July 2010: now they're all 1, some me-time has begun [huge feck-off sarcasm emoticon]

[CakeandRoses]

am bf A and telling F off and have still come to the rescue.

jeez ph, worse than i'd imagined. you do well not to throttle the old duck. do you retort to her 'helpful' comments?

the isle of dogs one made me chuckle tho

I think your mil is my grandma

She sounds delightful

urgh what a nightmare! i can imagine that the journey with the kids was not fun. What a shame the dog didn't affect F's chest - not that we'd want him to be ill or anything, but it would be a good excuse not to go!

Cake - yes, last night was the fourth night in ten that he's simply refused the bedtime feed. A couple of those times he still wasn't asleep half an hour late so I did go in and feed him, but a couple of times (including last night) he's just gone straight off to sleep. So I think he's ready to drop it. Am wondering whether I should introduce a cow's milk feed at some point, as on some days it will mean he'll only have one BF a day. I'm just not sure when that cow's milk should be. The first night he refused a BF I tried offering some cows' milk then but he wasn't interested in that either, so I don't think I'll do it at bedtime, nor at tea time, as he's having a main meal then anyway. Perhaps mid afternoon.

mid-afternoon sounds a good time woodlands if he won't take it at bedtime. our nursery have just introduced an afternoon milk drink with their snack actually.

no such luck here, she's in a bf frenzy whilst she's teething. am sick of it tbh but i guess the alternative would be her just screaming in pain

oh tsc granny sounds loopers! MAP eh!!!??? so did dp bring the subject up about feeding?
E's not really eating much today either but has done 2 poos and is dribbling loads so i'm guessing it's cos of the other side of the molars coming through. she's in brilliant form though thankfully.
hope the christening is going well mlic!
i don't really have any views on homework. i just see it as something that has to be done and it will stand to them in the long run. i have a big problem with huge amounts of homework though as there is no need for it.
having a day indoors watching all the ladies gaelic football. cooked a roast earlier but the steamer burned dry so had to go to the carvery to get emergency mash and veg!

Woodlands my older one was on 2 bfs at about 12 months and then dropped the morning one and then the evening one by 14 months. She wouldn't take a bottle of cows milk at all. I used to offer it to her in a cup at various times during the day, she was never very keen tbh. I just made sure she had lots of yoghurt, cheese etc to keep her calcium up, I kept offering the milk (in a cup) and after a couple of months she started drinking some.

J quite likes drinking cow's milk but he doesn't tend to get it very often as I figure that three BFs a day is enough milk. He has it if he's at nursery all day and so doesn't have a midday BF.

I think TBH if they're having enough cheese/yoghurt etc they don't really need to drink much in the way of milk.

L won't drink cows milk either at the.moment. I keep offering it every few days with either his breakfast or a snack but he only has a few sips (if that). He generally eats plenty of cheese & yoghurt so gets enough calcium I think. Just been up to give him his last bf before his op tomorrow. Poor mite has to be at hospital for 7.30 and can't have anything to eat or drink & last bf by 4.30. Hope they do him quick. been told he'll probably be first as they tend tp do youngest first but dependant on if anything urgent/emergency surgery.

ph sounds a nightmare. At least you're home now. we keep having 'the talk' about stopping bf too. Dh v keen for me to stop but I'm less so. I tried not giving L a morning feed a couple of days.last week but by 10 hr was pulling at my top, smacking his lips together and signing 'milk' at me. Guess he's not ready to drop it yet.

melissa hope the op goes well

mlic just looked at your christening photos on Fb, looks like a good day. Was it you saying something recently about wanting to lose weight? What are you on about woman??? There's nothing of you

mlisc I hope yesterday went well and you didn't run out of food/fall in the cake.

cake that's exactly how I feel about homework. If they want to potter around with it then fine but I don't agree with forcing them to do it. I'm against SATS etc too, why give them the stress? It's not like it matters at that age anyway. I've already told DH a hundred times that if they're doing progress tests in primary school mine aren't participating and if the school doesn't like it I'll take them out.
I was home-schooled off and on during primary and my mum worked me far, far harder than any of the schools I went to. Because of that I actually know grammar/spelling whereas DH who did everything through the school was never taught it properly. I also hate the whole teaching to pass exams business, GCSE/AS/A2 were all about just learning what you need to pass and not to gain an understanding of the material. That to me isn't learning.
Have you heard of the Steiner schools? I'd love to send L to the one here, but I can't guarantee there'd be one at the next place and it wouldn't be fair to have her do such a drastic education style shift a year in!

ph what a freaking nightmare! She is an utter fruit loop and obviously hasn't ever let go of your DP and accepted that you're the main woman in his life now.

melissa good luck with it all today, I hope he gets in first!

I think S is teething, he's on 4-5 sloppy nappies a day and has nappy rash for the first time ever.

chulita you cow, you made me reread the steiner website and am now gutted again - there's none close enough to here but yy, i would LOVE my two to go to one. can see what you mean about putting L in only to have to move here. would be a definite culture shock. why oh why don't they get government funding? and why aren't more schools like it?

it annoys me that faith schools get part-funding but steiner schools don't. v odd.

i totally agree about sats and tests too. do you know of any other parents who refused them and whether they did need to leave?

melissa why is your dh so keen on you stopping bf?

my dh is easy about when we stop esp when i told him that i'll be more relaxed about being here at feed-times as she's now old enough to go without or drink from a cup. i'm working up to leaving her overnight.

i really hope L's op goes well. going to be hard for you seeing him in that situation but keep thinking it will all be worth it.

Like wss's A, my boy took a while to drink milk readily from a cup - i had to stop bf first so i'm trying not to worry that madam won't at the mo.

how did it go mlic? thought of you and the cake yday

was supposed to be having a day out today but weather's crap so have invited my friend and her two girls over for a play - will be a madhouse

The Jamie Oliver party was v good thanks, bought 2 storage jars for my pasta

Tsc- she sounds like a nightmare, I don't know if I could put up with that.

D has been having awful nights, then he slept something like half 8 til half 5 last night so obv I feel shittier having more sleep

See, maybe I have a warped view of education because I went to a private school from 4 years old until 16 years old. Will google 'steiner schools' later, off to mams now to say bye to my grandparents and the park with a friend

Oh yes cake, twas a great afternoon thanks

I deliberately didn't link it cake in the vain hope that you wouldn't look at them Even more of a kick in the teeth is that the only government funded Steiner is about 6 miles from us, Grr!

mlisc I know virtually nothing about schools here other than the evidence of DH's lack of ability in the most basic stuff and of course the ever-present spelling mistakes absolutely everywhere.

you're kidding chul re the one near you being funded?! talk about salt in the wound! i guess you wouldn't want to stay there when dh changes jobs - esp now you have a lovely house to move into one day.

(btw - no idea why i wrote that you'll be moving 'here' )

i do agree re schools not always being 'all that' when it comes to the basics. my dh went to a decent school AND studied hard and his vocab and spelling are nowhere near as good as mine (he'll ask me at least once a week what a word means or how to spell something) despite being about the same iq-wise.

i also feel sad that my father was kinda ruined in a way by the education system. he is incredibly bright - near genius level - and very creative and had massive expectations on him (his mother was a teacher so very into the academic side) went to a good school, worked hard, did trillions of A-levels then went on to do a degree in Physics. halfway thru he had enough and dropped out (to become a maths and physics teacher for a while - great rebellion that dad ). he eventually found his way and is v happy now but i wonder how different his life would have been if he'd been in a steiner-type situation and allowed to develop in his own way rather than a kind of academic hothouse.

as a result he was very hands-off with me in terms of pressure to do well at school.

i hated secondary school, didn't really bother at all (rebelled and did no homework and truanted regularly) after the age of 15 but have a better than average grasp of grammar and spelling. i put that down to the fact that my father taught me lots about the things i was interested in - e.g. i was a bit of a computer whizz from an early age as i loved them. i was also home-schooled for a year whilst we were travelling.

sorry, big cake-style waffle but i'm going thru all this at the mo trying to work out what to do with Mr F.

I'm debating the same thing with L, I had a haphazard education really but my mum was determined that we would get a good grasp of the basics, to the point of giving us 3 hours of 'English' lessons every Saturday morning for the 8 years we were in French school.
I wouldn't stay in this town, I absolutely hate it and not worth it just for the school
And yes, if you're going to mention us moving there, keep it on pm

incidentally, dh's parents had a v traditional view of learning: they encouraged him to work hard at school and considered it the school's job to teach him. they did very little in the way of reading/writing etc with him at home. tbh, i sometimes wonder if they taught him anything - he has MAFFIS gaps in his general knowledge and awareness of other cultures, food etc.

3 hours of english on saturdays - OUCH!

Steiner schools are hugely controversial on MN. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, I think they're really creepy with their strange religious beliefs that they don't own up to. Plus my school playing field backed onto the playground of our local one, and the kids were all total brats!

I have had a cold which has dragged on for over a week now. Just picked up J from nursery and have put him down for a nap - might go and have one myself!

ha ha - that made me properly chuckle woodlands. speak your mind please

have a good nap.

have cancelled the 'play date' as toddler said he wasn't feeling well. now seems to have made a remarkable recovery and has all his cookery and musical equipment out and is dancing, singing and strumming

Lol at dancing, singing and strumming!

Had a busy day today, been to 2 baby groups pretty much back to back only half hour break between them. Dylan fell asleep in the arms of a crèche worker at the 2nd group, bless! Then she handed him to me and I held him asleep for a while which was so lovely I haven't done that in months it felt so cuddly!

You all have lots of info on Steiner Schools - how come I've never even heard of them before?

I don't recall doing any formal 'learning' with my parents outside of school. Other than asking for help with homework. Yet I did very well academically and have much higher than average grammar and spelling - which to be fair is down to my father's influence, but only through 'stuff I picked up from him over the years' rather than 'teaching me' iyswim.

I genuinely believe a child can go to a really shit school and do brilliantly just as a child can go to a brilliant school and do shit (there were a few of my friends at school in the latter category ). It boils down to far, far more than 'school'.

Saying that, if we could afford to send both boys to private school I would in a heartbeat.

sorry cake, didn't mean to offend! only I don't think everyone knows about the religious element to the schools. Obviously some people like to send their children to religious schools, I would choose a CofE one for J if there was one, but the Steiner schools seem to hide the religious bit well.

We never had homework at primary school, but when I was in third/fourth year juniors the teachers gave me extra work as I was preparing for private school entrance exams. I remember doing past papers with my mum too, but I never had a tutor or anything like that.

Tonight I ought to be going to choir but DH is in Middlesbrough and won't get home till 9ish. grr. I am going to cook lamb curry tonight with the leftovers of yesterday's roast. Not sure what for the rest of the week.