Nov '05 Toddlers plus baby bro's (& sis)

[Rodeo]

Here we are!

Afternoon all Day off today, so gearing myself up for much-promised trip after school with dds to new playbarn. They do a special 'deal' where they can play and have their tea, which seemed great until I realised it would cost me nearly £30 ; not a regular thing I think! Oh RODEO I did have to laugh at the magnet story (wow, does it really work? Must try!)and the holding the forehead thing is such a classic - we have that too, though strangely I don't find the urge to laugh when S does it to L Enjoy your book - you deserve the break! NOVA - good to hear your news - impressed too about Noo's counting - we are somewhat behind, with an obsession with twooooooo stopping any progress, lol ! Lol at poo checking too . Right, am going to savour my last few minutes of peace with a copy of Grazia . Speak later! Oh will have a look at piccies too RODEO

I must say I'm not much to do with all of noo's learning, her nursery are pretty full on when it comes to teaching. When I went to pick her up early on tuesday for swim class she was sat on the sofa with two other children being shown flash cards of numbers . They also do it with colours, and she's pretty good with the weather too . She does quite like her flash cards and word books at home though, she'll sit there for ages going 'what's that?', what's that?', and she's getting more confident at trying out new words.

There was a lovely moment today when I was clearing away the breakfast things, and noo took it upon herself to start a game of peek-a-boo with miniman who was still in his highchair. There was much laughter from both of them. She was also really good this afternoon when I put him in his bouncy chair to get on with dinner, she went off and got him a toy to play with. She did the same again when I left him on the play mat to put the veg on, I came back to get him and he was surrounded by his toys! Think she's finally twigged that if she's nice to him then she gets lots of attention.

Everyone is in love with miniman, he's a really smiley boy. He's taken to swimming well and he's beginning to settle down at night so I'm getting a little more rest.

Sorry, bit of a self indulgent post again

Sounds blissful NOVA! Sure you're going to stop at 2?

LOL at TV and magnets!! Hey Rodeo - Hope all is well. Hi to Diege and everyone else [helllooooo]
Nova - It's lovely when they entertain each other like that, makes your heart melt. We have good times like that and other times when DS1 thinks his little brother is a football or horse or needs feeding

I cant finish this post because my lovely DS1 is messing with the charger and doing my head inback nsonop

Hello again, DC are now in bed so can hopefully continue in peace.

Nova - Very impressed by Noo! Counting to ten already, bless her, nursery combined with mum at home as role model are doing wonders for her and mini man sounds a dream.
Sorry to hear about Grandad but here's to spending more time together as a family. Life is short, realise it more as i get older. I think we learn to let things go and sacrifice for our children as we do so.

Londoner/Beks - Do you hear from BoB or Tex?

Diege - Still amazed at how you do it all...

Feetheart - How is T? Enjoying school? How are you coping without her and how is A?

Hello to everyone else

We have started the month of Ramadan so am ready to crash by this time as we have breakfast by around 4am. 3 more weeks to go and i'll be away...i'm looking forward to it and have enrolled to study in a language institute while i'm in the city, there is a nursery for the children just ten minutes away too! I cannot imagine that either will settle but we live in hope.

Toilet training has begun, DS1 has gone twice today and asked to wash when finished (we have a water jug by the toilet to clean with) and then washes his hands - major progress for us and i'm really pleased and hoping that going away doesn't cause upset particularly as not many loos around.
DS2 chatters away, eats like there is no tomorrow and doesn't eat much pureed food anymore just whatever is on our plates or on floor drinks water from his own cup which is probably no big deal but DS1 took ages to even use the simplest of cups so achievement for us.

As usual could rabbit on forever but i'll go and get some sleep now. Talk later in the week i hope x

Hello all, glad to see all are well.
ChaCha @ 4am breakfast, am v.impressed at you managing 2 babies and Ramadan.
Things still going well here and am enjoying the quiet days again and making the most of the great outdoors.
Love to all, loving the updates too,bye.x

Hello all
Hope you've all had nice weekends. It's got really chilly up here today!
Not much news here, school run soon, then the onslaught of homework, tea, baths etc. Now we have 2 sets of homework it's getting quite hard to get it done, especially with dp at work in the evenings and Jess determined to win attention back! Any tips? Londoner?!
Chacha, where are you going? If not on here then please tell all on Yahoo! All seems really interesting
Speak later, Jess is calling 'Poo, poo! WIPE!' and we all know what that means! x

ah well summer is def over the kids had great fun writting on the car this morning in the frost!!! it was flipping freezing.I must dig out hats gloves etc.
Josh is great really happy and chilled (excluding temper tantrums . He is a typical boy loves to climb, jump and do generally dangeous stuff, however the chickens still give him a run for his money.......Diege suggest some dates for a meet up
well must go jobs to do
twinkle

Hello!!! Brrrrr!!!!Its' freezing here too! Is it just us northerners or are the softie southerners suffering too! (try saying that after a few glasses of wine). Heating is belting out at the moment and I think I can safely confine the summer clotehs to the loft, after the promise of an Indian summer last week! Hi TWINKLE!!! My day off work is now a Friday - looking at the diary it would probably be early October now - can you beleive I've finally booked L in for her 'missing' jab this Friday , err, only 8 months late then...Let me know where you'd like to meet RODEO, oh I know what you mean about two sets of homework!!! My organsied mum diary is coming into its own - I just have to remember to check it now! Yes agree we need tips off LONDONER - !!How do you get it all done??
Well, received a bit of 'bad' news today (from a selfish perspective). Our child minder is pregnant and has given 'notice' so we're a bit stuck to say the least - not the best time to seek out a child minder 3 weeks into the new term! dh might be able to manage a few days in the week with the school pick up, but he's already doing the drop off in the morning. I can do Thurs/Fris, but to be honest this is going to test outr organisation/employer's tolerance to the limit! Sometimes I just think it would be easier to just stay at home, but then there's the money plus I'd be tearing my hair out after a week . OK, rant over! I am pleased for her, I really am , but ARGHHHH!!!!! Hope everyone is well and happy! I have my first class to gteach tomorrow at the new place, so feeling scared!!! Oh and heard today that the person who sort of replaced me at old bad work is threatening to walk out, tee hee!!

Hiya,
Hope the teaching went well today Diege.
Sorry girls, no words of wisdom on the h/wk front, it's push push all the way ain't it? Have to say I tend to ignore it at primary level, think the little ones really do need their work, rest and play you know? Sadly I think most primary schools do insist on it don't they.
The tack I'm trying at the moment with ds2 is, no screen time until it's done. So he gets home, we have a chat/cup of tea and talk about the day etc. Then he plays with siblings/friends while I make tea. Tea-time then homework then free time until bed. But I have to push and supervise, it is hard. But feel it is worth it now having seen dividends paid out with ds1 results.
Have to admit that am ever so slightly worn when dh gets home but he's happy to muck in with getting our dinner ready & tucking children up/supervising h/wk. Team work really helps.
Epic. Sorry.
Well done with the potty trainers girls, Baby tells me what she's doing but makes it quite clear the potty is not an option lol. She uses the nappies and then asks for them to be taken off or just does it herself lol.
Hello to all, right bed times......night.

Hopefully next week will see a bit of a return to MN-normality when T starts going to school full time. ATM A's nap-time is 'curling up on the sofa-time' for T and me so no computer till late at night when I can't think straight enough to write much
Thanks to those who asked - she is loving it which is great though she can still be a bit clingy when I drop her off. However she is full of it when she comes out and is obviously having a wonderful time, even school dinners have been given the thumbs-up!

Our major news is that 2 days before T started 'big school' we got a kitten. T has wanted one for EVER but it was DH who fell in love Just when I thought I would be getting more time to myself I am having to VERY CLOSELY supervise one small boy and one small kitten!
Luckily the kitten can't go outside yet as A's variety of names for him include: 'Tit ta' (kitten), 'Titty' (kitty) and 'Poo bee' (pussy we think!!) I can just imagine him yelling one of those down the garden. They are all better than 'PooPoo' though which he spent all of last week calling him after T decided the kitten smelt of poo after using the litter tray
His real name is Hobnob but we haven't heard any attempt at that one yet!

Must go to bed, night all!

ooo best of luck with a kitten and and toddler feetheart. I'm so glad we got our cats already house trained. Be prepared for finding dead/half dead things in the house!

Will hopefully be able to bring you celebrity gossip tomorrow as I'm off to a charity dinner tonight hosted by Mr&Mrs Ramsey! DH has allowed me to spend a stupid amount on dresses and shoes, although I sadly have no time to get ready as I need to leave the house as soon as the lo's are in bed . Would love to spend the afternoon pampering. Noo decided to try and wear my shoes yesterday after getting all excited about seeing high heels. Have been walking/tottering around the house in them with socks on to try and make them a little more bearable. Thankfully most of tonight should involve sitting down .

Ooh can I come?! Have a great time, and yes, all the gossip tomorrow would be good!
Gulp at new kitten FH! But kittens are soooo cute!
Thanks for homework advice Londoner! Have just managed to finish dd1's project on 'Chairs', so boring! Just printed Van Gogh's Chair off which is why I am here, really should log off and get dinner ready now!
Hi Diege! Hope your new students are all being good! Bums at pg childminder! Hope you get something sorted, I'm sure you will
Bye for now! x

Hello All, just a quickie from me, as have not long got in from Yoga, and am pooped!

Diege, yes ~ bum at pg childminder.....hope you get that one sorted!

Chacha ~ hope the rest of Ramadam goes ok, was thinking of you the other day actually, as we have leaflets in our Guiding magazine, which have focused on different religions, so that we can understand and encorporate different faiths into our Brownie Programme, also noticed Ramadam in my OM diary!

Yes, you see, I have now converted you all into using Organised Mum!

Our major news.....T has been sleeping in his big boys bed since Sautrday ~ so far so good, his little face lit up when he saw it, and then he just went "ooohhh!"

HE copies loads of words now, and can recognise green, blue and yellow.
His major things are cars, motorbikes and most motor vehicles.
He can recognise the makes of family members cars wherever he is! And all motorbikes are Daddy's bike!!

Right, off now ~ promise, I really will try and add some photos onto yahoo over the weekend ~ honest!

Nova ~ jsut wanted to say ~ I kow exactly how you feel about Grandparents.....I lost both Grandads within a month last year, 1 I was very close to, the other not so, but it still hurt. it is def hard, but we can only do what we can do ~ Thomas sees my Nanna that also lives in Strat weekly (the other one is less frequent, but she does live oop North near Diege!) Big hugs go to you and yours anyway....

Love to all

Brownies
x

Hello ladies,

Oh Diege , hope you get c/m sorted out asap, I think you should keep a journal, would make a very interesting read - next big bestseller perhaps...just don't know how you do it all! What would you do with a day all to yourself? I'm sure the words shopping, Grazia, Latte all come in there somewhere When's your next time out?

BB - Impressed with mention of Ramadan All going well, TBH only start feeling a bit cold and tired by about 6pm and then there's only an hour or so to go at which point DS1 and I sit up on the sofa reading books until i warm the food, he has started to copy me now when i pray and does the actual 'movements' and is all serious about it and it's ever so cute.

Rodeo - How is everything? And Beks, where are you?

Londoner - Seeing what your DS achieved this year is just pure motivation in helping the others - you've done so well - will know where to look for advice in the future.

Nova - Hopefully you are having a great time and are looking wonderful. Smiling at Noo in high heels.

Feetheart - I'm not a pet fan but kitten sounds adorable - love A's name for him/her and lol at shouting names in garden. Is all your building work over with now?

All good here just a couple of weeks to go and we're away, loads to do but so little time with the LO's. Will check Y group this week for pics and post an update before the off.

Have friends around this weekend and dinner out tomorrow night so something to look forward, DH at home hurray! Enjoy your weekends everyone, take care of you all x

Hi all,

ChaCha, lovely post for everyone, thank you for your lovely comment. Going away with the lo's sounds amazing, you sound so well bonded you and your sweet sons.
Rodeo, what gorgeous new pics of J! How's the running going? Are you managing to keep motivated on the colder/darker days?
Diege, remember you saying it was only all possible if the CM kept going so really feel for you now. Have you considered an au pair or nanny share? This could really help with school runs too. Or a parents' circle at your school/nursery so if you have enough people on it you only have to do a few days pick-ups/drop offs per month? So glad that work is going well for you.
BB congrats on T in big bed, still going well I hope?
Nova, looking forward to hearing all about your celeb night out and what did you wear in the end? Sounded like you had some nice choices to make. Oh and what was the food/entertainment like?
FH, aww the kitten sounds wonderful, lol at A comments on poo etc. Great to hear T settling in to school so well.
Beks, hoping everything is alright with you guys. Did B have his consultation yet?
GG, hope everything is okay with you guys.
Hi to Twinkle and L&S.
Will update soon, byee.

Suddenly remembered - Beks, how's the magic course going and did you think of a name?
andhavetotrythisout

Hi ladies

Sorry for the absence but T just doesn't let me have a minute to myself these days, he has a very bad case of velcroitus at the moment. I keep checking to see if they actually cut the umbilical cord.

Diege eek at the childminder, great news for her but a pia for you, hope one of Londoners suggestions works for you.

Nova hope you enjoyed your night out, hope you're not still trying to recover

FH ahh at the kitten love A's names - think it would be hilarious to hear you calling those from the back doorstep Glad to hear that T has settled so well at school.

BB well done to T for going in his big bed, we still haven't managed to get T in his, he has an Ikea one that the ends fold down on and we put his 11 year old cousin in it last week and now all he keeps saying is "dan's bed" - great!

Chacha, another lovely post from you, you are so thoughtful, hope Ramadam isn't taking too much of a toll on you, it must be very hard for you to observe the rituals with little ones in tow. Z sounds so sweet in his copying of your actions, it must be heartmelting to see.

Hello to everyone else, sorry if I've missed big news, but have too much to catch up on tonight.

Londoner, thanks for asking the magic course was just excellent, can't wait to go back, am definitely going to be a magic bore from now on. We also have our first booking for 18th December, which should be exciting.

B did have his consultation and they are going to operate on him, we are just waiting for a date now. He seems relatively cool about the idea and is happy that it is a day case and that he won't have to stay in hospital. I can stay with him if it does run over, so a day or two off school and a present should make it all better

Right hopefully the sound of typing has got T off to sleep now, so had better go and make B's pack lunch for tomorrow. Love to all Beks

Want to know more about the magic course BEKS, you can bore me, I don't mind

I am running my 'regular', ie once a year, juggling workshop this w/e so need to get some games sorted. I do it for an English language study school and as its only their 2nd week in the UK I do lots of games with them to help them get to know each other! I've been meaning to commit the games to paper for about 4 years so I will do it this week and get them to you.

T had her first full day today and after a few 'I don't want to go all day' comments yesterday (that were mightily played down by the rest of us!) she had a great day and on the way home was telling me how brilliant it was being allowed to stay and play all day. Think we may have cracked that one too

May have to start thinking about A and a big bed as he is now able to drop the cotside down and get out! Then again, may not bother!

Hopefully get a proper catch-up later in the week - I did have a whole hour to myself this afternoon with T at school and A asleep and I lay on the sofa and read, it was bliss!! House still looks like a bombsite but I was serene amongst it

Hope everyone is well and happy

Hi, just popping my head round the corner to say hi. No spare moments at all to post. Working lots, have a new social life! Kitchen is done so days are spent sorting the house out. Everything is good here, Owens party on sunday, then non-stop, expensive weeks pretty much every week then until Christmas!

Haven't had a chance to catch up with all your news, hope everyone is OK.

GG xx

Beks - Shamefully admitting to wondering what velcroitus was and feeling sorry for you both Lack of sleep honest! Beks, I have such a bad memory, why is B having an operation if you don't mind me asking, i honestly can't remember..let me know.

Feetheart - Love the 'serene amongst it all' lol, quiet time like that is just priceless. Good to hear that T enjoyed first full day.

Londoner - How d'ya do dat den? Kewl! Do you remember Rebel MC - 'I'm a Londoner, know how to deal, not fake cause i'm so real....' LOL, amazing that 15 years later and I STILL remember useless lyrics, pah! The word 'Londoner' as i typed it prompted silly lyrics, can't help it, happens all the time unfortunately.

Been up since 3.45am, i crashed on the sofa at 9.30pm and had a pretty good sleep considering both have colds, have loaded all the utilities and had a good tidy up and feel good starting they day with chores done.....shame i'm so tired now here's to hoping an afternoon nap is on the cards

Starting to get nervous about flying alone with the gremlins....eeeeek!

Sorry, I tempted you all with tales of celebs, but I've not been in the mood for posting I'm afraid. I've been dealing with my grandad and all the family shite that that brings with it. Hope to post when feeling a little lighter

Nova, sorry to hear that your grandad is so poorly, you're right age is cruel and it seems to creep up on you too. Hope you manage to tell him how precious your memories are before he goes and that he can tell you things you may never of known too.

Chacha lol at you and velcroitus, hope you didn't go looking it up. I'm sure that someone as calm and capable as you will have no trouble managing the flight with the boys, think you'll hae to view it in the same way as FH did and stay serene whilst all around you lose their heads.

Thanks for asking about B he has to have a sack of fluid removed from his testicle - ouch! Every man we've told has crossed his legs and winced

GG, good to see you post, hope O has a great party on Sunday, glad the house is sorting itslef out and what's this about a social life - come on spill the beans and make us all jealous

FH that would be great about the games if you don't mind, I'm compiling a list as we speak.

Hi to everyone else, I haven't mentioned. I'm bashing away on the computer in the hope of reassuring T that i'm still up here. Right off to search the web for In the Night Garden toys as T is besotted with Makka Pakka which sounds like bugger when he says Makka, much to everyone amusement Beks

Thanks for letting me know Beks - are you all just waiting a date for procedure now? Any idea when? Please let me know when you have a date.

Nova - Hope everything will be okay.

Where is Rodeo hiding?

Boys have colds, cannot move for them, they just want mum and that's it. Weather has changed dramatically have no real enthusiasm to go out anywhere at the moment, quite looking forward to a bit of sun. No news here, quiet few days at home until they are better, nothing getting done but all ok.

x

Oh look, is me again!

Nova, a big thank you for your most generous offer, really kind of you. I will decline though as I am pretty sure i will not be able to return it to you in the immaculate condition that you will no doubt give it. Conditions out there are not great and I'd be worrying all the time.

Cannot thank you enough for such a kind gesture. Cheers mate x