past. We chatted about plants and birds the whole time we were outside.
Sam was up early and came outside with me to inspect the garden and play with Shadow. Afterwards he showed me what he's been doing on the Minecraft server we host. I was quite surprised at how much it's changed. There has been lots of designing and building. He demonstrated his new skin design , as he'd worked out how to take it from Tynker and use it directly in the game. There was also a rollercoaster , numerous buildings and demonstration of him using command blocks inventively with his knowledge of circuitry being put to good use.
We then went back to Tynker to do some more coding. I hope he continues to get more out of it because I can see he wants to do his own coding and mods in Minecraft.
Sam is really enjoying this and despite getting stuck at one point he insisted on working through alone until he solved the problem. The look on his face when he did it was priceless.
I left Sam designing a new skin in the Tynker app as he was really pleased that someone commented on how cool it was.
Owen and I went upstairs to rearrange his bedroom. Where his desk currently was, made working a bit cramped, so we switched things round and had a general tidy. He was pleased with what we had done. Sam popped in and out to monitor our progress and showed Owen how to upload his skin design from Tynker to Mojang.
As Owen hasn't wanted his photo taken lately, I asked him if he would like my Ugly Doll to be used as a stunt double. He thought this was a cracking idea..and even went on to allow me to take a few pics of himself at work too.
He logged into his Tynker project and made really good headway. He reads it too fast for me to follow already. Good job he knows what he's doing because I haven't got a clue.
It was such a lovely sunny day and we needed to go and vote, so we asked the boys if they fancied a walk. Surprisingly they said yes, so off we went. We walked through the the wooded path up into the old part of the village. Sam ran most of the way, he reminds me of a Jack Russell. We looked at the plants and trees and the boys asked if we could come again tomorrow with my book of Wild plants because there were some I wasn't sure about. As I am always eager to get them outside as much as possible, I readily agreed.
On the way back we stopped at the park and the children had a kick about with a couple of other boys before we headed home. Owen was very tired on the last part so Blokey and I helped him along with jokes and a bit of piggy backing. We all agreed it was a very enjoyable jaunt and I hope the children remember tomorrow, so we can start to get Owen outside a bit more.
After all the swimming and walking yesterday, I was informed that the boys 'were very tired!'.
'We don't want to do any learning today Mum..we are FAR too tired to do anything' . I nod sympathetically ..'OK' ...
Sam: yes no learning today I just want to chill out and watch that film about Tesla.
Owen: Yes I just want to watch that too..
I laugh in the face of their 'not learning ' and we watch the documentary ..we have to pause it whilst I answer numerous questions about Tesla ..they also decide that he probably was Autistic too.
It was a lovely sunny day again, so we headed out for a bike ride. Spring is definitely here.
We played at the park.
Surrounded a beetle
And cycled home to light the BBQ for the first time. Just as we were preparing to cook, the heavens opened and we had a huge thunderstorm. It was our wettest BBQ on record here..the food still tasted great!
We woke to a beautiful day, after swimming we headed over to an event day at Stafford Castle.
We looked at the stalls and fed the goats:
Owen tried to persuade me to buy some chickens and ducks.
Then he wanted a rabbit.
We loved the Shire horse and her foal.
The boys enjoyed the exhibits relating to the castle:
Owen checked out the explainations about how chain mail worked.
We all enjoyed the birds of prey display, the man was very interesting and told us many facts about each bird.
Met the bats.
Put Owen in the Stocks:
We climbed up to the castle and explored:
On such a clear day, there were amazing panoramic views across Staffordshire and all the way to the hills at Welshpool and towards the Welsh borders.
Then back home for tea and to try and cool down and chill out.
No comments:
Post a Comment