T has had what we have all had (vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue, aches & pains) since Friday night and hasn't really eaten anything much until lunch today. Poor baby - that is nearly 5 days - I am sure he has lost about 4 kg which is about one fifth of his body weight.
He has been so exhausted that he has lain on our bed since Friday night, sometimes just staring out - not even asking for television or the iPad. It is the good 'ol rotavirus gastroenteritis that strikes children particularly hard, but can also knock an adult around too. And the thing is - there is nothing anyone can do to fast track its course - just ensure that they don't get dehydrated. T, except for a few periods, has generally been able to keep down water and/or gastrolyte, so whilst he has looked awful we knew he wasn't so severely dehydrated that we had to go to emergency.
Today I went up to the school to let the teacher know that I was going to keep T at home all week for him to recover and regain his strength. She kindly gave me the full sheet of the week's activities that she had lined up for T's group ("Seals"). Mrs K has grouped the children with like abilities (5 groups in a class of 24) and organises daily different levels of the set activities in literacy and numeracy. She is amazing - she works so hard - and I am so glad the school and the education department recognise it (she won an award of some sort - she kept it quite hushed) from the department last term.
Anyway she gave me three literacy worksheets with accompanying text, a maths worksheet as well as the homework sheet for T. The picture above is the scene on our bed once I had given it to T, and after I got back from music class with the littlies. He had completed the maths sheet, and had done one of the literacy sheets. Also I brought home about four chapter readers for him.
T was happy to work on this homework - I guess even he was bored from the television and movies of the last five days.
I am hoping tomorrow that the littlies can have a play date with Nanna & Poppy and T and I can sit down together for an hour or two to go through the spelling homework and just have some time together. It is incredibly hard, even with au pair, to get time alone with each child - goodness knows how I am going to manage with four.
W is loving Reading Eggs. He manages a little less than a lesson a day - and I only put him on it if asks. I think he will need to redo them all a few times as he still struggles with the concept that "A" has the sound a as in apple. But he is interested and loves it so I don't really mind how much goes in, he is still so young.
W and E asked for the Playmobil airport and plane today. This favourite toy is kept stashed above the kitchen cupboards and is brought out about once a month for a few days. After that they get bored with it and all the little pieces start to wander. But the joy for those few days is immense. W really plays with it - making up stories of the people and their journeys. E just watches W and has a grab at a few items now and again. Even T will still play with it in a similar way to W.
If you have more than one boy, this is an excellent Christmas present (we asked for contributions from grandparents) that will reward you with hours of creative play (and therefore learning).
Labels: Maths, Play, Spelling
