Another early morning

I've been awake since 4 this morning.  It has to do with bad dreams (not mine) the way they were dealt with, and a general frustration of just not being able to do a damn thing right.

However.

On the other hand.

I am up early, watching some daft programme about swordfishing, and waiting for BBC Breakfast to start.  I'll catch the news and weather, and then move on with the rest of my day.

The rest of my day will involve preparing for tomorrow, (printing some stuff off basically) and continuing with the AC's room.  Yesterday I managed to take the bed apart, move the bed to the other room and reassemble the bed.  T-Boy was amazed when I said I was going to do this.  "But Daddy isn't home!"  Yes, well, some of us don't need a man to do our work for us thanks T-Boy.  Yesterday he learnt how to use an allan key, some of the many uses of WD-40, and how a lubricant works on screws that have been wedged in for a long time.

It was not without incident.  I gave him breakfast, (dry cornflakes, at his request) and he kept dropping them on the floor and sofa.  I moved him to the table, he refused to eat them.  I turned the timer over, and he got on with it.  The timer ran out, he refused to eat, and sulked some more.  I turned the timer over, he got on with it.

Then he calmed down.  He was lovely.  He helped upstairs, chatting away like anyone else would. He fetched and carried when he was asked to, for about 30 mins, then went off on a massive tantrum about me asking where he had put something.  Then he was sorry, and helped, then went off on a massive tantrum because I'd asked him not to roll his eyes when I was speaking to him.  Then I said we were going to take Daddy his lunch, and he cried for 30 minutes because I was going to tell Daddy what he had been up to.  We started to walk down to Daddy, and he was lovely.  Chatty, interested, telling my about some film he'd seen, we got down to Daddy, we got back, (still lovely!) I made him lunch, he refused to eat it until I threatened to make spaghetti bolognaise with tomatoes in it for his tea, and then he ate 2 massive wraps with no more fuss.

Sue came round to help because she was bored, and he was lovely all afternoon, really on best behaviour, which was so much nicer than the morning.  We worked like navvies all afternoon and got most of it done, the bed back together, and it just leaves me a bit of sorting out today to do.

I also want to get these dogs sewn up today.  I'll take T-Boy into town to do a few things and get some kapok to stuff the dogs with and so on.

I also want to make pasta and bread and cake today (carb rich diet lol!)

There's about a million things I need to do, but I'm going to have to take it slowly - I'm knackered!

Fussy wating and easy roast.

Well, I've been awake since 3am.  It's now 6am.  I gave up attempting to sleep at around 4.30, and came downstairs, redrew the template for the dogs I need to make so they are bigger, and then cut out and stitched one.  (pics later)

I cleaned the kitchen right hand side, and when the dishwasher completes I'll clean the dishwasher left hand side.

I watched Maury and decided that my life was Not That Bad. (although I make be awake really early, I'm not 250lbs and don't know who the father of my baby is, although this girl was 1,000,000% sure that it was this man.  And it wasn't.  OR his mate.  And why is she saying 1,000,000%?  There are only 100%.  What are American schools teaching these children?)

Now I'm blogging a little, reading a little, sewing a little, and watching Rick Stein's Spain.

Yesterday went fine.  J was firm with T-Boy about eating.  I backed him up.  T-Boy ate.  Simple.  He did mess about for a while with his ham sandwich.  He ate one half, then said he didn't like the other half, and coughed and tried to be sick, so I said "Fine, then that's you done til tea time."  Then he said he would eat it, so I said he had 5 minutes. 

Him : "WHAT?!?!? So I'm getting timed to eat my food now?!?!?!"

Me : Yes.  Over an hour for one half of a sandwich is ridiculous.  You have five minutes.

As he knew that there was chocolate cake at the flying field (where we were having our sandwiches) he got on with it, but he'd messed about so long that all the cake was gone! 

J did well in the competition, he doesn't like doing them, but he joins in with good humour.

Oh, and I did slow roasted beef for tea.  You've never had anything so easy, so nice, and so cheap for a roast.  It was 1.4kg of beef brisket.  I seared it in the frying pan, lobbed it into a deep roasting pan with a lid, made thin gravy with the juices from the frying pan, and threw that in on top.  It went in the oven for 3 hours at 140deg, then I turned it off (leaving it in) and went flying.  We were back 4 hours later, and about an hour after that I sliced some thin slices from it, made gravy and dropped the slices in for a moment, then served it with roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli.  Unless you are T-Boy, in which case he had cold beef, bread and butter, and a MASSIVE mound of carrots and broccoli, which he ate all of.

This is a marked difference to Saturday night, when he asked for sausages, peas, carrots and rice.  I made it, all mixed it in like a stir-fry (as that's what he wanted) and he refused to eat anything except the sausages.

We'll see how today goes.  But not yet.....  Everyone else is still asleep!

Easter Saturday

It is Easter Saturday. (I know.  Did the title give it away?)

T-Boy is here, collected yesterday.  He and J have spent most of the day on the sofa watching films.  Currently it's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, with Gene Wilder.  The proper version. 

So far, he's had a bowl of cornflakes, and 2 sets of bacon sandwiches.  The same bacon sandwiches he wouldn't eat last time.  It's almost tea time however.  So far, none of the options I have presented are acceptable.  I have to find a way to feed him.  The main issue is that he doesn't eat anything he doesn't want to eat.  I know that most of us don't do that, but most of us have a wider range of foods that we will eat. 

Also, the biggest of the issues that I have is that he won't eat potatoes, in any form. Won't.  Not can't.  There's no allergy, nothing like that.  I suspect it is a sensory issue, but then there are lots of things he won't eat that aren't sensory, but there are things he will eat that should be a sensory issue if that is the thing that is stopping him eating.

Did that last sentence make sense?  I shouldn't think so. 

So shall I do pork chops and pasta?  Roast chicken and rice?  Why not?  It's only convention, after all!

I've spent the afternoon doing Clicker5 grids for my SEN and EAL children.  Yes, it's the holidays.  Yes, teachers get all these long and fantastic holidays.  Yes, I'm working in my holiday.  AGAIN!  Clicker 5 is brilliant, but it is something I am out of practice with and I am determined to get in practice with it again.

And now I'm stopping because my tapping is stopping them enjoying the film.

Ah well!