Sick kids

Sharon headed down to London this week for an overnight Exec meeting. I was looking after the boys, a task made more problematic by the sickenss that seems to have been making slow and steady progress around the house for the last months. On Tuesday I arrived for school pick-up to be greeted by a wailing Rowan who had been lying on the floor of the classroom complaining of a sore stomach as the day had progressed. Angus went one better and was sick on the pavement as I was trying to get the boys in the car. So, no point in going to swimming lessons with half the party unwell. Sean and Finn were delighted.

Angus perked up in the evening and Rowan certainly seemed better in the morning so both went to nursery and school respectively. I worked from home and duly got a call from school at lunchtime to come and pick up Rowan and then, later, work from the nursery that Angus had been sick. We kept both of them off on the Thursday: Angus was sick again, again in mid-afternoon after appearing to be fine and eating well in the morning and evening. Rowan seemed absolutely fine so he was put back into school on the Friday. Angus was sick again on Friday afternoon.

Over the weekend both seemed fine but Sharon broke her little toe, cracking it on the splayed leg of Angus's high-chair. The sooner that chair goes the better. Angus causes a rumpus by demanding to sit on a normal chair anyway, so maybe it's time to build the sixth chair and retire the high-chair.

In between dealing with the sick kids we attended parents' night at the school. All seem to be doing fine. Mrs Cameron was high in her praise of Sean and his enthusiasm for his work. She also highlighted his wheeler-dealer nature and canniness in understanding things. This can be in contrast to what we see at home when he just doesn't seem to think things through at all. Mr Peach correctly observed that Finn was quite reserved and held back a bit, being very capable but sometimes a little slow to complete work he is well able to do. This is our experience in getting him to do his homework: he can be very reluctant to crack on and do it but his joined up writing is very good and his reading is now excellent. Finally, Mrs. Cooke said Rowan has settled well into P1 though he is still a bit of a livewire in class. His reading has come on along very well in the last few weeks and he's starting to try harder in his written work. Concentration on tasks like that are where he needs to focus his energies. He loves to answer first when Mrs Cooke asks the class questions.

All in all, the boys are doing well and progressing in their learning.