January 2008: I'm four and 'they're all mine!'

[latrucha]

Sorry Simposn. Just couldn't resist.

I don't remember that story Simps - will keep an eye out :)

T can't and won't ride a bike. He wouldn't go on the balance bike after the 1st time when 'it wobbled'. Then DH set the stabilisers wonky (as they are meant to be I know) which meant the bike wobbled and that was that
I would have put them as extra wheels IYKWIM so there was no wobble for a while.

So H doesn't see his brother ride a bike, no surprise that he wants to scoot like his hero :)
T not convinced about the new scooter yet, as.... 'it wobbles'

JKS now how did you get such opinionated little boys

I think you should take them on a mission to find lots of things that wobble and are fun. Badly laid slabs, things in playgrounds (there's one near us with wooden boards that make music when they wobble)

Nathan is fearless on his trike. We were on rough terrain with him on Sunday and dh had the parent pole. He decided to dump himself down a steep bank, dh let him, I shouted no too steep and over he fell . He was fine, just dangling sideways, but dh beat himself up for a while.

My friend that asked for the jojo maman bebe discount code turned up to the school at pick up time with 2 scooters identical to J's (ie the maxi scooter) so am guessing she used the code, otherwise thats nearly £200

We find out about M's school place tomorrow....

My parents have got me an Ipad3 for my birthday

Simpson - you must think me very rude, but your parcel has been in the post office for ages Thankyou so much for the presents. It really wasn't necessary, but very nice of you.

Got visitors, so out of action....

S is another one who doesn't like to wobble.

Well T is a bit of a wuss if we're honest - he hates things like the fireman's pole at the playground.
But then if he hurts himself he's very tough - as demonstrated when he broke his leg and didn't really cry - they said he has a very high pain threshold.
But he's not a risk-taker I suppose I'm saying.

Hellish night with H last night - he was up from 3.30 pretty much.
I'll be off to bed early tonight!

Happy Birthday Simpson x

We're meant to be in Holland right now but Nathan is poorly. Just back from the docs and he's got ABs for his chest. So we're having some days at home. Which it seems we all needed.

Happy Birthday Simpson!

Sabela is poorly too. Suspected urinary tract infection. Tears and awfulness after having a pee this morning. Sobbing not to go to school, which she loves. Somehow this afternoon, peeing with no pain. ???

Daniel has learnt to repeatedly and incessantly say, 'Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?' in exactly the same tone of voice as Sabela. Couple this with Daniel repeatedly holding his ears, saying, 'Noise? Noise? Nee Naw?' When there was no noise (there are some sounds I simply can't hear, so it's possible, but S couldn't hear anything) and Sabela wanting me to call her baby, so that everything I said to her she said, 'Can you say, X, Y, Z and then baby? I thought I was actually going mad this afternoon. Managed to finish strongly though, with bubbles, cuddles and stories about road traffic accidents - Sabela's current favourite from the road safety books that keep being sent us

Psst Filly - are there any good cake decorating websites? I'm getting the decorating bug and D's birthday is coming up

Happy Birthday Simps :)

MM - so sorry you had to cancel your trip, but sounds like it was the right decision so well done you.

LaT - argh sounds like a nightmare afternoon!!! When all 3 are talking at once I tend to go and make myself a cup of tea hide in the kitchen

H was grumpy at school today, v unlike him, fell asleep on the bus ride home, was mega grumpy this evening. Sent him to bed early and he was out like a light. Think the early mornings are catching up with him.

I made the play upstairs together while I did the washing up after having been interrupted a gazillion times. Then a friend came round for me to sign something and they stood at the top of the stairs and wailed at me. I braved it out. She's a good friend

The form was for a cake decorating course she's taking me to though. Yipeee!

ooh cake decorating course? can I come too, please, LaT? I'll be your bestest friend...!!

I like this site best for ideas www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/ as there are literally 100s of cakes, organised by theme, and in some cases people have even explained how they made them.

And I love love love the Betty Crocker website, which I only discovered recently, which has got the most amazing 'hot to' films, taking you through creating specific things (including the princess/fairy cake I made for T this year)...just google it.

Very amused by your description of your afternoon....that sounds very familiar :)

MM - is N feeling better today?

Belated Happy Birthday, Simpson :) :) Did you have a good day?

Took the dcs to watch the London Marathon on Sunday, and had a really amazing day out :) :) Always great when a plan comes together - we even got to actually see (and get sweaty hugs from!) my old college friend who was running in it!!

Back to work...

Thanks for all the birthday wishes

Have had a bit of an odd day today tbh. M has been very angry all day for no reason. So angry she was shouting/shaking and yelling "I feel so angry"

I suspect its linked to all the OT/physio she is getting (her OT was in the nursery today with the teacher talking about ways to help her etc) and I don't know what she over heard but I think she is now realising her legs are not the same as the other kids (she cannot do PE at all - although gives it a good go!!).

On a bragging note DS was doing his spelling practice today and M always has to join in but its usually scribbles with the odd letter.

Well, today the words were SAID & ALPHABET (amongst others) and she wrote SAID perfectly (well her handwriting is not v good, but you could read it) and ALFABET

You could have knocked me down with a feather!!!

Simpson as you know Nathan is now very aware that he is 'different' and cannot do what others can. It may be very confrontational for her if she's been thinking (with her clever little brain) that she would be fine if she just practised a bit more.

Madmouse - that is exactly what she thinks tbh. With the skipping thing she was the only child in her dance class (most of them her age and her friends from nursery school) and with sheer determination she taught herself to skip (it took months) but she would skip (or try to) up and down the kitchen for ages at one point holding onto a wall to help her and was not put off by how many times she fell over etc.

The first time she did it properly at dance class I nearly cried as I know how hard she worked at something other kids find quite easy.

Wow, Simson. That is quite some perseverence in a four year old.

Thanks for that Filly. I'm having a look. I must say thoug, I did see this and thought it rather special at my naive enthusiasm.

This is doable?

How are things chez Madmouse now?

I'm just putting this here so I remember it. Sorry, it's another cake.

Wow LaT - I love all of those, especially the 1st one. But definitely sure I couldn't manage any of them, hats off to you if you can!

M had a marble loaf cake with ordinary white icing with smarties stuck on top & a 1 candle.
But hey, it tasted yummy

T is getting a pirate boat but only cos I have the Lakeland mould for it (& have only used it once and feel guilty about the expense so have pushed the whole idea of a pirate party to him so I can use it once more, lol!).

I couldn't get it as good but I can do the background plain icing and the I reckon it's mostly cut out sugar paste shapes. So, train track round the bottom, cars on the side (maybe a traffic light), cut out clouds on top and a lane. ATM seems doable! But maybe I'm dreaming.

I do have ideas of doing real toys to go on it.

That's exactly the sort of thing I'd do withthe pirate ship. And then M can have a pink princess ship . Do those cake moulds work well?

This is officiallt my first morning with my children ooked after by professional child carers. Time for the amateur to have a coffe and a bath!

Sorry for all the typos - worse than usual!

Well, Molly had another angry day today (and flipped out at nursery - her teachers were as they have never seen this side of her before). I think its because her best friend was getting changed out of her wellies into school shoes by standing on one foot whilst her mother helped her and Molly could not do it (stand on one leg) so had to sit down....cue tears/shouting/general crossness.....

J is also baffling me atm.

He went hysterical last night because he put his finger into raw sausages and then put them into his mouth and this eve came down from bed hysterical saying "What if I get cancer?" "How do you get it?" (A kid at his school has just lost his grandfather to cancer).

Do I speak to TA tomorrow???

Keep it low key for now Simpson - don't fuel the anxiety by making a big deal out of it, just play it down.

Nah, you need ot be careful with meat but that won't kill you
etc

It sounds horrible Simpson, but it does sound to me like a normal reaction. If Sabela can't do something she thinks she shoould be able to do, like falling while running she is incredibly cross, rather than sad or hurt. It really surprised me. I'm not trying to trivialise Molly's difficulties just put her reation in context.

I would do as MM says with J and if it doesn't wash just answer with simple facts. It's quite common for kids to get interested in death around Js ages. Or obssessive, so I've heard.

Simpson - I think MM is right, it sounds as though M, with her very clever little brain (wow, am so so so impressed by her spelling and writing...) has figured out that is isn't as 'simple' as just practicing more in order to be able to do things. I know you do it already, but can you find a way to focus on the things she is good at, like the reading/writing, so she knows that she is really special and amazing too?

Also (just a thought, can't remember if we've discussed it before) are you able to take M swimming? I've found it really helped A & T with muscle development, and it requires a different sort of strength and ability.

Finally, I'm also really interested in M's writing as A & T (esp T at the moment) have really struggled with the whole pen/pencil holding thing due to their hypermobility issues. T seems to have mostly grown out of the 'leg' part of the problems (although mastering skipping, hopping, balancing is still harder for her) but really struggles with the fine motor skills for writing.

LaT - great cakes. They look quite easy, in theory, although I'm better at baking complicated shapes and using buttercream icing, than doing fancy stuff with sugarcraft...but it shouldn't be too hard to replicate. In my experience, its actually easier to do everything using sugar rather than trying to use plastic toys on a cake, as its hard to get the 'scale' right, and remarkably easy to make the right shapes with the icing :) I still like making the right 'shape' cakes, partly because the molds are so bloody expensive (lol @ another pirate party JKS!) and partly cos I don't think they're big enough.

JKS - if you change your mind, I can send you the cardboard templates I use to build my pirate ships? Its just 2 flat tray-bakes that I freeze to make them easy to cut, and then cut into the right shapes and put together with icing, like lego.

LaT - if you work out the basic shapes you need, you can 'build' almost anything, so you don't need lots of fancy molds, if you get really into the whole cake-making thing :) I have only used my 2 big rectangular baking pans (and a pyrex bowl for the fairy's dress) for the last 6 years, to make everything Filly in total denial of the stress involved in creating Thomas' funnel in a baked bean can

Filly - she has major problems holding a pencil and her writing is very poor but the ideas behind her writing are fab iyswim.

Her OT was in the nursery on tuesday to talk to her teacher and she is back again next friday. We are seeing a physio tomorrow as there seem to be problems with her ankles

Don't go swimming (I know I should ) but the thought of taking the 2 of them by myself fills me with horror!!!

The exercises we have to do everyday to strengthen her fingers (to help pencil grip) are playdough (we have some therapy putty from OT) clothes pegs/opening shutting, drawing on play dough using cocktail sticks, pincer grip stuff (I am mean and make M put her cheerios into her breakfast bowl one at a time!!) and really squeezing her bath sponge/flannel etc.

We now also have physical exercises too ie wheelbarrow walking M to strengthen her arms, her posture is very bad so OT said to bluetack paper to the wall and get her writing/drawing on it at a kneeling position (but upright kneeling iyswim). There is more, I can't remember it all

A friend bought us some special chopsticks (they're joined at the top) and A used to sit and transfer grains of rice from one bowl to another. Bloody hard work.

I've got T doing playdough/silly putty, clothespegs and all that too. Love the cheerios idea :)

With A, the teacher and OT got him lying on his tummy to do writing and drawing, flat on the floor, as apparently thats easier for HM - he enjoyed doing it and said it made his arms hurt less....(although I think he just liked the attention and doing something different to the rest of the class...)

What about Connect 4 for pincer grip. My two love slotting the discs in.

Making pizza dough for squeezing.

Swimming with two is not as bad as I thought, Simpson. Maybe give it a whirl in the summer? Also, at our local wimming pool you can book 5 1-1 sessions which help children of M's andS's age make the transition to independent swimming. Our have a lot of experience with swimmers with various difficulties. Maybe something similar near you.

OR, I'll just shut up because I know if I had that list of things, I'd be bored stiff and guilty about it.

It is incredible M is writing at all Simpson!

You see Filly, it's the sugarcraft I find easy. Making shapes scares me! Sounds fab though. I think I might try the doll cake for S's next birthday, so I may come for help!