June 08 - 79 days (and counting) til Christmas, has Deb started her shopping yet?!

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Thought we should update the thread!

How very interesting Knitting. I had wondered how they were going to implement it.

Oh and good idea about the home-school book, I'll see if I can nab the teacher and talk about it when he's back in next week. She seems a bit disorganised though so I'm not sure how keen she would be - we'll see.

I'm sure it will work out Amber, these things have a way of doing so. Getting Luke's uncle a bit more primed sounds like a good idea thouhg, maybe then he will offer to babysit after the birth too.

Systems excellent news on the referral. Hopefully they will be able to help and it will start to get better soon.

Has anyone been to sainsburys for the half price toy sale? I popped in this morning and got some talking Thomas toys for J which he is very excited about. There was a surprising amount of half price lego/sylvanian family stuff there too for anyone with older kids.

Without wanting to cause problems for a fellow teacher, I wouldn't be hugely impressed if she wasn't keen to do it. It need not be a hugely onerous task.

Is Liam a child who can be bribed with stickers? (Don't forget these sometimes work at school where they don't at home). If so, then a 'behviour chart' could work. It's often split into morning and afternoon and the child earns a sticker for each session managed with good behaviour - if they get a set number of stickers (maybe 8 out of 10) they get a [small] reward. Do you think that would work?

Something like this?

Interesting link Knitting. I think wherever people are on the CB issue, the proposals as they stand are quite farcical. I recall hearing the Chancellor say his proposal was 'fair' and that he couldn't think of a fairer way to iron out the anomalies, but I can think of at least 3 ways (who needs Oxford and a private education eh? )

How sad for that five year old Knitting. I hate to see children who start out way behind the 'starting block' at such a young age.

Am feeling quite pleased that I have managed to retain loads of information about Quality Management overnight. Now, if I can just keep it (and everything else) stuck in my head till next week...

Great news about the referral systems!

DG, sadly it's not unusual. We see children who have never sat at a table to eat a meal, never used cutlery, never had a story read to them (and don't have any books in their houses), who are rarely spoken to and hence struggle to converse, and so on.

It's tragic really and what we can do in school is limited .

We've had mixed results with stickers Knitting, a sticker chart worked to keep him in his own bed but it hasn't worked for anything else - but yes, might work at school when it doesn't at home, worth thinking about.

See what your teacher thinks. You'd be amazed what children will do for their teachers that they won't do for parents! Some teachers have a "10 min free time on the computer" reward for example - although that might be less successful in YR as they have free access anyway.

It might be worth trying?

Any Thomas/Duplo/Megabloks experts know the answer to this? Having to put together a list of ideas for various family members for Christmas and looking for some surefire winners which he'll delight in and the family will be delighted that he's delighted, IYSWIM.

Right, lunch break over, back to the books!

Amber - I am having similar anxieties about childcare whilst I am in labour. We have neighbours who emailed me to offer, plus other friends, but I still feel uncomfortable about calling people up with small children at 3am.

Can anyone remember if they felt sick before labour started? I have been feeling sick all week and this morning I was actually sick. It feels like morning sickness is back. 38 weeks today and generally fed up. Thankfully I got my parents to visit this week at the last minute. I don't think I would have handled the last few days so well without knowing that they can run round after P. After I went to 42 weeks with P it seems improbable that this one could be early but you never know. After being sick I actually found motivation to pack my hospital bag this morning. I freaked DH out this morning by calling him to warn him that I had been sick. He was about to get the train to Teeside, and he even offered to cancel his trip!

Spider I'm pretty sure that anyone who has had a child will not mind being called up at 3am if someone is in labour and needs help. I know it feels socially awkward but honestly, anyone who's been in that position would completely understand.

And I felt (and was!) very sick in labour first time round - but also could be a bug - have you got a temperature?

Spider I have only been sick whilst in actual labour. I think you are far more likely to have the runs before labour as your system clears itself in readiness rather than being sick. We are all different though so don't take this as read! It may be that you are just run down, and this can delay labour so try to rest.

Was going to say I was sick before labour, but it was the whole 9 months. That's not helpful, I know. I did have the runs though when labour was imminent.
Could it be that baby is moving into position ready to go?

Also, in theory can't offer to help you at Christmas because if your baby isn't born by then you'll be in the record books. (Like Mary I.) But, if it helps, I'm in London for an entire week from Sunday 8th November, with nothing on. Admittedly I'm a bit useless as you're not exactly down the road - but I'm happy to be called at 3am. (Was last night but that was Iestyn.) I genuinely wouldn't be bothered at all.
Mind you, I always work on the basis of my labour with Iestyn - that lasted an entire weekend, so plenty of time for people to travel if necessary. My inlaws did, and I was still in labour when they set off!

Yes, I assumed the same, I worked on the basis of it took 31 hours first time round - even if it was half that, I'd have 15 hours to spare, no? Be warned, second-timers: 5 hours start to finish, 2 hours from going through the hospital doors to holding her. I only phoned delivery suite for a bit of advice as to when I should think about coming in - was a bit surprised when they said 'drop everything and come in now'!

Thanks all, I have vague notions from NCT first time round that both ends of your digestive system can go a bit doolally in pre-labour. The first of the group to have her baby was v sick for a few days before things got going.

Weirdly although this is my second baby I feel alot like a first timer because I had no signs of labour and was induced at 42 weeks. It turns out that as P was badly positioned the right hormones would not have been released hence no labour, and no pre labour signs. I don't know whether I naturally labour quickly or slowly, my babies come early or late etc. Arghh!!! Can you tell I'm feeling sorry for myself?

Dewin - thanks for the offer of help. V sweet of you. My next door neighbours on both sides have offered tho so probably less trouble for them.

I met a woman the other week who had her second this January in all the snow. Her toddler stayed with a friend in Reading (40 mins away) and the poor little thing got snowed in for 5 days before her parents could collect her.

amber having similar panics about childcare here, as my usual stalwart of Granny who would drop everything and come and stay for a week or two if necessary can't commit to that because my sister is also due! both my neighbours have offered though, and one of them is still on Mat leave from her second and is happy to have C all day if necessary - my main worry is if C is at nursery and how to get her picked up I think! I'm also a bir at DH who is on call for the first weekend in Dec, which he seems to have failed to realise will be in his paternity leave fortnight no matter how late/early baby is, and apparently he can't swap out of it. given baby might be only 2 or 3 days old by then if it's 10 days late like C, I am not impressed. And see above for my Granny problem!

sybil asda have a half price toy sale at the moment too - I've got C a doll's house, might keep it until birthday time though, but was reduced from 75 to 30 quid so worth buying now (I got the cream one from the website, rather than the sickly pink one!)

systems sounds like your GP is on the ball and seems quite a quick referral time. hope it's helpful.

knitting very sad about your family friends.

bedtime keeping quiet on this one, don't want to curse our good luck.

Biscuits this is the gp that fitted the coil that ended up wrapped around my appendix - he owes me a favour!

knitting sad news about your PIL's friends, but then maybe not a bad way to die considering how horrible old age and death can be. My great aunt died in a car crash at 85 and it was in many ways a blessing. She had a lovely life and died before she lost her mobility, life style, and independance but we could all see that it was coming. (Unfortunately her son was driving the car and died too and that was not a blessing).

bed time is about 30 minutes here, jammies then yoghurt then teeth then stories the bed...

and Amberc I think Knitting's idea of seeing if the nursery staff will babysit at short notice is perfect. Yes it's a bit of cash but £100 for peace of mind would be brilliant. Also, we checked with friends who were on the way to the hospital thinking that in an emergency we could drop Duncan off at their door in the middle of the night. Even though they'd a baby and a toddler of their own, it would be better than waiting for one of them to get to us (and Fraser arrived so quickly, I couldn't have waited). In the end I had my MIL here though. And yes, 24 hours first time, 3.5 hours second time - don't assume you've hours before you need to go to the hospital (but it's much better when it's short, I'm not trying to scare anyone).

If the child benefit cut has to link parent's incomes together it would also make it easier for the conservatives to implement their married couples allowance too - so maybe that's what they have in mind. Put in the huge system now as a way of saving moneya and then there's minimal cost for their tax break...

Well now that's interesting. We forgot to turn the heating off last night. I woke up (warm and thirsty!) at 7.15 - completely unheard of to be undisturbed till then - kids not up till ds 7.30 and Caitlin after 8!! Luxury! Even the bloody cat didn't wake me! We can't afford to keep the heating on every night just for this (and think of the carbon footprint) but it's given me lots more motivation to get around to having the broken timer on it replaced - maybe trying to have it kick in at 5-ish before they wake up ...

systems we leave our heat on a control system all the time (turns on if it drops below 18 degrees) and the boys do seem to sleep better. But we're in a very well insulated 25 year old house so it costs pennies (literally). Fraser rarely manages to keep his duvet on all night so having a relatively warm room is important. (DH goes in a 6:00 and covers him up again though).

Am a bit giddy after getting take that tickets

Our heating is on a timer. We have one of those control systems Abdn, but unfortunately it's next to the radiator in the hall which isn't controllable (I think it's the master one) so essentially for some reason unless we set it to about 22C it never comes on. We can have a really toasty hallway but the rest of the house is freezing.

Wow Systems, that's a good discovery to have made. I am sure the academic in you will now set about collecting more data points to see if there is a correlation or not.

My new buggy has arrived. It is bigger inevitably than the old one, but Peter is v pleased with it. Just did a quick walk to M&S with it and felt alot more yummy than I normally do with my bashed up buggy.

My parents have gone now but not before I spent the morning asleep. Feeling less sick thankfully, but quite dodgy first thing. They have offered to come back next week regardless of whether the baby has arrived. I think I may need them here till Christmas!

Domestic - at take that tix!!! I forgot it was this morning