Double Celebration!!

Yesterday was Ethan's 4th birthday and also the day of his Baptism into the Catholic faith. We had the most amazing day and Ethan was impeccably well behaved. There's alot to be said for baptising a child when he's older as Ethan was truly able to participate in the ceremony and understand what was happening to him. All in all it was a very blessed day and Deacon J did us proud with a lovely service!!

Here are some photo's to share with you all.....

The actual moment of baptism ~ I have to admit to a few tears at this point. Does he look gorgeous or just really gorgeous??

Ethan holding his beautiful Baptismal candle ~ I'm just making sure he doesn't singe his eyebrows lol.



Ethan with Mike, Nicola and Millie ~ my lovely babies!!




Ethan ~ aka Ben 10 ~ very tired but very happy at the end of a lovely day!!

School Visit....

Ethan had his first school introductory visit today. After his previous issues with separation anxiety you can imagine that, despite my outwardly jolly appearance, inside I was feeling very anxious. He was a bit wobbly before we left the house and I was a bit wobbly when I realised that, on arrival, the mum's were just handing little 'Johnny' or 'Katie' over to the teacher and walking away. I knew that if I stayed today then I'd set the precident for next term when he's full-time so I decided to try and leave but not if that meant hysterical crying and vomiting [Ethan, not me lol]. I also had to make allowances for the fact that I've never left Ethan in a 'school' type environment ever apart from his one disasterous week in daycare. So after explaining to the classroom assistant what a big step today was for Ethan [and me] I told him I'd stay for two minutes and then have to go like the other mummies. So I stood there at the side of the room while he played happily with his new friends and then called out "Two minutes are up Ethan, I have to go now and I'll see you at lunchtime". "Okay Mummy" he called back, "I'm actually a bit busy looking after Ben right now so I'll see you later". [Okay, okay no need to be THAT keen for me to go lololol]. On a serious note I was mighty relieved that it had gone so smoothly [despite sitting in the car crying once I'd left him] and he was also fine when I returned two hours later to pick him up. Knackered yes, but he'd obviously had a great time and he's looking forward to going again.

I was mighty proud of myself at pick-up time when his teacher Mrs M told me that although he is the only child in the whole of his year who's not done pre-school it doesn't show in the slightest and if I'd not told her then she'd never have known. So I must have been doing something right for the last 15 months or so. Home education has been a delightful way to spend another quality year with Ethan and I'd fully recommend it to anyone who has the time, money and opportunity to do it.

We went to McDonalds to celebrate on the way home, well, you have to really don't you?? Photo's to follow when I've downloaded them........

Edited to add photo's as promised ~ taken just before we left for the school visit ....

Not sure quite what was so funny lol....

....and not sure quite why he looked so grumpy either.......

Er now then, what pose shall I strike ~ ah yes, my arms flying at the back like superman, that'll be the one....

An Update...

It's been such a long time since I blogged on here for Ethan. So much has happened since Christmas that I've no idea where the first six months of this year have gone. Sadly Ethan's Grampy died on the 15th April after a short but very aggressive battle with lung cancer. It's kind of knocked the stuffing out of us as you can imagine. It was Ethan's first experience of death and he knows that Grampy Jim has gone to be with God and Jesus or 'those Big Dudes' as he calls them lol. Ethan plays on World of Warcraft sometimes and when we told him that Grampy had died he said "When will he be resurrected then", which is what happens [conveniently] when you 'die' in WoW. Hmmmm!!!??? I told him that Grampy had already been resurrected but by God and now he could see us but we couldn't see him. Bless!!
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So, more positive news is that Ethan has been asking about going to school so he's got a place to start in mid-September in a lovely school on the other side of the city. We always said we'd only home educate him until he expressed a desire to go to school and he's been asking alot of questions about school, making friends, where does Millie go each day etc. so we think the time is right to give it a go. I hope that he settles in well there and that his separation anxiety doesn't rear it's ugly head again. I've a feeling that he's about ready for this now, especially as he's done over a year of home schooling rather than pre~school. I'm thinking positive as don't want any negativity to rub off on him.
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We've put in an offer on a house that side of the city too but as we've sold our house twice and then subsequently lost two previous buyers we'll not get too excited this side of Pickfords pulling up outside the house. It's one of the reasons we looked at schools over there though so I'm praying that it goes through this time. However, even if it doesn't the school is just lovely and exactly what we want for Ethan so even if I have to commute it'll be worth it.
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Ethan's due to be baptised into the Catholic church over the summer. I myself was confirmed a Catholic during the Easter Sunday Mass this year so it makes perfect sense to now have Ethan follow me into that faith.
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Ethan's still doing football weekly and has come on in leaps and bounds. We're hoping that he'll be able to change to the after school or weekend sessions in September so that he won't have to leave as he enjoys it so much. There's a football summer camp being run for two hours a day for four days and we've signed him up for that too. It's in the mornings so hopefully he'll stay the distance and his big sister Millie is one of the coaches so he'll have a ball [pardon the pun ~ groan]. He's also down to do a crash course in swimming over the summer break with Simon. Ethan just loves the water so this'll be a good thing to do when all the other things we usually do have stopped for the summer.

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Not sure if we'll get a holiday this year due to the potential move in the summer but we're going to have some days away by the beach I think. Certainly a few family days out where Ethan can enjoy visiting places of interest to small boys of nearly four. We're tempted to start camping as it's something both Si and I love and Ethan would be just in raptures I think ~ outside 24/7, what more could he wish for.

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The photo above is of Ethan feeding some puppies at Grandma's house or rather out in her barn. They're labrador puppies and just a few weeks old and he always looks forward to going and feeding them on a Saturday.

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I think that's about it. Apologies for the long gap in updates but life has been tough so I hope you'll understand. Will post photo's of any days out, first days at school and baptisms as and when they happen.

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Every blessing

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Sharon and Ethan xx

Hannah.....

We have recently aquired a new kitten and her name is Hannah. Now, when we got Kai [my Oriental cat] Ethan was at an age where torment was far more fun than being nice. So, Kai was off limits if Ethan couldn't be gentle with him. What a difference a year makes though because Hannah is a completely different story. As you can see he loves her and enjoys her sitting with him so he can stroke her and listen to her purring with delight at his rather clumsy ministrations. Hannah is absolutely tiny so it's a good job Ethan has learnt how to be gentle.

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In case you're wondering Ethan is wearing his sleep suit as this is taken first thing in the morning. He's never taken to those sleeping bag type affairs that do look ideal. He doesn't like his legs being restricted. So, I managed to find sleep suits to fit his size in Mothercare and he stays lovely and cosy all night even if the covers come off.

Christmas 2008...

Finally I've got round to posting some of the photo's from Christmas. We had a lovely day but most of us succombed to tummy bugs and colds from Christmas night onwards. Luckily for Ethan he has the immune system of a small ox so escaped without a single bug for the whole festive season. This was the first Christmas that he'd been able to anticipate and count down to the day which made it even more special.

Here he is standing in front the presents looking rather bemused and no, before you all start to groan those are not all his lol. Those are for all of us. The big santa sack you can see behind him to the right is his. He did very well and got far more than he needed. He hasn't got to the stage of waking very early to open presents yet so the day started at quite a civilised hour.

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He got a 'Glen suit' from Father Christmas ~ this is what Glen wears to teach 'Soccer for Tots' and they've started doing toddler sized kits so here's Ethan wearing his and looking mighty proud. It's still a bit on the big side as you can probably tell but once on he wore it for most of the day until we went for a walk after Christmas dinner.

Ahh yes, he also got a parachute which has given us hours and hours of fun. A very cheap gift and very good for imaginative games. He loves it. No, I hadn't had enough and tied him up for some peace and quiet he's just lying wrapped in it!! No, honestly he is hehe!!!

Here he is with me, I look fairly ok for a rather stressed 45 year old mother of six on Christmas day but Ethan looks like he's been on the wacky baccy ~ mad staring eyes, dilated pupils, fixed inane grin. All scary stuff. Simon reckons it was photographic pressure, his smile had been overworked from too much posing!! "Smile for the camera Ethan." Not his cutest look in my opinion but hey, he was excited!!