Ethan's World

Way overdue an update....

2010-03-25T20:33:00.010Z

...so here goes.

Well, after the thrill of Ethan's 4th Birthday and Baptism the rest of the summer rolled on by up until Ethan started school on 14th September '09. He has really enjoyed the whole school experience but struggled a bit with the big playground initially, especially at lunch time. Too noisy and too many children [for him] I think. He's also never really taken to staying for packed lunch ~ possibly also linked in the beginning to his playground issues although those are resolved now but he's still not keen on eating his lunch at school. He's had a few weeks where he has stayed but mostly he comes home for lunch.

We finally moved house in November '09 so we're practically on the doorstep of the school now. I'm also working at his school as a Teaching Assistant in KS2 with three special needs children which I'm loving. This means that I'm never far away and this too makes the logistics of coming home for lunch even easier as we come home together. If he does stay for sandwiches then I do too so I can be close by if he has a wobbly.

The 4th March, 2010 was World Book Day and here is Ethan dressed up as Long John Silver obviously lol ;). He had a fab day!!

He is doing great academically. He is reading and writing now and despite being the youngest in his year he is surpassing all expectations for his age. At the outset he was definately more of a Numeracy buff in preference to Literacy but this was no surprise to us as we always knew that he loved numbers. His school report indicated that he was way above his target level for his age in this area. That said he's recently ~ and by that I mean in the last six weeks or so ~ got very enthusiastic about his reading as was proved tonight when he spelt out a four letter word [a clean one I mean lol] using the letters on 'Countdown' ~ 'lips' was the word. Both Si and I were amazed. It's suddenly just clicked for him and he's reading everything from road signs to food packets.

Although not keen initially to pick up a pencil [it's a boy thing] he's also just become keen to write, draw and colour anything and everything. I love the way that Ethan does things when he's good and ready and won't be rushed. He's his own man.

On the health front we have good and bad. He was signed off from the hospital two weeks ago regarding his legs, the strange way he sits in a 'W' and the pain that he was getting behind his knees. So, that was great news. He still prefers to sit that way on the floor but will cross his legs like the other children on the carpet in class although is not keen to do that at home. Pretty soon he'll be at a desk for some of the day and at home he sits on the floor less and less as he grows up so I've a feeling it will become less of an problem as he matures. He is certainly getting far less pain, it's very rare that he mentions it now.

Sadly he has just been diagnosed with Asthma. If I'm honest it wasn't a huge surprise as he's been showing signs for the last couple of winters that things could go that way with prolonged coughs with no apparent cause and coughs after colds that just won't shift for weeks. However, this year he's been alot worse and finally yesterday I took him to be checked as he's been dry coughing for weeks. The asthma nurse says he's pretty classic ~ exercise induced and seasonal asthma. ie he's going to wheeze and cough all winter especially after sports or playtime and be fine all summer. I kept him off school today to try and stabilise him as he's been quite poorly this week and he's very tired with all the coughing at night. Also I wanted to make sure he could use his inhaler confidently ~ he can, like a pro already :). I don't think he'll be well enough for school tomorrow but hopefully by Monday he'll be back on form. He had a much better night last night, barely coughing at all so the inhalers are starting to work their magic.

So, I think that's about it. He's growing so fast and is still a complete joy to be with. Such a happy little chap with a really wicked sense of humour that is starting to show itself more and more often. We're hoping to get away on holiday this summer now we've moved so if we do I'll be sure to post photo's.

Double Celebration!!

2009-08-09T17:03:00.004+01:00

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....

2009-07-01T20:50:00.005+01:00

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...

2009-06-05T22:50:00.012+01:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

Every blessing

Sharon and Ethan xx

Hannah.....

2009-02-05T15:08:00.003Z

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...

2009-02-05T14:48:00.010Z

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.

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!!

Preparing for Christmas

2008-12-19T10:27:00.008Z

Ethan and Millie made some Gingerbread men and here he is icing his with the standard green, red and white icing. Look at the concentration on his face!! I'm not sure how much made it onto the gingerbread man and how much made it into Ethan's mouth but he didn't eat alot of supper that night. Hmmmmm!!!

Here he is helping to dress the tree. He found that the baubles made great footballs [now why isn't THAT a big surprise] and that they bounced really high off the laminate floor - groan!!! He also decorated himself as you can see. If I remember rightly he was taking the decorations off the tree faster than we could put them on. Look at that cheeky face - irresistible or what??

He thought that as we'd taken a photo' of him in front of the tree it was only fair that he took one of us.....and here we are..... you can tell he's taking it because we're both talking to him and directing him with the camera 'up a bit, down a bit' lol hence our rather bemused expressions. lolol

Ahhhh now we've collapsed into a mass of giggles. Goodness knows what Ethan was doing at this point but he did a great job of centering us even if he did catch us looking rather bizarre facially [who said 'no change there then'?? - cheek lol]

Home Schooling fun....

2008-12-19T10:23:00.004Z

Ethan and I recently spent a day cutting out large basic shapes [triangles, squares, circles and rectangles] and made a life size picture of Ethan with them. Here he is modeling his achievements. Yes, I know he's got his Sportacus suit on AGAIN but what do you expect lol!!

Soccer for Tots - Autumn term '08

2008-12-19T10:17:00.003Z

Here are some photographs of Ethan taken at Soccer for Tots in the Autum term [2nd October'08]. That is Glen with him who does a fantastic job of teaching these little ones all about the game in a very child friendly way. I've no idea how he manages to keep their attention but he does. Ethan loves it and we've never missed a session yet.

A little gem......

2008-12-16T10:15:00.003Z

....to share with you all. Millie is off sick at the moment with some fluey type virus. She's been sat on the sofa and Ethan asked if she'd play scatch [catching game with velcro ball catchers] so they did for a while but Millie's head is pounding so she asked Ethan if they could play something a bit less energetic. Ethan suggested basket ball [he's still sports mad as you can tell] but Millie said no, something quieter would be better. Ethan pipes up "It's okay Billie, I won't talk while we're playing". lololol I'm not so sure that's quite what she had in mind.

Just love him xx..

S xx

Consultant appointment...

2008-12-16T09:37:00.005Z

Yesterday Ethan and I went to see the consultant about Ethan's legs and the way he sits. To cut a long story short there doesn't appear to be anything to be worried about. There is a physical condition that does predispose children to sit in the 'W' position but at the moment Ethan doesn't show any markers for that. The consultant felt that he would be able to detect those markers by this age if Ethan had it - he didn't give 'it' a name.

Also sitting like this is linked to Autism and he asked questions related to that but you don't have to be a brain surgeon [nor a consultant ;o)] to work our that Ethan isn't autistic.

We have to go back in three months to see if there's been any changes. In the worst case scenario Ethan would have to have corrective surgery to reshape the heads of his femur's where they sit in the hip socket to stop the twisting but I really don't think that's going to be the issue or at least I hope not. That's not the impression Mr K gave at all. I think the three month follow-up is just a precaution to be honest.

I have to just say that part of the examination involved Ethan lying on his tummy whilst the Mr K put his legs into the 'W' position - it looked absolutely gross. He couldn't quite believe how supple Ethan is and said he could actually have pushed the legs further if the bed hadn't been stopping him. Ethan looked like a squashed frog with his knees virtually under his armpits and his hips folding the wrong way. I thought he'd complain at this point but no, he's just so bendy but it was a bit yuk to watch. Eeeeewwwww!!!!

As we left Ethan waved and said 'Thank you Man - bye' - I could hear him chuckling as we walked down the corridor. Too cute!!

Photo's still pending but closer than before cos I now have batteries for the camera. I just need some time to fiddle around putting them on.

Happy Christmas all and every blessing to you for a peaceful and enjoyable time over the holidays.

Sharon and Ethan xx

Date for the consultant......

2008-11-06T17:56:00.002Z

....arrived today. Ethan is seeing the Paediatric Orthopaedic Consultant on Monday 15th December at 2.30pm. Simon is taking the afternoon off to come with us and we're hoping that worst case scenario is a little bit of physio.....Please pray for a good outcome.

Many thanks

Sharon and Ethan xx

Hearing Assessment.....

2008-11-05T13:12:00.006Z

We're just back from Ethan's hearing test and it was absolutely fine. Sally [the audiologist, if that's the right term :o/] said he was such a bright little lad that she was able to test him far more comprehensively because he had an understanding way beyond his actual age. As a result she managed to do a few tests that she didn't expect he'd be old enough for. Ethan behaved impeccably and did everything required without a murmur. She said his hearing is A1 so that's one less worry - just the legs/hips to get assessed now but still not got an appointment yet.

We [Dave and I - he came with me for moral support and to pay for lunch ;o)] then took Ethan to Activity Land for a good play session. Then onto Mc D's for lunch - did I mention that Dave paid lol???

Home now and Ethan's crashed on the sofa watching something mindless on TV for a while before he gets his second wind and starts playing again. No plans for tonight as Ethan's still scared witless of fireworks so today will pass by unnoticed in this house.

I will keep everyone posted about his legs. I do have some photo's to post but the camera batteries have died so I can't upload them until I've bought some more - sigh!!! Must do that soon....

Hugs

S xx

Small update....

2008-10-26T19:55:00.002Z

...Ethan's hearing test is on 5th November - let's hope it all goes with a sparkle rather than a bang!! Still waiting to hear [pardon the pun] from the consultant paed for the appointment about his legs.

I'll let you all know....

S xx

Minor health issues...

2008-10-20T10:07:00.002+01:00

Ethan has for quite a while now 'appeared' to be slightly deaf and as we have a history of glue ear among my children he's going to be sent for a hearing test in the near future. Will update what the outcome is once we've been.

Also Ethan has sat in a 'W' position ever since he could choose his own position to sit in. Now, I have seen a few other children sit like this occasionally but Ethan would really prefer to sit like this all the time. This position is connected with Autism as it's linked to low muscle tone which Ethan obviously does not have. He also cannot sit still 'normally' on the sofa for any length of time without fidgeting or readjusting is position almost every minute. As he's got older the 'W' position has become more exaggerated and alot wider rather than tightening up with age as I would have expected it to. He also complains of quite bad pain when he's sitting normally especially when on someone's shoulders or in a supermarket trolley where he's 'forced' to sit feet forward and lower leg hanging down - the pain is so bad that once you place him back on the floor he actually can't walk for a few seconds. On discussion with our health visitor she suggested a visit to our GP which we've just done. The upshot is that he doesn't feel it's anything too serious but agrees that Ethan is in deffinitely in pain when sitting normally so we're down for a visit to the consultant paediatrician within the next 6-8 weeks or so just to check that we're not missing anything. I suspect some physio at worst, let's hope and pray that I'm right.

Hugs to all. Have some more photo's to post soon so watch this space..........

First Official Engagement....

2008-10-12T21:26:00.008+01:00

Ethan went to his first birthday party this afternoon. His cousin Gracie is two tomorrow and Sarah [Simon's sister-in-law] threw a lovely party with "Magic Dave" as the entertainment. The weather was amazing for October; Ethan was in shorts and a Tshirt it was so warm. I've taken a few photo's [yes, yes, I know - 'At last', I hear you cry, the girl remembered the camera].
Anyhow here they are. You can see just how wonderful and sunny it was.

His first stop as soon as we'd handed over the present was the Crazy Coupe cars - he spent hours in one.

He wasn't at all sure about ol' "Magic Dave" and retreated to the very back of the group of children to watch from a safe distance on daddy's lap........

......after a while though he started to get a bit braver and here he is craning forward to see better and he's clapping along and shouting out the answers with the other little ones......[Er Simon - is that a beer I see in your hand???]

.....here is "Magic Dave" in action. He really was very good and threw a bit of inuendo in for us adults. We were very sure that Dave worked part-time for ASDA and was infact moonlighting - isn't that an ASDA uniform he's wearing?? We did take the micky - poor guy!! Ethan is sat just out of picture to the right on the sun bed with Simon......

Here he is at last sitting at the back of the crowd on Daddy's lap and in fact sat on his own for the very end. He really enjoyed the show and went to bed clutching his signed photograph of Daisy the Super-Cow [don't even ask].

Finally, here we are with an 'all-action' shot at the end of the afternoon. All the older lads started playing footie and this is Ethan just about to boot the ball. He was really quite good at taking turns and his dribbling skills have come on in leaps and bounds so the Soccer 4 Tots is obviously paying off. He had just the best time and really found some courage to face a few things that normally rock his boat a bit.

IT for tots.....

2008-09-29T23:21:00.004+01:00

If anyone had ever told me before I had Ethan that a [just] three year old would be able to use a personal computer almost unaided I'd have laughed them out of the room. However, here I am eating my words because Ethan can turn it on, load Internet Explorer click on the link to his favourite sites and play pretty much unaided. He always has half an hour on the PC with Simon once he gets in from work and he's amazing at it. He can click and drag, use the directional keys, know's the difference between a left and a right click and one click and two clicks. It's taught him to recognise words like "loading", "well done", "enter", "full-screen", "home" and any other word you would associate with children's educational and fun web sites, notwithstanding the potential to learn to count generally and also to see letters [capitals sadly] on the keyboard itself. The opportunity for learning without realising that you're actually learning is huge.

Here he is using the directional keys. He's very accurate and can play platform games better than I can.

Here he is laughing which is always a sign that he's having a good time which is what it's all about at this age. Education is supposed to be fun and primarily about learning through play in the pre-school age group, whether learning at home or at nursery.

Personal Awareness....

2008-09-29T22:48:00.007+01:00

- Pleased to meet you!! At the moment we're looking at Personal Awareness and today we were looking at our faces. We started by looking closely at ourselves and our reflections in a mirror. We spoke about our facial features ie how many of each feature there were, what colour, what shape, what size and any differences. We discussed whether they were big or small [ie Mummy has bigger ears than Ethan - only just though lol]. We talked about their uses - teeth for chewing/biting, eyes to see, ears to listen- that kind of thing. Ethan actually knew alot more than I realised but he was amazed when I pointed out that we had eyelashes and spent ages touching mine. We also looked at what facial expressions we could make and had a go at guessing if we looked happy, sad, angry etc.

After this we painted our own reflections with happy or sad expressions onto paper mirrors. Above is Ethan with a happy face. He did really well with this as you can clearly see a smiley mouth, nose, eyes and yes, green hair. Don't all three year olds have green hair???

I had cut out some facial features such as eyes, nose, mouth, ears, eyebrows and Ethan painted them [I had to paint the eyes for him as they were a bit tricky] and once they'd dried he glued them onto plain oval face shapes I'd drawn on some paper and you can see that he got them in exactly the right places with no help from me. He even drew some hair and a beard on the one he's holding in the photo' above.

He also managed to do some cutting out today and did the best he's ever done using his little scissors with only the minimal of help. I had the outline of some shapes for him and he managed to cut out a recognisable square, circle, rectangle and triangle. He already knows all the basic shapes but it was a really good exercise in using scissors which is really tricky when you're little.

We're still looking at our Autumn project but I've had difficulty finding many resources that don't involve colouring/painting which are great but have a limited teaching ability. He's very much a kinesthetic and visual learner so it takes something quite hands on to keep his interest. Books on the seasons seem to be as rare as hens teeth. We're going on an Autumn walk with MKhen in Ocotober so with any luck we'll come back from that with some things we can use. Our trip to Willen Lake Park was good for talking about Autumn and looking at the leaves, trees and seeds [conkers, acorns] but not much to actually bring home and record. Trips out are great but until Ethan can actually draw recognisable things and write a few basic words recording them is going to be tricky. It will all come in time and he's really enjoying what we're doing at the moment.

Horse Riding....

2008-09-29T22:43:00.004+01:00

Ethan quite often gets to go pony riding when he visits Grandma's house [Dave's Mum] and here he is a couple of weekends ago with his cousin Beth out on the pony in the paddock.

He just looks so grown up on there.

Willen Lake Park....

2008-09-24T19:49:00.004+01:00

...well as we hadn't been out much this week, and hardly at all last as Ethan had a really nasty cold, we decided to chance the weather and head off to Willen Lake Park on the other side of the city. It's only a ten minute drive and people from the Home Ed. group have been saying to me for ages that it's really good there especially during term-time when it's really quiet. So, armed with wet weather gear, change of clothes, drinks, snacks and some money for the parking we headed off.

The sun was shining and a steady breeze held off the rain that had been forcast and we had a blast. Over two hours we spent running around, playing pooh sticks off the bridges, feeding the ducks [for those who don't know Willen Lake is huge and is almost two lakes divided up where they do all manner of water sports]. There were very few people there so we spent quite a while in the park area which is full of lovely equipment including a Pirate Ship, yo ho me hearties!! After we'd exhaused the play area we went off exploring then went back to fetch our bread that I'd remembered to bring for the wild fowl there so we could feed the ducks etc. We also saw some absolutely huge fish under the bridge where we played pooh sticks.

While we were there we collected some things for our Autumn topic and spent a while looking at the trees, the colours of the leaves and the shapes of the many different species of trees that surround the lake. It really is quite lovely there and I could just let Ethan run and run [water allowing obviously lol]. Finally we decided to take our snacks to the picnic area by the Pirate Ship and eat them and after one final go on the ship we headed back home. The whole morning cost me£1.00 for parking. Excellent value and we will be going again next time with a camera that some silly blonde mare forgot to take today - doh!!! Told you I was pants at this photo thing!!!

Tomorrow we're at Soccer for Tots again [third one this term] and it's still going well. Am considering changing him to MK Dons at some point but need to check prices, availability, times etc. before I go messing things up.

Hugs all and take care.

Sharon and Ethan xx

Autumn....

2008-09-10T15:26:00.004+01:00

Finally we've decided that for the next few weeks we're going to be looking at Autumn as a season - what happens and why. This will involve a trip to the library for resources, a few nature walks to look at the trees as their leaves change colour and drop. Also at things like conkers [seeds], and any other bushes, plants etc. that change significantly for the Autumn. We're due to attend a Autumn Fungi walk with the MKhen in October so that should add something of value as well. We'll make a lapbook to record our findings with a few words, lots of pictures/photo's and some drawing/colouring and the odd souvenier of our walks. This will hopefully lead to us looking at the other three seasons in a similar fashion as they roll around.

We're also going to look at farming from a very pre-school perspective as Ethan has been asking things like 'Where does milk/do eggs come from?". So to start with we'll just look at farm animals that he knows and talk about what produce they give us. Not venturing into crops yet as far too advanced for this year I think. With any luck the Seasons and Farming topics will eventually tie in together as Ethan realises that the seasons also dictate what happens on the farm at certain times of the year ie lambs in the spring, hay in the summer. We intend to make a lapbook to record the Farming topic too.

The usual things like phonics, stories, early numeracy, music, IT, and endless play of all kinds continues on daily in any event.

This week we've made cakes, been to buy stamps and post a letter [he's going to send himself a letter next week so he can see that what we post eventually arrives at the destination of our choice]. We've also already looked at conkers and picked an unripe one off the tree and bought it home to dissect it and see the new conkers nestled inside. He was absolutely fascinated.

Tomorrow we're back to Soccer for Tots and Musical Mini's on friday.

Watch out for the next update guys - love to all who read.

Sharon and Ethan xx

Normality resumes...

2008-08-31T21:51:00.003+01:00

..well, tomorrow reality hits again as the summer holiday draws to a close. Simon is back to teaching tomorrow and Millie is back at school to face her year 11 on wednesday so the house will be quiet again. Ethan will miss his daddy as they've been joined at the hip for the last six weeks or so. Some of the old routine will soon be back in place such as Musical Mini's on a friday, MKhen coffee mornings sporadically, and Soccer for Tots starts again in a couple of weeks. Swimming never stops as he goes with Dave every weekend.

Because we've always done 'child led' home schooling it's down to me make opportunities available to spark Ethan's interest and curiosity so I shall be getting my thinking cap on over the next few weeks to see what he'd like to focus on.

Watch this space.........

Sharon xx

A little about our home schooling.....

2008-08-26T23:01:00.009+01:00

....I promised in the 'Summer 2008' post I'd write a little about our home schooling venture. Well, it's been very successful so far. We keep a daily journal of what we do but it's amazing how much of what we do anyway with Ethan is 'educational' in some way. We tend to do anything that takes a few minutes concentration in the mornings while he's fresh. However, alot of his learning is done through play as he's still so young. That said, he already knows nearly all the alphabet phonetically and can spot letters he recognises all over the place, especially when we're in the car and he sees them on signposts. He recognises some words like his own name, mummy etc. He knows all his colours including the difference between dark/light blue etc. He can recognise amounts up to about 5 and can count by rote up to 20. He knows all the basic shapes and some more diverse ones like oval, semi circle, rectangle. He can tell you a story by memory using just the pictures in a book. He's also just starting to tell the time.

We do all the usual stuff like crafting, play doh, painting, drawing/colouring, tracing, cooking, music, making mobiles [we recently made one of the life cycle of a buttefly as we were learning about that after reading 'The Hungry Catterpillar' book]. He's just learning to use scissors. We also go to the library every other weekend. He loves working in the garden with Daddy and has succesfully grown some plants this year from seeds.

He can use a computer really well. Can use the navigation keys and play platform games when he's allowed to. He can click and drag with the mouse really accurately. I watched him on it with Si the other day and I was amazed at how much he's learnt as he only started on the PC at the beginning of the summer holidays.

Outside the home we do some educational things through MKhen such as nature walks. We recently did a fire engine visit which he loved. Alot of what's organised by MKhen he's still too young for or it's in the early evening when he's too tired, he's usually in bed by 6.30pm. Socially we do the coffee mornings at Sarah's, Messy Play in Bletchley, soft play at a local play centre and Musical Mini's on a Friday morning. We also get together with the Christian Mum's group every now and again. He does his football once a week, swims once a week with Dave [and is nearly swimming on his own]. We all go cycling regularly around the city in search of local parks to play in with Ethan on the back of Simon's bike in his little seat. Must get a photograph of him on there before he grows to big to fit in it.

As you can see it's a busy time. To be quite honest I have to be careful to make sure we spend the odd day at home as we can be out five mornings a week. I was worried that I'd not be able to fill the days but in fact the opposite is true. I had moments of doubt when we started but they've gone now as I can see that he's already far ahead of his age group and we're not pushing him at all. We will always review our decision regularly though to make sure it's still the best 'fit' for Ethan. We're doing the 'child led' approach at the moment so everything he learns are things he's asked us about or has shown an interest in - the alphabet just started because we read one Jolly Phonics book and that was it - he was hooked. I love spending every day with him - it's just such a gift. It's also amazing to see him learning things and know that it was me/us that taught him. Very, very rewarding.

I will update of any new home ed. adventures as they happen and try to be a little bit better with my photo' taking.

Hugs to all who read...

every blessing

Sharon xx

Soccer for Tots.....

2008-08-26T22:53:00.006+01:00

As part of Milton Keynes Home Education Network [MKhen] we've been lucky enough to be able to get places for our under 5's on the Soccer for Tots scheme. It's highly subscribed to as there aren't many football teams that cater for children under 4. In all honesty it's quite expensive for what it is. However, being home edders means that we get a group discount so this summer we got Ethan signed up and Simon took him every wednesday morning. Now, I don't need to tell you all how much he loved it. Once again we had to do a weekly countdown of 'how many sleeps until we see Glen [the guy who runs Ethan's class] again!! We've managed to afford to sign up for another set of six clasees as Dave and I went halves for the next course but it's so worth it especially now the summer is nearly over as it's much harder to find outdoor activities in the winter time.

Sarah took both of these for me as she takes her little ones as well!!

Third Birthday...

2008-08-26T22:34:00.005+01:00

Well where did all the time go?? Three already!! He anticipated his birthday this year and in the end we had to do a countdown to it as he got quite frustrated when he couldn't work out why it was taking so long to come round. When he came down and saw his presents he said and I quote "Oh wow, thank you! I am completely happy" - I nearly cried. He had a lovely day and got lots of small things mostly to do with sport it has to be said as he's still sport mad. Anything with a ball involved and he's in his element.

Birthday cuddle!!

Birthday cake!! No guys I didn't make this one, courtesy of ASDA as Ethan doesn't actually like cake very much. However, you notice it's a ball - well what else would I buy him lol??

He took this one himself, not bad but rather a cheesy grin methinks!!!

His favourite present, his crazy golf set. Now why isn't that a big surprise??

Theatre Trip - June 2008

2008-08-26T22:12:00.011+01:00

In June we took Ethan to see his hero 'Sportacus' in the theatre production of 'Lazy Town - Live'. We didn't tell him before the day in case he was poorly or something happened to stop us going but all went well and it was a glorious summers day. When he realised where we were going I thought he was going to burst. He has worshipped Sportacus for over a year now and does all his 'moves' and goes around 'saving' and 'rescuing' allsorts of things/people/teddies etc. Very sweet. We had just the best time and I spent more time watching Ethan than I did watching the show as his face was an absolute picture. We also did McD's on the way home for a treat.

In the car just arriving at the theatre - so excited!!!!

Stood by the 'Lazy Town Live' advert just inside the doors. There's his hero behind him on the left in blue.

Sporting his new 'Sportacus' cap in the foyer before we went to find our seats. We were sat three rows from the stage in some of the best seats in the house, very lucky!!

Here he is sat in the theatre, clapping his little hands and absolutely glued to his seat. He never moved for the full 1 1/2 hours, just sat there transfixed to the spot totally amazed to see his 'hero' in the flesh.

Here he is back at home after the show dressed in the new Sportacus outfit that we bought him to prevent a huge 'let down' after the outing. He would wear it every day given the choice and has asked to sleep in it!!

Summer 2008

2008-08-26T21:55:00.008+01:00

2008 has been an interesting year for Ethan as it was in February this year that we decided to give Home Schooling a go after a disasterous attempt to get him into pre-school. The facility itself was lovely as were the staff but we discovered that Ethan suffered from terrible separation anxiety resulting in him becoming very distressed and making himself sick within seconds if I even attempted to leave him. I stayed with him twice a week for over a term but it got no better and the staff found that even if I went to the loo that he was impossible to console. Also he wouldn't allow the staff to physically touch him making it very difficult for them to reassure or cuddle him in my [short] absence. So, after much discussion between us all including grand parents, we decided to take him out of school and give home ed. a go. It's suits us well for now and Ethan is thriving on it. I'll write more about this later.

This is him at a Home Ed. coffee morning dressed as 'Firefighter Ethan' [obviously]. They're held at my friend Sarah's house and we go often to play with her little ones.

Smart in his new shirt!!

Christmas 2007

2008-08-26T21:42:00.005+01:00

As you can tell we're getting up to speed a little with taking photographs again. Had loads to choose from for the festive time...

Playing with play doh with everyone joining in by the look of things!!

Unwrapping something with big brother Mike who came home for Christmas and looks all grown up suddenly.

Ethan and Millie - lovely photograph!!

His little face - it was such a picture when he actually realised it was Christmas day and all those presents were for him. It was the first time he'd ever got really excited about something.

Ewwwwwww!!

Now I have no idea what was happening here but it looks to me like he's been sucking a lemon [which he wasn't]. This is first thing on Christmas morning so about 6am which is Ethan's normal time to get up but the picture is just so funny I had to include it.

General stuff..

2008-08-26T21:28:00.006+01:00

These are just general ones taken over the last year or so.....

Er mum, these pants aren't a very good fit!! Ethan flately refused to wear pants for ages after he came out of nappies, even though I bought him some with his hero 'Sportacus' on them. This is what he did with them the day I bought them. Don't you just love kids?? [He does wear them now I have to add so sadly we can no longer call him 'The Commando Kid'.] Just for the record he was dry day and night within 24 hrs and has only ever had two accidents. Clever lad but then this is his site so I'm allowed to boast.

Just chillin'.

Cool dude! For some reason he still loves his high chair and prefers it to sitting at the table - he's nearly too big to squeeze in it though so he'll be forced to say a fond farewell to it quite soon.

Second Birthday.....

2008-08-26T21:21:00.006+01:00

Now for whatever reason most of the photo's I took of Ethan's 2nd birthday were out of focus or he was asleep in them. However we have a few just to get a flavour - all surrounding playing with balloons - well what else are you supposed to do on your birthday??

Here he is in mid thwack of a green balloon - see it, top left-hand corner....

Er no mum, I think this is MY blue balloon.................

Has anyone seen my yellow balloon????? It's behind you!!!

After the move to MK.....

2008-08-26T21:08:00.006+01:00

These photographs were taken not long after we moved so probably around June '07 before Ethan's 2nd birthday. I was messing around with Simon's camera and as is always the way when you're not trying I got some nice pictures.

Not sure what Ethan's trying to tell me here but I think I asked him to say 'Hi' so he's waving at the camera.

This is a real favourite of mine. Not bad when you think I took it as well. Oh well just another example of a woman's ability to multi-task eh guys??

Grrrr....... spawn of satan revisited - the little monkey lololol!!!!!

Moving on.....

2008-08-24T16:30:00.002+01:00

At this point there's a bit of a gap in the photo's as life got a little busy with meeting Simon, moving to Milton Keynes, sorting Mike's college placement out back in Banbury and getting Millie settled into her new school.

Bob the builder, nearly walking by the look of things and look at those little pegs right through now!

First 'bucket & spade' holiday in Devon. We had the best weather of the whole summer. Ethan was a dream and really enjoyed it.

First birthday...

2008-08-24T16:13:00.003+01:00

At the end of a long day of 'partying' we're having a cuddle and wrecking the decorations...

Just demolished a piece of birthday cake judging by the slightly grubby mouth!

The new birthday car/ride-on/rocker. An instant hit and still is two years on actually.

What's in the box - let me at it!!

Growing fast...

2008-08-23T22:30:00.006+01:00

Oh no, we're mobile....nothing is safe anymore. [11 months]

Big brother Mike is off to an interview as, unusually, he appears to be wearing a tie. They've grown to look alot like each other.

Is anyone ever going to get me out of here or are you just going to keep waving that camera in my face??

You've heard of Brothers In Arms?? Well this is brothers in pj's......

Looking rather pink and fresh faced; he's obviously just woken up I should think!! Bless!! [10 months]

First year continued....

2008-08-23T22:05:00.008+01:00

Fresh after a bath - what a smiler!!

Bed changing day - he thinks he's helping!!

Mr Dribble in his bouncer. He loved it though and could crush a packet of crisps or kick a foot ball whilst in it.

Christmas 2005, Ethan's first Christmas. This was what I woke up to every morning, a little face smiling at me by my bed. He used to reach out and stoke my face if I was close enough. I miss those days.....

Early days.......

2008-08-23T21:49:00.006+01:00

Spawn of Satan - well not really but quite uncanny huh and no guys, we didn't take it on purpose. A genuine faux pas!!!

Too cute at two months... adorable!!

Look at that dimple!! He's so cheeky even at only 5 weeks old.

He got bored with me being on the PC and promptly fell asleep, one of my favourite pics. He looks so tiny.

Birthday......

2008-08-23T21:31:00.004+01:00

Here he is alseep up on the ward - my word it was so hot in there, not a breath of air.

08.08.05 - 15.14hrs, 7lb 10oz. Just a few minutes old - first proper cuddle and a chance to get a long look at this little miracle I'd waited so long for.

I think this was my due date and, as you can see, still looking like I ate all the pies. Ethan quite liked it in there and stayed put for another ten days until a rather lovely Consultant took pity on a large, sobbing, eldery pregnant lady and made a managerial decision to evict him.