Being ill.

This week Oscar has had an ear infection and has spent most of his time in our bed watching television. Fortunately three of his favorite programs, Backyard Science, Lab Rats and Kid Detectives have been on back to back all week. We have also read.......a lot!

I found these two Sam's science books at a car boot sale last weekend and they are brilliant!

And having had a good browse round the internet and reading lots of reviews I bought this book and it arrived yesterday each page just has a sentence or two about some of the traits of Asperger syndrome but as well as discussing some of the things that a child (or cat) might find a little difficult it also shows many of the positives. I sat and read it with Oscar and by the end he asked me if he had Asperger Syndrome, I said yes and he said 'cool'. I couldn't have hoped for a better response. Roger and I both feel it's important that he knows about his diagnosis but we don't want it to be a big deal.

A trip to Winchester.

On Friday we went on a trip to Winchester with the rest of our Latin group.

We started at The Discovery Centre where the children were able to search through some remains from an Archaeological dig and look for pieces of slate and fish and animal bones. The children also got to look at various finds form local digs.

Oscar even got to dress up as an archaeologist. This was quite a big deal as Oscar has refused to dress up when we are out since an incident at another museum about a year ago. I think having his friend Jordan with him gave him the confidence he needed to enjoy dressing up again.

We also looked at there Romans display where there was another opportunity to dress up.

Oscar learnt about a Roman soldiers diet.

He looked at the different things they carried with them.

And he learnt about the different ports where the Romans landed in Britain.

Once he had learnt a bit about the life of a Roman soldier Oscar was quite please to discover that he's not tall enough to be one.

After the discovery centre and some lunch we went to visit the old debtors prison.

On our way up to the roof we were able to see graffiti scratched into the walls by the prisoners, unfortunately it didn't show up on my photos. But Oscar was very pleased to find this archers window.

Then we went to visit The Great Hall which is the only surviving part of Winchester Castle.

Once inside we were able to see the legendary Arthurian round table which is pretty impressive.

We also had a look round the small but beautiful gardens.

Then we headed back into the city centre to visit the Cathedral, another stunning building.

On our way back to the station the children were very excited when they spotted this sign for an traditional style sweet shop so we all went inside and found some goodies for the journey home.

We all had a lovely day and are now hoping to go back and visit Winchester again, it's not far from us by train and he has an incredible wealth of wonderful architecture.

A funny old week.

This week started out ok, Oscar has been asking questions about gravity since he was 3 and understands the basic principles of how it works and has been asking me for a while now if we could do a project on gravity. I think he is now able to understand it all a little better so on Monday we started a project about it.

Oscar learnt about the difference between gravity and gravitation.

Then he learnt about some early theories of gravity.

Then we watched an episode of The Universe all about gravity.

By lunch time Oscar was getting a sore throat and was obviously coming down with a cold so we spent the afternoon on the sofa watching Harry Potter films.

Tuesday morning Oscar woke with a pretty nasty cold so we decided not to go to the home ed group which was a real shame but I didn't want to give everyone else his cold and we have a trip to Winchester to visit some museums with the Latin group arranged for Friday so I wanted to do everything I could to get him better for that. As a result nothing much of anything happened here on Tuesday.

On Wednesday Oscar seemed a lot better which was good as we had an appointment with a psychiatrist. This appointment comes after two and a half years of assessments Oscar has been having to see if he has Asperger Syndrome. On Wednesday we were told that he does have Aspergers. This came as no surprise to Roger and I as it's something we have long suspected. Now we know that he's on the Autistic Spectrum we are able to access some services that will hopefully help Oscar with his social and communication skills as these can be a bit of a problem for him and without the right help and support could become a bigger problem as he gets older. I must admit it's come as a bit of a relief in some ways because some people have been somewhat dismissive of his difficulties and I have at times thought that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Having said that Oscar has some difficulties I should also say that Oscar (and all other people with Aspergers) has some wonderful and amazing traits. His memory is incredible as is his eye for detail. He is very honest and loving and wears his heart on his sleeve.  His levels of determination and perseverance are unbelievable, he will spend days doing something over and over until he gets it right. And when Oscar finds a subject that interests him he becomes totally absorbed in it wanting to learn as much as he can. This is the reason I have a 6 year old who knows how many major and minor moons each planet in our solar system has and is in  the process of learning their names! It can be a little wearing at times as it can become the only topic of conversation in our house for days, weeks and even months but his desire to learn is wondrous to me. 

As a result of Oscars cold and me being stressed about the appointment at the start of the week we really haven't done very much of anything but here a few pics of some of the things we have done.

Oscar has done lots of colouring in his Ben 10 colouring book that he received for his birthday.

We remembered for the first time in a few months to have a look at this hyacinth bulb my mum gave Oscar a while ago. My mum also has one and her and Oscar are going to see who gets the biggest flower. We were both rather excited to see all the roots and a small shoot.

We made one of Oscar's favourite things to eat - pizza.

We made this robot from a kit I found in a charity shop just before Christmas. It has a motor that we put together before we built the rest of it and it rolls along the carpet and drives the cats crazy.

We have also done lots of reading including starting an Enid Blyton Mystery ready for our next book group.

So that's been our funny old week. Oscar seems to be over his cold now and we are both looking forward to our trip to Winchester tomorrow and getting back into the real world and a bit of normality.

Party!

On Saturday Oscar had a birthday party and not just any old birthday party but a taekwondo birthday party.

Oscar went to a friends taekwondo party last summer and has wanted one himself ever since. Basically his taekwondo instructors come along and play lots of games with the children, similar to the games played at the end of each taekwondo lesson. We hired a hall at the Church on the corner of our road and I spent the best part of three hours in the kitchen making sandwiches, plating up cakes and getting frustrated with the roll of cling film while Roger blew up balloons and tried to stop Oscar getting too excited. With the help of some friends we got the food to the hall and the decorations up. By the time the party started all I really wanted was a sit down and a cuppa but it was all worth it as I think all Oscar's friends had a good time and Oscar said his party was fantabulous.

Before the instructors left Oscar got to show his friends how to break a board, he was incredibly pleased with himself for breaking it with his first punch.

Then it was time for some food and the all important birthday cake.

Thank you to everyone who came and made Oscar's day so special he really did have a wonderful time and thank you to our friends who helped with making tea and supervising the food and drink.

Pets at Home Workshop

On Friday Oscar and I went to an animal care workshop at Pets at Home.

The children got to look at the animals and were able to handle a rabbit and a baby guinea pig while a very nice lady told them about the care the animals need. Then the children got to see and touch a bearded dragon and learn about the care of small reptiles before finally having a look at the fish.

Oscar was very impressed with this bearded dragon.

Before we left Oscar and his friend Sam decided to try out a dog cage!

Thank you Sarah for organising it, Oscar really enjoyed himself and would now like a bearded dragon of his own.

A fun day at home

We were supposed to be going to the dockyard today but Oscar was a little under the weather and he has his Birthday party on Saturday and we all want him to be fit and well to enjoy it we decided a relaxed day at  home would be good today.

Oscar started the day by playing with his marble run that he received for his Birthday.

Then we played a fractions board game that I found in a charity shop for £1.99. Oscar and I were both rather impressed with it and he definitely has a better grasp of fractions now.

After lunch Oscar got out his much longed for hot wires set that we bought him for his Birthday.

He absolutely loved it and using the instruction book made ten different circuits.

This one was his favourite as he was able to make the yellow disc spin then fly off high enough to hit the ceiling.

This evening at St. John's Oscar made peppermint creams, so having made them two days in a row he has declared himself an expert. He was also very excited because his St. Johns Badgers tee shirt had arrived.