This month has been such a lovely run up to Christmas. Ethan is in a place where his understanding is greater but his little sister has made it even more magical for us. Advent calendars were finally opened on the correct day, she didn’t let us forget, and we also had quite a few Christmas themed adventures with our siblings. We shared lots of these over on our YouTube channel in our VlogMas videos.
This month we watched Little E in her school nativity. I was worried how she would react to all the people watching her but she did so well. It only feels like she started school a few weeks ago. You could see how much she has grown up in that very short time.
She has loved every Christmas outing and because of a school trip has a new found love of penguins. Our Colchester Zoo Twilight Christmas Experience also helped embrace it.
This past month I have also noticed how much she has started to look after her brother. There have been moments of it in the past but this month it has been more noticeable. It has never been a job that I have wanted her to take on. I had a few comments of “you will have someone to look after Ethan now” when I was pregnant. This was the last thing I wanted when we decided to expand our family. But I must admit I’m loving this caring side she is showing. We have never explained Ethan’s needs to her. Perhaps we will never need too.
I also got to watch Ethan’s Christmas show this month. Darren was working that day but the grandparents were on hand. It was done differently this year. The children were only brought in when it was their time to sing. I felt this made the experience easier for both the children and the parents.
We can tell that Ethan has felt very out of sorts with the December change of routine. He has become very controlling of his routine and the slightest thing can cause him upset. We actually had a meltdown when we visited Fillpots. We thought it was because he was overwhelmed with the face paint queue. It turned out that he actually wanted his face painted. It was an unexpected achievement from him and made our visit one to remember.
He has had a much needed big meltdown in the past few days. He gets to a point where one is just needed. Since then he has been less controlling. We did want to take our Christmas tree down but he more or less let us know this happens in January. It will be coming down on the first so we don’t rock the boat!
We really have made some fantastic memories with our siblings this December. Feeding reindeer and Ethan’s face painting were totally unexpected. Real highlights. 2018 was a hard year for us and our journey with Ethan. As it draws to a close we are in a good place. I hope this continues and stays through 2019.
