POST #1

So, first ever post!
I am currently sat at work, just finished my lunch break, but the office is pretty quiet, so I thought; Why wait until I get home?
I think the best way to do this would be to give youa quick run-down of my life as it stands- all of the important bits anyway...
My name is Ellen Friend (duh)
I am 19 years old
I live in Suffolk, England
I work full-time as a Receptionist for my Dad's glazing company (9am-3pm Mon-Fri)
I also do a fair bit of babysitting when I'm not at work (about 4 evenings a week with 2 regular families
I am about to begin a part-time Psychology degree with the Open University
I have just finished my A-Levels after 3 years of Sixth Form at my local High School
I have a lovely boyfriend called Warren, who I have been with for almost 2 years (in one month)
I live at home with my mum and dad and younger brother (Ben, 18)
I have a passion for all things Psychology, and also Art

OK, that's all I can think of at the moment! As I mentioned before, today has been a rather slow day in the office, so I have spent quite a bit of time scanning the Daily Mail webiste (a favourite boredom-busting activity of mine) and commenting like crazy, because I am one of those who likes to voice my own opinion...

This blog is going to be a running commentary on my life, with little snippets from here and there.

 I am off babysitting in about an hour, after work, with one of the aforementioned regular families. I have actually only just started with them about a month ago, but the boys are so sweet! Their name's are William (6) and Oliver (4). William is autistic, and has a major obsession with all things dinosaur! He knows all of their names, their weights, heights, which family of dinosaur they belong to, what they eat- The list is ENDLESS! Consequently, this obsession has rubbed off on his younger brother Oliver, who is also a wealth of knowledge on anything that occured in the Jurassic period- despite barely being able to pronounce the names, he certainly knows what he is talking about!

Last week he tried Wotsits for the first time and was totally delighted with his discovery of the new "crips". He was running around the play room with his bowl of the orange puffs shouting "They look like sausages! They are so colourful and BEAUTIFULLL!", all the while William remained captivated by his Walking with Dinosaurs book, that he knows from cover to cover, but still pours over everytime I visit.

This Monday night I also went to babysit Gabriel (10), who was the first child I ever babysat at the age of 15, when he was just 6 years old. He is absolutely gorgeous; bright blonde curly hair and sparkling blue eyes- he really is the image of an angel! Gabriel is a very lively young boy, and typically hates everything to do with school that isn't playtime. We have to do reading before his bedtime every week (on my Monday night visits), which he usually objects to very stongly, but eventually gives in when I tell him that his mum will be home soon! He finds reading a writing quite difficult and was actually wrongly diagnosed as dyslexic a while ago, but I think he's just suffering from low self esteem and distraction, to be quite honest! He's a perfectly able child, I just think the whole set up of school doesn't work for him. He seems such a resilient boy, but sometimes he'll come out with questions that half make me want to laugh and hal make me want to give hima cuddle. he's in his second to last year in Primary school, and will be going to the High School after (two-tier system) and he asks me "In High School, do they make you do detention AFTER SCHOOL?!" and when I confirm this, he looks at me in utter disbelief, and you can see the panic spread over his face as he blurts out "But how do they get home?! It must be ILLEGAL!"

I absolutely love babysitting, and I know many people think I'm mad, taking on my 30 hour a week job, as well as 8 hours a week babysitting and 10-12 hours studying, but I just love being busy. Since I left school, I have found it so strange coming home at 3pm and not having anything to do- it's been really dreadful!

But anyway, I'm off to William and Oliver's, so there will be an update shortly!

xox