April 2009 - Chapter 3 - Let us round up the stragglers

[PuzzleRocks]

Ta da.

As a child criminal myself (7yr-10yr!) i think he can be reformed.
I used to steal money from mom and dad for sweets and things...and considering we didn't have a lot of money when I was little it was doubly bad (at the time I just focussed on the fact that I could not have sweets and treats like my friends had...never mind my 4 sisters...)
i think you did right by showing severe disappointment and being strict with the punishment.he knew it was wrong and expected punishment. another talk about trust and your now lack of it in him might do too ( i wa never so horrified as when my parents calmly stated they felt they'd not be able to trust me for quite some time..)

WFH - Do you know that they are making an animated version of the Gruffalo for Christmas tv. I'm terribly excited as Ellen loves Julia Donaldson's books.
We found Monkey Puzzle when she was tiny and had to buy it as by conincidence that was her nickname (now Puzz).

Boff - Sounds like you handled that brilliantly.
I had a short phase of being a bit light fingered in the sweet shop when I was younger. The disappointment on my Mum's face was sufficient to keep me out of trouble ever again. I have no crimnal convictions.

[walks off muttering darkly "because they haven't caught me yet" mwah ha ha]

BoffinMum I think you have behaved admirably - not sure I'd have kept my cool like that! I shouldn't think he'll turn into a career criminal, especially as he SO clearly knew he'd done wrong. I can still remember that sinking feeling when you get caught doing something wrong, yikes.

Must be a hard one to face though, have yourself a stiff gin nice cup of tea x

I did see that Puzzle - the stage version is also coming to Bath in the autumn, we might take DS1 along! Hooray for Gruffaloes - we have all the Donaldson books except for the one about the giant - never liked that one much.

I stole money from my mum when I was about 8-10 as well. To buy chocolate. I figured it was for a good cause, and she never found out. And I don't feel very bad about it either, should I? Boff, well done, it's a parenting challenge I am sure.

So DD1 is snotty and coughing - for a change - it's ongoing illnesses in the Schulte household. Should I send her to nursery tomorrow, or not?

Hehehe!
The saga of the young criminal continues.

He came down at about 8 and apologised, and we had a bit of a chat about it all. He was reasonably sorry, but eventually I sent back to bed. He seemed outraged at this, so I assumed he was not truly contrite.

His dad came home and went up for a man-to-man chat. It transpired that DS1 had had a bit of a kip and as it was still light, had woken up assuming it was 8am, and that he had been up there for 15 hours, and that his dad had popped in before leaving for work!!! Hence his anger at being sent back up there.

This event has a particular resonance for this household, as his dad once was doing shift work, and woke up at 5 ready for his next shift, ate his cornflakes, shaved and so on, and drove off to work. He was baffled at the amount of traffic, and then it dawned on him - he was 12 hours early!!! It was 5pm the day before!!! He had just gone to bed!!!

Excellent - no wonder he seemed outraged at being sent back to bed! He was probably wondering just how many days he'd have to serve in the guest room.

We are feeling proud of DS1 today - earlier in the week he was in the bath with his friend Sam, and using his bath crayons he spontaneously wrote his name on the side of the bath (oddly, in mirror writing, but it seems this is very common in children his age). Now bear in mind that although we've showed him his name written down and spelled it out for him, we've never taught him to write. I assumed he'd learned it at nursery, but I asked his nursery manager today and she said they haven't taught him anything like that. So he has just spontaneously learned to write the letters and acquired the skill with a crayon to reproduce them.

The S was a bit wobbly, but otherwise they were pretty perfect!

. I suppose that is better than actually missing whole days. I have done that a few times in my misspent youth.

DH's just got a call from one of his brothers. His fiance is pregnant and due in Jan. We are so excited.
I know it's a bad omen to send a congrats card but would it be ok to send flowers? Or something else? They just announced their engagement so it could be a general congrats, no?

sorry for delay

surprise yes it is swineflu but its no worse thana bad bug. None of the rest of us have got it (fingers crossed) and I think she son the mend now

Trying to catch up with the million posts

puzzle yes you can bundle baby congrats with engagement congrats!!! and flowers are always lovely! how exciting -

wfh - yay for ds1 - look at your little genius!!

Good morning

WFH - Clever boy, you must have been so excited.

BB - Thanks, i'll order some now.
The girls have cousins on my side but as my sisters are a fair bit older, they range from 11 - 20 yrs old. It will be great for them to have a cousin of a similar age.

Bronze - who has swine flu?

Bronze, did they test your DD for swine flu? Glad she's getting better. With my DD1 having the sniffles and coughing, I am wondering what to do... I assume as long as she doesn't have a fever, it can't be the flu? Also she's been a bit snotty for a couple of days now and surely the flu starts 'properly' straight away? Am very worried that nursery will send her home because I need to take H to see the cardiologist today and I won't be able to get back home quickly if needed...

Puzzle, what great news. Why don't you send her a pregnancy survival kit? As in mother-to-be bath oil, chocolate, RLT?

Good luck at the cardi's Schulte. Thinking of you and little H.

Have just ordered he flowers but nice idea Schulte, I will do that in a month or two when she a bit further along.
I will be thinking of you today also. Fingers crossed for you.

hey hey!

i'm just back from holiday in the outer hebrides (thanks for your kind comments on my fb photos) and am off to wickerman festival on the morro! we just bought a bell tent yesterday which should come tommorow too. most exciting. harris turning into a total charmer too. lots of fun to be around. He giggles when he farts just now and rolls his eyes at this dad!

hope you're all ok xx

much love x

WFH that is well clever of your DS.

Eggs on toast - om nom nom!

Made madeleines yesterday - have to say that cake that comes in handy bite-sized portions is a Very Bad Idea, especially when alone in house!

Schulte- no they're not doing blood tests anymore just the doctor diagnosing

dh woke up this morning watched tv for 10 minutes then kicked in with a raging temperature ahhhh

Izy is snotty and unable to breathe properly and though thats not the flu it did mean I spent all night sat up with him

Oh no Bronze, does that mean your DH is getting it as well? Fingers crossed for all of you that you stay healthy.

So good news for us today, nothing wrong with Hazel's heart. The cardiologist was great, very relaxed and H was ever so good smiling at him and lying perfectly still while he did the ultrasound. She did try to eat the cable though at one point

So it's just an innocent heart murmur and one item that I can tick off my worry list now. B52, hope you get the same result.

Does anyone else here find that they can't stop worrying about things? I have always been an awful pessimist but with 2 children it's getting a bit much now. I hope I'll get over it at some point and just accept that they will be ill all the time.

Schulte, that is wonderful news.

poor you bronze; I hate when they're snotty.

fingers crossed for the cardi Schulte

WFH that's very good! You must be very proud of DS

Ju you certainly have been doing a lot of baking... (I'm very jealous) would you whip me up some chocolate chip cookies? I've been wanting some for ages, but never seem to have the time.

Puzzle I quite agree that flowers and a general congrats is good until they're farther along as you never know... (my cousin in law lost a baby recently in the womb and she was 20 weeks very sad and it's her second baby death -tho they did have a living child about 2 years ago)

Meg's hair is longish in places, but not in others...so it's a very 'stylish' shaggy look popular as a boy's style...which is why she gets called a boy an awful lot...that, and I tend not to dress her in soft pink all the time. I was thinking of cutting it in places, but realised the only way it could all be even is if I gave her a buzz or a mohawk but both seem a bit out of place on her. I got some j' and j's detangle conditioner and it seems to be helping.

Good news Schulte. I have to say that I don't worry all that much (which does worry me sometimes) but all I do when I start getting worried is look at M and I see she's really happy and healthy so the general does not bother me and I do my best not to put her in the way of dangers otherwise. But (((hugs))because I do get niggles which I know if I let them would drive me completely insane.

Oh Bleu how sad for your cousin.

Might give the J+J stuff a try.

So I'm not well...but there's apparently nothing wrong with me as can be found by the gp. And I don't know what exactly to do...
I'm tired, dreadfully tired even after sleeping loads.
I'm thirsty often.
I'm having mood swings leading to verbal outbursts or tears for no real reason.
I feel ill 8 out of 10 mornings (throw uppy).
I'm headachey lots too.
I'm pale and breathless lots of the times.

All the obvious has been checked: PND test(edinbourgh) a negative, bloods for low iron negative, BP normal (if not low), not pregnant, no virus, no illness, no nothing. 'You're just a new mother and are finding it stressful.' But I really don't feel like that is it. I don't feel right. I'm not normal (not even my usual abnormal normal). But what else could it be? How far should I pursue things and keep going back to the GP about 'nothingness'? Any ideas? Do my symptoms sound like what the rest of you are experiencing? Am I just a stressed new mum?