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

Harvest Festical - that little known local semi-pagan night of revelry and debauchery not to be confused with the more pious Harvest Festival...... I wish!

Same problem here acinonyx re wellies. And also with the waterproof jacket. Surely he can just stick his school coat on but we've been asked to provide another one. Not sure what to do.

The main clique at ours is among the mums with older kids in the school but actually they are friendly enough.

Love the idea of ds being grammercadet....going to use that from now on.

Hey do we need a new thread and thread title since it's nearly October??!

I'm missing any school gate cliques by the method of not ever being there.....
At some point I will make friends - people told me I would after having a baby but it didn't happen. Perhaps I should stop working so much?

Anyway, I'm off on a field trip for the rest of this week, leaving the smooth running of the household in the capable hands of husband, with help from grandparents. I'm sure they'll all manage without me.

We got a charity thing home today that I'm a bit cross about, they have to get "sponsored" to colour in a picture, we send in the money, then the children that collected a lot of sponsors get a special badge. Of course, boy is determined to get a badge - and I am feeling that if I don't organise some money he might be the only child without one. I feel like I'm being pestered into giving to charity, and it has provoked my awkward side.

I thoroughly dislike sponsorship in general and generally do not cooperate. That should win me friends on the PTA............

Hava good trip. I used to do some overseas contract work which I miss very much and I've been wondering if I could swing some short assignments of a week or so. Would be hard to organise the extra childcare, however.

I can't catch up but what I have read has made me lol - I would like 2 adult tickets to the harvest festical, no childrens tickets required. Thanks. I donate a tin of stew to the harvest festival and good luck. Like the non-coperation stance Acinonyx. Very sensible. I went to the PTA meeting, I was late and my phone made inappropriate beeping noises. Hurrah.

Marvellous.

Have parents mini evening tonight! Am zooming through life as have party on Sat and Christening week on Sunday - so much to organise. Quite nervous about Sat actually.

Be back soon to read thread. x

Have been lurking, not got round to posting again until now.

DD has settled in fine at school, no real dramas.

On the subject of wellies, I bought another pair for school. If we walk to school, then I fetch her home wellies back with me. Wouldn't be so bad, but I found a another pair of wellies that I thought we'd left behind on holiday. Better make sure all 3 prs don't end up lined up under her coat peg, or I'll look like some strange kind of welly collector

I dread DD needing the kind of sponsorship that requires a long list of names. We've no local family and I'm short of friends. I am desperately trying to make friends at the school gate...no invites for coffee yet

I'll sponsor her

Suspect our list will include 10 names along the lines of Barbie, Ken, Peppa at £1 each, and mummy being £10 worse off.

Yes, I think we'd have a similar sponsors list along the lines of Pooh, Bunny, Belle etc.

I'm still on welly strike. It's just too complicated. And an extra waterproof indeed! The cheek of it!

Ixia - perhaps you should gird your loins and invite someone for coffee? I never can, as in theory, I work from home (and browse mn...) and lightening will stike me down if I squander the time on coffee and chat (which is daft considering the time I squander in other ways). I am gearing up to my first playdate invitation though.

Do your dc wear their school shoes as smart shoes out of school? Dd refused to wear hers at the weekend and I'm working on persuading dh that she 'needs' yet another pair (not black). I need a few things too ...

Hmmm. So dh got dd from CM. She was wearing a different pinafore, cardy and tights from the school. Daisy had told CM she was sick on her own clothes - no note and teacher did not speak to CM. No soiled clothes either

So dd comes home and says they were passing around an orange during phonics for 'o' and teacher opened it up and gave her a piece. The piece had a pip (dd cannot abide pips) and 'it got stuck and I coughed so much I was sick'. Dd has never vomited before in all of her 4 years. I think a note or word from teacher would have been in order. What do you think?

CM wouldn't have thought to ask teacher herself because she didn't take dd in this morning and wouldn't have realised she was in different clothes until dd told her. I'm not happy about this. How sick must she have been to change her pinafore, cardy - and tights??

We haven't got any wellies at all! There is an imbalance in the welly universe, clearly.

That's shocking about the vomit, Acinonyx. I would definitely be speaking to the teacher in the morning.

Well, here I have been waiting for dd1's love triangle to explode, and today I think it has done. Poor dd1, cuddling in bed this evening, said 'Mummy, does X like me?' and there followed a whole sad tale of a day being rejected in favour of her 'best friend's other friend Y. She actually had someone else round to play today, which I think is lucky, though she says, 'It's not the same as with X.' (Hm, suddenly wondering whether the fact that she was planning playdate with another child may have precipitated the rejection? Stop it stop it, don't analyse, they are 4, fgs)

Anyway, I was full of sage advice and told her that you can't make someone want to play with you, and that there are lots of other children in her class who would like to play with her and among them there must be one or two who are as much fun as X. But actually I feel pretty much the same as dd, who says, 'If I have her round, she will have to play with me, because there won't be anyone else there!' I want to go and tell X that she has to like my dd (and I would quite like to wring Y's neck, as she made my dd cry today. Dd1 says, 'It's the first time I've been upset when you haven't been there.')

Oh Aranea we have the same thing going on here. I talked to dd this morning about her main friend M and said that if M goes off with another girl then dd should play with someone else, like, Z, P or Q. Then dd said: or I could just sit on the buddy bench and wait until she comes back.

So today it started out well, then one play time M told dd to leave her alone Dd understands that M doesn't want dd around all the time as she 'gets tired of it'. But she doesn'treally know what to do. I was planning to invite M and her mummy over but I wonder if I should leave it - don't want M to feel suffocated = that might very unhelpful. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

Yes, I know they're only 4 - we mums will be emotional wrecks if we get too involved!

Oh god, isn't it painful? I can't decide whether to press on with playdates with X, or to focus on trying to promote other friendships. Both, I suppose really. It's so hard sending these incompetent little people off to fend for themselves! I could see this coming right from the start, as my dd1 is not very socially sophisticated really, and X the light of her life is very socially capable and was pretty clearly going to move on.

Yes, I've always suspected it would be like this for dd. She's not at all socially sophisticated and I can see many years of dd languishing in friendships where she is the more devoted one.

I'd like to do the playdate but I'm just not sure. Dither, dither.

hello ladies

I've been orf mn for a few days so haven't had a chance to properly read the thread and catch up, but how are you all?

Aranea - girls' love triangles are never resolved - they are a nightmare. DD has always been part of one, and it just doesn't ever work. Its a hard thing to manage, tbh, especially as girls can be so horrid sometimes. My sympathies.

Aci - your poor lo. I would deffo talk to the teacher.

Grammer - I'm totally with you. A few nice people to have a chat with twice a day, maybe the odd coffee - but I'm not looking for a whole new circle of friends.

I'm ashamed to say that I have been the first on this thread to be pulled up by the teacher about ds' behaviour. Oh the shame .

Apparently, ds was waiting in line for lunch, and the boy behind him was pestering him, and ended up kicking him. DS did not like this, and thus punched him in the chest. Other child kicks ds, and then all hell breaks loose. The teacher said "I was very cross with them" which is completely fair enough. DS isn't an aggressive child, honestly, but he does get cross when he feels he's been hurt and I really hope he learns to manage this in school without too many traumas.

Anyway. God its traumatic isn't it. And this isn't even my first time

Ooo, our first fight! Girls and boys have such different issues, don't they?

Ah, it's hard to know how kids should deal with aggression against them. I was a fight back kind of gal myself as I recall but I'm sure dd isn't. Are you wearing a badge of shame for the week mrs hoodlum?

I was lying in bed chuntering, as you do (i.e. keeping poor dh awake with my fascinating ruminations). I quite realise that I simply cannot go on over-oberving dd's relationships - what on earth will I be like in 10 years time when (heaven protect us) it will be about gasp boys??

Anyway, talked to other mum. Still planning playdate. Spoke to teacher - confirmed dd had choked on an orange pip so at least everyone is telling the same story.

Went shopping today. I'm not one to miss dd usually but I felt a bit lost today (probably because work is very slack this week) and I do feel I'm not spending quite enough time with her during the week. I suppose it's an adjustment. There's also an uneasiness I never felt when she was with her CM where I knew someone was really watching over her and knew all the dc there.

Aww Acinonyx your poor DD-hope she's ok now? Completely agree it must have been a huge amount for them to have to change everything for her.
Moodlum-can see me being the next one tbh...DS doesn't take too kindly to be pushed and shoved so if he gets shoved then he will more than likely shove back!

Well we have our first reading book with words and DS did rather well last night...it appears he is guessing lots of the words from the pictures but I did a thread on it earlier and it seems that is what they are supposed to do so I shall take off my worried mummy hat for a while at least.

Went to the park after school on monday with his new best friend at school & his mum and a little girl DS was at nursery with...its very sweet cause they are really good friends (at the moment!) and its lovely to see them playing together...DS won't sit on the carpet in the morning until the others are there too!

The plot thickens. Apperently teacher has said (days ago) dd and M cannot sit together any more because they chatter too much. I suppose this is normal practice but I feel a bit sorry for dd as this is really her only friend in the class (or was......).

OK. Repeat mantra. Ce sera, sera. Chill.

Curiouser and curiouser. I think I would definitely do that playdate if I were you.

Hi all. Eyes to heavy to catch up. RL is crazy at the mo! I will be back.....

Is anyone else getting ready to buy a school coat?

I am currently deciding between...

Well priced, pratical but maybe a little boring (opinions peeerlease)...
www.marksandspencer.com/gp/product/B002GQKJ2U/sr=1-12/qid=1254421785/ref=sr_1_12/276-0317592-2175202 ?ie=UTF8&node=&m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&keywords=&mnSBrand=core&size=9&rh=n%3A44217030&page=2

and

pretty, girly, fun and cute... but ehherm... pricier (again opinions peeerlease)...
www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/Girls-Coats-Jackets/35047/Girls-Fun-Cord-Coat.html

I was sooooo tired today that I forgot to act a bit like Mary Poppins at the school gate - has this happened to anyone else yet???

Already ahead on the wine front.

Still on welly strike.

Have bought 2 coats from m & s: - a plain, rather boring, functional weather proof and a jazzy, (lighter but still a proper coat) raincoat. I hear M & s sales are up - I think that must be me

The red coat is nice - but we walk to school in all weather so I want weatherproofing of some sort.

Re. the coats. I'd have said neither of them, as they aren't waterproof. DD spends a lot of time outside at school and they request that coats are waterproof (plus we sometimes walk to school).

We bought the school logo-ed coat, it's this one - turn your sound off before opening the site.

www.resultclothing.com/product.php?prod=R160y

We have the red one (altho' ours has the school badge), it's really nice quality and both wind and waterproof.

I splashed out on an amazing warm waterproof coat from Polarn O. Pyret for dd1. It wasn't quite as bad as it would have been because they sent me a 20% discount voucher, but even so it was a major extravagance. But somehow knowing that she is fully weatherproof and super snug makes me feel better about not being there. And I can tell myself that it is really a worthwhile purchase because dd2 can inherit it as it is such good quality. do you think I should stop justifying myself now?

You sound like me after dh has looked in dd's wardrobe ...