Oct 08 - Chair climbing, spider greeting, potty training? NOOOOOO, they're still babies! <wibble>

[50ftQueenie]

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz
9th Oct (Due 17th Oct) - 50ftQueenie - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz
28th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - RachieW - Boy - Jack - 7lbs 4oz
31st Oct (Due 20th Oct) - KnickersOnMaHead - Boy - Samuel Paul - 9lbs 11oz
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz

Hope this is ok ladies.

moondog is a longstanding mner who is forthright in her views/posts.

pistachio - it is unlikely to be down to anything that you've done wrong, and more down to her age. We have had so many phases like you describe, but they get less and less as they get older.

Oh, and dd had her last feed today .

What's a "barney"? Is that a scottish expression?

pistachio - I think we all do the best we can and parent in different ways that suit our own lives. She's probably just under the weather, like you say and feeling a bit more clingy and needy at the moment.
We're in the "mean parents" camp. Q fussed for about 5 minutes tonight before falling off to sleep after bedtime story and cuddles and we just left him there to fuss/cry. He already had his kisses and long cuddles and is able to put himself off to sleep... and it's working for us now... but who knows, maybe that will come back to bit us later.
I'm not making sense. I just htink you never know and we all do the best we can in our own way and I think you're doing a brilliant job. Your kids look happy and lovely in your pics and from what you say

I want to go post on a thread moondog is on, now.

about the last feed, csws.

but, and maybe it's too soon for a joke and if it is, slap me... but at least now you won't have to grow a third breast when the baby arrives

Hello all, glad you had a fab day at Ronshar's. I will be brave and organised enough to do a meet up one day.

Pistachio sorry to hear you have had a terrible night. I can't see that you are doing anything wrong. I think it has a lot to do with temperament, take my brothers and I, we were raised with the same rules etc but my youngest brother was a very difficult child, whereas me and my other brother were easy going. I think we all do the best we can but that our children know how to push our buttons and test the boundaries to the limit.

On that note I spoke to J's Key Worker tonight, apparently he never shouts at Nursery or throws a tantrum at Nursery if he is told 'no'

Star- enjoy half term. I cannot wait for mine next week.

Ronshar- For children with stammers at Nursery we refer them to Speech and Language, to be honest I don't have much experience about this only a terms worth. We have a therapist who comes in to work with the children. Do you have a good GP who could give you a referral?

Ooh dh took me to see Strictly Come Dancing at the 02 on Saturday night, it was my Christmas present, it was excellent

Ronshar - Have you spoken to her teacher? Your school should be able to refer your dd for assessment by an SALT. At least that how it would work in our school. I've not actually had any children with a stammer, but I have made speech and language referrals about other issues.

Moondog is scary.

I was sitting down to write reports this evening, but certain members of my class have been so awful today that I think I should hold off until tomorrow so I don't write horrible things about them!

Star - You were asking about the minibeasts. Still no sign of them or the missing chocolate either. Then to cap it all, someone's been snapping pencils in half and hiding them in the book corner. We had a big chat about it all today, and I got each child to write to me a note, just between me and them, telling me whether they did it or not. Got a confession about the pencils but not the rest.

I was thinking about Bethoo today. Is anyone in touch with her on fb? Has she had her baby yet?

I think she has mixed feeling pistachio. She's said cheerfully a few times that she's a big girl and just has milk from a cup now, but when ds was feeding at bedtime (in her room whilst I was reading stories) she got a bit upset about not having it. We'll see how we go. Prob won't really hit her til morning when she would normally have it. Hopefully she'll be happy with a cuddle instead.

Aubergenie- it's horrible when things go missing and get broken, especially waiting for that confession which never comes. It's not quite the same but we had a whole new HappyLand set delivered on Friday, put it out today and within 20mins doors were hanging off and it was all over the floor. I swear my head was going to explode

Bethoo had baby Kira earlier this month aubergenie.

Let me reread your post and have a think pistachio.

Pistachio- for me it was the sheer weight of the responsibility that was crushing. I remember on about day 4 since ds was born standing in my kitchen and wishing I was at work as dealing with a class full of 8 year olds felt easier than this new baby. I suppose I wish some of my friends who had babies had been honest and told me how overwhelming it would be at first.

Hmmm, that's poss a bit too abstract/theoretical for my liking pistachio. Can you word it in terms which sound more like a real person?

Might be worth having something not just mentioning relationships changing with existing friends, but talking about how you can make lots of new friends - go to every group that you can until you find ones that feel right with likeminded people. I have a whole fab new bunch of friends since having dd.

I'm such a slow typist!

Pistachio - I agree with the others - I bet so much of it is about personality. I've got 2 nieces, both treated much the same. One was brilliant about going to bed and the other one was awful. I can understand what you mean about worrying that you've made a monster. I sometimes worry that I'm not tough enough with S about things like bedtime.

CSWS - Well done for BFing your DD for so long! Did you make a decision to stop feeding her now that she's 4 or did she decide she wanted to stop? How are YOU feeling?

Rachie I think we are going to try for a Grenwich meet up soon. Just down the road from you. We are nice honest.

Pistachio. Now take a deep breath and a step back. Look at yourself then look at DD. Now slowly fall to the floor in a heap and realise that the creature you are looking at is a mini you.
That is what I have to do whenever DD1 gets me to the end of my tether. The things that really annoy me are the things that I see in DD that I dont like in myself. Sad really.

Star thank you. I have already spoken to DD2 about it this afternoon. She is no thtat bothered by it but the other children at school are saying things like she is stupid and cant talk properly.
DD1 has offered the solution of "duffing them all up" but I tried to point out that violence isnt really the best answer to mean comments. I shall give it a few weeks then DD1 can do her worst

50ft. Its ok. I should have asked first. Got a bit carried away Like I said just go out. I will understand. Although if you are in and dont open the door I may get a bit offended.

I am waiting to hear back from SALT at the childrens center at the hospital.
I have spoken to the school nurse and the health visitor and a mum after school, who is a support teacher at a secondary school, they have all said speak to the SALTs. Waiting game now.

On the bright side I had a lovely chat with the school nurse and got lots of info and numbers of people to call about getting a job with them. Apparently they are really short staffed and are in the middle of an audit to get more new staff in. Seems like good timing to me.

Pistachio, I think it would have meant something and be reassuring. I think the fact you are going to be talking about parent hood being hard to will help too. My NCT classes were good but the new parents who came to talk to us about the early days were so laid back that they made it sound so easy. Then along came J and I realised how neurotic I was and everything felt so hard. I don't think the after care at the hospital after the birth helped much either as I was left to get on with things by myself which just reinforced the feeling that I should know what I was doing. I just think if people are more honest about how hard motherhood is it will dispell the myth about it being an easy job and make life a whole lot easier for us lovely mums I really wish I'd found you this group for day one as I think it would have kept me saner!

Ooh, what will you do with W if you go to work ronshar?

my decision to stop aubergenie - wanted to do it well before the new baby arrives so that she won't feel that it's pushing her out. Not sure how I feel yet - prob won't hit me for a while either.

Ronshar a Greenwich meet up would be cool. I'd love to meet up, just shy about being the new girl! The school should also be able to help with a SALT refferal, they should be able to ask for a refferal too, we do for children, sometimes before the parents. I think you need to be quite pushy for these things, parental pressure always speeds things up at school level.

Pistachio- I agree with CSWS about new friends too. You should promote Mumsnet as well. Sometimes I'd find being with my new real life friends quite draining as I'd feel I'd always have to be smiley but chatting online you can be more honest. Now though thankfully I have relaxed with my friends and moan to my hearts content

CSWS What a day for your family. Have you made the decision or was it DD as well? Dont be sad be very proud of all you have achieved.

Aubergenie. Children are little buggers sometimes. Can you not introduce some very strict consequences for the whole class which will only be lifted if the mini beasts are returned, as well a note apologising for the choc stealing?

Pistachio. Can I suggest as a positive the whole fierce maternal love that springs from no-where.
A negative is the loss of identity that comes as soon as you get pregnant.

To me it would prompt the discussion about the importance of making friends with other Mums.