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!!
.

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.
.

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.
.

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.
.

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.....

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.

....

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.

.

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

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....

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

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......

....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...

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......

....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.....

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....

...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...

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....

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.....

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....

- 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....

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....

...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....

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...

..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.....

....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