June 2009 - Threenagers and the world of 'I WANT...'

[Skillbo]

Thought would start our new one with a typical J threenager moment:

Trying to tidy up playroom which doubles up as our dining room -

Grabbing everything and trying to shove it to the side of the room, J declares 'my want my horses' which is this random stable thing she chose with her birthday money which houses 4 horses and is massive. Obviously she can't have it at the table but she grabs it and storms off saying 'you can't tell me'

Favourite phrases:

• My want it, obviously
  
• No, tried and tested favourite
  
• why? What you doing? Who's that? What's that?
  
• I want daddy to do it, and vice versa as long as it's the opposite to what you've got planned
  

and i won't get into her wardrobe choices

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

morning all

can't believe we've finally got a mobile app for us android users!

sorry to hear of all the ups and downs recently, have been really crap at catching up on here Life has been rather manic, lots going on at dd3s school and with her in general so struggling with that atm. Dd2 had a tough week last week when one of her friends 4yo sister died suddenly, devastating Dd1 is having huge problems finding a school for her last teaching practice, if she can't sort something then she can't graduate. Ds1 met Prince Charles this week and E is still loving preschool and has found a friend to play football with, we don't hear much else

bil not great, his memory is completely shot and since he's had a few seizures he's not allowed to be on his own with the baby poor sil had to go back to work early but is signed off sick with all the stress and worry, but they've finally got a Macmillan nurse who is doing a great job at helping them navigate the system so hopefully things will be on the up

waves to all and hope to get back sooner for a proper catch up

[snowwombat]

Oh Ninja what a time of it you are having. Sending you a big hug. Hope that with all the support you are giving the family, someone is supporting you and giving you a hug. Any improvements in things since you last posted? Poor DD3, is she ok? Not long till the holidays now.
Well it is snowing heavily here this morning. Think I better go and get my car up on the road, we have a steep driveway and I don't have 4 wheel drive.
Settling into life, mortgage approved just waiting for survey to tell us what a disaster this house is.
Start work properly next week. The commute north with all the snow and flooding is going to be interesting over the winter.
Feel a day of baking and making cubby houses coming on. Think the trip to the beach not such a great plan with the snow falling.
Hope you ok Juners , anyone got a Christmas party to look forward to? I've got none. Hopefully this time next year we will all be settled and have lots of friends (and our own home)

[Gauchita]

Marking place!

[snowwombat]

Hi girls, how is everyone doing? Getting festive?
Our tree is up, complete with tacky aussie animal decorations. Tinsel everywhere as DD destroys the tree at every chance. She is so destructive, with everything. Turns 2 on Sat. How on earth did that happen?

gauchita a big Happy birthday to you, you young'en I'm sure if we polled the Juners, you would be one of the youngest

june how was your birthday? How did the weekend pan out? Been thinking of you and hope you are ok and surviving all the IL antics. How is C? Has MIL planned any crazy gifts this year? A real horse perhaps?

zhen Good on you for home schooling, with your teaching skills it must be such a great experience for the Ns. Can I ask about teaching phonics? A knows his letters, upper and lower case by sight, but what sort of phonics do they teach in schools at the moment? He is a v v keen 'reader' ,rote learning books of course, rather than reading any words. Would like to keep encouraging him in the right direction to reading

skillbo how is the house of sleep deprivation? What is O up to? Growing up v quickly i'm sure.

ninja hope things have got a little easier in the ninja house and there are some nice family things planned for christmas. Are you at home?

New job started, all good so far. Always nervous about making sure I will do the job well and keep the patients happy. Lovely colleagues who area great support.

Survey done on house today, will wait and see what the bank says. Hopefully they will let us know fairly quickly and we can then sort builders etc to see if this is going to be a g rand desi gns nightmare or a realistic project

[ZhenThereWereTwo]

Hi everyone :)

Still sleep deprived here, the teething is never ending!

Happy birthday Gauchita, hope you had a lovely day.

Ninja -Glad to hear your BIL and his family are getting some good support. Hope things are going a bit better for you than they were. How is dd3 getting on? Did dd1 find a placement?

Skillbo -Hope you are getting more sleep.

June- Did DH end up going in the end, or did he listen to you?

Snow - Jolly Phonics is a good starting point, they have books, will link some useful websites below that I use with N. The main thing is to read a variety of books with them so that they enjoy reading, sounds like you are already doing a fantastic job in that area with A so keen!

We have some foam bath letters that I use with N to help her learn her initial phonemes (sounds - the ones at the beginning of the word). We played a game where X was a superhero (like X in Alphablocks - great tv program for learning phonics) and had to rescue the letters who would cry out in their phoneme for help. She was X so had to know the phoneme to be able to rescue them.

Rhyming songs are great, singing and games are a great way to teach phonics so nursery rhymes and making up silly rhymes are good.

I also tell big N stories and get her to give me key details like names and say what she thinks will happen next. Comprehension is a big part of reading so when you read stories ask questions who, where, what, why, when, how and get him to predict what might happen next or make up a different ending together. You can do this with toys to when you play with them too.

Finding objects/animals etc that start with a certain letter and making a collage of pictures/drawing.

Drawing letters in sand while saying the phoneme.

I hear Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds by Julia Donaldson are good, will be getting those for N and also Usbourne First Reading Series are meant to have more interesting stories.

Websites:

you will need this to help you.

Phonics songs and under ABC's check out games, we used to listen to the song and then big N would play the game to reinforce the learning.

Phonics games

Great Phonics videos using puppet to teach for all sounds including diagraphs (two letter phonemes).

Alphablocks games on CBeebies are great and also big N's new favourite Reading Eggs, requires a subscription, but you can do a free trial for 14 days and when I did that I got offered a reduction on the 12 month subscription.

Happy Learning! :)

[snowwombat]

zhen that is hugely helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to give me all the information, sorry that our sleepless nights continue.
gauchita how's DS today? Hope he is on the mend. What a nightmare for you all and so tricky with childcare. Have you got any backup for M? It is times like that when it would be so nice to have family around. Your mil excluded of course!

Watching strictly after a lovely birthday day for Z. We've been on a Santa steam railway train today and it finally stopped bloody raining.

Hope you are all ok Juners.

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

morning all

snow, belated happy birthday to Z how time flies!! How's the new house and job going?

zhen, hope the teething is getting a little easier and you're all getting some sleep at last Dd1 finally got her placement sorted, she's been in there this week to try to get some ideas of what the children are like so she can start on her planning, much happier now.

gauchita, you need to do a little more than marking your place hope the cold is clearing up, best cure for a blocked nose - drink wine until you no longer care how blocked your nose is Did the coat ever turn up? Hopefully a kind soul has found it and put it in the post for you.

june, hope things are on the up for you, did you and dh sort out your birthday weekend?

dd3 still having a tough time at school but plans are in motion, it's just going to take time After dd2's friends sister, a week later one of the boys at ds1's school sadly passed away, it hit him quite hard as he's friends with the boys brother, such a dreadful time. They're all getting into the whole christmas spirit thing now so hopefully the mood will lift a little. Dd3 breaks up today, she's the last one left at school as all the others have finished, she's not impressed! E can't wait until christmas, he's so excited this year, should be lovely.

don't forget to get your school applications in if you haven't already for our mini juners, closing date here is mid jan, unless HEing of course

hope you're all ready for the big day, what ever you may be doing, waves to all

[snowwombat]

Merry Christmas Juners. I hope you and yours are having a relaxed and fun day. We've eaten lunch, I cheated and cooked a 24 hr pork roast,DH in the sink washing up now. Kids full of snot, so quite pleased to be home by ourselves.
Time for

[DontYouJingleMyChristingle]

Merry Christmas Snow and all the Juners.

Hope you are having a good day.

Kids full of snot here too, plus little N running a high temperature as she is still teething so enjoying a low key Christmas at my Dad's house.

Full of turkey and slightly tipsy on only one glass of as haven't really drunk since I got pregnant with big N.

Going to pig out on mince pies and brandy butter now

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

merry christmas juners I have eaten far too much as have we all, so vegging in front of evening tv. Hope you've all had a good day

[DontYouJingleMyChristingle]

Happy New Year, wishing you all prosperity and joy for 2013 x

[Skillbo]

Happy new year, lovely Juners - hope you all had a great time. I am sorry for being absent for so long but it's been a bit crazy here with Xmas, O's birthday and the like.

I haven't really told anyone in RL but my husband left me at the beginning of the week and to say I am a bit heartbroken, doesn't really cover it I just look at J and O and i can't bear it. The worst of it is that I never saw it coming - not even a little bit! We're still talking and seeing each other (it's his 30th birthday today so he's got the kids) and I've booked us in for some counselling next week as he says he wants to try to save us but it just seems so bleak right now! I'm sorry for dumping on you but I really haven't told many people as I'm embarrassed and scared and can't stand anymore looks of pity (H's family obviously know as he's staying with his mum)... I am hoping we can work it out but we'll have to see - have told my boss and she's given me as much time off as needed, so that's a plus! I just feel a bit isolated as I live where all his family and friends are and my best friend - who is the only one who knows really - is a long way away...

So, to stop the pity party - happy birthday to Z and to Gauchita and Jesus, of course.. hope you all celebrated in style and your holidays have been wonderful. I got lots of super baking bits for Christmas (and Mary Berry's Baking Bible and Paul Hollywoods bread book - how GBBO am I?) and felt very spoiled! Ate too much of course but am planning on working it all off this year - tis my resolution!

Ninja - sounds like you've been having a really tough time of it at the moment and hope you're getting looked after as well. Why do these things always seem to hit at a 'fun' time of the year. I really hope your BIL manages to turn a corner soon and I also hope that DD3 and the rest of your little ones have a better start to their year!

Snow - yay for new homes and sounds like you've managed to find some fab local bits already! Am very of the forest school - the only ones in this area are independents so we're just not able to afford them but would definitely get J into one if we could.

Hope 2013 brings more sleep to a lot of us (am loving the name dontyoujingle).. sort of broke a bit and had to leave O to cry it out a bit. Thankfully - he was only ever grumbling and never got to full on 'scream till I'm sick' mode or I would have buckled soooo quickly. He's still not great but he's better and it's only perhaps once a night now, which is a VAST improvement. I have a little J as a bedmate at the moment - she's still suffering from bad dreams and I can't say I mind having someone small and warm to snuggle up to!

Right - best go as will need to go and get the children in a minute. I hope everyone else's year has started off a bit better and (another resolution), will aim to get on here much more often as you guys are a constant source of support and loveliness!

[snowwombat]

Oh skillbo you poor love. What a terrible shock for you. I am so sorry that you are going through this. Please,please feel free to offload here whenever you need. It must be so difficult not having family near and friends who can pop round and give you a hug and make you a cuppa. Can I send you a and a big hug?

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

blimey skillbo ((((big hugs)))) my lovely. Please don't feel embarrassed, people will be supportive if you give them a chance I hope the counselling proves useful and do come offload when you need to xx

[DontYouJingleMyChristingle]

Oh Skillbo, so sorry to hear what a rough time you have been having.

Please let it all out here as and when you need to.

Hope the counselling brings understanding.

PM if you need to x

[Skillbo]

Thanks so much for your kind words - am feeling a lot better about things at the moment but do go up and down like a mad thing! Had a really lovely day today with J and O who are just great... i am lucky in many ways just wish i didn't miss him so much! my best friend is coming to see me tomorrow so that will help but am starting to get a bit about the whole situation now.. my poor babies deserve better than this!

Hope all good with my fellow Juners... and thank you, as always for your support!

[snowwombat]

Oh skillbo I'm not surprised you feel . Did he just up sticks and leave? I am really pleased your best friend coming down, that will be really good.

Chilling at the in laws this weekend. Best of all they will do morning duty with the kids.

Gauchita, we are working opposite ends of the week,I'm Thursday Friday. Should we try to meet in York for lunch one day or is that not possible mon-wed. Actually scratch that, mon is swimming. Or would it be easier to do an evening?

[StitchAteMySleep]

Aw Skillbo, glad your best friend is coming to be with you. It is good that you feel a bit angry as it will keep you strong. It must be a big shock, was there no communication from him at all that he was not happy before this? Your children and you do deserve a father and husband who will try to make your relationship work, I hope that the counselling will help.

(It's ZhenThereWereTwo/DontYouJingle BTW)

[snowwombat]

Hoooorooooo, anyone out there?
Anyone feeling a bit unprepared for our babies going to school in September? I've done the online application and I am not ready for A to go. I know I have 9 months to get used to the idea.

We've had a nice day, kids have had friends to play, so good to have at least one friend here and sure we will get around to making some more soon.

We should find out tomorrow whether the mortgage is approved after the disaster of the damp and roof reports. Fingers crossed.

Hope you are all out there?

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

morning all

skillbo, how are you doing? Hope seeing your friend gave you a lift

snow, good luck for today E can't wait to go to school, although we're working hard on lowering his expectations as he thought he'd be going to dd3's school on a bus with all their lovely facilities, what a let down eh?! Just nervously waiting on the news of what school we'll get, we live right on the border of 3 school catchments, 1 would not be welcome news There's usually more parents with leaky eyes than children on the first day of school, it's not easy especially when our juners will be the little ones, but they will be fine

stitch, how are the Ns getting on?

christmas seems so long ago now, we're not even half way through january yet! Kids are all back at school so I'm enjoying hot cuppas again, small pleasures but the house seems awfully quiet!

waves to all

[Gauchita]

::opens door::

Huge apologies Juners, I've been away for too long ::slaps hand::

Skillbo, huge hug for you my dear. What a horrible shock for you Right after the holidays and so out of the blue! I second what the rest of the Juners said, come here and offload as much as you wish... It can be so hard when RL contacts don't know and you feel like you're going mad if you don't 'talk' to someone. I know I've felt like that in the past. How are the DC? Another huge hug for you.

Happy belated New Year to all...

June, how was birthday weekend in the end? Did you get to do something special?

Snow, agh, poo, we work exactly on different ends of the week Hmm, let me have a think how we can sort something. York sounds like a nice middle spot

Zhen, glad to hear things are well with the Ns Hope sleep improves soon for you (going through the same here with D, who BFs several times a night)

Ninja, I feel I catch up with those of you who are on FB more often ha! How are BIL and SIL?

Birthday was ok, DH bought me a ring (which I proceeded to take back to exchange ha! It wasn't me being picky, but it had yellow gold and I don't like it - and he knows!)

Coat mystery never solved. DH has no idea what happened with it, and no samaritan soul posted it We think DH must have left car open, someone saw parcel on seat and took it... maybe?

M doing well at school, very happy with it, fortunately. D's settled at nursery as well, although he likes to drop a few tears when I leave him Don't know if I mentioned it here but in October he was diagnosed with asthma so he's on regular medication + inhaler when needed. Colds go to his chest immediately so we have to keep an eye on him. He's been wheezy these past few days but fortunately we've been able to manage it from home ::crosses fingers::

Right, apologies again for not catching up more frequently. NY resolution is to come back at least once a week to 'see' you all

x

[Gauchita]

No idea why that was a grin + pens door

[snowwombat]

One mortgage approved . Years of renovation ahead of us. Hears hoping for a speedy solicitor to get the sale finished

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

fab news

[Gauchita]

Yay! Congratulations!

::gets paint, brushes::