School holiday fun

I am happy to start this blog entry with lots of happy photos of family days out in the Easter holidays. We went to Godstone farm on Monday where all 3 children had a lovely time. We had a picnic there and William joined in with his wooden food. He won't touch real food but loves to join in and pretend. William still loves the sheep best of all the farm animals. On the way home, we popped up to the view point at the top od Addington Hill. This is on my favourite running route but, as you can imagine, it is a tough run getting to the top. The views are well worth it though. It didn't feel as rewarding getting there by car but that is the only way Paul will see it in the foreseeable future!

Unfortunately, Paul did not enjoy the day quite so much as he managed to break his hand karate chopping the sofa in a moment of rage on Monday morning! This is a bit of a nightmare as he can not do any TPN or IV drugs because a hand in bandages and plaster is not really condusive to sterile procedures! This is particularly difficult with the London Marathon fast approaching. We were relying on Paul flushing William off his TPN - I may have to run a little faster! Luckily, the head of clinical services for the Hospice will be on the CHASE stand at the end so, with a bit of alteration of the timings William goes up and down from his TPN, she will be able to flush him.

Today, we went to the London Aquarium with our CHASE community nursery nurse. We had a great time and William enjoyed the fish, epecially "Nemo". All 3 children had a lovely day, although Wills was somewhat tired following another exciting day yesterday when he re-discovered the rolater we have been tying to get him to use. He has had it a few months but never really wanted to use it for long. Suddenly, he has found how much steady he feels using it and loves it. He took it all around our local park with Joldin, our respite nurse, yesterday. No wonder he spent all day cuddling into "magic blankie" and wanting to be either in "Charlie Chair" or being carried. It is a feature of William at the moment that we get good days and bad days. it would be nice to see a longer string of good days.

Yesterday was an exciting day for Hope and Ellie as well. We joined the ques of hundreds of young girls and teenagers snaking around the Whitgift Centre in Croydon to have their books signed by Jacqueline Wilson. It was well worth the wait. The crowds meant that each child only had a few seconds while their book was signed but it was so exciting for them. Hope told her how she is writing her own autobiographical book about growing up with William and Mum in and out of hospital. She had a special message written in her copy of Jacqueline Wilson's childhood autobiography, Jackie Daydream, wishing Hope well with her book.