Way overdue an update....

...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!!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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