Dec 08 Mums - still biffing on

[LadyThompson]

Yes, yes, it's a bit lame. I wanted to say: "Still fucking on!" but wary of causing offence....

I know 'biffing' is a bit PG Wodehouse, as well. You'll just have to humour me

Beans will be thinking of you and your dad. I've got everything crossed for you xxx

Thanks for the thread, Lady T

Thinking of you for tomorrow Beans.

Kayz - you are doing a brill job. Every feed gets easier. Hang on in there.

Sorry, darling, I don't mean to sound like I am forcing you, more than I am an enthusiastic cheerleader, for all the time you want to be cheered on. As soon as you want to stop, I'll cheer for that too.

NIght, night XXXX

beans Will be thinking of you today x

marking my spot.

Beans fingers crossed. x

Wooo!! She's now 10lb 5oz. So she has put on 1lb 5oz in 2 weeks. HV is very happy with her and me. There's still a touch of jaundice but HV said that's normal with BF babies sometimes. I think I need to realise now that it's not all going to go wrong like it did with DS2.

Kayz You are clearly producing double cream not milk, that's brilliant!! Well done you

Beans also thinking of you today. Also hope you aren't too knackered x

Thanks everyone. Despite my upbeat ness a couple of days ago, am struggling a bit! Finding out later if it's spread to his arm as well as the re-growth in his leg. Will let you know.

Well done teeny Kayz!

X

Cor, Kayz, that sounds great! Well done. I don't like HVs either, never met one I rated (though I imagine they do exist....somewhere....)

I am only doing a quick catch up as I am rushing around trying to pack stuff up as I am ramming in a quick visit to my Mum's for a couple of days. Can't wait.

Beans - so hoping for encouraging news. Thrilled to hear he is making the most of his time - I feel strongly that we should ALL do that, anyway...because every day IS a blessing! Very glad to hear you feel so positive about your move. Although I still miss London endlessly, I feel upbeat about my village too. Shhh, don't tell anyone I said that If we could just get the fricking house in order.

Talking of which - Indith, a loft conversion sounds brilliant. Jealous! Our house is already on three floors so we have no loft to convert (or store anything in). I know you are a phonics fan, have you seen the interesting discussion about it between that Education Minister and Michael Rosen? It's in discussions of the day. Of course, I am fuming that if DD1 can already read when she goes to school, phonics will still be compulsory as there is a mandatory, nationwide test. Boils my piss, as DP likes to say

Sybs, those boots sound gorge but DD2 is a 4 and DD1 is a 7.5 now, so by winter the small ones would be too small. But thanks for the offer, hope someone has them.

Rubes - that's quite a shocker about your DH doing Bristol/Brighton within that rotation! How are you feeling about the whole house shenanigans now?

KP - are you all better now? And your DS, DB? Caught up with Gordon last night - still with DP pausing it Sigh.

Vag - my BMI is 24.8 at the mo. I am not officially overweight, which is a big milestone for me, but as you say the BMI is of limited use, especially when people are fit and muscly like you (and not like me!)

Oh cripes, is THAT THE TIME?

Beans, thinking of you lovely. Xx

Hello,
Slinking in on the new thread, wondering if you'll have me back?
I realise keeping track on Facebook just isn't cutting it, so i'm going to bleddy well make time to come on here again.
On holiday in France right now with T's 'best' friend. Lots of angst and trauma amongst adults and children. We've had cars in ditches, people being sectioned, children waking every hour, every night. Thank god for wine and cheese. And knowing we're coming home on Sunday.

Lady I'm afraid as I skim-read the page, I interpreted your post as "my vag is 24.8 at the mo". Which I thought was maybe TMI, but you seemed quite pleased, so good for you .

Kayz that is just great about the weight gain, and you sound like you're doing brilliantly in difficult circumstances. Loving the FB pix too.

BEans am v sorry to read the news about your dad, and am thinking of you.

Spot! I think you need to Drink More Wine. And here's me thinking it was the Fitflops that have changed the way I walk....!

Hahahaaaa peeing my pants at ladyT's vaginal dimensions!

Beans thinking of you, I know white light can't change any results but I'm sending it to let you in lieu of a cuddle and a cup of tea. It's not really funny, but I read ominous as omnibus and was quite confused that you might be waiting for some East Enders marathon.

Spot who got sectioned, I think we are going to need some more information. If you want to stay on this thread you must entertain us with your holiday disaster.

Kayz good on you, but continued boo to that evil MW who has made this whole period so difficult for you. You are doing beautifully but your self doubt has been obvious and it is all down to her. You must believe in your own awesome-ness by now.

Poor DS1 it is his first week of holidays and he is sick with sky high temps. Last night he was having hallucinations that things were getting him, and when DH or I tried to sooth him he'd tell us to stop screaming at him. He seems a little better this afternoon.

I have a 1km open water race at our local beach this afternoon. Hoping the north sea behaves herself and isn't too choppy.

Spot, I am with Vag we need details when you get home.

Vag, I'm getting there. Knowing she's put on weight is brilliant. She weighs now what DS2 weighed when he was born, though she looks smaller and longer.

Oh dear. I've just been thread reading and tittering at the misreading of Lady T's vag size and thinking I needed to remember to congratulate baby Kayz on her weight gain and managed to type a lovely sentence congratulating Vag on putting on so much weight .

So anyway.

Well done Kayz :)

Beans your dad sounds really wonderful. He sounds like a fabulous dad and grandfather and a very strong, positive individual. I hope that he can continue to enjoy the time he has and when, sadly, his day comes may he slip away surrounded by all the love that shines through his family.

Spot that sounds like an "interesting" holiday. We definitely need mor details!

Lady T the loft is actually already converted but we have been splitting it from one large room with an ensuite that never happened which dh had been using as a teeny tiny office (previous owners, not us) to a large room open to the stairs for office and sofa bed with a small single room for dd and all her crap. Eventually she will move up there and the boys will share.

I've read some of the phonica debate. Really though it all comes down to providing each child with what they need as an individual. Unfortunately that just isn't going to happen in most schools. I think phonics is good. It really is and it will help even the best of readers on some level.

Ds knew all the basic sounds before school but the concept of blending hadn't clicked. Blending came with the old style word recognition Biff and Chip books which start off with just the names then simple sentences. All of a sudden he realised what individual words were and once he got that he could put all the sounds he knew together and he was off. That school used the old books was therefore great for us as he wasn't being held back at all. Where a school uses only fully decodable phonics books a child who knows all their sounds can be held back by pnly being given books that cover the sounds done so far in class. Not that that should happen of course but you can bet your boots it does happen. We still used phonics cards a bit at home for the more complicated bits and I still do love the read write inc cards for that, ds really "gets" them so if he is struggling a bit with "ure" (sure, picture) or all the "ough" words and so on we can get the cards out and the pictures and phrases help.

Dd is still at messing around stage, she likes to mess around with the cards and with the jolly phonics work books. She knows a lot of sounds but gets muddled. She is great at hearing sounds and thinking up other words with the same sounds and can break down a word orally. She gets blending orally but hasn't quite linked it with words on a page. I think phonics suits her.

I don't think children who can already read having to do phonics is all bad so long as they are given freedom to develop their reading at their own pace. Not all of the time spent on phonics is repeating the sound, it also gives them the chance to spend lots of time with one letter/sound writing it correctly and exploring it, finding other words with the same sound, rhyming and so on.

Today started all sunny and bright but it has ot very dark and threatening :( school summer fair today. I am obsessively watching out the window to go grab my washing.

Dd is counting my toes .

Sybs if you've not yet had any takers 7.5 might be perfect for DD1, she's 6.5 at the moment so by winter....?!

Beans, hoping like mad for great news for your familyx

I was thinking it could have been temperature down there and some new way of helping with conception - then again our Lady doesn't need help there

More details please Spot

Fabulous news Kayz remember though, FF isn't everyone's first choice but it also can be a lifesaver for some. As Lady once said, it aint crack, but so pleased the BF is working out - noice job.

Good luck Vag! Hope DS1 feels better too - I've had to collect ds from nursery last week with similar. He's OK but hoping dd doesn't wind up with it.

Lady, they aren't on his rotation, he def stays on the rotation and to the next place in Oct, but during the next year he does his fellowship and they are often 6 months each. Good one at Bristol he wants and good one on the Sth Coast, but it isn't for sure. He'd weekly commute probably to Bristol if he did do that one, like he did for a few months to Devon before we moved there. The house thing has worked out sort of, for now.... The LL has admitted it was a viewing but claims he didn't realize at the time (he's 84 but I'm still not convinced) however we both called him on his plans but he had already apparently pulled it off the market, and said we can make an offer privately whenever it suits which works well as I dreaded moving again. This house isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it reminds me of houses back home so I like it a lot. I'm still occasionally in the fitflops too but mainly as I haven't bought a replacement yet and my other thongs (flip flops) broke. I actually haven't posted a video on FB of ds riding his bike as my Fit Flops are shown and I didn't want Jam to tease me Just kidding Jam! Have a nice time at your Mums!

Speaking of which, hi Jam, crikey could have brought back the sun!

Just got back from dd's swimming lesson and she wanted a biscuit told her I have to do a wee first, then she ran off shouting "I do wee I do wee" I found her on the other toilet fully clothed saying "I do wee need toilet paper" and half the roll on the floor Please let this one be easier to train that DS - starting off promising (not that I'm even remotely close to starting her!) It was funny though. DS didn't even talk at her age!

Need some birthday present idea's for DD - ds suggests she have a trampoline, but DH not keen so that's off the list, and I'm stumped.

Indith, I agree. A year ago I was right up for waiting until they are older to start reading, as they do here, and making sure they are read to loads to engender a love of books. However, the downside of waiting is that if there is a problem with learning to read, it is quite late to pick it up and try to resolve it. Here they start to read at 6 and that is fine, but I'm truely shocked at how fast they expect them to go from novice to advanced reader. DS1 certainly doesn't have any learning difficulties, but learning to read in two languages is difficult and his biggest issue is the sound of letter combinations. OU in English sounds very different in Dutch, and V often is pronounced the same as F, depending on the region. They teach kids to spell out words here, and that is fine, but I'm thinking of going back to phonics for his English reading. At the moment in English he us up to the slightly more advanced chip & biff books, the magic key ones, but at school they are reading books of about 50 words per page with a couple of pictures. He started reading just before Christmas last year. Luckily for us, he actually loves a challenge and doesn't see it as too hard, but more something he will eventually conquer but a dutch friend's son is having trouble and being well and truely left behind, the upshot is that he hates reading and writing. Surely that outcome is what they should be trying to avoid as much as dodgy literacy levels. What is the point of everyone being able to read, if no ones wants to. Anyway basically with all that ramble, I think both late and early beginning of reading have positives & negatives. I think phonics are necessary for early readers as not all will be advanced and phonics helps form words, where spelling is a challenge. I can see Lady's point and that is were trying to work with kids on an individual basis would help, but with class sizes as they are would this is difficult.

Crikey, should have reviewed that, some terrible grammar in that, I swear I am capable of teaching my son to reid & rit propa

Hello Rubes, cross posted, glad it settled down with the house. I find that sort of stuff quite annoyingly stressful. I'm intrigued as to what the house looks like this

or this haha

Vag - yeah it was stressful mainly as DH has a lot on his plate and it wouldve meant moving a week after exam part 1. I couldn't open those links? Bit scared to as well I just mean it's more open plan rather than how English houses are individual rooms. We lived in a Victorian before here and as lovely a house that it was, I was desperate to knock down about 3 walls
Starting to feel all achey - I really don't want what ds had.
I know what you mean all about the starting school thing - I had a tour of one school (by a couple of 7 year olds which was funny) and I got a bit sad thinking about ds leaving all his friends as the nursery is a bit away in terms of what schools the kids will all go to. He's a lready a little distressed that his BF goes off to school this Sept. He face planted this afternoon as well as his other friend wasn't at nursery today

OH for cocks sake.

Brief straw poll, do you allow your children to occasionally walk along a wall when you are out and about?

Do you think it is a terrible act to allow children to walk along a wall or occasionally wander into a front garden when out and about.

Age of child 3.

We do walking on walls if the wall belongs to the council / church etc. Not on people's houses.

Kiwi, PM me your address and I'll post you the shoes.

Beans hope all is well XXXX

Great weight gain, Kayz .

hmm maybe I am being a little unreasonable then.

DS2 wandered into a neighbours front garden today while on our way to school. While I was chatting with another neighbour. He knocked one of her flowers. As soon as she told me I obviously immediately apologised and made DS2 apologise too.

But according to DH I perpetuate that sort of behaviour by allowing DS2 to walk along one particular wall in the village (even though the owner of the property has said its no prob).

DH of course never ever walked along any walls or went into a neighbours garden ever!

Am I the only person as a child to ever have walked along walls not belonging to my parents property. I thought it was a right of passage to scale walls/trees etc.