were into september not long now frantic label sewing, shoe buying and general getting organised and breath!!

[bodenaddict]

hi ladies here is our new thread

Ah yes the grandparent effect. Maybe suggest they watch a nice film together? Something he will respond positively to, like an oldie one. Then they can shnuggle together and you can feed in snacks etc.

How are you all handling dinner? DD needs something at the school gate, when she gets in, then something at about 5 to fill her full. We start bedtime at 6 to be asleep for 7.
I can do snacks and dinners, but what is super filling and easy for her to eat when tired? A no brainer sort of. I honestly think porridge with some pureed fruit in might be a good evening meal for her!!

I can't do scramble egg and baked beans everynight Eating together is totally out til she gets used to these hectic days. DH can't make the table till 6.15 and she would be eating her own arm or asleep by then.

That's great to hear about miniboden

I make a snack, say a sandwich and milk, when dd gets home then if we are all having the same meal we all eat together as usual at 6-6.10 when dh gets home otherwise I might make hers a bit earlier if she asks. She is eating a lot at the moment - breakfast of one yogurt, cereal and TWO pieces of bread and lemon curd Bedtime routine starts at 7 for 8 - but I might try and get dh to take her up earlier.

Dd loves stuffed pastas - they are quick and filling. Quiche?

Oh God we are on pesto pasta strike [our old fav] so now it's plain pasta only. Might just do that tonight. Will try with garlic butter on.

DD1 is so low on stamina thing, she would go all manic and orbital if she ate with us at 6. It would be nice to be able to do it though. We do when she is well rested and hasn't much on. We converted our house on the strength of the realisation we were not goingto be able to do family evening meals for a long time yet - we now have a big kitchen diner so I can be with her while she eats and still potter about and there is room for baby sister and toys etc

Quiche = pastry = no.stuffed pasta = not curly twirly pasta = no. I wouldn't mind but we eat all sorts and she was weaned onto a very varied diet.

Just remembered she likes falafel and I could have balls made ready to fry up for her with some pitta breads and couscous. Ahh Haaaaa! That'll be all next week then!

Its' strange - I wouldn't say dd was a bundle of energy and can be quite the couch potato (lke her mother ) yet she just doesn't seem to sleep a lot.

I suspect after 6 is a bit late for dd to eat but we only got into eating together in the last few months and it seems a shame to give up on it. I can see why might have to though, especially if bedtime comes forward.

It's like planning a military campaign.

I was the worst faddy eater as a child - I only liked chips and mushrooms. It's a wonder I survived. It drove my mother crazy and I was so very skinny she was afraid people would think she starved me. Don't worry, I grew out of it when I was about....................30!

Lol at chips and mushrooms. The mushrooms bit is very random, they are a bit icky I think.

Your dd adjust I bet, if she has been happy on what she sleeps till now. I'd stick with it as the reality is it will be nice to see each other, the healthy eating practice of being together and socialising will be a gift to her, and when home work starts there will have to be more hours in the day for my dd and all of them. Imagine homework!! It feels very unlikely at the moment!

School run time! How did that happen?

Is my Ds the last to start then??

He does not start for another wk

TBH now I just want it over with, biuld up has been going on too long iyswim.

Glad to hear lots of dc are settling into it all. DD seems to be enjoying herself. We had our first drop-off wobble yesterday, but the teacher and TA were wonderful and it was all fine again today.

I started to worry that dd wasn't making friends, and wondered if she minded. But she has been invited for a playdate by another little girl. When I asked what she was like and if dd got on well with her, she said, 'um, well, she keeps trying to hold my hand....' So I think dd is probably actually just quite happy doing her own thing and isn't ready for proper friendships at school just yet. But I put it to her that the other girl was probably a bit lonely and looking for a good friend, and on that basis she decided to be friendly and is looking forward to the playdate. She is a funny girl.

She has also been invited for a playdate by the one child in the class that she has actually been complaining to me about! He is a quite boisterous boy I think, and dd doesn't cope very well with noisy boyish play. She has told me that she hates him, so I was a bit worried when he asked his mum to invite dd over. But dd is delighted and says she will be his friend after all. 4yo social dynamics are just weird and impenetrable.

Well, bizarre beast the 4 year old.
Came bounding out of school, running about, demanded to go to gym [fab GP drove us] had an ace time, wolfed pasta and then totally conked out and became very tearful. She had been on pure adrenaline so it was inevitable, but it was nice to see her let go and liven her spirits up a bit. Tears not helped by me and dh having 'words', and her needing to sit on loo for 20 mins trying to poo whilst I basiclly talked her through the 2nd stage of labout [deep breath and push your botty out, can you feel it coming?]

Has had movicol, and sennot. If that don't shift it nothing will. Been 4 days .

But the downer now is pure tiredness, she has had a brill day.

I'll tell school we are expecting a loo blocker and that they can ring me if there is a problem. I might ask them to keep an eye on her for withholding too. OOOOOOh poo. I actually hate poo, and the whole mechanism. Phht.

Oo and she ate! Some scabs of the roast chicken [rofl] and all the mash, and half a bowl of custard. Not bad!

So a good day, but a very hard beginign and end.

Great news about the 2 playdates! DD1 is the same in many ways, actually very happy to go solo and a bit nonplussed when people try hand holding and hugs etc. Wonder if that will change of if it is personality or an age thing.

Aw... aw... aw - I am a bit tired of school getting to do all the interesting bits of being a Mum and leaving me with just the mechanical bits and tired grumpy end of the day moments... I saw an advert on the Metro for a Renoir exhibition - which is really a me and dd kinda thing - I realised we will have to wait until half-term or maybe even Christmas holidays to go now.

Anyhooo...

On the upside after school dd had her snack picnic with the usual crowed, had a go on the boat swings and then went for a walk around the duckpond. On the way home we went shopping for tights... it is getting cooler here now and none of her spring tights fit her any more.

[Gosh how children grow emotion ]

Hope all the wobblers have a nice Friday - and then it's the weekend - yay!

We've done nothing but vegetate on the sofa in the evenings, have just about managed to hold out for meal with family at 6ish though.
I thought he was going to fall asleep in front of Cbeebies at about 5 the other day!

Small snippets of information are working their way back to me - he wished he'd had school dinner on Wednesday because "they had chips". He has learnt the actions to Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes and held the letter E in a sign that said Welcome (not sure who or what they were welcoming). There is a nice teacher with a blue waistcoat, and his little brother (who has just started nursery) pushed one of the reception boys (who is twice his size) over in the playground! Ooops.

My dd seemed to have a better day today, still lots of tears but wondering part of it is that they have just become a habit rather than coming from being really worried. They went to assembly today & soem of the older children had put on a play, she loved that & didn't cry even though it had a scary bit. They looked at some jewels in a brown paper bag??? that was brilliant too. Food wose, still no snack eaten, drank some of her thick milk. Packed lunch all she ate was one bite of a sandwich & a breadstick. Didn't even have her juice at lunchtime, I'd drawn a picture of a smiley face & put it in her lunchbox & she didn't even notice it. Good news is that the TA sat at her table next to her today, still didn't encourage her to eat but she still cried as she didn't want any food but she was a bit happy apparently.
GP's stayed for ages & ages, had hoped to have an early tea as dp is away ended up being later than normal, but dd was actually asleep for 8. She bit me tonight, was pretending to be a dog & bit my arm, actually went through my top & broke the skin. Don't think she intended to & was very upset & apologetic, think that's the overtiredness showing. Anyway I'm off to have an early night, dd is planning to wake up in the night & sneak into bed with me as dp is away. Really hope that doesn't happen, she def needs a good nights sleep.
One more day to go & then it's the wkend - at last!

Talking about sneaking into bed.. one of the school gate mummies was choosing a bed for her dd and everyone was talking about what their dds bed is like...

We co-sleep so dd doesn't have her own bed... so do you know what I did... I kept completely quiet because I didn't want to lie but also I had no desire of mentioning dd's lack of bed because I wanted to 'fit in' - it felt a bit like being back at school again for me - nodding and smiling so the other girls will like me!!! - Oh the shame of being so fickle!!!!

tea4two - I had an experience like that last week in the playground, they were talking about waking in the night for the loo & I nodded & smiled & felt a fraud with a backward daughter. My dd is in pull ups at night - still, she has no desire to be out of them & tbh I'm not keen on disturbed sleep unless it's an emergency! We did go through a dry spell a while ago but it went pear shaped & now with school think we have enough on our plates. It felt like being at school for me too, so not wanting to be an outsider!

I don't get the opportunity for the other mums to find out my foibles, as I don't pick up and drop off - that's usually left to my eccentric parents, so I am probably considered weird by association. Tomorrow is husband's day in charge, he never stays to chat.

Nappies at night here too

She just had night terrors and was moaning about tummy ache. Maybe 'he' is on his way.....

I do that too tea - a combination of not wanting to be seen as odd and can't be bothered explaining. Its mostly when people are grumping about dc's behaviour. I think dd1 is really very well behaved. DD2 will obviously kick my ass

Have the same issue too. Today the mums were talking about how boys are immature and less able to cope with school. What I really wanted to say was that there are so many exceptions (including ds) but I couldn't bring myself to rock the boat so kept (uncharacteristically) quiet.

Also have that re behaviour newspaper. Ds is far from perfect (well ok to me he is perfect!) but is pretty well-behaved (...until he started getting tired from school this pm - hope this isn't the shape of things to come) so I find those "my dc did this, aren't they a handful" type conversations awkward too. Saying nothing is better than sounding smug.

Ds is only doing mornings and is used to longer at nursery but definitely seemed tired this pm. He wasn't lethargic but does this overly-bouncy thing when tired and it was quite annoying tbh. Normally he's quite chilled and still but not today. Sigh.

Newspaper - forgive me if I'm telling my grandmother how to suck eggs - but if the poo is not shifting after 4 days are you giving a softener like lactulose? Movicol and senno act on moving the poo along but don't stop it getting really solid and hard. The other softener I have used is Caricol (ordered over the internet - mixes well with juice). We found dd need both Movicol and lactulose and then a top up of senna if necessary. She's still on Movicol and we just spoke to her teacher today about it. Many hugs to you - it is fantastically stressful.

Night pull ups here and I don't even think about when that will end - it's the least of our problem. It IS a bit like being at school ourselves and probably most of us hold back on anything we think might not fit.

The psychology behind the 'The school run dress' and other seemingly odd Mother's hang ups.

• I think Mumsnet has the next book title there!!!

Just coming on to be a bit pathetic. DS started on Monday, has been fine every day so far but this morning I left him sobbing!

I feel so sad for him, I know he'll be fine and I know it's alot for them to deal with, end of the first week, feeling tired, lots of new stuff going on.

I cried all the way home (luckily I had the car today) and am now clock watching as I am sure I will do until 12!!!!

Already felling better though after reading about co-cleeping and still being in nappies as DS does both!

GOLGI - I don't often do the school run either as I'm at work (off this week). Most people only know my Mum and wonder who I am when I do pick the DCs up!!!!

Morning all - well I'm going to make you all feel better, and say that both dd (just gone into year 1) and ds are still in pull ups at night. My MIL thinks this is ghastly but considering that their nappies are huge by morning, its not exactly as if I'm holding them back. So I just smile when these conversations go on and nod knowingly

Bradsmissus - poor you and your lo. When dd started reception last year, she did exactly the same - fine for the first week but come the end of the week she would really cry. And then so would I. It did get better though, but its horrid whilst it lasts.

Newspaper - good luck with 'moving things on' so to speak. fingers crossed but legs not.

Roundabout - the habit point is a really good one. One of dd's little friends just cries every day on the walk in to the classroom and we're all sure its just a habit. Still tough though.

DS is doing ok I think. I'm not sure he particularly enjoys it, but when I offered to pick him up early today, he said no, so it must be sort of OK. He had a 'round fish finger' for lunch yesterday aka a fishcake and said it was delicious, so he's eating as well. Fingers crossed.

I work at home so I'm able to do most of the school runs. Dd goes to her CM 2 days though and later on I will probably have CM take her in a couple of mornings.

((bradsmissus)) they recover so quickly but it's much harder for mum to settle after leaving them crying.

And last night I gave up on trying to do proper supper. Sandwiches and fruit when they came in, and then in desperation Weetabix and fruit for supper after dd got back from her cult meeting Rainbows. It worked perfectly and everyone was happy. But we can't do that every night

Aww Bradsmissus-Im sure he'll be fine. My DS was exactly the same last week and the school said most of them have a meltdown on friday because they are just soooo tired.

Just to join the "gang" so to speak lol...my DS is in pull ups at night still as well. He is absolutely dead to the world most of the night and isn't aware that he is even going. We had several dry nights and tried without but then he woke up absolutely soaked and really upset so figured it wasn't worth it. He's not bothered at all about still wearing them but I did tell him not to say anything about it at school cause knowing what children are like I don't want him being picked on.

We're getting odd snippets of information as well now-they've been reading Goldilocks and DS has been telling me that he helped to make the porridge,the chair and the house to go on the wall display which he proudly showed me this morning.

Morning everyone
You ladies have reassured me re night nappies, I wasn't worried but it's met with such disapproval from everyone it makes me so cross. dd has lots of friends a few weeks younger than her so won't start school til nxt sept & 2 mums said to be wasn't i worried that dd still in pull ups, crazy thing is both their lo's are & the difference in age is just a few weeks. So according to them my dd should be dry at night just because she's started school v young - where's the logic in that - surely like Acinonyx it's the least of our problems with out lo's - grrrr ok rant over.

Moodlum - thinking back dd started crying at every drop off at nursery when she moved up a room, one morning I think she genuinely forgot & then it stopped. Think there are a lot of concerns for her but def an element of habit.

Newspaper - hope you get it shifted, it must be hard work for all concerned having that problem, your porr dd. My dd just seems to have chronic flatulence, esp at the mo & she's got a cold & every time she sneezes or coughs!

Bradsmissus - Poor you, my dd has been in tears most of the week, on & off every day & seemed to be the only one. This morning she had a few half hearted tears but lots of other lo;s that were fine earlier in the week were upset. Think it's just so tiring for them, like us if you're knackered you get upset easier. At least it's friday!

I had a lovely leisurely bath last night & was feeling really relaxed & then dd woke up & so ended up sleeping with me. I like it but end up having such a rubbish nights sleep as she wriggles & talks in her sleep too. Thismorning we had tears on the way to school, but in the playground a few girls from yr 1 & their mums came over to talk to us & invited us to a childrens disco this afternoon so that kept dd occupied & took her mind off school. She's also been invited to a classmates bday party nxt wk after school so she's excited, although a bit gutted that every one else is invited too! Don't know how she will have the energy for any of this tho. A few tears at handover but mainly concerning eating her lunch, am trying bribery & she can have a sticker for her lunchbox if she eats some of her lunch.
Thank goodness it's friday!

moodlum - I did make dd's dinner earlier in the end and we all had different dinners. I can see it's not going to work to make her wait - she really needs to eat before 6.

roundabout - dd had one of her nose bleeds in the middle of the night so not a very restlful night here either. And now there are blood stains on her new duvet I should take out shares in vanish.