Sept 08 - Insert witty title 'here'

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Sorry about the crap title ladies, I was lacking inspiration and we were up to our limit on posts!

[CappuccinoCarrie]

Are we not supposed to use aerosol suncreams? . We have the nivea one that sprays on blue, then you rub it in.

ninja that situation sounds so hard for you :( Its good news that he's looking for houses locally, will make things easier. I really hope you can find a good arrangement that works for you and your DDs and means you don't have to go too long without seeing them, that would just be awful.

DD has been learning the planets, DS is copying, except he can't quite say 'Venus' properly. Cue much childish sniggering from and DH

Went to meet my new nephew at the weekend, soooo small and cute! I arrived and DBro was telling me about the underpinning on their new house and riding round on his digger. I was like er, yeah, interesting, where's the baby? My mum thought it was hysterical!

[Debs75]

Carrie The one I bought for DS is like a hairspray kind of spray, you don't need to rub it in either. He detested any cream on his skin so would often get burnt. The Piz Buin brought out the spray one and there are loads now. On the tin it says not for under 3 but I was wondering if that is because they could spray it in their eyes and that hurts.

[Meglet]

carrie while we're talking about childish sniggering, todays 'Come Outside' was called 'Useful Holes'. I snorted and quickly ducked into the kitchen so the DC's wouldn't wonder why mummy was grinning.

[Becaroooo]

I use the nivea pump action spray one factor 50 (me, overprotective????)

ninja raining here too

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

How very dare you snigger at Aunty Mabel meglet

I've never even seen suncream in an aerosol, but I would think it means don't let a 3 year old use the aerosol, rather than the cream not being suitable for them. That reminds me, I need to buy some more for this year. God I hate putting the stuff on, it's the worse thing about the sun coming out imo

Sorry to hear about your woes Ninja, I know how hard my marriage breaking down was and we didn't even have children. I can also relate to being awake at stupid o'clock and crying my eyes out. Late at night and early morning are lonely times, but I don't doubt that you will get through this. It will be tough, but you will do it and you will do the bst for you and the girls {{{hugs}}}

[ninja]

Thanks for the good wishes, I have told a couple of people in RL but I can't really talk about it when it could be so far away so it's my little bit of sanity coming on here.

So a close house is good - how about the next street? There a perfect one available there.... somehow I don't imagine it to be so hard to hand over the kids when it's just a 2 minute walk.

carrie at Venus mispronounced (even if it did take me a couple of minutes to work out how). In my defence I'm not a phonetic reader.

[Debs75]

ILTMIMI That is why the aerosol is so good. You just spray them all over and you don't get sticky hands or messy cream on towels, you don't even have to rub it in, you just wait for it to dry.

[Becaroooo]

ooh ninja thats interesting that you say that! I dont think ds1 is a phonetic reader either...may I ask if it hindered you at school at all??

[ninja]

Hi Bec well I was an extremely young and fluent reader, but I still find that I don't know the names of people in books particularly unfamiliar names as I've never read them I just recognise them as a word. I find DD now doing the same. She wasn't an early reader and she struggled with phonics, but now she is reading (started around her 7th birthday) it's hard to stop her.

I have to see a word to know if it's spelt correctly and so sometimes can't find the right spelling.

I think the way I read also affected my writing skills later on. I was once told I needed to read more books at a time when I was getting through a book a day, but becuase I read so fast I wasn't taking in any of the sentence structure.

[Debs75]

So the dr haas put Robyn on more inhalers. I was worried it was another chest infection, Lucy has one as well, but he said it is definitely asthma. Not quite sure how to treat her, she loves outside and is full of beans but the wind makes her wheeze and if she doesn;t rest she tires quick and then needs her inhaler more.

On a happier note she is learning new words all the time and now knows octopus. DD1 was reading with her at drs and teaching her animals. She wants to be a teacher and she was doing a good job with Robyn. Any words of wisdom Debi?

[Becaroooo]

Debs Tom has asthma and the cold weather certainly affects him quite badly...no advice other than pillows under the mattress at night, a humidifer in her room at night and when the coughing starts give her a course of prednisilone if your GP will prescribe it...it works wonders!

ninja You sound llike me!!! I worry that Tom is not a phonetic reader...and of course that is all that is taught in schools atm...sigh...the only way I can describe Tom's issues is that english doesnt seem to be instinctive to him IYSWIM? He is on an IEP now - which is good - and is on the waiting list to see the comm paeds but its a long wait

On the plus side, he is very happy at school He was really full of himself yesterday as his class enacted the royal wedding and he was Prince William (The royalist in me is mortified but the mother in me is like....yeah!!! My boy, A Prince!) They also made easter cakes (so his trousers were covered in flour!) Easter service at church tomorrow and then a street party in the afternoon...which reminds me I need to make some biscuits!!!

[Meglet]

bookmarking..

[MrsArchchancellorRidcully]

Ladies, how do i know if I am a phonetic reader or not? You have me worried now (probably just pg hormones - I freaked out last night about a bedside table discussion....go figure)

[FannyPriceless]

Mrsa I think we need someone to explain this whole phonics thing to us. Anyone? I think it means sounding out the letters/parts of the word and then putting the word together? Someone please correct me!

MrP is away this week. It's tough, but not as bad as last time he went away. The anti-depressants must be working!

Can I have some advice on discipline please? DD now has ocassional tantrums or deliberate bad behaviour, e.g. screaming and refusing to listen, kicking DS deliberately just when we have told her not to, etc. We want to introduce some consistent, constructive discipline.

We have tried the 'time out' method but not sure if we're doing it right. Can anyone help? What works for you? If we sit her down on the step she won't stay there. We had great success once when MrP put her in her bedroom with the door shut for a minute, then sat with her and explained why what she had done was wrong. She came back and apologised to DS and me without prompting!

But I'm not sure she understands that sorry means you promise not to do it again. Also not sure that shutting her in her room is the right thing to do!

[MrsArchchancellorRidcully]

fp she sounds exactly like C. Mr FP sounds loads more tolerant than DP though! Out on phone today so will post my thoughts and failures later.

[Becaroooo]

FP I personally wouldnt advocate shutting a child in their room as I feel it would eventually make their bedroom feel like a place of punishment, not a place of relaxation and sleep IYSWIM?

With Toby we use the tactics of either;
taking a toy away that he is playing with,
turning of the dvd he is watching or
taking him another room away from ds1 - if the tantrum involves ds1 -
and then we tell him why what he has done is wrong/why its naughty and explain that its not nice and we wont accept that behaviour and that he wont get his toy/dvd back til he behaves/apologises.

Seems to work. Tbh though most of the time - if I can - I ignore tantrums.....he seems to realise that though and has taken to kicking me to regain my attention!

I also shout!!!!!

Have never - and will never - smack.

Its tough....they push all your buttons at this age and Toby is so much worse than ds1.....

[Meglet]

fp And if you do end up putting them in their bedrooms when they've been spectacularly naughty then you're buggered when they both need to go in their rooms at the same time, unless you have long 'Mr Tickle' arms to hold 2 doors shut . Not sure we have any effective methods anymore TBH . I might just go along the ignoring route as long as no one is actually hurt.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

If I am cross with ds's behaviour I do not hold back in telling and showing him so. I don't shout (very often), but I make it very clear what he done, why he shouldn't have done it and why it makes me or others sad/angry/cross. Explaining the emotional consequences of his actions seems to work better with him than anything else. Taking away a toy or putting him on a step doesn't work at all.

Well ladies, I'm 38 weeks today and doing a very good impersonation of a whale. All is ok but blimey I'm knackered. I'm trying to be all zen about the possibility of being pg for another month, but it's not easy!

[FannyPriceless]

becs Yes I agree about the bedroom thing. I was a bit when MrP did it, but as we are making this up as we go along neither of feels we can contradict the other's efforts - we are both trying our best here. The only thing we are 100% clear on is we will never smack.

I would like a clear, consistent 'consequence' and she does respond well to time out. But how do I get her to stay on the step? Maybe a stair gate? (Our bottom step is a little landing at 90 degrees to the main staircase, so might work?) Or has anyone tried those time out mats?

I am more tolerant / lax than MrP in letting bad behaviour go without responding, but I think that's because if I made a battle out of every little thing then just getting through the day would be a total nightmare. One does have to cope.

ILTMIMI Have you got your bag packed? Is everything organised?

[Becaroooo]

FP Absolutely...you have to pick your battles, don't you? Have you tried a time out cushion? It works for some!

Good luck x

ILTMIMI an easter baby!!!! whoo hoo!

[Debs75]

I am useless at punishment. You would think I have loads of tips with Robyn being my 3rd but I am crap at it. I am tolerant of a lot of things DP isn't so sometimes punishment means we argue.
I try not to hit, but have done in the past. I try and reason with the elder ones and with Robyn I tell her what she has done is wrong and remove her from the situation.
FP DD1 would not say sorry for a long time, especially if she did something on accident. She used to say if she didn't mean to do it she couldn't be sorry. If she blocks someones way now she still doesn't always say sorry.

Robyn is feeling even worse now. Took her back to drs this morning and he says she definitely has an infection which is making the asthma worse. She is on steroids and a double course of antibiotics. She was struggling for breath so much her belly was sucking in and she must of been trying to take a breath every second. Really hope this works as she has 1 week before we go away.

[FannyPriceless]

I'm secretly hoping that carrie will come along with some brilliant tips that will solve all my problems and make it a total breeze.

[Becaroooo]

debs oh poor Robyn....have the docs suggested a nebuliser???? It would help her at night I am sure...

[Meglet]

poor robyn . Does the weather make any difference at all - it's going to get a bit warmer next week.

My pesky children were up between 3-5am scuttling across the landing, DS woke me up to button up his pyjamas .

[Debs75]

Becaroo When she was sent to hospital she had a nebuliser that night and it made the world of a difference. Dr didn't mention it so I thought we wouldn't be able to have one. The trouble is she hates taking the inhalers now. SHe walked upstairs last night to have a bath and spent the whole time wheezing. At least she is takng the steroids and anti-biotics.

Need some help and encouragement. DD1 wants a dinosaur cake for her birthday(weds) Have a pan and some instructions but still panicking that it will look like a big pink blob