Chatting and Stepping! Stepping and Chatting! (and the odd rant!)

[carrotsandcelery]

Come inside for a and a and maybe even a if the mood takes you.

A thread for chatter and nonsense

free books Ds had a go a night or two ago and read loads more than he might have normally.

sounds like just what the zoo keeper ordered on a wet cold day when im feeling sorry for myself!ha ha

lovely.thank you

what type of books does your ds read

I know what you mean about the last one starting school zoo. I was fine when dd went but struggled with ds. My friends built it up into a big deal as well which made it worse and the fact that he is so small and so young in his year group made it worse again. On the day I stayed away from all my friends and just focussed on him and I was ok in the end.

Ds isn't keen to read to himself. He is a good reader but prefers us to read to him.

I will go and have a look again and tell you which ones he read. One was about a dragon and one was about Shaun the Sheep.

He read the yellow "What a Mess" Shaun the Sheep one and gold "Very Smelly Dragon" one.

I don't know what level the school would consider him to be but he managed those two no bother. I couldn't vouch for his expression or speed etc. He was distracted by examining the pictures etc but he enjoyed them both.

did it make you crave anothe child?
i feel very broody and am very jealous when i see pregnant women,or young babies being pushed along

i struggled a bit when ds went to big school after all his health issues as a baby and he was still a bit behind his peers.he caught up on the motor skills and is very good with concentration based activities

i get a bit shocked when ive helped out how many of the kids in class have attention span of a gnat.teacher reckons lack time doing activities with mums and too much fast paced cartoons

At home he likes the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books (read to him) and loved the Sophie Hits Six series by Dick King Smith and is currently reading the Fudge series by Judy Blume.

He also liked the Mudpuddle Farm books, some of the Astrosaurs books (awful books but he liked them), SuperGran... I will keep trying to remember.

These are all read to him though. He wouldn't be keen to read them alone.

i brought mine a set before xmas of books from happy cat readers
they lack masses pictures but he is eager to read "big boy interesting books"
he has been laboriously attacking a dinosaur cove book which is a bit beyond him but he is so eager to read it to me i gently guide him through and sneak read a few lines when i can

he loves dinosaurs and horses best,doesnt mind shaun the sheep either and pirates so is getting easier to find books that he really fancies trying

some early reader books really lack inspiring topics!!

What were your ds's problems zoo?

At that point dh was really broody and I was horrified by the idea. Now it would be the other way around. I got a dog though and that helped enormously as he feels like real company around the house (I AM NOT MIDDLE AGED) and now obviously have 2 dogs and really want a puppy.

It was a clear cut decision really as another baby would be very, very risky for me so not something we should do on purpose iykwim. We might get away with it but we also might not...

I do get a bit excited about toddlers though

mine saw astrosaurs books at a car boot last year and was desperate get his mitts on them!

dinosaur cove has a web page with the books and dino facts,games and competitions

www.dinosaurcove.co.uk

If he likes horses he will probably like the Sophie books. How did you persuade him to read to you? Ds would manage it but is really reluctant to. We take it page about and things like that to encourage him but he won't read on his own.

when he was a baby he cried continually
didnt feed well
scrawny 5lb 10oz at birth
it quickly became apparent all was not well

i ended up with an emergenchy c sect and got severe PND as had little support after as dp had just started new job no got no time off

ds was referred to hospital after he fell off growth chart,suggestions i wasnt caring for him properly

he was sent child deevlopment clinic at 8months old for 2 full day assesments with a barrage professionals.it was awful being under such scrutiny

the assesment revealed he had weak muscle tone
only grabbed for things with his toes adn passed them to his hands/mouth with them
he dribbled continually as mouth control was poor
he was recommended extra tests and we foiund out he had a chromosomal problem

he is very lucky as couldve cause bone deformity,no hair,teeth growing through side face,learning difficulties etc

he had physio every 2 weeks,finally sitting up at a year,walking the week before his 2nd birthday unaided

he was still drooling when started nursery at 3,so more speech therapy and trying to encourage eat chewy things

his gross motor slowly caught up although he did get tired very quickly

he is still thin as a pin and gets very ill when ill as he doesnt eat and has no reserves of fat to keep him going

signs so far dont indicate learning diffibulties so we just keep an eye on him
horse riding has helped muscle tone

he will always be my special boy

wow.sorry for the essay!

he just sees dd2 reading to me and wants to emulate being a big boy along fact school drum it in how important reading is and he isnt a confident chap and is very keen to please and do well there

oh and i forgot we had portage home visits and 3month visits to cdc til he started school to be weighed and tracked for improvments

Wow! zoo poor you! That sounds a nightmare. I am glad he is doing so well now. I had no idea you had been through such an awful time.

Horse riding is brilliant for core muscle strength and really builds confidence too.

We have had the fortnightly weigh ins for ds too and they do make you feel awful. Our health visitor is lovely but it still made me feel terrible. The worst thing was that he had to be stripped naked to be weighed so that we couldn't hide anything in his nappy etc.

Fortunately, once he got older they saw a bit of sense and let him keep his clothes on and now they just make him take his shoes and jacket off.

We still have to do weigh ins with the community paediatrician but at the last one he was at a level they found acceptable.

The fact that I am quite curvy made me feel even worse as it looked like I was eating all the food and not letting him have any

hes just geting the hang riding in the ring with staff walking beside him,they just hold guide when he canters.he is so proud of himself for that

it taught me how precious every child is.we were invited to join special needs groups and i hated the predjudice a lot families recieved for having severly disabled kids

ive always encouraged different is ok and we have made friends a local mum with a severly autistic ds same age as mine.he had known us 4 years now and my kids all accomodate him beautifully

dd2 best friend at school has autistic traits.she seems good at reading their signals and acts accordingly

when we visit callum she instinctively knows he wants her to follow him and he laughs and loves jumping alongside her on his trampoline

it makes me feel very proud as we have been the isolated family and now we offer an end of that to another family

they looked at slightly rotund dd2 and asked outright if she took his food

shes a greedy lil bugger given the chance but stealing not her style

Swimming was a good idea. Then we got to talk to a bus driver & look at his bus AND watch a mini digger in action while we waited for my friend. We walked into town, had lunch, walked around the outside of the church, walked back to the car. He had a more explosive nappy than he's had in a while (sorry for the TMI!) which makes me wonder if he's got a bit of tummy trouble which is why he was awake. He's not showing signs of distress (except now he's clearly tired) so he might not have tummy issues. Who knows? After the horrible nappy I've put him into soft fleecy jammies as they're soft and they're one-piece, so not tight on the tummy (in case there are issues).

I might have to give up on my hopes of a no (or little) TV day. TS is clearly desperate for a rest but if I put him for a nap at this point bedtime will be horrific to the max. TV is one of the few things he will stop moving for (we've taught him that if TV goes on he finds a parent (or grandparent if we're down there) for a cuddle to watch). Otherwise he's just going to keep going and get more and more tired & whingy.

I will have to move bedtime up a bit early, but hopefully he'll sleep straight through until 6. I can handle 6 a.m.

Good luck Scout. When ds is tired but I need to keep him going a wee while longer I stick him in the bath. It is peaceful and soothing but they won't actually fall asleep there.

I know exactly what you mean about the isolation zoo. You certainly find out who your friends are when things go belly up don't you?

When things got really bad with ds some people heard gossip and just started to avoid us like the plague. Others stood by us and I have really appreciated that loyalty. I did lose a lot of confidence though. I had no idea people could be so cruel.

Now that it is clear that the trouble at school was not ds's fault (he is now in a different class and the problems still occur in the other class but not his) some have come creeping back but I doubt I will ever feel the same about them.

Imo, even if he had been the one causing the problems, then surely that is when I would have needed a friend the most.

You are doing a good thing zoo. It can be very isolating.

Scout make sure you go to the loo before bedtime (his one) and have a stash of food and lap top etc in your room for while he settles.

What time do you expect Mr Scout home?

Who knew cardboard tubes and empty 2 lt bottles could provide so much entertainment and joy to a small boy? Okay, well, I know I did, but I didn't realize how much an overtired boy would get into playing with them.

zoo and carrots, as my best friend and I are fond of saying, "People suck. Not all people, but quite a lot of people." On Tuesday, as we were getting ready for Seniors, TS was starting to be friendly with a littler toddler with Downs (he was out for a walk with his parents and were walking past as we were loading the car) -- it was really nice to see.