HALF TERM WEEK

Well we have survived another half term week!

We tend to have a break ourselves from formal education and try to get together with his friends instead. However, that can be difficult unless we are indoors or outdoors where there is lots of space. Having the rest of the children off from school can sometimes totally stress Callum as everywhere becomes crowded and there are (or seems to be) lots of screaming young children and fraught mothers. Must admit that gets to me too! So we avoid obvious 'children places' and stear clear, as best as, from shopping!

This past week the weather hasn't been fantastic, but we did manage to get out! The first proper day, Monday, we met up with my friend Linda and her daughter Danielle (who Callum went to school with) and took a trip to Rochester. D is studying the River Medway at school and 'homework' was to pick up some leaflets about places along the river. As Callum and I have a long running project on water which contains a section on the River Medway, we thought that we could combine a bit of education and a good day out! The weather stayed dry which was brilliant and we walked along the High Street to Rochester Bridge and along the river to the new housing. Was a lovely walk and we took lots of photos to include in our project. C and D spent most of the time on the pier which, for some reason, took their fancy. It wasn't busy and Callum had a great time. Was nice to see him being a bit silly for a change as he can be so 'sensible'; probably because he is with adults a lot! We had drinks and cake in the Cathedral Tearooms (as is our norm) and then came home.

Tuesday was Pancake Day and Callum insists on having pancakes for every meal! So made up a huge batch of batter the night before and started the day with plain pancakes with lemon and sugar! We also made a chocolate cake as we had one of his old Infant teachers coming round for a cup of tea later that day. We experimented with replacing some of the sugar with golden syrup. I am gluten free, so experiment a lot to see if I can improve on the flavour/texture of gluten free cakes, biscuits and bread. Callum loves measuring out the ingredients although he won't touch the margarine as he hates the feel of it! Does like nicking lumps of sugar though given half the chance and, of course, licking the bowl afterwards (as did I when I was a kid)!! We made cheese and ham pancake rolls for lunch and he had mince beef in tomato sauce in pancakes (like cannelloni) for dinner. The cake came out really well and he enjoyed seeing his favourite ex teacher.

Wednesday we braved going on a bus and headed off to Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre. It was his Dad's birthday this Monday, so we had to go and get a present as I hadn't been as organised as I should have been. Couldn't face going to main shopping precinct and thought Hempstead would be quieter, which it was luckily. Bribed C with a Burger King - his favourite! Actually he did really well and only had one melt down which was totally my fault at the end of the day!!! We came back by bus and C was helping with the bags. He took off his hat and gloves and placed them on his lap. In his rush to get off the bus, he forgot and stood up, dropping the hat/gloves on the floor. Neither of us had noticed however until we were off the bus and it had gone. He was fine, surprisingly, but it was bitterly cold and I, stupidly, suggested we go and buy him a new set as we were right on top of the High Street! Ooops!!! Bad suggestion! He lost it, stormed off in a foul mood (he just wanted to go home by this point) and went home ahead of me. Must point out that I'm walking using a crutch and can't run yet!! I knew he would be able to get home ok, even with crossing the road, but when I got round the corner I couldn't see him!! He'd gone home and hidden behind our front wall! I totally panicked and had to try and explain as calmly as I could that I didn't mind him going home, but could he please not hide as I didn't know where he was and he'd scared me! Took about another 10-15mins indoors before he finally got back to normal and I was forgiven!

Thursday we had another misunderstanding! We go trampolining on Thursdays and we run it through the holidays so that not everything stops. I had invited a couple of the childen back to play after the lesson, but C thought I'd invited everyone. He didn't tell me this and spent the whole lesson in a right mood and got quite nasty with me. He ended up going upstairs to his favourite 'auntie' Carol! I, meanwhile, didn't have a clue why he was so angry and upset! It wasn't until we got home that he realised that not everyone was coming and it was only two other children. He then, of course, was fine and he ended up with a good afternoon. Had a big discussion later on about communication and how he (and I) need to ensure that both of us understand what the other is talking about!

Friday was dentist, so more stress!! Dentist was fantastic though and managed to look in his mouth and say that he had brilliant teeth - phew!! C is very very loathe to clean his teeth and I have often left it unless he has had sweets before comencing the battle of the toothbrush!

The weekend was spent playing with the Scaletrix with dad and as Phil had taken off this Monday and Tuesday as well, C got an extension of holiday from formal ed! However, by the end of Monday he was beginning to get very hyper and non-stop chattering. I do notice this after he hasn't done anything formal for a while; don't exactly know what it is but I think it's because he isn't engaged enough! It isn't like we do nothing with him, but what we tend to do probably isn't mentally challenging enough, so he becomes over animated! It wasn't helped by me having to go to hospital clinic on Monday where we hung around for ages waiting to be seen and then being told to go to xray and then having to wait again! Aspis do not do waiting!

But we have survived!! Back to normal a bit now and hopefully he will calm down by the end of the week. Had a great education session with him this morning on WWII looking at food rations (we measured stuff out to physically see what we would have been entitled to); looked at maps (C's favourite) to see how the war progressed and looked up his favourite foods online to see if they were available during the ration years. He got very excited when he discovered that peanut butter was sold by the spoonful from Woolworths! Then swimming this afternoon followed by a play swim with his best friend (also a Callum) then back here for a continuation of play until this evening.

That's it so far!