November 09 - Autumnal times are drawing near, soon our babes will be one year!

[MsInterpret]

Hello ladies, hope no one minds me taking the liberty of creating a new thread and approves of the name choice. We've been moving a bit slower than antenatal so though we'd most certainly have some year-olds by the time we finished this one!

morning all, just checking in really as I have been out of the loop for so long, what exactly is heuristic play? is that giving them boxes of crap interesting things to play with? In which case, we do that!!

Also, for those with primary school aged children, I was reading an interesting thread the other day and can't find the link, but it talked about developing motor skills and thus writing skills through various means, and someone posted a great post about the different things to do, such as vertical writing using blackboards or other vertical activity such as playing with magnets and word games on the fridge, window writing, wall charts etc, as apparantly this stretches the wrists muscles/tendons which are needed to promote strong writing skills (it was in response to a point about a slower writer who was disadvantaged in maths, which he was actually good at because he did not do the work quick enough). Also, doing things like stringing large beads together, peg boards, and other stuff, i will try to find a link to the thread for you. I found it fascinating, as we have probably neglected that side of things with B, as she is so active she does more dressing up, dancing, running around, and jumping, playing imagination type things, as well as outdoors stuff, not much sitting down and doing intricate stuff, i mean she does it, but we have not encouraged her to do lots of things to develop her fine motor skills and her hand-eye coordination is not as sharp as it could be. So we shall work on that and learn for DS too.

Just spotted this shocking news Think ninja's in Bristol aren't you? I strongly support the Let Girls Be Girls campaign and thought M&S did too...

Blimey Ms that Hooters place sounds like a grim night out!!!!
Pavlov my ds had real trouble with his fine motor skills when starting primary last year and went on to a special course where they did all the kind of things you listed with him, it made a massive difference, especially the bead stringing. 'Tap a shape' is a fun way to create a picture that he liked as well.
Tamlin that is really, really poor with the vaccine, I'm not surprised you were angry.
I feel all posh now I know about heuristicplay (if I spelt that right)- I thought it was impressive when my sister called the box of crap a 'sensory exploration box' but 'heuristic play' is even better!
H's favourite game at the moment is lifting the flaps in books- Spot, Maisie and Dear Zoo are the number ones at the mo. (It's rather peurile but I do always titter when children's books have 'BIG FLAPS!' written on the cover.) She doesn't understand why other books or magazines don't have flaps and is constantly baffing at the newspaper in great puzzlement.
Obviously this is not the place to ask, but am I being unreasonable to nick all my week's lesson plans off Gareth Malone?

Tamlin that's not good, thought they had to write down everything they were going to use and double-check. Definitely would not be amused either!

Pav we do the same here, I think it is because we go out and run about then are too lazy too tired to get out beads and intricate things.

Msyikes I can spell it but can't pronounce it

Scarlotti it's a mix of 30-70 castor oil and sunflower oil, slap on, massage in, take off with hot flannel. It really seems to do a good job.

Pavlov thanks for that, something to remember for the future.

Mine likes to pull all the pots and pans out of my kitchen cupboards, whack them vigorously for a bit while singing tunelessly, and then climbs bodily into the cupboards. I had to stop his brother from whizzing him around and around in the rotating corner cupboard the other day.

Confession: I should probably wash everything after he's dragged it all over the floor, but I just shove everything back in the cupboards.

Tamlin I just put them back in the cupboard too! I figure that the heat from cooking will kill anything that's made it's way on there.
Thanks for the support, hopefully the split will let us work out what we want for the future to be happy.

skorpion do you make that then or buy it?

Not impressed with M&S

Had a lovely day today, been to a lovely park and met up with my brother and family. Was great to see my nieces and nephews

Hi everyone

Will hopefully have more time to catch up with you all soon... Expecting to be made redundant this week. But wanted to ask about periods!

I am still bfing - but only twice daily - and got my first period back on fri 13th aug. Now at day 30 and no period. My pre-pregnancy cycles were quite erratic but never longer than 28 days. Usually between 23 & 26. I've googled a bit and it says bfing can mess up ovulation. Anyone else any experience of this? xx

DWB mine took a couple of months to regulate so don't worry. Think the first one was about 40 days or so, second one around 34 days then back to normal after that.
Hope the redundancy isn't too difficult for you.

Thanks for the reassurance scarlotti. Already planning what to do with a bit of time off if it's me... Part of me might actually be disappointed if I'm safe!! Trying to be positive.

DWB hope you'll find a positive side to whatever happens. Thinking of you.

Scarlotti I made up the mix myself. here is the site with all the details.

Evening all (well it is here anyway!) So tired, Millie still not sleeping, but she has learnt to stand and take a few steps holding my hands!

skorpion I had a quick look at that site about cleansing with oil, sounds great, particularly as my skin is awful. Im 33 years old and still suffer badly with spots, not fair! One question though, it says not to cleanse too often but if I wear make-up everyday then I need to cleanse everyday. Did I miss something there?

Sorry, to tired to post more but hope everyone is ok. Your talk of Autumn makes me feel homesick...

DontWorryBaby mine came back last week but I only bled for a day and a half.

Actually got a few hours solid sleep last night. It's a miracle!

Helips that's a very good question and I wondered that myself. I have only started this in the last couple of days so am no expert. I'll have a look at the style and beauty threads - that's where I found in in the first place (I gather it's a bit of a mumsnet craze)

i am in the wars!!!

Poor pav!

DWB thinking of you and your confusion over what you really want the outcome to be! Sounds unlikely that you're pg though based on what others saying about cycles. Didn't you do a test recently too?

Good to hear of sleep jemjabella

Rosa has a thrush nappy rash . Feel a bit guilty as I didn't realise how bad it was. Just thought it was ordinary nappy rash as she's teething but nursery nurse told me her suspicions this afternoon and pharmacist confirmed. Poor little mite, she's really unhappy when changing nappy AND in the bath, think it was uncomfortable without any padding to sit on the bath mat. I've got her some anti-fungal cream from the pharmacist, he said 4 days should see some improvement. 4 days! laugs - if you're lurking - didn't DS have this problem when bfing in the early days? Lucky me, I've never had any prob like this before (I blame DH who just had athlete's foot - ew!) Any tips apart from the cream and no-nappy time as much as poss?

MsI I did a test two days before my periods started in august. Also tested today as I'm due to give blood this week... Obviously couldn't do that while pregnant! Negative, as I expected. Just can't get used to this irregularity!! Hope Rosa feels better soon x

Jeezo pav, hope you are ok. How frightening! Big hugs x

yeah, guess so, bit fed up really though. but then, i feel fed up and turn to look at this wonderful non-sleepig boy who is going 'awoo awoo awoo' while flapping his arms like a chicken, with a grin that shows both his bottom teeth beautifully. And I feel better for a bit.

I will be fine tomorrow.

Bloody hell PavlovtheCat - that sounds horrific. Hope you're feeling less sore soon!

Heavens Pav hope you feel better soon.

Skorpion thanks for the link, I might try it and see how I go. helips I'd imagine it would be ok to cleanse any make up daily surely?

MsI hope Rosa feels better soon, poor wee mite.

I have organised a pub quiz and raffle at the end of the month for my fundraising - managed to get co-op travel to donate a discount voucher today for my raffle
Am so pleased as I also have about 45 people signed up so far!

Pavlov, that sounds terrible. I really hope you'll be better soon. And so glad that nothing serious happened to your children.
DWB, I think birth changes the period a bit. I used to have a rather irregular, very painful and heavy ones before and now it seems to be really regular every 31 days, almost no pain and much lighter (I only had three so far though).
skorpion and MsI, we have to use anti-fungal cream since weeks, first only on a tiny spot, which got even bigger with the first treatment and now we have a second, still light, spot. I think nappy-free time would be the key but on our holiday it was not really possible. I also wonder if the use of cloth nappies makes it rather worse. I know they are normally better and we never had any kind of nappy rash but I think the urine irritates the skin more and a disposable would maybe suck it away. During our week in the Lake District we only used disposable ones and it got definitely better but maybe it's the new treatment that we got prescribed.

So we are back, Paula really enjoyed all the hiking. She was sitting high in her dads backpack, had a good view on all those trees and animals, lots of new "toys" in the cottage and actually even great weather.
She still seems to not really continue her physical development (maybe because she didn't really have the opportunity) but started so many other new things. She likes finally watching books rather than eating them, points at things in the books, and I swear, she is doing the incy wincy spider with her hands (obviously not the real movements, but whenever I sing it, she does something with her hands) as well as clapping when I sing "wind the bobbin up")

Oh, and I think today she was really angry at me. She tried to get away from me, when I brushed her teeth and hit her head (not too badly) but she didn't want to be hold or soothed by me! She was crying and screaming and still trying to get away from me. I thought, they always want mum to hold them when they are sad or angry, even if mum was actually the "reason" for crying.

Sorry for the long post but I have been away for a while.

pav you poor thing, that accident sounds really nasty. Thank god the kids were ok, when my ds was about 15 months a mirror fell on top of him. It was stopped by a side wall from hitting him directly by an inch or so but the glass shattered completely over him. He was fine though, one tiny scratch but that was it although he was terrified and I was in shock for ages afterwards. It was awful and I can only imagine how you must have felt, take it easy and give your babies a big hug. Hope your injuries heal up soon and you feel better.

ursi glad you enjoyed your trip.

Millie slept through until 5am this morning, I'm still tired though! It's probably just a one off, she likes to do this and then we have broken nights for a few months before she feels like sleeping through again!

Blimey Pav how awful. Hope you feel better very soon.

Ursi Glad you enjoyed your trip
Scarlotti Sounds like you're doing really well with your fundraising. Good luck with the quiz!

I haven't managed to get on here much lately. Trying to lurk and keep in the loop.

DS1 is enjoying school. He is a bit all over the place when he gets home. Very touchy feely with me and wants lots of cuddles, but on the other hand he's been a bit heavy handed with me and likes to push and pull me all over the place. He is also starving hungry and thirsty. He eats his packed lunch, but hardly drinks anything. Also, he's not going to the toilet all day and I don't think he's been once yet at school. Such a huge change going on.

DH is home on garden leave. He has a couple of interviews lined up. Has a job offer with his current company to start in Oct. He doesn't want the job, but he will take it if nothing else is offered. We've also replaced our stolen car. DH is driving 'her' home now. He is already in love with this car. At least he's happy

DWB How did your meeting go? Crossing fingers for you.

Sleep I not getting any! C has decided to go from bad to worse at night. Two hourly waking. Naps are a nightmare, they were going well until recently. It's doing me in. I feel like I'm running on empty. Trying to sleep train C with controlled crying. Have made a bit of improvement. Can't seem to hold him out to bedtime lately as he skips the afternoon nap and then a nightmare at around 5pm. He is in bed now and has been for the last hour. Going to wake him shortly for dinner and bath. Gone has my lovely routine

Sorry for the mammoth post and sorry if I've missed anyone out.

Fruit the redundancy consultation process is underway. I think we might find out who is going on Friday. I had an interview for another job today which went really well. Only thing is - he asked what my family plans are. I told him I know that he's not supposed to ask me that... Then went on to tell him the answer! Which is that we're going to wait until DP has a permanent job which will prob be next august at the earliest before thinking about no 2. If he decides that isn't enough for him (it's a new company - been in business since feb and a one-man band at present) then that's fair enough. Best case scenario for me would be a job offer and redundancy, as it's just over four weeks to the wedding and my exam for the end of my ou course is just under five weeks, but things couldn't work out so perfectly surely?!