One word? When seven would do…

or something 😉

Mad all round day today and as it is actually now tomorrow and I have only just eaten my dinner it’s been a pretty long one too.

Sadly the night stretches ahead somewhat similarly I think 🙁

Davies developed an itch across his tummy (waistband area) at lunchtime and at group I noticed it was a sort of a rash but hard to tell as he had been scratching it. We arrived at Tumble Tots and I saw a couple more bumps on his neck and hands but he insisted he was fine to go in. By the time we left there his whole neck was bumpy and itchy and he has gotten worse as the evening’s gone on. I have been out tonight and just been up to administer more piriton and his whole body has this rash, his eyes are puffy, his ears are swollen, his lips are swollen and his hands and feet are a little puffy. Clearly some sort of allergic reaction to something. If he is not improved in the morning I’ll take him across to the doctors first thing. He also has the cough from the cold we’ve all had which is keeping him awake 🙁

So, that aside we have been dashing about loads today. Tumble Tots for Tarly at 9.30-am which she did really well at again. I’m so glad I have persevered with it for her as she is very agile and super fast at climbing and is really enjoying it now. I *think* she moves up a class when she hits 3 and she is certainly ready to move up now so that will be good 🙂

Davies sat in the waiting room with his leap pad and some pens and paper but there was a woman there selling cards and wrapping paper (her kids attend one of the TT groups) and he had been chatting to her. He told me she asked him his name so he told her and then asked her what she was called (Sarah, apparantly!) and I asked him if he had told her he was Home Educated and he said yes (I assume the school question had come up when he’d said he was five). He seemed to think he had made a friend so I assume he had represented us all well! He’d also drawn a picture of Julie – the group leader so I told him to write his name on it, which he did with no help and then I wrote out ‘Julie’ and he copied it beautifully and then went and presented it to her. She put it on the notice board and it was still there when we went back this afternoon so he was very pleased. 🙂

Came home and got Tarly changed as she was in TT shorts and T shirt and the weather has totally changed from that being suitable (I even considered vests yesterday!) and we headed out to the wizard store to get a few bits including some cheap plasticine for group and some more halloween bits.

Home again for lunch and we continued watching CBBC which we had watched Raven on at breakfast time. (I’ve never seen it before but Davies says he’s seen it and it’s great.). We’ve started either having the TV off or tuning into more educational stuff of late – I feel like we are using it far more as a resource than a babysitter and it has spun off lots of conversations too which has been lovely. Davies has a total love affair going on for anything with Steve Irwin in it and is a mine of information on all things croc’ related as a result 🙂 It was some schooly drama which they both sat rapt watching and then both declared they did not want to go to school, not ever, at the end of 😉
Shoved a beef curry in to cook very slowly for dinner – which I have just eaten my share of 12 hours later!

Out again to Home Ed group. The theme was dinosaurs and we had a variety of activities on offer which was good. Davies and I did some plasticine modelling of some, I’d brought some plastic ones too which we identified and sorted into various groups (carnivors, herbivores etc), we had icing dinosaur biscuits, making fossil footprints, decorating dinosaur teeth and loads more. A good session 🙂

Out of there and straight over to Tumble Tots for Davies. He is really enjoying the slightly more advanced feel of the older group and Tarly and I sat and did a puzzle sticker book and chatted and then she played with the dinosaurs for a while. I am really enjoying the two hours of just me and Tarly on Wednesdays – first the two of us doing TT together and then sitting together while Davies does his. Very nice 🙂

Back home again by which point poor Davies was fading fast and itching like mad 🙁 Tarly insisted on soup again for tea so I plonked her infront of Dora (I know what I mentioned earlier, but carry on reading!) with soup while Davies and I had some time in the kitchen. We were very amused to hear Tarly yelling from the lounge at the TV, in Spanish, joining in with Dora so that was clearly very educational too 😉

We’d bought some cooking apples and some blackberries at Tesco (although I had had intentions of PYOing we never made it so I thought we’d still do the baking!) yesterday so we made an apple and blackberry crumble and a lovely apple pie. I melted some sugar, butter and cinnamon in a pan and tossed the apples in that before filling the pie so the kitchen smelt lovely 🙂 Tarly came and joined us when she’d finished her tea, got her stool and washed up for us and then ran off again when she heard the Fifi and the flowertots theme music 😉

Ady arrived home and started bathing the kids while I tidied the kitchen up a bit, then we swapped and I finished bathing them while he sorted the lounge out. Both pj’d up and in bed I headed off at 7.45pm for Vickie’s house for the meeting about the future of the group.

Sadly due to poorliness I took apologies from Jenny and Julie with me which was a real shame as although I know both their feelings on moving it all forward their contributions would have inevitably added to and changed the conversations. There were 7 of us there and we had a some really good chats about what we want, what we can offer and what our expectations are. We have come up with a way to move forward which feels very positive to me although it is not necessarily what I went there with in mind. I feel now that there is support from the group, enough of us with a common aim to move it forward from here and a real possibility of building something great. I hope those not present feel the same when it is fed back to them.

Ady rang me at 11.45pm to tell me the keys would be under the mat – I had left with full intentions of being home for 10pm to watch Lost and I really thought it was about 10.15pm when he rang – oops! He was awake but in bed when I got home, having driven through flooded roads – its a dreadful night. Davies was very restless and I have been up to him several times with juice and cuddles and gave him some more piriton about half an hour ago and he seems more peacefully asleep now. Hope he is better in the morning.

Tomorrow is John’s funeral so I will be spending the morning practising my speech infront of the mirror probably – oh and constantly trying on each of the possible black outfits to decide which to wear – Oh how that would make John laugh – he’d tell me to come in my dressing gown and stand at the front and sing a silly song instead!