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.

Trampolining, maths, general knowledge, friends, asthma, writing and board games

Our first visit to Flipout today. It's a new trampoline centre and it's just down the road from us. We met friends there and had lots of fun. The staff were wonderful and really enchanced the whole experience for the children ( and adults). Sam had to keep resting, as his asthma is making him so tired.

 

Owen said he was very achy afterwards

We will definitely be doing this again..hopefully when Sam is feeling 100 percent. We took him to the Docs but they were unsure how to proceed. 

Sadly, Sam had a very rough night..so did Owen because he was worried about Sam's cough. So we all woke up rather groggily today.

Despite this and the fact that  I know I wouldn't have sent either of them to school today..they decided they wanted to do some maths. It was clear they were tired but this didn't stop them working really hard.

And Some of Owens.

We put away the shopping, played UNO and did a general knowledge quiz.  I am drinking copious amounts of tea to try and keep awake. The boys waivered about jujitsu tonight but rallied last minute and got their kits on. Sam took his inhaler and I tried not to look nervous. 

The children were tired and still achy after jujitsu..Sam is still getting disturbed nights with his asthma flare up. They did free play this morning , keeping themselves happily busy together. After lunch we set off to meet friends. Both boys weren't themselves and Sam was fragile . We managed an hour or so before needing to come home and  it was nice to catch up with people.

We played the London board game...very good to help with planning and the destination cards give interesting facts about the places you stop at.

We are having Smart meters fitted today...I wonder if the engineer can attach one to my tired brain...but it's probably best he can't .

The boys decided to play a word game and Operation. I cringed inwardly when I saw they had pulled 'Don't Say It!' out of the cupboard...it's a describing game and we have only attempted it once before because it made them get all 'HULK SMASH!' When your children find explaining things hard and think you have the same mental image as them, they tend to shout the same word over and over at you in frustration. In this game you have to describe the word, are timed and other associated words off limits.

I nervously went through the rules again and set it out slightly differently. It's a number of months since the last time and they got it...yes there were lots of flappy hands and a few times the odd banned word got blurted out ( usually by me...poor impulse control much mum?) ..but wow, what a difference. We had great fun and moved up the difficulty level in the game. It's brilliant fun and a good tool to show the children how differently people think when they describe something. We talked about how Blokey and I don't always understand what they boys are referring to because we need more description sometimes. The children looked surprised and really seemed to take this on board. I can't believe the difference and skills they have gained since our last game. We had lots of belly laughs...*breathes a massive sigh of relief.*

Owen checks I have understood the instructions correctly

Sam ..bless him, his chest is so sore from coughing but he threw himself into this and soon looked more cheerful.

Afterwards we played Operation. There are plenty elements to this that help the children improve their skills . Impulse control, fine motor skills and mild peril ( it has a very loud announcement when you touch the sides). Owen has to really concentrate on his turn ..so Sam and I are instructed to sit very still and quiet.

Owen was disappointed he didn't win but he managed to do it gracefully.

After our evening meal, Blokey was roped in to play another raucous game of Don't Say It! It was quite interesting hearing some of his descriptions. Great fun was had by all .

Sam had another difficult night with his asthma , so I left a message at the hospital to try and get some advice. We are all very tired and didn't get much sleep. Despite this Owen decided he wanted to make some bread.

It was a fine beast.

I showed Owen the writing book I had purchased yesterday and he decided to have a try. He concentrated really hard. He's been saying how he wishes he could write better but I am trying not to be too keen because that would only put him off. He did really well today but finds it frustrating that writing isn't like a rust application....one attempt lasts 5 years. I explain that it really is a question of practice and he took it well.

A very tired Sam was meanwhile coughing his way through breakfast. I say I don't expect him to do anything if he's not up to it today. Sam said he wanted to play our cooperation game 'Wildcraft' so that's what we did. 

I asked if he wanted to look at the writing book and he decided to do a page. Despite having to take many breaks, draw some 'little men' and put in extra bits, he managed to finish the task.

Saturday involved getting medications in the morning and travelling to Manchester in the afternoon. We drove through the city centre, the boys enjoying all the wonderful Victorian buildings. They want us to take them back, so they can go inside the town hall and have a better look.

We were visiting a friend of mine and she kindly gave us a full set of Skull Duggery books..which Owen is already devouring with gusto. Having spent a lovely few hours out, we headed home in the snow. 

Sam starts his new treatment today, which I am nervous about. It snowed over night but the boys were less than impressed when they finally ventured out. It took longer to get them into warm outdoors clothes, than they spent actually in the snow...we haven't got very much sadly.

The children watched films and played Minecraft today. Blokey and I caught up on chores and later we all got together for a game of Scrabble.

Owen is tucking in to his new books with his usual enthusiasm for reading. He asks me to thank my friend for giving them to him.