Busy busy busy!!

Phew! I made it! another busy day. Craft club this morning and Alex seems to be a lot more settled. He's a lot less anxious and doesn't mind too much if I disappear for a few minutes. He even had a bit of a giggle with one of the other children - they were looking for bugs again :) I've noticed that he's reluctant to use both his hands when making things, and I try not to take over, to let him to do as much himself as possible, but he does try to get me to do a lot of it, although I would love to make some myself!
It was a noisy one today, lots of people and a lot of fun because it was making things that rattle, pop and shake. Alex made a rainstick and a pop-cup thing which he loves :)

Alex helped me make this Mandala out of some strawberries we picked from the garden today :)

After lunch and Alex decided that he'd play Moshi Monsters on the laptop, he hasn't played it for ages and usually he goes on the puzzles, randomly picks any answer, does it over and over again until he's got some rox, then goes to the food shop, buys as much food as he can afford then stuffs his monster! But this time he was actually reading the questions and giving the right answers! He played until it was time to go to school to see Jamie do an African Drum assembly. The drumming was really good, I especially liked the thundery bits. Alex was playing up a bit, and Amelia kept saying "Blue!" at everything that was blue during all the quiet bits, and saying "More!" when the drumming stopped, very cute but was a little stressful.

And then......last minute found out that Alex could have a go at Beavers tonight, with the one his friend Charlie goes to, I bribed Alex with a treat afterwards because he was a bit reluctant but I wanted him to see what it was like, as soon as I mentioned I'd buy him a treat he said OK. The Beaver leaders were lovely, really understanding when I explained about Alex, the lady said she was a primary teacher and new about Aspergers, and made sure Alex knew that he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do. They started off doing some drawing which Alex was happy with, then they split them up into 2 groups, and this is where it went slightly wrong, but it's all a learning curve....the other group were to draw a picture, design of a city in the future, but Alex's group, were to do DRAMA! I went with Alex, he was acting up a bit,  he was smiling a lot, being cheeky, and I know this was a mistake(my brain was not working right), but I thought that maybe if I left the room, just for a minute or two, he'd get into the zone a bit and might be ok, thought maybe because I was there, it was stopping him from getting into it....when I came back in 5 minutes time, he was really upset, the girls in the group were going mad and noisy, so we had a quick chat to the leader and said we were going to go. She was really nice and said the drama was a bit too noisy  but next week they're going to be doing modelling, Alex cheered up a bit hearing that.
As we walked out, I reminded Alex that he didn't have to do the drama, he just had to say so, then Alex said " I couldn't talk".
So I remembered hearing about children using cards or signs that indicate how they're feeling, when they can't speak or express how they feel. I told this to Alex and he said he'd try it out next time. I really want to persevere with this for him, he does want to do it, and with the support of the leaders I think it'd be good for his self esteem and lots of fun, but I'm going to take it nice and slow.
He was full of beans afterwards though, MEGA happy mood, making everyone laugh when we stopped off at the supermarket on the way home!
I'm hoping for a good sleep tonight, I got about 3 hours sleep last night, Amelia - completely not like her usual self - would NOT got to sleep! Think she must be teething, she was chewing like mad on her fingers today. Right, now time to relax :)