It was the 1st of July today and thus it was Canada Day. Jake decided that this was worthy of him waking up at 3am and deciding not to going back to sleep. He banged around in his room, yelled out, screamed a little and the rest of us tried to sleep through it. When Jake wakes early like this he normally is in a good mood so his shouting and screaming is quite cheerful but that doesn't really help the rest of us trying to sleep.

N. got up around 5.30am and took him down stairs as he was getting even more vocal. I got up around 7.15am with all kinds of aches and pains and really felt quite unwell. I'd have liked it if N. could have gone back to sleep but I honestly didn't feel well enough to cope with Jake's ever increasing freaking out bad mood.

At around 10.30am I felt okay enough to get Jake out of the house and into his wagon for a long walk. If Jake is difficult to handle these walks are the perfect thing for him. He settles down in the seat and just watches the world go by. His younger sister A. used to come with us but is less interested these days. So Jake and I walked for around about four miles and then we came back and spent some time in the garden.

He and A. seemed to quite enjoy that time and I pushed A. in her swing which made Jake smile and wander up a couple of times to try pushing her himself. I always find that kind of thing so encouraging and reason for having hope for Jake.

At lunch Jake was also making a valiant effort to use his fork. Again, I just love seeing that because it shows he wants to try some things and for Jake thats been our biggest problem. Just doing everything to get him to try things.

The afternoon wasn't too bad. Jake napped after N. took him to his room with the curtains drawn and surprisingly he woke up in a semi-decent mood. We never know what to expect on the odd occasion when he naps during the day. Sometimes it can be like hell on earth when he wakes up and there's just no consoling him.

So we went through the evening with Jake and peace pretty much reigned throughout the household apart from the off complaint from Jake and the odd tantrum from A.

Jake went to bed at 8pm and finally fell asleep around 10pm. Here's hoping for a full nights sleep and then tomorrow it's a daycare morning for Jake.