Jan/Feb locals chat

[SJ99]

How exciting to be starting thread

Yay, thanks Sfx, am already looking forward to banana bread, mmmm!

In Sweden they had Noise Police (everything is so formally governed over there) but what a great idea, they used to go and put a stop the noise polluters, no messing.

Foxie - I used to live in Englefield Green which is a bus ride away from Windsor. Used to go there when in need of some civilisation. Even been in the castle once. Problem was that there never seemed to be any buses back so I think of it as some sort of berkshire bermuda triangle for buses.

We went to the barber's today - ds1 howled all the way through his haircut. Felt like I ought to pay the barber more than he asked for but (un)fortunately didn't have any spare cash.

LOL at toilet humour SJ very cute

with dd it is all about boobies now, quite relieved she was too distracted to comment on them today.

but what a tired and emotional dinner time glad dh seemed refreshed and able to deal with it

must go watch junk tv

not relevant to anything, but I normally get about 300 hits a week on my website. This week I have had 2,500! Whats going on there then? The internet is a wierd thing.

QC that is bizarre!!!!!!!!!!!!!

perhaps its your stalker???

Do you keep it updated then? If so - do you fancy doing a link so we can have a look?

I haven't been on it for a year

I have uploaded some photos onto Facebook of the farm visit today - only visible to friends so if you want to see the lovely photo of Steppie you will need to find me on facebook!

kew, and i thought you were my friend..
presuming it's the same 'lovely" pic i saw...

we enjoyed the farm - thanks for suggesting, and lovely to see sfx/mini-sfx, sushimummy and ds (and friends)

sfx, apparently there were pigs there..they were just hiding.

yes, i'd like to go back in summer and eat ice-cream.

on the way back, leapt out of car in sheen for some 'me-time". and dh and i went to the pub last night. like normal people. MIL off back to oz next week, so thought we'd better another night out..

foxie, glad you had a nice time in windsor. it is lovely - gets pretty hectic with tourists in summer, tho. it's got some great restaurants and bars, too.
was dd overjoyed to see her bessie mate? (you did make it to the house, right?..or just to the shops? )

the girleen is summoning me, better go
enjoy the sunshine everyone
toodlepip

can't we get a boat from Richmond to Windsor?
am determined to get on the Thames this year
good morning everyone, I am soon to be liberated of toddler and dh - its me me me time

sounding like a pontypine there

lovely pics KC especially of Steppie

hello all, farm looks fab from Kew's pics.

sorry we didn't make it but a very productive day had instead.

just walked half way to Twickers thru Crane Park this morning. Absolutely gorgeous. Wish I'd taken some cash as might've had lunch out instead of heading back home.

SFX this might be useful: www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ThamesPath/downloads.asp?PageId=26

I'd love to do a river trip sometime.

Enjoy the me time. I missed dd very much but having a long bath at glug o'clock followed by a leisurely supper and going to sleep absolutely knowing dd wasn't going to wake up/vomit etc etc at 3am has been bliss! or if she was it wasn't going to me that was going to have to deal with it

Anyone around this arvo?

Must admit to a little bit of family envy this morning as kids rode along with their dads

Kew, tried to get on your site this morning but it's down, your stalker must've hacked it!

seems fine now paddle www.simplesite.com/journeytokaz/4715021

Hi all, hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Just popping in quickly before ds wakes up. Am thinking of heading to Lollipop tomorrow for 10.30/11am if anyone fancies meeting up there.

that might be a plan for us tomorrow Ros, will let you know. possibly nearer 11 for us

was having a look around for an allotment but the ones managed by Richmond council not only have long long waiting lists but said lists are closed until further notice.
not very surprising but still

btw thanks Paddle for the info, was talking to the ticket guy at Kew lock a few months back and he said the boats regularly get cancelled at short notice according to the tides

okay, i am fuming. dd has taken an apple corer off the side and attacked the TV with it.

it's badly scratched and i am so angry it's not true. she has been told time and time and time again not to touch the TV. she even tells me she's not to touch it.

she is always touching it tho. i have talked to her calmly, i've got cross, i've removed her, switched it off. i cannot think of any other way to get it into her head not to touch it.

it's not like she's a willfully naughty child. we spent the day out in the park and playing games. i just wanted to make our supper that's all.

so I posted in behaviour and somebody's response was "get some water based crayons and a packet of wet wipes".

WTF? So she can happily deface every wall and object in the house without learning any respect for posessions or doing as she's told?

FFS!

I think that "helpful" comment has made my fury even worse.

I've only had that TV 2 months. I could cry my eyes out, stupid I know as it's only a TV but honestly.........

ps: yes there is insurance but quite a high excess.

I'm sorry Paddle its shit when something new gets broken.

WOuld it help if I quote you something I read when about to strangle DS...

"Toddlers are highly impulsive. Your toddler doesn't have the impulse control to put the brakes on when her hand starts reaching for a cookie, so don't expect very much from her in terms of self-control at this age. She hasn't got it in her just yet. Self-control is a skill she still needs to grow into."

In other words it not that she's being deliberately defiant - she just doesn't have sufficiently developed impulse control to deny that little voice in her head saying "draw with the interesting thing on the TV". Sadly I htink just persevering with consistent message iwll work in teh end but I'm afraid I think it takes some years for impulse control to be strong.

Of course had it been me, I would have screamed blue murder.

I also htink there is a halfway house between allowing them to do whatever they want and allowing them to do nothing. I get really cross with my mum as she lets DS draw on her table with felt tip pens helpful. I always stop him and say - "no DS on the paper, we write on paper".

They do need to learn impulse control from somehwere but I'm afriad they just don't get it yet.

Hello all

Eek Paddle, is tv badly damaged? Not surprised you're fuming, I think you're doing the right thing by repeatedly telling her not to touch it, I guess it will sink in one day. I'm really starting to push things to the back of the worktops in the kitchen as DS seems to be grabbing anything in sight the minute my back is turned.

Sfx - hope you enjoyed the child free time, did you get up to much?

Foxie- glad you had good trip, not been to Windsor since I was about 11 to see castle, I bet the shops are lovely

Kew - nice pics , will try and get to farm another time

Steppie - glad you are making the most of your nights out

Ros - might just stay at home tom, but in case I have a change of plan will give you a shout

Had fun packed day today as some friends came over, went a tapas place in Twickers which was great followed by park. Hope everyone else enjoyed their wkend

paddle That would have made pretty mad despite understanding that toddlers don't really do it on purpose etc. she will learn but in the meantime much sympathy to you.

SJ sounds like a nice day. I did very little indeed which was exactly hat I needed

will see how it turns out tomorrow dd has had 2 busy days with restless sleep in between, so will be guided by her mood tomorrow.
I did quite well with my jogging last week and hope to carry on this week with the 5k plan. who knows this time I might even enter a race

It is intersting that mini-pads repeats rules back to you, DS does this too (e.g. he says 'don't shout' 'don't touch' etc) but it doesn't stop him from doing the opposite of what he's learnt/says

Sfx - you're doing well with your jogging, keep it up! Do you have a race in mind?

I'm seriously thinking of cancelling my gym membership, I'm hardly going with DH being away and our wkends end up being jam packed, no time for gym. I do crave that gym time where I can just watch/listen to music and do a bit of exerise & think about whatever

Mornign all.

It was lovely to see you on Saturday, steppy, QC and sfx. DS loved it, especially the tractor. Must do it again.

Mellow - welcome back! I need to see you soon, too. (Have run out of body cream/butter and serum!) As for Gymboree, I take DS to the one in St Margarets on Sat. It's very close to the station.

CoV - Hope you had a lovely meal with DH on your birthday. I also think your business idea is great. Good luck!

foxie - it's funny, everytime we go somewhere nice, we always say 'let's move there!' but we never do.

OK, I need advice. One of the carers at DS's nursery is going to help us with the extra childcare we need (take him home and feed him) from Spring or early Summer. She's been caring DS since he was a baby and DS loves her so it's great for us all. It's only two hours a day but do we need a contract? I have no idea what to write. (Ele - are you around?) What about her holiday? Is she entilted to paid holiday? How long? Any adivice? Please? TIA

Oh sorry Paddle, I didn't mean to ignore you. No much advice from me but do you have insurace to cover the damage?

paddle, don't have any advice I'm afraid but definitely do not go with the crayon idea someone suggested to you! I've left crayons out for ds to use when I've been doing his tea, cue drawing on our (freshly painted) wall! We've said don't draw on the walls so many times but if you don't catch them about to do it then they just don't remember.

Have decided that as the weather is so nice we're going to go to Kew instead of Lollipop! Give me a call if anyone fancies meeting there, though we'll probably just be walking around rather than C&C!

Sj, if you're not up for it this morning, do you fancy meeting this afternoon instead?

Paddle sympathies re the tele.DS is (I hope) coming out the other side of this kind of behaviour, as others have said they can't seem to control the impulse to do these things.

Weekend wasn't too bad, went to a staraunt called Smiths in Smithfield market which was lovely. But had to spend way too much time with MIL.

Woke up at 3am this morning with a rageing sore throat and headache, at least I have the ouse to myself until lunch. Hope all are well, catch you later.

morning all

well, things eventually calmed down last night. dd said sorry adn we had a hug and i showed her the TV adn the damage.

she then got her play phone and phoned grandma and said "Mummy's cross with me. I scratched the TV. Yes, Yes, Yes, No, Yes. Bye Grandma", which did make me smile.

unfortunately her behaviour was pretty challenging for the rest of the evening so we were both a wreck by bedtime.

I think what made it worse was that until then we'd had a lovely day together and she'd barely had to entertain herself all day.

TBH, I think I'm too hard on her. She's so articulate etc that I tend to think she understands more than she does. She is not normally a destructive kid, she is allowed her crayons unsupervised and has never shown any inclination to draw on the walls etc.

I do blame myself for leaving the apple corer where she could get hold of it.

You can only really see the scratches when the TV is off so I guess we'll live with it. quite a high excess on the insurance.

thanks for all the support tho, basically she won't be left unsupervised around the TV anymore. mind you, i don't think she'll go near again after seeing me go ballistic last night lol.

really hope this sunny weather is an indication of spring, i'm so fed up with being cold!

"She's so articulate etc that I tend to think she understands more than she does" - I'm sure thats an issue Paddel DS is so behind with his speech that its really very easy to treat him like he needs constant supervision.

I left him alone whilst I ran his bath and came down after bedtime finished to find half the contents of the freezer carefully lined up along the sofa. He's obsessed with the bleedin fridge and freezer at the moment.

I'm glad you sorted it out in the end!

We've had a really nice morning at Kew, ds has come home with numerous sticks & pine cones though, I'll have to try and get rid of them without him seeing now!