December 2007 - Not Quite Two, Already Terrible ;)

[claraquack]

Just checking that this worked....

hi - I'm here too. I seem to have been rushing around a lot this week, catching up after being away.

Also we have had all the excitment of deciding that we are going back to England in January rather than as originally planned in summer next year as I suddenly realised I couldn't give up dd1's school place (applied for on a just-in-case basis). It's an excellent school and only a few minutes walk away from us, but is hideously over-subscribed and we had no guarantee we would get a place for her in Year 1. I hadn't realised we had the option of a delayed start as she turns 5 in September, but under UK law they don't have to start until the term after they turn 5.

Everyone, the LEA, the school and my DH's boss have been brilliant and so helpful. We are just waiting for official confirmation from the school and then we'll definitely accept the place. I am so excited!

Buzzy - Congratulations! you must be really pleased. yes the cricket team were here, I think I saw them on their way out at the airport yesterday. Luckily the cricket here is over today (last semi today. Final in Barbados this weekend) as it has caused traffic chaos and I am fed up of pulling over for convoys of police and coaches transporting cricketers! It's been good for St Lucia though, the place has been buzzing as it was also Jazz week last week.

Clairey - what excitement have you got coming up? what is going on with the window cleaner, or has that all died down? I'm sure you're on top of it all but don't let him hurt you by getting too close and then "backing off" because of his girlfriend. I am sure he is enjoying you as a friend, but it's usually difficult for a man and a woman to be good friends without "it" getting in the way (at least that's my opinon, everyone is free to disagree!)

I'm here too, just haven't done anything so nothing to say really! The only time I've been out the house is to drop off and collect the boys, mind you I'd make a good agoraphobe I think, I don't mind it (even though it makes me a bit boring to chat to)

Saying that, my brother sent me a lovely dress for Evie which a friend of his made her and its gorgeous and simple and I'm sure I could make similar so I've bought myself a sewing machine, its coming on Monday... Last one I used was my Gran's ancient turn-handle Singer when I was about 12 so not sure how I'll get on with it - v excited though!

Are anyone else's LOs being akward at the moment? Evie is soooooo contrary! "I want that one, not that one, that one! No no no no the nuffa one, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" You can't give her any choice at all or she just throws a wobbly! Its very wearing

Clara, glad you had a fab time in Florida, I went when I was 19 and loved it, I'd love to take the DCs there one day! Great news about DD's school place too (and coming home)!

Buzzy, its great that they liked your presentation! Yay! I think everyone deserves to treat themselves once in a while, you've totally earned it! Gorgeous new pics of your girls on FB BTW

Insy, glad you're all pox free now! It's a lovely feeling once they've all recovered and you know that's that dealt with...

BT, how are you getting on with house stuff? Any joy yet?

Clairey, anything exciting coming up then I do agree a bit with Clara about women and men being good friends, I think it can work (I've had good male friends in the past) but it is harder to manage when there is an attraction between you.

Ooh glad you've got the school thing sorted Clara

Not much going on with wc, when I text him to tell him about ds' escaping he came straight round to see if I was ok then got his nan to check on me that eve. So that was nice...but we're just friends. Things seem to be going really well with his gf, he's said a few things to indicate he's in it for the longhaul with her and I don't feel upset or jealous about it, am just really happy for him. DD invited his nan to her party and he said he'd like to come along and see dd on her birthday so he's just a really nice person! I get what you are saying though, and I was thinking the other day that it will be a shame to see less of him once he is properly living with his gf-at the moment he pops round quite a bit when he is at his nan's, hopefully he wouldn't drop me completely but you never know. As for male/female friendships...I dunno, most of my friends used to be male until h banned me from speaking to them. A couple of them I found attractive at one point or another and vice versa (sometimes it was even mutual!)but it didn't get in the way especially. One of them is still one of my closest friends.

Soo in terms of excitement I have: birthday party tomorrow, drink with friend tues eve, flash febreeze event on weds, to london on fri, london eye and lion king on sat, back home, dd's party and a bbq on sun, then a couple more parties, then on holiday for a week from 10th june, then ascot on 19th june [completely broke]

It's a social whirlwind I tell ya

Wow, a social whirlwind indeed Clairey! V V V that you're going to see the Lion King! One of my favourite films and has great music, I bet its amazing on stage! WC does sound like a good friend, still think its a shame he has a GF though!

Beckle I have wanted to see it since it first came out so am vv excited (of course I am going for dd's benefit really )

It is a bit of a shame, but as I am not mooning over him or jealous of his gf I think it shows that he isn't the one for me He has set the bar high for how I'd want a future man to be with my dc though! (although he does not approve of ds wearing skirts )

Nothing new here... still no viewings

We are currently doing up the garden to make it look more appealing. And we are going to decorate downstairs - need to get some quotes as I am getting the pros into do it, it's a big job and if we try and do it ourselves, it would take too long and cause too much disruption.

DS has had a hair cut, DH took his clippers to it, it looks fecking awful , really uneaven, and DS was screaming hysterically all through it and clung to me for ages afterwards My poor baby, but it was really long and kept getting knots in it. Anyone have any better ideas for cutting hair when ds hates the scissors coming anywhere near him?

BT - sorry about the viewings. There was a programme on tv before about helping people do up houses that weren't being sold by making them more attractive - perhaps you should call them (not that I am saying your house isn't attractive of course) (tries to dig herself out of hole) (fails).

No real advice re hair cuts, we haven't really tried with dd2 yet, but have you tried taking him to a professional who do children's hair? They will have experience of making children feel relaxed. With dd1, her first cut was a really little, gentle cut to get her used to it and she has been good as gold since then.

In the mean time we use a tangle teezer here which seems to work well on knots.

Clairey - glad to hear than being a single mum doesn't mean you can't have an enviable social life . We don't go out a lot any more but did manage a lovely meal out at a steak house last night. Trouble is the food took an hour and a half to come so by the time we had finished it was half past ten. Everyone else there was settling in for a late one but I forced DH to leave as I knew we weren't likely to get much sleep (and was right, both dd's up in the night).

Tangle teezer is the best invention ever! Takes me a quarter of the time to do dd's hair now.

DS' first cut he sat facing me on my lap and she was really patient with him wriggling. The second cut my friend did with her clippers and we just sat him on a stool and did it as fast as we could

No advice about house bt

Clara most of the time I am just sat at home alone...it just so happens that my year's excitement is all condensed into a few weeks And of course my parents are paying for most of the holiday

I think I will get one of those tangle teasers!

Stranded - at you in your hole, don't worry I wasn't offended!!

at your social life clairey!! and WC sounds like a really lovely bloke

great news you have DD's school sorted clara and how exciting to be coming back early - I get the impression you're not all that enamoured with St. Lucia (unless that is just me trying to persuade myslef that living in the gloomy UK isn;t all that bad)

oops have to go, will catch up properly tomorrow...

Skid - I am three times more excited about coming home to gloomy England than I was about moving out here. I just miss all my friends and all the stuff I had got used to at home like decent food in the shops, play parks, Sky Plus, I could go on but I won't bore you! Funnily enough, despite finding it incredibly hard when we 1st got there and all the problems we had, both DH and I said we thought we would have preferred living in Pakistan to here (without all the violence/restrictions etc). Not that there is anything that wrong with St Lucia, it's just very....small.

Clairey - I was thinking of you and your dc's the other day as I perused all the hair products available for Afro Caribbean hair. Not much good for me and my totally straight-haired daughters (scroll down this here for a pick of my dd1 on a pirate ship day trip) but you could have had a field day!

Clara I just ordered 4 of those tangle teezer combs - DD1 absolutely hates and loathes having her hair brushed! We found a hairdresser that had a DVD screen and a chair the right height for kids and after that had no complaints. I've just cut DD1's hair in front of a DVD at home and works well enough for a little trim now and then.

Beckle, not sure whether I'd describe DD2 as contrary but she's certainly hard work right now! Absolutely flat out refuses to do as she's told a lot of the time. Everything is "mine" even when its very obviousy not hers and she's absolutely terrible at sharing anything like a bag of crisps even when there's loads (and woe betide anyone who takes one when there's only a few left in the bag!) The yelling NOOOOOO!! at the top of her lungs does seem to be abating a bit TG, I just tried my best to ignore it.

Buzzy - Ds is not great at sharing. Someone told me they don't really understand the concept until at least 3yo!

We had DS in front of a DVD to cut his hair, it didn't help!

I have uploaded some photos of his new look!

Ahh BT he is still very very cute and it doesn't look uneven in the pics

Lovely pic of your dd too Clara

Both my dc are rubbish at sharing, dd is ok at groups/preschool but hates sharing her stuff. DS latches on to something and won't give it up for the entire session at toddlers and will fight dd like mad for stuff at home but then often suddenly say "there you go Caiela you have it"

Bloody good job wc is so lovely, he came round this pm and was tickling dd and she weed on him

BT - I love his haircut - he looks like a proper little boy rather than a toddler - gorgeous

clara - is that your DD with blonde hair - she is GORGEOUS! Know what you mean about missing blighty, we love to slag it off but when you live abroad you do come to appreciate its few pluses. I really missed the Guardian and cheese when I lived in Mexico...

clairey at the weeing! What did he say? My DD did a poo in her pants today (very rare) and her friend came up to me and said 'Excuse me Zinzi's mummy, Zinzi has done a poo in her pants and I can't play near her now because she's too stinky' Poor DD was mortified

Re sharing, maybe I have low expectations (probably ) but I would never expect a 2 year old to share - surely they are not ready to understand sharing yet - even DD finds it hard at 4.5 (or do I just have really badly behaved children??)... as long as you keep explaining it to them isn't that the most you can hope for at that age? [hopeful]

helllooo - missing you all but seem to very busy doing nothing... think everything I get on MN.. the phone rings, a toddler climbs on me or some other disaster.

Had a 4D scan on sun - photos on FB...although h rearranged his business trip to miss it and then wondered why I was upset/pissed off

I wonder if Suey has had her baby - she was due in May.

Evie is being very demanding... and refusing to wee on her potty - she will hold it for hours...

Hey Cazzy - I saw the 4d photos amazing!
for you about your DH missing it!!

DrSkid - at least DS is no longer being mistaken for a girl!
And your poor DD! Obviously her friend has no manners [cat bum face emoticon]

BT, I love his haircut too, very cute!

And Clara, your DD is beautiful!

And Cazzy, fab pictures of baby too!

Well I am a very happy bunny today as my results came back clear! Yay! I had a multinodular goitre, they don't know what caused it but it was totally benign Got to go back to Cambridge in a couple of weeks for a blood test to see how my half-thyroid is coping and whether I need top-up medication or not (fingers crossed for not), then another in 6 months and that should hopefully be it (touch wood)! I feel like someone has pressed the 'play' button on my life again

Beckle - that's brilliant, you must be so relieved. I bet that's such a weight lifted off your shoulders, Can you do anbything to celebrate?

Thanks for compliments on dd1. She is very photogentic but not so pretty when pulling her sour/sulky faces!!!!!

Got brother, SIl and their dd coming to stay today, can't wait to see them. Also parents day at school where dd1 gets to show us what she does all day. it's so funny because at home at this stage it would still mostly be playing but it's all very serious here with their little "activities". Does anyone else have experience of Montessori? It's been great for dd1 but not sure it would have suited a more boistrous child (eg dd2.... luckily the toddler section isn't quite so intense, but she'll be going up pre-primary in Sept and need to wear a uniform so we'll see how she gets on).

Yey Beckle,that is wonderful news!!!!
I guessed it was the case from your status on FB

We've knocked another £8000 off the price of our house...

beckle [gri n]

fantastic news!!! You must be over the moon. Thank God for that.

Hi everyone else [waves] supposed to be tidying the study so can't catch up properly

Yayyyyyyy beckle! What fab news for you.

Looks like you had a great time in London clairey!

Sorry to hear house still not sold BT. Your DS does look cute though!

Just added another doggy photo to my FB page for those interested...

Poor DD2 has nasty cold/cough. But hurrah she seems to be starting to come through the other side of demanding everything be done her way - OR ELSE!! But I may just be deluding myself

DD1's father has reverted to form and accused me of being unreasonable and self-centred - pot, kettle, black I say! He's just angry because I won't lie down and be trampled on.

Speaking of which clara, how is your friend getting on?

Buzzy - thanks for asking. she's coming over today actually! But the good news is she's booked her flights for leaving, in about two weeks time. It's all going to be quite stressful on the day as she needs to get her stuff and transfer money from their joint account to her account before he realises. Then she is staying at our house before flying out early the next morning. Just hoping it all goes to plan....And he doesn't come after her with a machete. Luckily he doesn't know where we live and we have good security.

Stranded that is great news! Thank God she has you. I hope it all goes well for her.

DrSkid - my house is an utter tip atm, so just as well no viewings lol, got to get it straight this week as have the painter in next week to do the downstairs, stairs and landing.

Clara great news about your friend. Hope it all goes well for her

DDs birthday was great but the entire weekend was non stop so yesterday I was completely knackered and hungover. Almost recovered now though!

Beckle I commented on your fb status but once again hooray! You must be so relieved