Doxey Nature reserve, Pokemon, Parks,maths and kinaesthetics

The boys did some maths work then went to meet friends at the local park . After dinner we took them for a walk around Doxey Marshes.

First we played at the park

Then went exploring

There was much to see and the most meadow sweet I have seen in one place.

Owen took some pictures of the geese and ducks

At this point Owen was starting to get tired, so I gave him my phone so he could catch Pokemon as we walked. This took his mind off his tired legs and we managed to walk back without him becoming distressed. There was much excited chatter from both boys as Blokey was Pokemon hunting with Sam, so we got all the Pokemon facts and a few made up ones too.

Owen did more RM maths today but has a terrible prickly heat rash and it was disrupting his concentration. I applied some cream and a cold compress , which helped. He was then able to carry with his studies.Afterwards he helped me do some weeding in the garden, then went off to play at the park.

Sam had a long lie in, a lazy breakfast and then cracked on with some more maths. He's enjoying working out number patterns in his head and tests me on mental subtraction. He's also learning Roman numerals, which he has been very quick to pick up.

Here he is checking his answers.

Later they pootled off to jujitsu, thankfully it's cooler tonight because we have had a little rain. Sam was upset because he has been asked to tie his hair back for jujitsu. Previously he has decided to have it cut..even though he hates his hair being shorter and being cut. We are hitting a real sticking point with him this week as he hated having it tied back and is currently refusing to have it cut. 

The next morning Sam is up early ..as his birthday draws nearer it's harder for him to curb his excitement. His focus is slipping considerably but he manages to work hard on his maths with some encouragement.

He then does a little writing practice and goes off to play Minecraft whilst I help Owen with his work.

Owen watched Horrible Histories, then we started our new session to try and help him with his fine motor skills. We are using this book. The emphasis for us is legibility not speed at this stage.

There are different exercises and fun writing challenges. I have bought some lumicolour pens and a big whiteboard which Owen really enjoys using. He's written a contract for himself to state he will practice 3 times a week and a pretty ambitious challenge to improve his style and legibility.

We have a lot of fun trying out the sessions and he is really happy doing it (so far ). I explain he is building muscle memory to help with his dyspraxia. Swimming, playing at the park and jujitsu have all greatly improved his gross motor skills and coordination..he still struggles with fine motor though, so hopefully this may help. Currently he is really motivated, I hope it pans out for him because he is very keen to be able to write fluently. 

After the writing games, he works through his maths programme and unlocks more levels. We have a laugh at some of the voice overs as he works.

Both boys are still enjoying Flingaball between each level, there is also quite a bit of competition building between them about who has the highest score.

Owen wanted to do his maths before Nanny arrived, so he worked hard after breakfast.

My Mum visited today to bring the children's birthday presents. Owen wanted to open his early but Sam wanted to wait till his birthday , much to his Nans disappointment ! Sam showed her his maths program but got performance anxiety at being watched and struggled to concentrate. After lunch the children showed their Nanny the new park. After Nanny went home the boys had a long play with their local friends. Getting the children to bed that night was very problematic as they are getting birthday anxiety as the day draws nearer. We breathed a sigh of relief when we got both overwhelmed and teary  children to sleep.

The next morning the children were up at 6 am and at warp factor 10. Sam has gone into human pinball mode and is talking so quickly , we can barely make out what he is saying...he thinks we are deliberately annoying him, so goes in batmode. This means his speech reaches a very high, unintelligible pitch ..it's brain splitting. I try not to grimace.

Sam works on RM maths..with mixed results ( I expected that) and Owen watches a documentary on Netflix. There is clearly no point in pushing any activities today, both are donkeys on the edge. So I will just try and get us through today with as much sanity intact as I can. By 8.05 I am completely exhausted. Not helped by the fact we have a poorly Piggle dog again, so I was up in the night looking after her..poor love. It's possible her meds have started to cause her problems , which is worrying. It also could be a simple tummy bug but she does look as though she's lost weight this last two weeks , so I am concerned.

Before lunch the boys go out to play and oone of our friends pops round with presents and cards for the boys birthdays tomorrow. As she arrives , I am running up the street trying to give Sam a cheese baguette. He hasn't stopped moving all day so far and is refusing to come inside to eat any lunch.

We have a brief chat in the street whilst her baby boy sleeps, both boys zoom past on their bikes and shout thank you before zooming off again. Later it rains heavily forcing the boys indoors and we watch a film together. I struggle to keep awake and feel very slowed down by my pain and tiredness. Owen attempts to go out again but crashes his skateboard and comes in upset because he has hurt his foot and 'why do I get so stressed about my birthday Mum!?'. He's holding back the tears , which means he expresses his pain as anger. Eventually I make him laugh.

Our poor dog is really quite poorly, so Blokey takes her to the vet and they give us medication and administer a steroid injection. She has colitis and is throughly miserable. We are all very worried about her as she is very old now.

The big days arrives and the release of the pressure and tension is very welcome. We start with breakfast then present opening. The boys are very happy with their gifts.

Later at the boys request , we go to the Wolsley Arms for a celebratory lunch. 

In the evening Sam tries out his spectacular straw..both boys love these.

Owen enjoying his present.

Awaiting his birthday meal.

Afterwards we took the children in to town and I hey spent some of their birthday money in CEX and Shogun games.

Sadly on our return home we found Piggle had become more ill with new symptoms , so our concern increased about her.

We ring the out of hours vet and they suspect she has had a reaction to one of the medications and we have to stop it immediately and see how she is on Monday. Sam becomes increasingly upset as like me, he wants her to live forever pain free. 

The new Park, maths, Africa, ice cream making and so much socialising!

Owen was up early, excitedly talking about meeting his friends at the park after school. He asked me to put a reminder on my iPad, so he wouldn't forget.

After he had eaten he did work on RM Easimaths, he really likes the new version. Plus everytime you complete a level, you get to play Flingaball. This is a similar concept to Angry Birds, with devilish angles and trajectories to conquer. He loves it. 

As Sam was still asleep Owen asked me to cut his hair, then went for a shower. Inbetween Sam surfaced and I sorted out all his meds and breakfast so he could eat in the living room and watch the 3rd Africa documentary, which was about the Congo.

When this was over Sam  worked with me on RM too. He got a bit upset in the middle of the session as the programme froze and he had to start again. Normally, he wouldn't be able to continue once upset, but I gave him time and encouragement and he managed to compose himself enough to finish. Then followed his first experience of Flingaball...he loved it just as much as Owen, he also liked the animations that accompanied the lessons.

By this point it was lunch time and both children ate a good meal. Later they both went to the park round the corner to play. Most of the children there a great and the boys are building friendships, however 2 boys were trying to cause trouble but the children seemed to handle it very maturely...it threw them a bit but I was proud of how they dealt with it all.

Sam played with his friend online, then settled into some games of chess with Blokey.

Sam had a very bad night, his anxiety is high, he was in full demand avoidance since 9pm and still going strong the next morning.

He did his maths session

Then wrote in his notebook, as you can see, he's not a happy bunny. He's not coping with the heat very well either.

Owen did some drawing 

Then some RM maths

I decide to leave Sam for now, he's not coping today . Owen and I go on to do some drawings together . We have to take turns telling each other what body parts to draw.

After lunch we headed off outside to try and find some Pokemon using Pokemon Go. It was SO hot, we headed into the woods for some shade. Sadly we didn't catch any and headed home. We were all  boiling so had a massive water fight in the garden to cool off... What a laugh!

After a quick dinner the children headed off for their jujitsu class.

It's hot again and we cycle round hunting Pokemon. We also stop at the park for a play.

After lunch we go to friends, there is much excitement about the fact the paddling pool was filled . The children had great fun and were very wet. When we got home they grabbed a drink and shot off to the park whilst I made them some tea. 

I am up early as Blokey has to go on a course. He's out the house for 6am and I can crack on with my chores and start exercising. Sam comes down in the middle of one of my sessions and decides to join in. We do some weights and cardio then have breakfast together.

Afterwards we work on RM maths again. 

He is getting much more confident and needed much less guidance today. 

Owen arrives and we talk about the exercises Sam and I did. Owen suggests we do a 21 day challenge ... Sam agrees and I bookmark the fitness program.

Once Sam has finished his maths, Owen works on his, then he has breakfast.

The concentration!

I cracked on with some work I needed to do then after lunch we went over to another friends house and made ice cream. The children really enjoyed this activity .

My friend very kindly set it all up, with us bringing a couple of supplies.

You put cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in one bag. Then add salt to ice cubes in another bag...we them had fun squidging the bag of mixture between the ice mixture.

In goes the sugar.

The salt for the ice.

Squidging ...technical term

Owens finished ice cream.

We had mixed results , as it's not easy to ensure all the ice keeps in contact with the bag of creamy mix. We discussed other ways of trying to get a more consistent ....erm...consistency.

The children charged round the garden, playing the most convoluted game of Tag ever known and then we set off back home. Where they promptly disappeared off to the park again.

Despite there being rain forecast, we woke to another glorious day. We went to The Nature Reserve to meet friends and wandered in the shade and played on the big swing for a while. Afterwards we headed out to the river Sow and splashed, swam and skimmed stones until we were all too hungry to carry on.

The children helping Blokey catch Pokemon.

Blokey helping Sam skim stones.

Cooling my feet

Owen was rather tired from walking round but soon perked up again when he decided to get in the water.

After saying all morning that he wanted to get in the water, Sam wasn't quite too sure for a while.

But was soon splashing around

Owen and his friend enjoying cooling off.

Hunting for stones to skim and watching the little fishes.

A handy tree trunk as a resting place.

Owen walked up the bank and swam back down to where we were over and over.

With his shoes on..ha ha.

He tries to ride the current in the river..he is feeling out the best spot here.

Owen full of mischief and splashing Sam.

Sam finally braves getting fully under and swimming

After walking back to the we car we headed for the nearest pub for a late lunch. After initially being quite worried about eating something new Owen went on to devour Hunters chicken with chips and peas. When the waitress asked him if everything was alright , he declared it was delicious and finished the whole massive plate of food. Sam enjoyed steak and chips flollowed by a brownie with ice cream. 

Owen was still up for dessert but wanted to try something new..so I agreed to share a tasting platter with him. He tried apple pie, brownie, ice cream , ginger biscuits, Eton mess ( a complete no no) and creme brûlée ..he didn't enjoy the crispy top but loved the middle bit.

Back home there was much more playing outside with the local children and later we put two very tired boys to bed, who declared : thanks for a good day!

The next day we went to the reptile shop so Owen could choose his birthday present. He had thought of getting a giant millipede but in the end decided on a giant snail. He spoke at length to the shop keeper, who is very knowledgeable and we got his snail all kitted out. 

He's named it Orel and has been doing much research on what he/she needs. He's a little bit anxious he may harm it but it's lovely to see how careful he's being. The rest of the day involved walking and playing outside at the park.

More playing with the local children today. Owen tended Orel and picked some salad leaves from the garden. Later we took them to swimming lessons , where the coped really well with a stand in instructor. Then there was some walking with Sam to catch more Pokemon, chess, snail nurturing and finally two very tired boys were in bed.