Feb '06 - Christmas trees and toddlers

[Jas]

CAMERON, 6th Jan, born to Teuch, DC1
PEYIA, 23rd Jan, Born to TicTac, DC1
ALEXANDER, 24th Jan, Born to Yeahbut, DC3
MAISIE, 26th Jan, Born to ellenrose, DC3
JESSICA HELEN, Birthdate 30th Jan, Born to JuA, Twin 1, DC2.
EMILY ROSE, Birthdate 30th Jan, Born to JuA, Twin 2, DC3
T, Birthdate late Jan, Born to ChasingSquirrels, DC2
ASTRID, Birthdate 4th Feb, Born to EachPeachPearMum, DC1
LAUREN EMMA, Birthdate 6th Feb, Born to Morgan, DC2
PIPPA, Birthdate 8th Feb, Born to CSWS, DC1
LEWIS, Birthdate 9th Feb, , Born to Phoenix, DC1
EVIE HARRIET, Birthdate 10th Feb, Born to Hotmama, DC2
RHUARIDH GEORGE, Birthdate 11th Feb, Born to MrsDoolittle, DC2
BEN, Birthdate 12th Feb, Born to Kelbelle, DC1
OSCAR, Birthdate 12th Feb, Born to Chloe55, DC1
OSCAR, Birthdate 13th Feb, Born to JoFan, DC
LUTHER, Birthdate 14th Feb, Born to Otter, DC5
BRAM, Birthdate 21st Feb, Born to mustrunmore, DC2
LUCA, Birthdate 21st Feb, Born to 2boysmacca, DC2
EMRYS , Birthdate 24th Feb, Born to Flamesparrow, DC2
ISABEL ERIKA, Birthdate 24th Feb, Born to Amiable, DC1
RORY JOHN, Birthdate 25th Feb, Born to dewmeadow, DC2
BOY, Birthdate 26th Feb, Born to Jas, DC3
SALLY ANIELA, Birthdate 28th Feb, Born to Thell, DC1
NEVE, Birthdate 4th March, Born to Frizbe, DC2
ALFRED WILLIAM, Birthdate 4th March, Born to damewashalot, DC3
BOY, birthday 10th March, born to UniS, DC1

I'd love to get him a trampoline but we have no garden.

So it seems i have no idea about the prices of bikes.

SS will be too big whatever

i'm making a list of all the jobs that need doing in the home - in an attempt to stop the yelling "I do everything" kind of situations... can you tell me what I have forgotten please!!!

I cook dinner/shop for food so that isn't necessary.

BIN

DISHES

LUNCH BOX

WASH CLOTHES

SHEETS

PUT AWAY CLOTHES

BATH CHILDREN

TIDY LOUNGE

HOOVER LOUNGE

BEDTIME

CLEAR DININGROOM

HOOVER DININGROOM

CLEAN BATHROOM/TOILET ETC

READ WITH B

Ta!

Dry Clothes!
Iron? (the odd thing?)
Breakfasts
School run
clean rest of house/kitchen
Oven? (hmmm thinks about doing her own sometime....)
'make' beds in morning

SS will be too big whatever, unless its a big trampoline which we haven't got room for......might get one of those junior ones with handles....oh don't know....

pmsl @ ironing!

rest of kitchen gets cleaned as I cook, and breakfast/school run is all me

Oven is a scary thought though...

Dry clothes is automatically under the washin em bit (that is my job, but seemed wrong not to put on the list when bins are there and that is still staying his job )

Junior one with handle he is more likely to be able to break than the enclosed one

Think your right flame, will let dd1 break the junior one instead
Off to play with dh for a bit now that he's back.

Dusting Flame? Dh will never do that he hates it.

Dh doesn't like the look of those balancing bikes and thinks a trike is better for him for now and one with a handle so we can control where he goes. I'm trying to get through to him that we really should buy something for him to grow to use, like a bike, because he won't be getting anything else big til christmas but he says a trike will be ok for him and he'll get plenty of use out of one so we're sticking to the trike.

We have, in addition to the ones you have:

empty dehumidifier (def dh job)

check treadmill workings for toys (me)

take out food waste (me if its not raining!)

get piles of tomorrow's clothes ready downstaris (me)

run (me. And has to be a job or gets forgotten!)

hoover the toaster (me, because I get alot of satisfaction from it!)

Pack bag for tomorrow (me)

Cant think what else.

Er, why do i need concentration for a reply?! I 'm worried!

Toys R Us do those bikes like mothercare, wih the parent control, but they're a fiver more I think. They look good, but waaaay out of our price range.
Ds2 is getting the scuttlebug for in the house (then garden when weather improves), playdough, an ds1 is giving him the wooden Percy for the traintrack. I've invoiced my Dad for the huge Ikea elephant and some clothes! I didi wonder if the scuttlebug would be too small, but then its th same size as ride ons he likes in laygroup, the same size as a wheelybug, and ds1 still crams himself onto things that small!

Dh in a strop tonight, because I fell asleep this afternoon .
Also we cant reach an agreement. We established that I need to work (getting JL application on Monday, and starting to look elsewhere), and can only do 3 weekends from 4, as thats the only time dh can have the kids regularly due to his rota. Ideally, I'd like to do 2, but the chances of getting employed are slim, so 3 will give me a better chance. I know from experience of employing weekend staff!! But, that means he has the boys 3 weekends, me the other one. So the only days off from work and kids will be a Thurs and a Fri once a month, when he has his rostered days off before working the weekend. These are the only 2 days a month we'll ever be together as a family, and ds1 will obv still have nursery. I proposed that we take half a day each to do what we want, either go out, or ask the other prson to take the kids out to leave an empty and peacuful house. Then use the other day for doing something all together, else we will literlaly only be together for 2 hours in the morn or evening wekkdays. Dh seems to think this is unreasonable, and that if he has the kids 3 weekends, he should get the 2 days to himself. I can see how he'll be tired. But that'd mean I never get a day or half day off, ever. I'd have the boys weekdays then work all weekend, or have then for all 7 days on th week he doeas a weekend shift.

Phoenix, ds1 still oves his trike with handle . Doesnt need the handle now obv, but still squashes onto the bike with knees up high. and has a thing about carrying a broom round pushed through the handle! So I think you'll get long use from the trike. Only thing is,if you get a character one, he'll prob stop liking it sooner when he gets into something else. Just a thought.
You can get nice ones where you can turn the pedals into foot plates to stop the banging-into-ankles thing, but they're not cheap!!

Yours sounds reasonable to me - about to reply to you now

(You wrote an essay )

Oh , and the handle is essential if you're going out and about! It was a long time befoer ds1 got the idea of braking or even slowing down, and was lethal on the hill that does down to our big park! Also good for the deliberately-willful stage of pedalling off at high speed!

@ dusting

Windowcleaning maybe?

I think you've covered the basics.

mrm - you have the boys all week, I don't understand why him having them for two days at the weekend gives him an entitlement to time off. But then dp never has all three without being booked weeks in advance.

I like the bikes, but ds won't be getting one The dds were late to learn to ride, and both learnt on ordinary bikes with the peddles taken off (cheeper alternative!)
He has a trike and a scooter already, and will be getting the playmobile castle for his birthday. I may buy some more people, as he only really likes the ones in uniform.

We had a rampoline with handles and dp threw it away when I was pregnant DS would have loved it.

DP is going o make the bed and cupboard to fit the room.The window means we can't have a high bed without blocking it, so he's going to make one up to the window and put drawers under it. The space for the cupboard will have hanging space, shelf for tv and bookcase I hope. If it gets finished I will put pics up.

I have painted the first wall. DD went out and chose the paint and it is too dark for the room, so I'm only using it on one wall and adding white for the rest.

DS has all four canines breaking though at once. Finally.

Thanks mrm. That is why i'm having second thoughts about the Iggle Piggle one i'll just get a plain one i think. We will be walking with him on it in the summer (if we have one this year) that's why i want a handled one

Blimey - a posting frenzy!

I'd go for the trampoline with handle Friz - dd has one and loves it.

I think that the theory with the pedal-free bikes is that they get used to balancing on those, and then have a trike to get used to the pedaling, and then they can move to a real bike without stabilisers.

Wonder if we should consider a trike with handle too . Think my parents have some sort of trike at theirs, but no handle iirc. Not that there's anywhere for her to use either round here - will have to drive 20 mins to a park with space for her to use them.

We bought her an ELC easel in the Boots sale too, but that seems to make it too much from us then.

Sort post would be another job on our list. We get absolutely masses of stuff through, and I have to split it all into shredding (anything showing name/address), recycling (including ripping windows out of all envelopes) and bin stuff.

Should washing the car go on the list too?

I think that your plan is much fairer mrm. I can understand your dh's point of view, but it's the pov of someone who has only considered his own situation, and not his partner's.

Would you be likely to earn enough to put ds2 into nursery/cm for one afternoon a week, to give you a break, and mean that you and dh can do something together one of the afternoons he is off each month?

Anyway - I told you where to get a job. Apply to Coffee & Tease, and take the boys with you to work!

Sounds like a good plan for the furniture Jas. What colour did dd choose?

Apple green

Right, what sort of thingummy will I need for the toilet when we do decide to start potty training? Is this right, or are there lots of well kept secrets that I need to know?!

mrm (or anyone with one in/just finished pre-school) - can you describe ds1's nursery to me, in terms of the sort of equipment they have, and what they do there?

Still in quite a quandary here.

Oh, csws, you're so funny. you can get that, but about £15 cheaper! Right, based on our minimal experiences of potty trainin:
one for upstairs one for down.If they both look the same it helps.
The one you may have seen in the boys room (like a biult up seat withthe wee bit you take out) if far more comfy and dignified, as its not too low to the ground.
Dont bother getting a loo seat with inbuilt toddler seat like we did.
Get a step stool to help getting up there.
Leave lots of books around by the potty/loo; you may be there some time!
Try and hold off till the food weather.
Dont do a sticker chart unles you run into trouble and really need too, its a needless hassle.

Er, great plan re job csws, i can just see me looking after the two of them/breaking up fights/doing a nappy while a huge queue forms at the counter

Dh thinks I should be a childminder. Problem is, I dont like kids! and I dont want more toys and mess in the house!! I wantto be a grown up again. I'll be having friends kid (the one you knoe csws) for 2.5hrs a week, and thats enough thank you!

BTW, ds2 DID A WEE IN THE LOO TODAY!!!! AND IT WAS A STANDY-UPPY!!!! All under his own steam too

Phoenix, so glad you'r listening to me re the trike

Jas, lol at 'he likes men in uniform'

Lol - that is a much posher version, but yup, that and a potty (or 3) is fine. Several potties are handy so you can have them dotted about.

Forgot to say - DS asked for the loo, sat on it and did sod all... I thought I had missed it because his nappy was warm and slightly damp... we got him downstairs and he did a HUGE wee on mum's kitchen floor He carefully stepped round it and pointed for her . he obv knew he needed it though!

cross posts - will read that later - Schofield is trying to break them out of prison and it is all too exciting... I need the next episode. I am having some very good dreams as a result of prison break

Will reply about preschool in the morning

See I don't get your 'Dont bother getting a loo seat with inbuilt toddler seat like we did' - isn't that effectively what I've linked to? I'm not actually going to start potty training yet, but since she asks so often to sit on the toilet, I thought I'd get a seat that makes her comfy there.

Are you writing a reply re pre-school mrm? Am trawling through OFSTED looking for other ones worth visiting for comparison. Found only one so far, which runs from a village hall . I know people who have experience of this one though, so will talk to them if I see them this week.

Ds1's nursery. Initial ideas:

Porch bit with named pegs, and snail to find your name and velcro it on like a register.

Main classroom with toilet area off that (even has a shower!), kitchen for fruit prep and baking activites, teachers toilet. Defined areas for focussed (teacher led)art and craft swell as the making table available all the time, carpet for stories, quiet room (half class goes toe ach for the story, so a smaller group, and can also be used to calm kids down if unwell or arguing with friends), pc with cbeebies website, home corner, structure that is usually a shop, but theme varies according to the topic of the week.
All drawers are labelled with words and pictures. Toys are laid out on tables varying day to day, but free to take out anything to play with as long as its put back.

Outdoor area has climbif frame all the time, then rotated toys: sand, soil, bikes, hoopla, castle etc etc. Drinknig fountain. Covered area along the outside wall of classroom for other toys eg construction kits, so kids have option to play outdoors with indoorish toys.Many kids function better that way. Umbrellas and wellies so can go uot side if raining.

Children do one focussed activity per session, or every second session if its a big projct. Other than that, they have free play, with teachers intervening to help and question blah blah.Regular visits to reception to use facilities, see friends, get used to teachers.

Singing once a week, library visit once a week.Field trips to complement the theme of th week, prob go uot every month or so, eg park, church, B&Q, recyclimg banks!

Lots of work on display on the walls, which gets rotated often. Tissues and jugs of water on the side to help yourself to.

Erm, what else?

Doorbell; door locked after letting in time. Gate to main school also locked. No way out of garden.Code word for emergency pick-up people(one of mine has forgotten it though !)

Nope, we got this in white, because we had a discount. But it was hardly ever used. And poor quality actually.

Do you want me to list all the toys?! Eek!
Alot of consrtuction/pegboards.pinboards
trains and cars
dressing up
books
art stuff
water play(toys vary)
sand play( toys vary)
cd player

drawes ans drawers of toys really!

Lol at hanging the loo sat on the wall though Modern art at its most obscure.

Ooo, and I swear by the travel potty for keepimg under the buggy with the 8 changes of clothes per outing Although some people say they're pointless. But I couldnt face lugging a real potty round everywhere and then having to clean it out in the middle of the street.