We are the festive receptionists' mothers - we bring shepherds, aliens and travelling cribs to a nativity play near you

[mistletoemulledwinemoodlum]

This is our new festive thread ladies.

Aranea - I completely agree. Boy is learning all sorts of useful things at school, like how to play with other children, how to wait his turn, how to get stickers (!) - and meanwhile Granny is teaching him how to read when he gets home.

I too am of the "get up, you're fine" school of thought. But the sadness and obviously letting out of held in sadness did get to me. Probably also the fact that last week she fell, I said "oh you're fine" and later on realised the mark on her tights was in fact not jam or similar but blood .

I find the wailing is exactly the same whether the bump is big or small - so sometimes bigger bumps do not get their proper immediate appreciation

Poor dd, she's the victim of all the years I have practiced this approach with dh....

Poor mouse . I'm glad to hear that everyone else is as brusque uncaring as me, only to occasionally find that actually the injury is relatively serious. My poor children.

Its only week one and I'm already scrabbling around in the morning looking for uniform. I have got to be more stepford in my approach to domestic management.

I am going in to see ds' teacher on Monday to discuss his eyes and his reading, so it will be interesting to see how I end up handling the downgrading of reading books!

Aah the weekend. At last.

I spoke too soon. The window of opportunity for reading after breakfast before school has now closed. I suggested we read her book this morning and she looked at me as though I had asked her to eat cat food.

Ah well. As I have said before. Lots of professions that don't require reading. She likes taking her clothes off - she might make a good stripper (no offense to any mn strippers - I had a very nice friend who used to be a stripper).

Both children in school. Have restarted my running. It is cold and wet out there but I do feel a sense of satisfaction having done it Possibly need to transfer same sense to more hundrum tasks such as hoovering...

As it wasn't raining when we got to school children get to line up in the playground. DD luckily fine with being dumped while I made sure DS was in his line. Her line takes longer to go in so I came back from over the playground to see line of ducklings following mother (teacher) duck.

DD's class only go to assembly on Thursdays and Fridays and yesterday ds's class was behind dd's. Ds managed to subtly prod dd .

Music this afternoon. Dd has been looking forward to wearing her uniform there for ages. Is in a different county where there are more school nurseries than here with its informal "bung them in with reception" approach and so quite a few come along in their uniforms.

Am glad I don't need to think about reading yet

Noah - I love the idea of one sibling poking the other in assembly. Makes mine won't.

Aci - I was secretly in awe of your reading after breakfast, tbh. In our house, the only thing possible after breakfast is me shouting like a fishwife for dd and ds to get their coats on and then the inevitable discussion from dd about whether we are "late or early" and rushing to the car. Reading after breakfast would be received in our house along the same cat food lines

I just feel rather foolish and incompetent that I struggle to persuade dd to read for me when she does so very cheerfully and willingly (apparently) for her teachers.

The teacher commented in the report book that I should encourage dd to follow the text with her finger (as teacher is doing). Hahahah. Yeah right.

Me: 'Miss X says you should follow the words with your finger'.

DD: No.

Repeat in variations for a few minutes....

I just have no authority with my child.

Honestly Aci, its a common problem. DS point blank refuses to read with me. He just will not. He practically laughs at me when I suggest it. Its a surprise to have such a refusenik after compliant dd. I'm going to ask the teacher on Monday what she thinks I should do. Clearly he must read for them

Perhaps we should pretend to be teachers and come and ask each other's dcs to read for us.

Yes absolutely no chance of us doing anything during or after breakfast other than ds dawdling and me saying 'hurry up we're late' x 1000.

We occasionally manage things after breakfast. Depends on how early I drag myself out of bed tbh .

However early we are I am inevitably doing the banshee wailing at 8:35am though. I think everyone is used to it now

Acinonyx, I still vividly remember my mother trying to teach me things at the kitchen table. I refused to believe her half the time, and just got cross for the rest. For some reason the idea of her trying to impart knowledge used to irritate the hell out of me. Poor woman. Anyway, if it's any consolation, it didn't impede my progress at school. You obviously don't need to be looking for non-reading professions for your dd, just ones which don't involve reading to one's mother. That's a lot easier.

Ah yes - plenty of those, thank goodness

We're off to a soft play after school today. Hope dd's up to it - she had a nasty cough this morning. I've been half expecting a call from school telling me she should be at home . Dd wanted to go though - I think she senses, quite rightly, that if she is too ill for school, she is too ill for her coveted playdate.

I may need some middle-aged mother's crack, i.e. diet coke, to get me through it though...

Rofl at coke and crack. So true.

Am consoling myself that no one ever ever ever read with me as a child. I enjoy book so........

We have had a tear free week, so that is a huge change on last term. Maybe it was all just tiredness.

Went to PTA meeting and found out the date of Easter fayre, then went to work and put the day in the request book, I really don't want to miss things.

We have a parents evening in Feb so will be asking about reading and all that jazz. Our is top of the tables in the town, which doesn't amount to a huge deal as none of the schools perform in an amazing way. Even if you rate the tables as usefull, which I don't really. Still though, they must have a masterplan.

Mornings here mostly consist of countdowns to 8.20, when we begin the 'lets get into the car' routine. It takes about 5 mins just to get wriggly dd2 into her snowsuit. It will all be so much easier in summer when we can all sling a jacket on and go.

Today was quite fraught as no one got up until 8.05!! Bit tricky with 1yo and 5yo both wanting porridge. We made it [just] on time.
Aci - Hope dd improves and the cough goes.

It probably was newness and tiredness combined. Tiredness is a sure fire ticket to tears.

The friendship sagas are continuing although I am rationing myself as to how often I ask about friends (for my own sanity). Dd appears to have dropped one of her 2 best friends. I asked, as I sensed something not quite right with mum and daughter this term. There are more complications that I will endeavor not to bore you with .

It's hard to believe a mature woman can be so preoccupied by the social shinanigans of a group of 4-5 yr-olds. I need to get a life....

Yay! Weekend!

When boys fall over I have been known to do the "chocolate button test" as mentioned on here somewhere - if it's really serious they won't stop crying even with application of button.

Best go and get involved in bathtime, can hear chaos breaking out upstairs....

I worry about it too though Acinonyx, so at least we have no life together

Did you get a bit of an atmosphere from the mum as well?

My small one seems to be totally uniterested in the whole friendshop thing. She plays with however, often older kids it's seems. So naturally I worry about that too.......

Dh is bathing dd as we speak. I felt things were not quite as usual with the mum - probably her dd has been complaioning about my dd

I am realising that it is all to easy to play out all the playground politics among the parents. You get friendly with mum of dc's friend only to find dc's fall out and move on - etc.

I am becoming very good friends with the other best friend's mum and hopefully we can ensure that our dc remain playdates. But both these friends are making friends with other girls that dd just won't be friendly with (for no reason she can tell me) and I fear she may become excluded from the circle.

Yes, I really do need a life!

Hmm, girls seem complicated.

Boy comes home with tales like "we chased James around the playground" or "Sam hit Tom in the nose"

I am with you both on the sadly excessive interest in 4/5yos' social lives... it is so hard not to feel involved and anxious about it. (I like 'friendshop', btw! If only.)

Dd's teacher told me today that she has been completing a sensory profile to return to the OT who visited school at the end of last term. She says it has made her realise how often there is a delay between her asking dd1 to do something and the response. She thinks there is a 'processing' delay. I asked whether it applied when dd1 was particularly keen to do something... (I have my own theories here). She mentioned that at one point today she had had to call her name 4 times before getting a response. She also mentioned that dd1 is trying to hide at the back during PE and not run or do things that she finds difficult. Poor dd1, it must be grim.

Anyway, I asked dd1 about the non-response thing this evening. She says she did hear the teacher but was more interested in what she was thinking about and wanted to carry on thinking about it. Pretty much what I would have expected. I don't envy the teacher trying to keep dd1's interest. She has such a vivid internal world that you have to be offering pretty amazing stuff to keep her focused on the real world.

Gah! Wish she would go to sleep! So far have had 'Mummy.... tomorrow I would like to watch Waybuloo before bed instead of The Incredibles' - Yes darling, go to sleep.

.... 'Mummy.... what are you having for supper?' - I don't know yet. Good night.

... 'Mummy..... what do you think you might be having for supper?' - Go to sleep.

.... 'Mummy..... Bet and pet rhyme, don't they?'

AARGH.

golgi - I really wanted a boy when expecting dd1. Totally chuffed adn love my girls, but I imagine boys to be a lot more simple somehow. Men are

It's probably not true but is certainly my memory of school. I got on way better with boys.

Aranea - we have noticed with dd a certain 'processing' time. A lag between being given a task and responding.

Love the I Will Not Sleep. DD hums to keep herself awake

No school run in the morning. No uniform, wheatabix, gloves and hats, no book bags to carry to the car along with dd2, gloves, keys, dumy, changing bag, phone.......

I have a chain for my keys, for round my neck. T'is a life saver, as I always lost them between the play ground and the car. They were always in the pocket on the hip dd2 was sat on, at which point it usually started raining.

I urge you all to invest in this vital bit of kit. I look a numpty but I know where my keys are.

Party tomorrow. Must dash for pressi in the am.

Surely this is normal. I find it very hard to get dd to acknowledge me - she has very selective hearing. I had it tested when she was 3 - but it's fine. She's just like her father They both ignore me.

It's not just a delay - dd just doesn't comply, end of.

I wanted a boy originally - I'm not a girly girl at all. Of course I wouldn't trade dd now. But when the nurse said 'it' was a girl I queried: are you sure??!