Second Nursery Session and an Afternoon Off!

Sam went to his nursery again today for the afternoon. This time it was just myself who took him. I wasn't sure what to expect today as he had been awake since about 6am and would have usually taken a nap. But he seemed ok when we went in so I (gulp) left him! I returned 2 hours later and he was a little upset, mainly from being so tired, but he did really well, hopefully next time he will have had more sleep! I found it really hard to leave him there, but I guess it had to happen sometime. :)

So with Sam at nursery and our friend Kate watching William I had 2 whole hours to myself!! So I went and did some shopping, filled the car up with petrol and generally clock watched whilst checking my mobile phone for missed calls from the nursery (which never called by the way!). I stopped in loads of shops to browse which I could never do with either of the boys with me as they get bored easily. It was the strangest feeling but really nice too.

Buggy Board!

So we went into Barrow yesterday and bought a buggy board for the back of William's buggy for Sam to stand on. I had put off buying one as Sam is not one to keep still - if he's not strapped in he's off on the run. But shifting the huge double buggy around is a bit difficult, so we thought we'd give the buggy board a go. So we went on an experimental trip into our town to the supermarket and back. Sam loved it! We still had him in his reins, but he loved the view and movement and stayed on the entire way there and back. He had a huge grin on his face, the kind he gets when we let him stand in the shopping trolley at Tesco! The only time he got off was in the store and Andy managed to keep him busy while I shopped. I still wouldn't use the board for taking the boys to the store by myself, but I can at least take a walk around the block and to the park! :) If I remember I'll try and take a photo and post it here sometime.

I'm full of a cold at the moment as is Andy and I think Sam might have picked it up too as the random tantrums have started up again today. :( If he does have a cold hopefully it won't be as bad as last time!

Kate, our friend came round today and cuddled William whilst I cleaned the work surfaces in the kitchen and did some other chores. I would normally not particularly like cleaning as I'm not very domestic, but it felt soooo good to be able to get to it. (William can be a very clingy baby and I usually only have my left hand free to do anything with!)

New Playgroup

Well, Sam started his new playgroup today. At the moment he'll just be going on a Wednesday afternoon which will prepare him when he starts proper nursery there in April. Both Andy and I went as we had to leave playgroup early for Sam's eye test at the hospital. We got to stay there with him as it was his first time, but he seemed to be just fine. I'm still going to be horribly nervous leaving him there without me or Andy but it has to be done!! The staff are aware of Sam's issues and I feel confident they will understand him. He has a keyworker, Karen and each keyworker cares for about 2 children so he'll definitely be looked after!

He only started to have one tantrum when we were there when a little girl jumped onto the bean bag he was playing with. He just didn't know what to do, bless him. As he was lying on the floor, the little girl went and lay down next to him I think to try and help but he was so confused it set him off again! Overall though he had fun. They have lots there to keep him busy!

After playgroup we had a hospital appointment for Sam with the eye doctor. We got there expecting to have to get drops in Sam's eyes, then a long wait to be seen by the doctor. But it turned out we had received the wrong appointment letter and only needed a quick 2 minute checkup. Everything was fine and he'll be seen again in 6 months.

And now to William! The chunky monkey has filled out his moses basket so is in a proper cot now. He's so smiley it's unreal!

Great Day

We've had a really great day today. Gotten some jobs done and still managed to feel a bit relaxed. My mood was greatly helped by Andy doing the 'night shift' with William!

Sam has had a great day too, he's generally been a very happy boy. He was having such a good day in fact that we decided to start him off using PECS (picture exchange communication system). The idea is that he learns to communicate using little picture cards to tell us what he wants. We started off with Andy 'helping' him to pick up the card with the bubbles on and hand it to me. I take it saying the word bubbles and blow bubbles for him. This got repeated about 4 or 5 times and then Sam handed me the card by himself! He loves his bubbles so this went on for some time. Andy moved the card to different spots and even most of the way across the room and Sam would still look for it, fetch it and give it to me in order to get me to blow the bubbles. We'll be doing this again regularly and I'm hoping tomorrow to contact his speech and language therapist (SaLT) to get some more input or help. It's only a start but this has given me such a high today that I wanted to share it with you!

Glub Glub Glub

We've got a new fish tank! We thought that Sam might enjoy it as he likes water and bubbles and fish swimming around. At the moment we have some guppies and some tetras that were put in yesterday (unfortunately there was one casualty in the night). Sam seems a bit interested in it, but I think what he'd really like to do is put his hands in instead of watching it!

We are hoping Sam will start one daycare session a week starting next Wednesday until April when he will start proper nursery a few times a week. We have a teacher coming to our house on Monday for an introductory visit. We visited the nursery (Bram Longstaffe) back in September and we were very impressed. They are very experienced in dealing with children with special needs and both Andy and I feel confident that Sam will do well there. Whilst we were looking around, we stepped out of the classroom and left Sam playing for about 10 minutes. When we returned he hadn't noticed we'd gone and was quite happy busying himself at the water table so that was a good sign!

William has his first jabs tomorrow so hopefully that will go well although I'm sure there will be some screaming! Calpol will be at the ready!

Sam's Birthday

Ok, so sorry to be all doom and gloom at the start of a new year, but unfortunately today has not gone well at all. Sam was still not feeling very well and has had tantrums/meltdowns all day long. He's been having really bad meltdowns for the last few days which are not normal for him at all, he's usually a fairly happy boy! I am ever so grateful to Kate, a family friend who has been coming over to help me with him whilst he's been like it and Andy's been at work. She's lovely and has really helped me to cope.

Sam did manage to pull it together for some of his presents which we presented to him unwrapped and also for the chocolate birthday cake strangely enough! :) He loved the sensory ball my mum got him and also the Handy Manny doll with tools (from the playhouse disney channel) that Andy and I got him. Then of course the new moon sand set went down a treat! (I'm sure moon sand has actual magical calming powers!)

Luckily he's gone to bed straight away tonight bless him, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!