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

Soccer for Tots.....

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...

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

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 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

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..

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.....

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.....

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.....

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...

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!!