June 2013 Commando crawlers vs Baby slugs

[SunnyL]

Hi all - the old thread was about to run out so I started a new one.

Little Miss was up to mischief last night. Thankfully it's DHs day off today so he took her into bed with him while I slept in the spare room. She is just so excitable when she wakes up at night. It can can 90 minutes to scrape her off the ceiling.

ah hah - we're now walking unaided between things now.

What do I need to do about shoes? She's currently in scabby soft shoes from the track boys section as all the girly ones she rips off her feet in seconds. Do I need to get her proper hard soled shoes now?

Track? Eh try tesco stupid predictive text

I recently read (somewhere official) that they should be walking unaided for six weeks before you buy shoes. I'm not sure exactly why...

Hello all - have been on my holibobs, survived, DD charmed all the staff in the hotel, and lots of people commenting about a little one walking (she looks younger than she is as she's so wee).

Anyway, with DC1, I was told between 10 - 15 steps unaided before you got shoes, I've also heard 6 weeks, but when DS started to walk, we were told to get him measured again between 4-6 weeks as putting weight on the feet can make them spread.

We've tried to get shoes for DD, she's been walking well over a month (and is pretty much running now ) but her feet are too small for all the shoes you can get, so we've still got her in the leather slippers. As it's summer and you don't have to worry about cold, wet feet, i'd stick with bare feet or leather slipper types for as long as possible.

Hello all
We're off to view a nursery tomorrow and feeling a bit clueless about it. But hopefully your collective nursery experiences can guide us a bit! So far, I want to know about the following:

• what the food is like
• do they have set nap times or are they able to cope with each baby having their own rhythm
• how under the weather does he need to be before they wouldn't take him

Anything else that would be handy to know about?

Mrs81 we were totally at sea when we first went to look at nurseries.

We have to provide meals but the nursery provides snacks for ours. Check how much you have to provide vs them.

on the sleeping thing they should show you where the sleeping room is. It should be them asking you how your lo likes to go to sleep.

Does the nursery have any outside space? Do they get taken out for walks?

I'd also ask to see what notes you'll get each day. I get up to 2 pages of a diary which is lovely whereas as most of my friends only get a very factual sheet on what their child has eaten and how much they slept.

Also important to consider how many children there are in the room. We've got a tiny one that can only take 6 babies in the room. As a result it's a lovely homely atmosphere. My nephew is in a massive nursery which feels more like a baby farm

other thoughts, make sure you look at the older years as well, as you don't want to have to move your DCs. Are the babies and older DCs kept apart? (I visited one when they were all in together after 18 months, it seemed very young for the younger ones to be with children up to the age of 4) how do they decide when to move them up a room? (Just on age or development stages).

Do they have a preschool on site?

do they do messy play regularly? (Not all do) Outside space and play? What about in bad weather? (DS's nursery had waterproof suits so crawlers could still play out in the rain!)

What's the discpline policy? (From about 18 months at DS's nursery they did time outs)

oh other things - what's the security like? What are hte arrangements for picking up children.

Are staff allowed mobile phones during the day? What level of training do they have?

Mrs81 You might also want to find out their policies on 1) charges for late pickup (some are very strict and charge if you're even a tiny bit late), though you might have to find that out from other mums, i.e. on paper ours say they charge for late pick up but they're quite flexible 2) security for picking up children (e.g. do they call you if someone else comes to pick up your child, do you provide person with password etc) 3) any flexibility with days of week if you're only going part time (rather than miss out on paid nursery days when other things come up I can often swap to a different day of the week if they have a space). Also find out if there si a rough schedule for the day and what kind of things they do. Is it directed or is it child-led. This is probably more relevant for once they are older. Some places let kids choose whatever to do, but might mean they always do the same thing, whereas with some encouragment they might do something different. Then it's gut feel. DS goes to a nursery that is not for everyone - I fully admit they are rubbish at reporting back to parents, but on the plus side they get to play outdoors loads, get really grubby, go for walks and have lots of fun.

Good luck!!

Sorry been quiet here for a while. On hols, staying with the ILs on the Isle of Man. Has been lovely weather, lots of playing on the beach, but quite knackered now and need a holiday from the holiday. DD is being a pain with naps, often not taking afternoon nap just wants to play/scream from her cot even though obviously tired. Struggling at night some times too, I just can't get her to wind down for bed, far too wriggly for cuddles and stories (and she eats the books).

On happier notes we have had up to 6 steps now, so nearly there with the walking!

You are a wise bunch. Thank you!
I have my long list of questions at the ready. I want to like it, it's our preferred choice of what's available locally. The nursery who came out best in the inspection reports have been crap at getting in touch with us. The nursery we are visiting came out reasonably well, and seem well organised - I have a good first impression.

They have outdoor space that seems to be in constant use by the children; according to their brochure they also have a shetland pony who visits once a month!! not a reason to choose a nursery but nevertheless

There are 2 baby rooms. One has a limit of 6 LOs, the other has max of 9.

We can walk to it within 5-10 mins too.

For those of you who have dc in nursery until the end of the day, do they get given dinner? Am happy to provide the food but don't really want ds to have to wait until after 6pm to eat.

Good luck with the nursery visit, Mrs. Although based on our preschool experience, it might be worth persevering with the rubbish communicators too - the lady who owns our preschool is shocking at communicating with parents/prospective parents, but the onsite manager is amazeballs. It's probably worth checking what times nursery offer meals, I know my DNephew was given lunch at 11am and "dinner" at 3.30-4pm, and was always starving by the time he got home at 6pm.

So, M has learnt to walk and is nearly running. He owns no shoes or socks since he's lost the bloody lot of them any ideas where I can find some soft sandal type things for our holiday next week? I want something he can wear on a patio/on dry spiky grass, he can stay barefoot indoors.

Mrs, ds's nursery do a big cooked meal at lunchtime and a lighter tea at 4:30/4:45 (pick up from 5). Ds always wanted something when he got home, but not another full meal, often hummus and pita or cold cooked chicken.

Rue- jojo maman babe has leather slippers, also swim shoes.

Thanks Mary

Right, was taking DS to get new shoes, and while there, asked them to measure DD again, she's gone from being smaller than a size 2 a couple of weeks ago to a 3.5! I know their feet grow fast, but still! as she's been walking for more than 2 months, I sort of thought I better get her some shoes, was offered a choice between the startrite pink and sparkly shoes and the Clarks pink and sparkly shoes. (Unfortunately, there were no boys shoes available in her width fitting or I might have got those in protest).

Pink has it's place, but boys shoes come in nice neutural colours so whatever they are wearing, they can wear their shoes with them, it would have been nice to see some brown or beige or white options for girls shoes (all her yellow and red clothes aren't going to look right with pink sparkly shoes).

i'm going to become one of those mothers aren't I?

So we visited the nursery today. The good points:

• the children seem really happy and relaxed
• the different age groups are kept apart, and there's even a different outdoor play areas (0-2 and 3-5).
• They have an in house chef who prepares all the meals each day; menu looks reasonably varied
• there's messy play, painting, etc
• naps are done in cots or prams - whichever dc prefers
• they offer wrap-around care once children are in school
• it's not very big - maximum is c60 kids across all the age groups
• very secure; keypad entry, passwords for other adults to pick DS up, CCTV, etc
• the nursery workers were confidence inspiring

Plus - we left DS in the baby room for 15mins while we continued our tour and he was perfectly happy with the other babies and the staff.

The bad point:

• the manager was a bit fluffy (for lack of a better word). We both came away with the same feeling that she was just a bit vague. But all the other staff were brilliant so this probably doesn't matter much.

I feel a bit meh about it - but I suspect this would be the case with any nursery and is more about the internal struggle of putting DS into nursery in the first place.

So I think we will go with it! Thank you again for all your pearls of wisdom. It really helped focus the mind : )

Sounds positive! We are still in the first month and it is difficult to get her settled. She has breakfast at eight, lunch at eleven and tea at four and they expect her to sleep at twelve. The upshot of this is that she normally comes home having not slept much if at all. And starving as they don't give her the time we give her here! I'd be wary of them saying they will support your routine; ultimately they have their timings and aren't going to cook at entirely different times to suit us. I'm guessing as time goes by it gets easier. I'm still certain it's better than the alternatives as she loves the company but I can see the appeal of the nannies etc to maintain their routine!

Mary I'm already one of those mothers

Mary, thank you so much for the tip re shoes, M will shortly be sporting a pair of these :o they were in the sale and everything.

Mrs, glad your nursery tour went well - hopefully the fluffy manager's exterior hides a demon of organisation? :o

M has confused me today - he's been napping once a day for the last week or so, at about 12ish. Today, he fell asleep in the car on the way to playgroup at 10am, slept through the whole of playgroup (inc being transferred from car to pushchair and back again), and woke up as I carried him back through the front door at home! He had a quick 10 minutes or so this afternoon too, on the way back from school. And has gone to bed like a trouper this evening. I did notice that his top molars are properly through on both inside and outside edges, so maybe that's the reason?

oh Rue, those shoes are cute!

Hello lovely ladies! It's been ages, I feel bad for that.

Violet is practically running everywhere now, climbing everything and little miss independent. Exploring everything, including how to pull curtains down...

We are all but moved in to our own place now. Still lots to sort, but once a little more sorted, it will be lovely. Just hope it doesn't change V's sleeping, finally getting a fairly decent night which has been lovely.

I can't believe we are mid July... Where has this year gone?!

Rue on a scale of 1 to 10 (full mischief scale) how likely is it your little one could rip that shoe off on a rage?

So far we've only managed to get her to wear a pair of boys lace up shoes from Tesco. Every other pair I've tried have been ripped off in seconds.

Sunny - DS was given a pair of "Pre Shoes" for his birthday. He is an expert at taking socks off (not just his!) and these stay on . I'm not sure how much they were, I think they came via notonthehighstreet.com Good luck with the great shoe hunt regardless!

Pinkbear - That's brilliant that you are in your own place now. Here are some housewarming I hope you are both settling into your new home.

We have improved nights. At last. And (drumroll) for the first time EVER, I was able to leave DH to put DS to bed after he'd had his boob feed. I even went out. Life is a-changing.

I went to view the other nursery (who didn't respond initially). It's much much better. I wanted to like it less than the first one but actually it's just better, hands down. It is well thought out, two stages of baby rooms and a tweeny room before they get to to a toddler room. And then a pre school room. And they have greenhouses and hens in the garden. And the chef is Greek so lots of yummy food for the kids. What's not to like? And I didn't come away with a "meh" feeling so that must have been about that nursery, rather than putting DS in nursery in the first place.

Anyway, time to cook something non Greek, alas for tea . Best go.

Good news on the nursery Mrs81. Great to find something you feel happy leaving DC at.

Congrats on the move pinkbear, hope you feel settled quickly.

We've just started house hunting today. Found a possible, but there's not too much in our price range with enough floor space round here. To think this time a year ago we were getting ready to leave Hawaii. Life is so different now.

We have some walking now. 5 steps but a bit sporadic. She loves grabbing my finger and walking round like that. I think we will go for 'proper' shoes soon. She has just about grown out of her soft leather ones and don't want to buy more just for a few weeks or so.

sunny so far so good! The shoes arrived today, he wore them for the rest of the day, and didn't manage to remove one

He did look a bit confused when he first noticed them though - spent ages chasing his own feet, which most annoyingly kept moving behind him (he was twizzling round on the floor), trying to see what these things were... :o then stood up and tried to shake them off like he does when he gets a sticker on his hand, that didn't work either. Eventually gave up and just got on with them until his big sister got home and promptly "helped" him take them off