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.

i think it was the poo not teething that disturbed him, cheeky mlic

My poor baby has a really bad rash where the sides of his overnight nappy were :( He wore a weird foreign nappy that goes right up their back that my friends gave me after her holiday. He's worn them a couple of times before with no problems but today he has this horrid rash :(

poor him mlic - it's funny how they get rashes like that sometimes.

Having thought more about the CC to encourage sleep issue - I would emphasise that it just wouldn't have worked for us until really quite recently. J was the type who would cry and cry himself into a right state. Now, however, he just cries in protest for a few minutes and you can tell it's going to ease off. If something's wrong the cry is quite different and I go straight in. If A isn't like this I can see it wouldn't work for you. But if we were like our friends and never ever let J cry even for a moment, I don't think he'd sleep nearly as well as he does. They are all different!

And about private schools - my parents scrimped and saved to send me to one from 11-18. At my school about a third of the kids were there on assisted places, so were from all sorts of backgrounds, but of course what everyone had in common was that their parents were really committed to their education and wanted them to succeed. Plus everyone was really bright. Several of my best friends were from Asian families who ran newsagents and takeaways but whose daughters (my friends) have now gone on to be dentists, doctors and lawyers. I do think it's good to be in that sort of culture of achievement.

the local private school is a high percentage of Indian kids, they are from the same backgrounds of takeaways and shops and then GP's, dentists etc. My two friends who send their boys own a florist and a pub, I think they just worry about how they will afford the school trips that cost a hell of a lot, my friend was on the phone worried as the boys in her boys class have very shrouded views on women and she doesnt like that her son is coming home telling her he cant talk to women and she should be acting a certain way (he is 6) I think now she is regretting sending him but the original reason was that she thought the local school 'chavvy' so it sort of bit her in the arse, I think no matter where you send your kids you will have pros and cons.
At primary level I would prefer bigger classes. as chulita says I will fill in any gaps that are needed. the school that my half sis went to (8 in a year) had to have packed lunch at their desk and the playground is smaller than my garden, they have no assembly, sports days etc as they dont have the room which I wouldnt want L to miss out on.

L has been so lovely today, ive just taken him up for a nap, he lay down and pulled his quilt up himself then rolled over and closed his eyes. Right then im off to shred and wii!

oh my god i'm after doing a womans hair and i'm in shock after it. she has a little boy who will be one next week and we were just talking about them sleeping and stuff and she was saying he doesn't sleep great 'and i've been giving him dozol since 10 months and i gave him whiskey too' .............WHISKEY!!! and she was one of these people who laughs after every single sentence she says so it was 'i gave him whiskey too hehehehe'. and when i stood like this she says 'oh only on his dummy though i didn't give it on a spoon hehehe'. WTF!!!! sorry just had to get that off my chest
poor W mlic and it's probably going to take a while to clear cos his nappy will be rubbing against it :(. maybe with the weather thats in it let him run round outside with one of E's tshirt and loose shorts and no nappy.

kk that is shocking, more shocking that the doctor gave them dozol! The woman who works for my mum was telling us how every xmas eve they give her 4 grandkids dozol like it was normal we stood there like and then she backtracked saying oh the doctor agrees that they need it so they can sleep....er no love is xmas eve, kids never sleep then as Father Christmas is on his way, its funny that some people do think it is normal, my friend works for a doc who told me to give L medised to get him to sleep even though the age has gone up to 6 now, and so many people tell me to rub whiskey in his gums!

you can get dozol over the counter here memph.
but she said about the whiskey then 'it did knock him out for a while but not all night'. i'm still just in shock does she not realise that it's a baby and she's giving him strong straight alcohol?!

Poor baby

That's what I did kk - he was nekkid from us getting home from the park at roughly 2:30 until he was put at the table for tea at about 5pm. Thank god, as he did a big poo at the table

The rash looks no better at all though :(

That's terrible kk. My mum used to say she would put whisky on my dummy to get me to sleep - I have no idea whether she was joking or not...

at putting the nappy on just at the right time mlic! hhope it clears up soon for him.
wss i hope so!

It wouldnt' surprise me if she did put whisky on my dummy though - just because some of the, ahem , childcare practices back then would seem crazy to us now but were seen as fine then.

When I was born, my sisters were 5 and 8 and of course very excited to have a new baby to play with. When I was a few days old they asked my mum if they could take me out in the pram for a walk ON THEIR OWN and my mum said, yes, fine, of course.

So off they go and when they get back my mum said, oh was everything ok and they said "Yes, well, the pram tipped over and she fell out but a nice man stopped and picked her up and put her back in the pram for us" .

Thing is, back then (early 70s) there were probably loads of kids wheeling their little sisters and brothers around, it would have been totally normal. Crazy but true!

Yes you're right wss. Like mothers used to go into shops and leave the baby in the pram outside the door if the shop was small (which was usually the case as equality and diversity weren't high on the agenda then). I've heard a couple of stories about people going home and thinking 'I've forgotten something' only to realise it was their baby They were of course still there when they returned, maybe because the world used to be a much nicer place :(

Good news - his rash has pretty much gone. My toddler woke up dry this morning but was up at midnight for a wee and was awake at 3am shouting me to get his car . I think I'd rather have a wet pull up on a morning...

mlisc L woke me up at 3 asking for her bear who was, of course, safely ensconced in her quilt

wss that's very funny! We'd never let an 8 year old take charge of a baby and if anyone did they'd be up before all the childcare peeps.

kkfairy I really have to bite my tongue at some of the comments I overhear at the centres we go to, I just tighten my judgy pants and hussle off so I don't say something stupid.

S has given me his cold, DH has it too but he's Daynursed it to the max whereas I am unable to have the liquid gold for the 4th year running No doubt he'll NightNurse it up tonight and be snoring for Britain just to rub it in.

Blimey wss that really was the good old days! I can hardly even bare to leave my dog outside the shop these days.
Ive never heard of dozol, i can see how tempting it would be to dose baby up with something but its one of many things that are tempting but you would never do. Isnt there a travel sick medicine that people give too.
I have THE WHOLE DAY to myself, D was awake at 5.50 having slept through, seems we can never have it all! Its very weird not having anyone else to think about but i have already vacuumed upstairs, cleaned the spare room ready for my sisters visit tomorrow, cleaned the kitchen, cooked some potatoe for freezing and put some washing in! I am going to rest a bit today though, after a 17 hour day yesterday i think i need to. I think DH thought i was going crazy last night as i was so soooo tired and felt vile that i had to have a little cry, i did feel better after some food, it was just too much really, i probably shouldnt have done it.
chu hope ur feeling ok, bummer that u now have a cold!
mylife has w's rash stayed away, whats that nappy all about then, is it higher than a normal one?

I sometimes leave J outside our corner shop. It's so tiny in there that if there is even one other person there's not room for the pushchair. I can see him the whole time.

Do you?!?!?

Well you must live in a lovely area. There's no chance I'd do that here. Like vik said, I wouldn't even leave my dogs outside a shop round here.

Hope you've had a fab day to yourself vik. I am very much looking forward to my home alone day tomorrow :) The rash is much better but is still there a bit. The heat isn't healping.

Been to the seaside town up the road today with my friend and her two. The boys and I all went paddling, we had great fun apart from when the baby ran staright into the stream and fell head first into the water.

Think it does depend on your area. I've left both of mine outside the local newsagent at different times. It sounds like yours woodlands as only room for 2 customers at a time. I can't actually get the pushchair in there anyway due to layout - I have tried. Was interesting enough when went it with dh when I was in labour with E. I had to walk our again as I couldn't move.

mlisc sounds like you've had a lovely day.

vik wow you were busy this morning. hope you managed to get some rest too.

I haven't left either of them outside in a pushchair but I leave them in the car sometimes when I run into our nearest shop-that-sells-everything (it's about a 20 min walk, we quite often stop there on the way to/from pre-school).

Loads of people do this here. I can see the car the whole time and it's locked, they never mind. It's so much quicker than getting them both out, putting G in the pushchair, walking round pushing the pram and stopping A picking up random things off the shelf when all I want to get is a carton of milk which it will take me 30 seconds to buy.I leave them in the car when I pay at the petrol station too.

that's a bummer about your cold chul. dr cake prescribes hot water & lemon, chocolate and foot massages.

tsc what's going on there? how's the hair?

i sometimes leave my two outside the healthfood shop but i know the staff there and the toyshop opposite v well and they'll keep an eye on them.

I've done both those things wss. I know you 'shouldn't' but I weigh up the risks and think; it's a locked car and the boys are both in seatbelts they can't undo (therefore can't get up to mischief). It doesn't happen often (I usually pay at the pump at the petrol station but if I have a voucher I have to go in) but I will do it if needs be. Where I live it would be safer to put them in the car, drive to the local shop, lock them in the car outside and drive home than it would be to leave them outside!

I pay for petrol, nip to the cashpoint and have been to the shop while R was in the car. I've never left her outside in the pram but with J I did a couple of times but that was 12 years ago everything is so different now. I'm 10yrs older than my sis and used to take her out in her huge silver cross pram, I couldn't even see over. My mum and her friend went out to the local pub one night leaving me at 11 in charge of a 9yo, 8yo, 5yo and sis who was about 1 and a mega collicky baby. I fed her calpol and gripe water, I could have killed her [shocked]. When j was born dear sis wanted to take him out in his pram and I wouldn't let her.

My gran said she gave my mum a spoonful of whiskey the night she was born to get her to sleep, this was in the 50s and was the 'done thing'

D took an hour to get to sleep tonight :( he just fights sleep all the time.

I have to say i have had the lovliest day today, i did lots of jobs this morning and later this afternoon but had a very lazy lunch time and had a lovely sleep and watched 'definatly/maybe' the sort of film that dh would never watch with me so i really enjoyed my time. However, i was really early to pick D up because i couldnt wait any longer, i missed him really badly, isnt that stupid.
mylife sounds like a great day, how close to the coast are u?
chu how u feeling?
cake hows A slept the last few nights?
trudyla are u ok?
needles u havent been on for ages, hope all is well.
stac hows the course going?
dh what was wrong with him do u think?

I'm on the coast vik. The sea is a 10 minute walk from my front door. Unfortunately I live in a run down old seaside town (which is currently being regenerated) but where we went yesterday, people travel for miles to go to and it's only 2 seaside towns away from here which is a 10 minute drive.

It's funny because when you live on the coast you never want to leave because you'd miss it, yet you never take full advantage of it - yesterday for example the se was infront of my car and the valley gardens behind; we didn't step foot near the beach and just went to the playgrounds and the river! Weird isn't it, but I love the sea air and would hate to live inland after 8 years on the coast.

I think it's the heat, it was about 25c in our room and he was really sweaty plus he's still teething.

Im meeting 2 friends for lunch today and it's going to be boiling again.