Sept 2008 - no witty title as we're too busy dealing with stroppy 3 yr olds.

[MrsArchchancellorRidcully]

Hello all. Couldn't see a new thread so thought I'd do the honours. Sorry for rubbish title, I'm no good at witty! :)

bookmarking before I drop off....

I had to retrieve a pair of DD's Hello Kitty pants from a poo-y toilet earlier. "mummy, I threw then up in the air" .

Thank you for all the SEN advice, I'll crack on with it this term.

Good luck meg x
Just got the letter from the LA and applied for secondary school for ds1 next year.....nooooooo! He is my baaaaby....(wails)
Feeling very upset about it which is stupid.
Next year he will want to walk to school with his chum and I will miss him so much...splutter, splutter, sob :(
He had to have one of his baby teeth out earlier and he was so brave (never had to have anything done before) and I asked him if he wanted me to hold his hand when they injected him...oh! The look of disgust he gave me!!
My baby isn't a baby anymore....
Starts to wail at abba...."slipping through my fingers, I try to capture every minute....."
WAAAHH.......

Oh badvoc I feel your pain. I'm actually in mourning for DD having finished reception, and I'm in fear of the day 3 years from now that DS2 starts school and I have an empty nest. I don't think I could cope with them being independent and going to school on their own

I know!......waaaaiiil.....

Have ironed on name labels for ds1's uniform. Can't believe my little boy who still has a cup of milk in the morning and at night, co sleeps with dh, and can't go downstairs on his own coz he'll get scared, is going to school on Monday.

Argh...don't!
Sob.....

Dg...ds1 still has warm milk morning and night and he is 9!

Bookmarking! Parents coming up today which is a miracle planning a nice pub lunch although not sure whether that's actually possible with 2 kids

Currently utilising the new 4 minute time out duration . Don't know why I thought his behaviour would suddenly improve once he turned 4.

Oh no dg! I was sorted counting on that too! :)

Oh god, time out in this house has nothing to do with teaching lessons and everything to do with my peace. Therefore time out means time out for me and lasts as long as I need it to.

So DH goes to new york...and its hit by two tornadoes!!! Thankfully I only found out about them after I already knew he was safe.
I'm over half way through my time alone, and the weekend (which is the bit I was scared about with no school to break up the day!) is over and was a success thanks to the hospitality of lovely friends. And DH just phoned which was a great surprise :)

DG really hope your DS1's first day of school tomorrow goes well, do come and let us know how he got on, and post the obligatory photo if you can!

ninja how was the pub lunch? I hope they had a good garden for your DCs to enjoy while you had a sit down.

DS2 is starting to develop an opinion, and I'm realising that I have to go right back to the start with discipline, naughty step, etc etc with him. Sigh. I'll be doing lots of picking all your brains as I've forgotten everything I ever did with the other two.
I've just finished last night's left over curry and now I've got a date with a glass of

Had lovely 'date' with MrNC - he worked from home and we went out for lunch with dd while ds was at nursery. She acted impeccably, munching on/playing with lots of bits of our food being a Baby Who Lunches, though very glad it's a pub with easy sweep-up floor... she's 7 months now! Still won't sit up but getting closer. And has stonking great cold, but still sleeping better than she was.

A gets the 'calming down mat' - he stays there for 2 minutes or until he is going to be nice and not hit me or whatever as soon as he gets up. Have held him there for nearly an hour before. Then recently there's been the phase of wanting to get up in the middle of the night, and as he can now open his door, I got the joy of sitting on the stairs to return him to bed every couple minutes. Let's just say I'm now on page 200 of Christopher Brookmyre's latest... Touch wood we're through that one, but last night was back to the phase of wake in night, get confused about needing the loo, and come to me and then make up some excuse. Best ones include 'there's a spider and it won't go to sleep', 'I need that bookcase moved over there' and 'my blanket needs a patch over its hole' - said hole has been there for nearly 2 years now!

He still has hot milk in a sippy cup each night and many mornings. Hoping to get him onto normal mug soon (he can drink any other liquid out of anything), but currently playing hardball over foods I know he actually does like - if he complains he doesn't like what I cook for tea, there's no TV or treat foods all evening until he eats at least some amount that I might compromise on but no spitting it out. Oh that was a fun evening the first time... three hours of screaming from 5 till 8... this is why I have a big if falling-apart house, so I could wander off and leave him to it. He came to me every 15 min or so wailing "my nose needs wiping" and then went back to the sofa to howl!

nc a 'calming down mat' is a good name. Time out never works for me, although I do keep trying. I will start calling it a different name.

NC sounds like you're doing brilliantly, I love all those ideas. DD has come to me in the night with similar complaints - her finger hurts etc etc. She sleeps much better when its term time and she's more tired. Over summer we were keeping her up later than the boys as she obviously just doesn't need as much sleep as she used to. Now she can 'read' its great and we've given her her own bedside light. Thankfully DS1 (who she shares a room with) can sleep through anything!

I like the sound of BWL much better than BLW ;)

Got DS2 his first shoes today...

So first day went very well. Only 3 hours a day this week so a lot like pre-school. Ds1 rushes to put his uniform on, he's been desperate to wear the shoes since I bought them at the beginning of summer! Dh took photos so will upload one when I get onto the laptop - I only manages to grab one of him running down the road. He was so eager. He made a beeline for the class computer and then got stuck into a conversation with some girls so we said our goodbyes and he didn't look back! Am so proud of him!

Of course didn't stop the usual mischief at home. Bit of a boast but ds1 is quite good at reading - I've done nothing structured or formal with him - he seems to have just picked it up through bedtime stories and constantly asking us what things say. He can read a fair few words now including the days of the week. I haven't mentioned this to his teacher yet - do I need to so that she can encourage it in class or shall I just let him carry on learning through play (so no pressure on him) and she'll figure it out when she gets round to it?

nc sounds like you're getting on v well!

Ds2 (now 5 months) not particularly interested in eating food. Have been giving him the odd bit of fruit or veg to play with and he makes the most unimpressed face whenever any of it goes into his mouth. Still not quite sitting unaided and there's an awful lot of tongue thrust still going on so might be another few weeks before he cottons on.

When I said time out earlier I meant 'naughty step' - no mincing our words in this house. If you're naughty you go on the naughty step. And if you've been good you get a treat. Bribery and blackmail are my methods and I'm sticking to them!

DG from our experience and others we've talked to, each child gets a bit of 1-2-1 time with the teacher in the first few days/weeks where they assess their reading and writing so they can divvy them up into appropriate ability groups, so they'll realise soon enough! DD's first book home from school had no words in it, then from then on they had quite a lot, they soon got the measure of her and I'm sure they will with your DS too! Its tricky coz they don't like their reading to leap too far ahead of their writing (can mean they're demoralised with writing and it never catches up) and also reading words, and reading for meaning, are two different things, so he might be bringing home books you think are too easy, but he needs to be reading for meaning, and discussing the content of the story, and understanding the importance of full stop, capital letter, exclamation mark, question mark etc. I found it a very, very steep learning curve with DD! And if you're not happy with what they've got him doing, there should be a parents evening soon.
Don't forget that a huge amount of reception is about learning how to 'do' school, like assembly, getting changed for PE, and the general routines of the classroom. A friend is a reception teacher and they don't even start on reading til the November of the autumn term, whereas DD's class started immediately. HTH!

Strictly line-up has been revealed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And there are some proper slebs on it!

Thanks carrie that helps a lot. I'll leave it to them to figure out where his strengths are. He's not a fan of writing at all, so that's interesting what you say about reading needing to match writing ability. I hope he decides to learn to write soon, no amount of coercion from me or dh works, he's always done these things on his own terms.

All this school talk is making me nervous. Another full year before Robyn goes to school, which one we have no idea as we still have no idea on when or where we will be moving too. Might be an idea to put her name down on some local schools, just in case. She is still loving it at the nursery and we are making sure her skills for school are improving.

She knows her name and can find it on the peg.
She pops off to toilet when she wants, although not keen on wiping herself. She can take her coat on and off and is learning to zip.

She can do her shoes as well but not laces.
She can get dressed and undressed by herself.
She can recognise some letters and numbers and can add up and spell really simple words. Might try her with some simple writing skills next.
If there is anything else she needs then will have a year to sort it out.

Getting a bit excited about her birthday. She wants a Hello Kitty cake like Lucy had so that will be easy. She also wants a birthday party but that is a no-no. Too busy a week that week and no money whatsoever. I start college on the Monday and Tuesday then on the Thursday am driving DD1 to Nottingham to see a band, then Saturday we are off to Pleasure Island with DS's disability group. Am looking forward to a rest on Sunday

debs the teachers I know say the important skills your child needs on starting school are things like:
dress independently (for PE)
put their coat on and change shoes/wellies for playtime
eat independently
toilet independently

Then school can get on with teaching them to read and write!

DG I agree about the no amount of coercion from us will get the DCs doing 'school' stuff...I could never ever home educate, it would be such a disaster!!

Thanks CARRIE Looks like she is almost there. She can eat herself but is very messy and doesn't use a knife

Oooooooh strictly!
Squeeeeeeee.......

debs my 5yo DD is still a disaster with cutlery...but fortunately we do pack-ups so school don't need to know about that gap in her skills base

Only 2 more sleeps til DDDH is back...this time tomorrow the girls are coming round and we're gonna drink

bookmarking....