NOV 07 Now they are three - pre-schools, potties and power struggles

[Greedygirl]

New thread in honour of our threenagers!

No worries Loops, just when you're ready. I might put the Bamberoo up for sale on NM tho...... :(

I'm doing ok, loopy. Still suffering with a lot of nausea for no obvious reason, and ended up back in bed on Monday morning totally drained. But I have actually managed to eat a whole meal this evening and feel ok. It's tragic how happy I am about this!

I can well imagine that you're not happy about dds 1 and 2 in the same class. Is there any way of getting that changed or is it a small school? We've just found out that dd has the teacher in yr2 that she had in reception and we're thrilled, she is such a fantastic teacher. I can't believe that we will be doing Will's application soon, that time has flown by, hasn't it?

Jet - Hope you feel back on track soon.

Loopy - payment plans accepted!! :o

I have already applied to two schools for DD. One of them is right next door to her current preschool (which is a 5 minute walk from my house) and the other one is about a 10 minute drive away. Personally, i favour the one that is furthest away, but only because DS went there for a while when he was little (until i stupidly moved away from the area :() and it was absolutely fab. They were teaching them French in year 1!! They have strict guidelines about uniform, behaviour etc and it's just such a lovely school - very modern etc too. The closer school i have yet to look around so i dont know what it's like inside. The offsted reports for both schools however are really really good. The difference between the two is marginal so i am thinking practically here and am going to favour the closer school. I'm not so sure we would get in at the furthest school anyway because of our location. I dont think i could bear 7 years of driving there twice a day and battling for a parking space with all the other school run mums. I would much rather take a stroll up to the school and a stroll back with a smug look on my face at the fact that i'm not polluting the environment etc

Thanx loopy, have posted!

Feeling much better this weekend. Have managed 3 meals yesterday and today, which is great. Looking forward to normality next week now.

Hope you all have a good week!

Glad your starting to feel a little better now Jet. :)

You seem to have had a good w/e, rg, judging by your fb pic!

lol Jet - it was amazing!! Still grinning from ear to ear about it now. Only had 2 hours sleep though, so am going to hit the sack very very soon!!

Loopy - i put my raving shoes back on again on Saturday and danced away from 11pm til 4am! Got home at 5, flaked into bed and got rudely awoken by DD at 7! UGH!! :o

Glad you like the sling! :o :o It's so pretty it really does need some good lovin' :o

I am sooooooo tired. Work is crazy atm. We've gone onto our new timetable so there is no let-up in lesson planning etc. The kids are tired and acting up, the teachers are tired and fed up with dealing with petty arguments and we still have A WEEK AND A HALF to go! I have been working every night for a couple of hours, even on the days I don't work.

Oh well. DH asked if we can have another baby today . Just the small matter of moving to a house we can afford, still in catchment, with enough space for us all. Give me a few years...

RG - that raving would have wiped me out completely My Friday night glass of wine means I'm usually asleep before 10:30. tragic!

Loopy - your sling talk is like another language to me. I need a new baby to try out the sling thing and see what all the fuss is about!

Haha! Got to buy a bigger house first. But we are sending the kids to grandparents for a few days while we have a massive clear-out and sort this one out so someone will want to buy it

Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow - it's dd's sports day and I'm going to watch.

Well, at secondary you're lucky if you get anything, but I guess that's because kids can have at least 12 teachers! My favourite gift was a pair of homemade baby mitts that one of my year 11s gave me when I was pg with DD, but it was the words she wrote in the (homemade) card that touched me the most. I'm still in regular contact with her 6 years on too! I occasionally get emails from parents thanking me for working with students (which I keep for my performace management file to show contact with parents). Something handwritten does convey that you have appreciated the teacher's time and effort better though, IMO, since the parent has bothered to put the time and effort in writing the card/letter.

I think at primary a card from the kids is sweet and I make a point of writing a note saying how much I have appreciated the teacher's work. DD has decided to paint a terracotta pot for her teacher and I think we're going to put a packet of busy lizzy seeds in (her teacher's first name is Lizzie).

Oh Crikey, are you supposed to give teachers a present on your DC's last day then?? Even at pre-school?? DD got a card and some sweets from her teacher and i did see one little one giving another teacher a present but i didn't know if it's a standard thing or not?!! DD has already broken up from school now so her teacher probably thinks i'm exceptionally rude :o

DD is finally starting to try new foods (and like them!). She's been a really fussy eater lately - well i say "fussy" but what i mean is "wont try absolutely anything that's new to her". So anyway, the other day i was (yet again) running late with dinner so just did DD beans on toast (although the beans aren't allowed to go ON the toast, they have go in the middle of the plate and the toast has to go around the outside but NOT touching the beans!). I called her for dinner, she asked what it was and i told her. She then looked really dismayed and cross and shouted "Oh you ALWAYS do me beans on toast!!!!". We made a deal that the next day she would try something new and different because she understood that eating the same foods all the time was boring! So the next day (at her request) we had a curry, the day after that we had meatballs and mash (meat free meatballs for DD - she hates meat and even said about the meat free meatballs "uurggh, they look like meat!") and last night i gave her 2 Smiley potato stars (she never eats potatos in any form except for mash!) and a meat free sausage roll. She ate the whole bloomin lot!!! :o :o :o I had to coax her initially to try the sausage roll but once she tasted it there was no stopping her! OK, so i had to feed her teeny tiny amounts on her fork at a time but it's a MASSIVE breakthrough for us/her! I'm so pleased with her and she looked really pleased with herself too, bless her! :o

Sorry for the PFB waffle, but getting her to try anything new is massive in our house!! :o

Hi everyone, been offline a while, did some moderating work and it was all a bit mental - had to do 180 samples in 3 weeks! Was an eye opener. Then it was end of term madness, then we went to France and then we came back and I did five hundred mountains of washing, back to work and now finally chance to catch up!

Glad you are starting to feel better Jet.

Don't get me started on schools! We have a big problem in the area I live as the schools are over subscribed and they have built loads of new houses (I live in one of them!) without increasing the size of the schools accordingly so we may end up having to take Adam to a school 9 miles away (when there are 2 within walking distance another 2 that are 5 mins drive. But never mind, we shall see what happens. We can't apply till September.

France was lush. I recommend Grange du Moulin to you all, very relaxing as Adam romped around the enclosed garden with his new friends and I sat and chatted to my new friends! Some wine may have been drunk but I really can't comment.

RG - ha ha I have a PFB here too and he is going through a weird stage with food, basically just wants snacks (mainly healthy) and not really interested in main meals. Trying not to stress about it but have reduced the number of snacks to try and get him to eat more at meal times. He is also not keen to try new stuff at the moment. Will have to get the cook book out now I have a bit more time on my hands. But well done Ellie on trying some different stuff!

Loopy - I think a hand written card and/or drawing is lovely. I love getting stuff (who wouldn't) but some of my most treasured "presents" are emails from former students who are at uni or working and doing really well and who write nice things to me about their time at college . Think there is too much pressure to produce pressies at the end of term and they are cetainly not expected. I forgot to take anything for Adam's keyworkers! And the snacks for the snack rota. Bad mummy.

Well the era of my "girly" boy is well and truely over. He is now appears to be a testosterone fuelled, shouty, stompy little man and has developed a little bit of an attitude over the last week or so since we returned from France. Yikes! Still gorgeous inbetween tantrums but quite exhausting. I have diagnosed post-holiday PITA syndrome and have cracked down quite hard but also planning lots of exercise and outdoor activities to run off the excess steam - hope it works!

greedy - nice to have you back! The exam marking sounds a lot of work. I think I would really struggle since we get no gain time at all, moving on to our new timetable as soon as year 11 leave. The last 4 weeks have been a real trial, but only a few days to go now. Roll on Tuesday!
Your holiday sounds relaxing, the opportunity to do not much of anything but drinking wine is perfect!
3 1/2 yo can have amazing tantrums, can't they? William will now say 'You're not my friend any more' or 'You're not being very nice to me' if he doesn't get his own way. he genuinely thinks it is acceptable to request biscuits when we get back from dropping DD at school and that I am most unreasonable in declining

loopy- I agree, we are doing our job, but it's always nice when someone appreciates it The greatest reward for me will be August 25th - GCSE results day - when hopefully my year 10s and 11s get their grades! When you watch a child grow and change over a few years and then achieving ther potential, that is far greater than a box of chocolates. The cards are still nice though! Since William isn't at pre-school, I don't have to worry about that, phew!

RG - sounds like DD has made fantastic progress - well done her! William can be fussy, and I now do eat or starve with him. He won't eat pasta with sauce on the top, but if you serve it all mixed in, then that's fine. This is a recent but welcome development. I am particuarly impressed by the curry, neither William or DD would entertain that option, ever!

We have booked our summer holiday. We are going camping in your neck of the woods, Loopy. We've found a lovely looking campsite in Ivybridge, so a few miles from my brother and will be there for a week. So it had better be sunny. The kids have never camped before, so we are hoping the novelty doesn't wear off after one night Now we just have the small matter of buying a tent...