Secret Garden

[BriansMum]

Hope this works, a shiny new thread girls - come on in .

AARGH Leo, how could you?????

Sorry, fallen off the net again with it being school holidays, hope all of you are OK, we're off to mils tomorrow then London on Sunday, boys are so excited.

catch up when we're back

Hee hee - though, in my defence I'll be mad busy with exams until November and with the weather chaos of the last couple of years I want to make sure everything is sorted!

Is ds still into octonauts? If so there is some nice looking octonauts kit coming out. I applaud your advance thinking as a going to do same given am nor going to fancy Xmas shopping last minute this year.

It's official - pregnancy sending me loopy. Am tired (heat not helping sleep) but lay awake for ages last night stressing about bleeding again (despite all checks etc) then fell asleep and had nightmares about it. I will be as mad as brush soon if this carries on (how would you tell)?

Gaston - at least you have good cause. Pregnancy is pretty madness inducing even when everything's straightforward.

I have realised that I must be a bit anxious about selling the house because for the last two weeks my scalp has been itchy (psoriasis probably cos my Mum has it). I have only had this in the past when I have had exam stresses etc. If I get tummy ache then I will know I'm properly stressed.

So the good news is we have two buyers both making offers, the bad news is that both offers are lower than we are prepared to accept and one party won't increase so no bidding war to shift things up. FYI asking £475, offers of £450 and £455. AWBU? The £450 may come up a bit if they can secure more from their buyers. We're trying to play hardball with the agents... Fun and games with the agents calling me to get me to come down.

At the PILs now for a week. All good and weather kind. BUT: Don't like my baby smelling of dog slobber. AND Was also a bit about coming back from talking to agent when at a cafe to find DS1 had been bought a choc ice and was slurping coke. Just minor irritations really.

...especially given that Hedgehog has found out today that it is bowel cancer. It hasn't spread so she has chemo to treat it.

Aw, that's sad LG. Makes you want to hug your nearest and dearest a little bit harder.

So sorry to hear about hedgehog, how desperately sad. Let's hope they have caught it in time .

LG, what a dilemma about the house . Not sure what I'd do tbh - depends on how likely you think it is that you'll get a higher offer and how desperate you are to move. For us it's always been about what position the buyer is in - if they're in rented accommodation then we're far more likely to let them get away with a low offer for a quick sale.

Gaston, when I was about 16 wks pg with DS1 I was going completely and utterly mad - weekly scans stopped at 13 wks and of course it was far too early to feel movement. My mum marched me off to see the MW to hear the HB - this reassured me for about 30 secs before I started wailing again and said to my mum that maybe it was only a heart in there and didn't have any body around it . So I'm with you on pg sending you mad!!

Awful about hedgehog

But at stitching story - the fix you get on going to MW only lasts so long (am dreading holiday .

Re house- stitching makes a good point about it being easier if rented. But it does depend on how keen you are to sell v how much you can drop price. The offers are below what you want but not so far off so as stitching says it might be worth thinking about for say a cash buyer or one where you can be hard about move dates that suit you. Also have you get any more viewings? As it can be that market slows down after summer (not a universal truth but you do get a certain mindset of a I won't look now as won't be moved by Xmas/new year).

Stitching. I promise not to talk about Christmas when I see you in a few weeks. I was in fact looking at a child friendly Italian online last night as a lunch option. Though, if we get nice weather there will be places to eat where the show is so we could have the full al fresco festival lunch experience.

Yes, he does still like Octonauts Gaston. He got a couple of the submarine type toys at birthday and I suspect my P's would probably love to get him the Octopod.

LG - ooh, tough dilemma re: the house. Not sure what I would do, depends on what you can afford to lose, via costs etc of staying put for a while (both financial and time e.g commuting). Oh, and LG, finding DS with coke would make my blood boil. I probably wouldn't mind the choc ice for a treat, but why would you give a 3 yr old coke? (Well, my cousin would but that's a whole other story).

Wonders if Deb will give me Christmas present advice for 3.5 year old boys...

Gaston - good to hear someone else is thinking ahead. I could send you my budget spreadsheet . Maybe we need a festive garden thread to discuss .

Think a festive garden is a good idea... Does ds actually stay into things Leo? Apart from the odd thing (fortunately the rapunzel barbie dh bought back from a work trip has no shoes to lose but I doubt if I will get much assistance here on detangling barbie hair). E goes in/out programmes every few weeks.

He does go in and out of programmes, sometimes quite randomly (like last week begging for mama mirabelle's home movies which doesn't seem to be on air), but he usually goes back to old favourites. He also has a thing about toys etc linked to tv programmes (much to my dismay).

Oooh, child-friendly Italian sounds good . I'm sure DS1 will quite happily discuss Christmas with you, he mentions it on a fairly regular basis!

Oh and LG, I agree, the coke would have had me absolutely bloody fuming - although I confess to giving the DC their first FruitShoots today .

He's a marketing man's dream Leo !

The coke was ok apparently because he only had half of the can

Thanks for house thoughts. We can afford to sell for less it just has a knock on effect on what we can buy. However we know that next door but 2 sold in May for £470 and its in similar condition to ours. I am reluctant to sell ourselves short. It's not urgent yet, but it will become increasingly so as the Autumn progresses because school applications need to be in on 15 Jan. Stitching - maybe you are more up on over subscribed school issues? As far as I can tell it's a problem where we are looking to move as it is in Surrey. Increasingly I am thinking that as far as schools go we will just have to roll with it. Deb knows all about not getting into preferred schools though and it's not an especially happy experience. Let's wait and see what tomorrow brings...

Oh, half the can - why didn't you say?! That's ok then .

Have to share an MIL moment with you from yesterday - FIL has a bad hip and is using a walking stick, DS1 was pretending to use it as a hook and was capturing/rescuing people. MIL then says "Why don't you pretend it's a gun DS1, "bang bang", you could shoot mummy"!!!!! WTF?! Firstly, DS1 never pretends to be playing with guns because he has no idea they exist and it would never occur to him to say "bang bang" and pretend to shoot someone, and secondly "shoot mummy"!!!

And breath . . . . .

LG, each local authority is so different when dealing with allocating school places. Are you moving to Sussex? You said Surrey - wasn't sure whether that was a typo or you've changed your mind?! Personally (and it is a very personal decision) I would either cut my losses, sell the house and make sure I was moved well before the deadline or I would rent the house out and rent the house next door to your preferred school! But that's just me . . . .

How you feeling about the house today LG? What a dilemma. I'm not sure what I'd do. Edinburgh isn't quite as bad as the South East with the whole school admissions issues that crop up.

On schools though, will all of your DC start school next year? DS won't start until the following year. They go into Reception first in England don't they? How many years in primary school will they have after that?

on the guns Stitching. It's clearly a new-fangled parenting thing to be anti-guns for young boys. My P's were over at the weekend and were very excited that the Toy Story magazine they had brought him had a buzz lightyear gun on it. It was hard to contain my glee when it got left on the bus . My parents looked genuinely puzzled when I wasn't keen 'but he really loved it'. That's alright then.... Let's give them all coke and guns . What is the MN fruit shoot thing all about anyway?

Quick straw poll (because I don't want to start a thread to be judged by the perfect parenting brigade) - what do we think of games console type toys for pre-schoolers? I see that vtech and leapfrog are going for the Christmas market with ipad type consoles this year. Part of me is quite anti this kind of stuff, but another part of me is conscious that DS will grow up in a very technological environment and already has an interest in iphones and computers etc. Do they have a place (alongside lots of interaction with parents/independent play/reading/being outdoors etc)? I remember being quite horrified when my DN got a DSlite at age 4 and here am I considering an electronic toy . MY DH has a barely used NintendoDS but not sure about the toddler games available on that. If they even do games for DH's model these days... I'd be interested in what everyone thinks...

Think stitchings advice on schools and house good Lag.
And stitching your mil a gem (couldn't agree more about guns). My mil senile and an old cow at times (snapped at e on Sunday as basically wanted attention) but nieces noticed , rolled their eyes and went into loads of stories about times when she had been rude to them. After had got over my initial desire to smack the old cow (e had been encouraged by my sil and nieces to play piano with them- she did it when niece was playing something and mil told her IMO quite rudely to stop). Then after stopped thought it's quite a feat to have all your 3 kids plus most of your 7 kids think you are an old cow and basically laugh at your lack of charm. That takes some doing

Leo- my view on modern stuff (tv games etc) is all in moderation with everything else . We don't live in enid blyton world so much as certain sections on Mn would like to why pretend? That said you do need to moderate on time/content but you are all over that.

Re the stuff you talk about - I would go with the ds and get some games. Ds are durable and can grow with ds plus easily portable . The vtech stuff (aside from my personal belief that all their toys are work of devil due to noise factor ) is it's quite expensive and they change format quicker than you know so end up with redundant kit. The ds tends to last for years and there are lots of good appropriate games for older kids (plus it can be a powerful tool for good behaviour in older kids to confiscate).

Games e likes on my "tapper" - Nintendogs. Peppa pig games Thomas game and a colouring one. That said she likes carrying it around in it's bag most so am not sure it's that popular (it only comes out when we travel).

Then again I am no role model- I seem to be equivalent of fruit shoot mum at work as someone today seemed bit taken aback when I mentioned in passing e watching peppa. Her kid never seen tv (is only 15 months). I think I know which child will be desperate for fix of chicken nuggets , fruit shoots and Disney channel play dates in a few Years time

at being anti-guns being a new-fangled parent thing! I agree - our parents generation didn't see it as a problem and, tbh, I won't be too bothered once he's older and exposed to it from other boys but I'm not going to be the one who introduces the idea! Plus, what really bothered me was the "shoot mummy" comment!!

On schools: all children in England can start school the September after their 4th birthday - although there is no legal requirement to start until they are 5. Our children will be starting in YR (reception) next September (2012). They then have Y1 and Y2 in KS1, than Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 in KS2. They start secondary school the year after they turn 11, which I think is a year earlier than Scotland isn't it?

On the electronic toys thing, I'm in the Enid Blyton camp I'm afraid! I don't intend to buy the boys any electronic toys/computers/etc until they are aware that they exist and start asking for them IYSWIM. I have spoken to a couple of teacher friends about this (who work with pre-school/YR) and checked whether they think the boys will be really disadvantaged if I do this and they have assured me they will pick it up and become completely addicted quickly enough . I think that this is partly a boy thing though, although am willing to be corrected on this, but IME it's boys who tend to have a problem with addiction to games. I know the affect too much tv has on DS1, god only knows what he'd be like with a games console!

Anyway, having said all that I'm not the least bit judgey about people who do buy/use electronic games with their DC - it is such a personal decision and I think only one you and dh can make .

Gaston, your MIL sounds like a charmer!

Leo, not sure what the fruit shoot thing is on MN - just know they're sneered at! Is it something to do with the fact that they pretend to be healthy but are full of sugar?

On a separate matter, I gave notice to my CM today and told her I would definitely not be coming back to work in September. She wasn't very impressed . Don't know if I've made the right decision or not but it was killing me being in limbo, at least I know I'm now officially a SAHM and can plan accordingly . . . .

Fair point re boys - dss loved his games but I think he could have found almost any way possible not to work

re childminder but you know now you have changed arrangements something will come up?

Oh and did huge post on coke(agree it's work of devil for kids- my pretty laid back dad would not let us have it).
Fruitshoots expect it is the hidden sugar (and it looks healthy to those who don't read labels) but its another mn fad isn't it. Like ff , cc or my secret vice greggs

Thanks for thoughts on electronic toys. Out of interest Stitching, do your boys show any interest in your computer etc? DS is already quite technologically aware and can use my ipod touch (he thinks the laptop is broken because it doesn't have touch screen capabilities ). They also use computers/interactive whiteboard at nursery. Thanks for all your comments Gaston - I'm definitely erring more towards maybe getting a DS game for him rather than a ridiculously expensive 'child' console. You reminded me that I'm also not a massive fan of VTECH electronic stuff! I know nothing about games etc though - would games available now work ok on an older DS? I don't think the one we have is made anymore having been superceded by DSlite and DSi (not that I know the difference).

at watching Peppa being akin to being a fruit shoot mum! I shall have to check out the ingredients next time I'm in the supermarket? I wonder that they are full of 'natural' sugar found in fruit as opposed to having sugar added? I can't see anything wrong with that as fruit is full of sugar anyway . If they have aspartame instead though, I could understand the objection.

What's everyone up to this weekend? Another busy one here - birthday party, visiting friends and then we're off on a Thomas day out on Sunday.

Yes the new games still work on ds - not sure if 3d ones do but arent that many of those.
You can get fruit juice and water fruit shoots .

I've told them the PC and my phone are strictly off limits . DS1 will watch things on my computer and likes looking at my pics but that's it. That's why I was worried I was holding them back but I'm pretty sure they'll catch up eventually!

Nothing much planned for w/e - only travelling to Scotland!

Oh dear, I killed the thread .

I assumed everyone on holiday.

Just got back from weekend in paris but bit done in - had nice restful time.

What is everyone else up to? Arent you in Edinburgh stitching?