It was never us who sheltered him away from group situations. He and his mother lived in a small village, didn't see many people other than a couple of family members and a couple of the mothers close friends. He had only been to nursery a short period before the holidays as well, so he is simply just not used to crowds because of their lifestyle.

I get asked the question 'who will care for him now' a lot, by everyone actually and I find it odd. To us the answer is simple, he will now live with us permanently because my husband is his dad and his siblings also live with us, so obviously that makes sense.

I'm assuming most of you are from the US, I wonder if things are done a little differently there. I'm in the UK and it seems most of the time, you don't have a 'viewing', if by 'viewing' you mean seeing the person who's passed away. I've never attended a funeral where this has happened. I know for sure this isn't happening at this one.

I know many will disagree with me on this, but in my opinion, I don't think you necessarily have to attend a funeral to say your goodbyes to a loved one. In the same light as one may choose to worship God at church, another will worship God anywhere because God is everywhere, if you see what I mean.

We just want to do what's right for him, and I thank you all for your replies.